Day 14

SHELLFISH

I've always been intimidated by hard-shelled foods. I've never been good at cracking walnuts, I destroy hard boiled eggs in the peeling process, and it's just obvious that crab legs are expensive decoration because I've never found enough meat in them to consider it a meal. I consider the idea of preparing shellfish a dangerous expedition and I've had nightmares of dinner parties gone awry because the clams didn't open and we were forced to order Papa John's Pizza. If they don't open, then there's a serious food poison warning alert that goes out to all the land and that's it ~ SUDDEN DEATH. But because all of my ideas are good ideas, I embarked on this risky adventure and I steamed mussels.

Do you know how hard it is to find seafood in the desert?! After treasure hunting at four different supermarkets, I called my resident pet geek, who happens to chef it up big in a tiny kitchen, for some help. The result: 'It's a good thing you're pretty, Missi.' I have two saving graces in this situation: 1. I've never prepared shellfish, so therefore, am completely green this department. 2. Being pretty; not that it's a good excuse, but it's one I can offer; and at times, will willingly {and shamelessly} do.

Apparently, you can't store mussels overnight in your refrigerator and you have to special order them from AJ's to ensure freshness. NEVER EAT A DEAD MUSSEL. I don't question this warning, but it seems like sound advice, so I follow it blindly. So, however unintentional it was, I cheated. I bought frozen, half shell mussels and steamed them. Aside from cooking the mussels from frozen, I followed the recipe exclusively and we ate.

2 pounds of mussels going into the pot.

Despite it sounding like I was stirring rocks, the finished product looked and smelled fantastic!

However, only ever having mussels prepared at The Olive Garden {which isn't considered real food in the culinary world}, I had no idea what I was about to consume. I put one in my mouth and almost immediately spit it out. It tasted like an alcoholic at Sea World. Perhaps that's because I don't like real mussels or maybe it's because I don't like Heineken and added too much. Either way, it was SO GROSS!

This is me. 16 days before 30. Just BEFORE I ate Sea World.

VIP, however, didn't think it was too bad and continued to eat while I dissected a mussel at the table. After I decided and exclaimed that it looked like lady parts, VIP quit eating and we watched TiVo until we fell asleep. Needless to say, I never acquired that taste for shellfish, but my fear of preparing it has disappeared. Namely because no one died.

Random Sunshine:
Dr. Seuss should have been a life coach.

Gratitude:
So incredibly thankful it's Friday and the world's SLOWEST WEEK EVER is coming to an end. You have no idea.

I can't wait for tomorrow's 30 Before 30 adventure!