One might subtitle this post: Or, Why Not to Cook When You Don't Feel Well. It doesn't help that celery, fennel and leeks all begin to look rather alike--especially when cut into matchsticks. But have no fear--this "mistake" actually turned out well in the end...at least for the mussels While on "Spring Break" which I affectionately refer to as "Break from Teaching, but little else," I've been focusing on going trough my fantastic Stir cookbook by Barbara Lynch. After conquering clams the week before, I felt it was time to try mussels, which, frankly, are more of a pain to clean. I wish I had looked at Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris, because I just found a great description of how to clean mussels, but I managed. Mussels have these annoying "beards" that one must remove. I didn't soak the mussels as Garten recommends, and I wonder if this would have made the beard-removal easier. Moreover, half the beard stays IN the musse...
On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro' the field the road runs by To many-tower'd Camelot; And up and down the people go, Gazing in the oven low, Round a kitchen island there below, The kitchen of Shallot. (With apologies to Tennyson)