Diddakoi Walt Whitman
Take me home...St Emilion  kay@diddakoi.com

Updated: 01/22/06



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The Bleat
Vodkapundit
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Netflix
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What's on the nightstand

"Old Man's War"
by John Scalzi

"Island in the Sea of Time"
by S.M. Stirling

"A Parrot in the Pepper Tree"
by Chris Stewart

"Watching the English"
by Kate Fox

unpack and repack

home


Sunday, 22 January, 2006

SAVE YOUR CORKS!!

[Only 8,386 more needed for our wine cellar wall.]

Well, we're back from Antigua, however briefly. For a full update of our entire trip and more than you ever wanted to know about what we did and ate, a Trip Report is posted. Or, if you'd like the short summary:

A Room with a View


[Ahhhhhh . . . ]

We went down to the condo in New Jersey when we got in last night and kicked around down there this morning. We came back this afternoon so that we could unpack and do some laundry. And repack, since I have to leave for Bermuda Tuesday morning. I talked to Mom - they're having a quiet day with Dad watching the football playoffs and Mom playing Myst.

Currently, the kitty is sitting on the couch between us, thrilled to death that we are home. She'll be unpleasantly surprised tomorrow, since Gary is on call, but I'm sure she'll keep him company while I'm traveling the rest of the week.

After all of the wonderful eating we've done for the past week, we wanted something a little lighter and easy to make. We have been able to find frozen New Zealand mussels at the local Super Fresh, so I pulled two one-pound packages out of the freezer this afternoon. Tonight's welcome home dinner recipe:

SPICY MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE

1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dry white wine
2 1/4-inch-thick lemon slices
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 1/2 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed, debearded
1/2 cup chopped seeded tomatoes (I didn't have any tomatoes, so omitted them, but I think it would be a nice addition)

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper and salt; sauté until onion is light brown, about 4 minutes. Add wine, lemon slices and 1/4 cup parsley; bring to boil. Add mussels. Cover pot and cook until mussel shells open, stirring once to rearrange mussels, about 6 minutes; discard any mussels that do not open. Using slotted spoon, transfer mussels to large shallow bowl. Boil broth in pot until reduced to 1 cup, about 3 minutes; season to taste with pepper. Pour broth over mussels. Sprinkle tomatoes and remaining parsley over.

Serves six as appetizers, two to four as main courses.
Bon Appétit
December 1995
Alan Herman: New York, New York

[OK, so they weren't grilled lobsters, but still tasty.]

Quote du jour:

"I would like to spend my whole life traveling, if I could borrow another life to spend at home."

William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830) English writer, essayist

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