One of the lessons I learned early on in this gypsy existence of ours; never pack anything that you are unwilling to carry. I was a little hard headed about learning this lesson but eventually, I did. So when I boarded the train to go to Sens I had my carry on, my camera loaded hand bag and the cat bag. As this was sort of borderline and although I was slightly unwilling, it was doable but bringing my tripod was out of the question. I knew that Jade’s tripod was at the house and that I could use that. Which leads to a new lesson; never buy your child a tripod that would be annoying if you had to use it. Lesson learned. Jade gets a new tripod for Christmas.
Of course I intended to cook! After a couple of weeks in this crystal palace of a hotel, I needed the therapy. My fishmonger had Mont Saint Michel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel mussels on sale and there was a Wednesday market day. After shopping, I stopped by Jacques’ for a coffee and he gave me a pungent bulb of garlic. Perfect! I think I’ve mentioned before that I first had mussels with peppers in St. Malo which is not far from Mont Saint Michel.
Market Day Mussels
3 or 4 shallots, halved and thinly sliced vertically
3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 long red chilli, seeds removed and sliced
1 bunch of cilantro, leaves separated and stems chopped
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 bottle or 2 cups of drinkable white wine
2 quarts bouchot mussels, scrubbed and debearded
Saute the shallots, garlic, peppers, chilli and cilantro stems in the butter and olive oil until the shallots are soft. Add the white wine and boil for 3-5 minutes. Gently stir in the mussels, cover and cook for about 5 minutes until the mussels are open. Stir in the cilantro leaves and serve immediately with slices of garlic baguette toast.
You managed to get a very good picture even with an aggravating tripod. When you’re getting a replacement look at Bogen/Manfrotto. They have good starter legs for around 100$ and you’ll find a good head for around 50$. Ideally buy in New York at somewhere such as Adorama where you’ll find things like the top combo in this link – http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=itemlist&cat1=Tripods&cat2=Tripod%20Legs%20%26%20Leg/Head%20Combos&cat3=Leg%20%26%20Head%20Combo%20for%20Still%20%26%20Video&Startat=21
Good recommendation + 1 from me 😉
Thanks Roger. I’m going for Manfrotto like mine.
Wonderful :D. Tell me about all this carrying stuff business… my body is ruined after trying to move to Bristol and failing… we have to do it all over again on sunday evening because now we have commitments there 😀
I didn’t realize you were moving to Bristol. I’m not exactly sure I know where Bristol is but I remember a song about it 🙂
Haha. It’s in the South West of Britain 😀
Excellent to have you back on form 😉
Thanks Mad.
Lovely post indeed. I hate to admit it but I have 3 tripods. I did not spend enough on any one of them and they all have failings. I am using a lightweight one at present that I know will, one day, topple over and do camera damage. Yet, I endure. It’s the tightwad in me.
Great to see you back,
Conor
Thanks Conor. I was astonished that I spent ANY money on her tripod and ready to kick it all the way to the garbage pick up!
Gorgeous mussels… It’s good to see that you got back into the kitchen and that that you finally got a decent cup of coffee :).
Thank you Tessa. The coffee was good 🙂
You must be so grateful to get back into a kitchen and i have one of those tripods, i hate it and it hates me.. my father said you should always use a tripod you can barely lift, the one he wanted the most was a surveyors one.. not for carrying on a train though i think! Not that i could carry it at all!! c
Your father was right! Too heavy to carry on the train? Good tripod!
All’s right with the world.
The mussels looks great and the chili is a nice touch. Glad you had a great trip!
Thank you Dan.
Love mussels, specially with white wine
Tell me about carrying/packing! Wonderful shots though and a great recipe 🙂
Thank you Chica.
Oh Katherine is getting camera equipment for Christmas then too. She’ll, cough, love that! Beautiful as always.
Yes Greg, but Jade is spoiled. She gets camera equipment and a whole bunch of whatever she wants 🙂
Wonderful! Great food photography – as always!
Thank you Georgia.
Yum, being from Brussels, I’m a big fan of mussels!
The home of moules frites!
I adore mussels and these look perfect and wonderful. A nice shot, so obviously you got the tripod to work!
Thank you bits. I never say no to mussels. Yes, I got the tripod to work but I prefer to take pictures without the grief.
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