Finally, The Mussel Recipe!

Moules a la Mariniere

Makes 6 servings
Cooking time: 1 brief hour

Ingredients

8 cups of mussels cooked as below
1 1/4 cups cooking liquid
2/3 cup of white wine
2/3 ounce of shallot finely minced
2 good pinches of minced parley
1/3 cup of butter
2 good soup spoons of bread crumbs ground into a fine semolina
1 medium onion sliced
5 sprigs thyme
1/3 bay leaf
pinch of white pepper
1 cup of water

Preparation

Put mussels, onion, thyme, bay leaf, pepper and water into covered casserole.  Heat over high heat until mussels are just opened wide (6-8 minutes).  Decant mussel liquor into one container, mussels into a second.
Rinse casserole, add the wine and the shallot.  Reduce vigorously until about 3 tables spoons are left.  Add 1 1/4 cups carefully measured mussel liquor.  Boil it for only a few seconds without reducing it.  Turn off the heat. Off the fire, add the butter divided into very small pieces.  Sprinkle in the bread crumbs mixing well and shaking the casserole to melt the butter.  Add the parsley.

Put the mussels back into the casserole.  Shake them in the sauce for a sew seconds only without putting them back over the heat.   You want to heat the mussels and to cover them with sauce but not to boil or over heat because the butter loose its creaminess and turn to oil.

Pour into a large bowl and enjoy!

Technical Difficulties

For some reason, I cannot get the Mussel recipe to copy.  I will keep trying...please be patient.

Our Anniversary!

Michael and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on September 29th. It was a weeknight and we both had to go to work the next day so we had a special day together topped off by one of our favorite meals.  We discovered this Mussel recipe at one of our favorite restaruants here in Charleston called The Fat Hen.  If you have never had the chance to sneak out to this fabulous place out on Johns Island and you live here shame on you!  Often I try to recreate recipes that we have had at differnet places and this was no exception!  You have to have plenty of crusty bread to soak up the juices from the mussels, wine and butter!

Time To Think About Thanksgiving

A few weeks ago my friend Dena started talking about our Thanksgiving plans.  We usually all get together and celebrate the holiday as a large group.  Some are family, some are friends, some are people just dragged along.  At that point I thought its only September why are we thinking about Thanksgiving.  In my mailbox today arrived my Cooking Club of America magazine and emblazened across the front was, you guessed it, Thanksgiving.

Now, the holiday is only 6 weeks from today. To some of you I am sure that is a long time but as I have gotten older time has started to fly by and 6 weeks is no time.  Dena travels for work so her planning time is limited and you all know I work retail so that means I will be busy.  Jen will be heading back to South America right after the holiday and hopefully we will see Liz that day also.

What are your Thanksgiving traditions?  Have they changed?  If you are an ex-pat, what do you do to celebrate if you do at all? 

Dooley Has A New Home

There is much to be said about being a foster parent to a dog.  The happiest time is when they get their "Forever Home".  This past weekend a wonderful couple drove down from Charlotte to meet and adopt Dooley.  Our home is quieter and has a lot less dog fur in it but most important, Dooley has a family that loves him and cherishes him! 

What Am I Doing Up So Late?

So here it is 2am and I got home from work about a half an hour ago.  Sunday night is truck night and if you have never worked retail, let me tell you it is a treat.  We have no loading dock and we sell a lot of heavy furniture so that means tons of furniture have to come in to replace (hopefully) what we sold the week before.  Along with all the furniture come the pallets of regular merchandise to fill the shelves and now get ready for the holiday season.  Not having a loading dock has it's advantages, the only one which comes to mind right now is that we can sort all that stuff out  in the back parking lot.  The disadvantages are also many the one that comes to mind this evening is heavy stuff loaded on the truck which you can't get off with the fork lift.  Thank goodness for the guys is all I can say.  All this merchandise does not get on the shelves by itself so that is why we were at work until after 1 am.  I am the pallet sorter and I am the very sore pallet sorter at this moment which brings me to a food (kind of) topic! 

A few months ago we got in these Marg-o-rita's.  They are just like their name sake but they have wine in them instead of alcohol.  They arere mighty tasty.  A couple of weeks ago, we discovered they also have Strawberry Daiquiris and Pina Coladas....I am at this moment, enjoying a Strawberry Daiquiri hoping my brain stops running and I can go to sleep.  The best part of these is that they are 1.99 and there are at least 2 good sized drinks in each freezer container.

So there you have it!

I'm Back!

It is so easy to not post anything.  When you start a blog you are so excited and full of ideas and then one day, bam!  No motivation, no excitement, nothing...that is where I have been.  I think part of it has been the fact that summer was just so dern long here this year (though I will never complain about the heat), it has been hard to come up with something new and exciting to have for dinner.  We have eaten many meals and some of them were even special, it was just to easy to not write about it..my apologies!

So after avoiding all of you for a few weeks, today I decided just to take a peek and..there are still people looking!  Therefore, I will put back on my big girl panties and start blogging again.  I ask only one thing, that those of you that visit here from far away place, and there have been many from places I only dream of visiting, drop me a line and let me know how you found the blog and if you enjoy it.  For those of you in the states who are my friends and friends I have yet to met, please do the same.

If you find I am not posting everyday, please be patient.  I have been putting out Christmas the last few days and it is the beginning of a long (not really) season for me.  Hmmmm...thoughts of Christmas cookies!