A "Canadian" Love Affair

I never liked mussels until I visited Canada.

In 2006, I spent a week in Prince Edward Island with my parents, brother and (then) girlfriend and my husband.  It was a beautiful island, with lots of happy memories.  One of these memories was a dinner theater that we went to with everyone, something that Brian and I had done before but the others had not.  My Dad was a little skeptical but in the end enjoyed the show more than anyone else!

The dinner part was served family-style, at long planked tables.  I immediately noticed that the first course had these steel buckets on the tables and they certainly got my attention.  Mussels!  I wasn't fond, after a stinky cooking experience when I lived in New Hampshire six years prior.   (I had a lot of "skeptical" cooking experiences at our house in New Hampshire, this was not a good culinary time for Crafty Mama, or for that matter, Brian.  We learned from a lot of mistakes in this era!)    I was six months pregnant at the time of our Prince Edward Island adventure, and I adore fish.  Mussels and other shellfish were on the short list of fish that is considered "safe" for pregnant women to eat, so I gave them a shot.  Was I ever glad that I did!  They were steamed in a wine broth and were so good, I may have eaten almost a whole bucket by myself!

Last year I got a repeat chance to enjoy P.E.I. mussels with Hubby, dining at a little seaside joint in Saint John, New Brunswick.  We split a bucket of these delightful, albeit ugly, mollusks and I was warm and happy over the experience.

So, when Brian put mussels on the menu for tonight, I was elated!  I even said at dinner last night, "tomorrow is mussels...I'm so excited.  :)"  Brian did not disappoint, turning up mussels in a white wine, garlic, shallot and tomato broth, served atop jasmine rice and asparagus with bacon on the side.  The jasmine rice was perfect for sopping up the broth, and the dinner was absolutely to die for.   What a fond way to reminisce with a food that I fell in love with in Canada.

Tasty Delights on the Road

Brian and I traveled this weekend to New Hope, PA for his younger brother's wedding.  It was a gorgeous wedding, one of the prettiest that I have ever been to!  We made it down in time for the rehearsal dinner, which was held at an Italian place.  It was something like four courses, with bruschetta, salad, a pasta course and then family-style chicken marsala (!!!), eggplant parmesan and some sort of European fish.  I didn't have any of the fish, I was too enamored by the first two choices.  Dessert was our choice, and I had a limoncello, raspberry and white chocolate tart, Brian opted for chocolate hazelnut cake.  Everything was delicious.

The next morning, we got up early to do a little local shopping.  The wedding wasn't until 2pm, so we went and got breakfast and then found a local yarn shop.  (Naturally!)  Breakfast was across the border in New Jersey, at Perkins Restaurant.  We LOVE Perkins!  There's no Perkins at home, which is probably a good thing.  Because if there was, we'd frequent it a lot!  I don't remember what Brian had, but I had this potato pancake, with bacon, eggs and cheddar cheese filling, and you dip the whole thing in applesauce.  Amazing. 

After the wedding ceremony and with over an hour to kill, we found ourselves starving.  So we went to a local Wawa, and WOW there is another thing that we don't have at home!  It's a combination convenience store and gas station.  But it' not your typical convenice store, it also has fresh-to-order sandwiches and other things.  We ordered some chicken quesadillas to go, and picked up some Tastycakes too. There is Tastycake pastries in the grocery store here, but they're a Pennsylvania thing and they don't have as good a selection here as they do there.  We sat in our hotel room, chowing down in our dress clothes and enjoying every bite. 

There was other stuff too, but these are the things that stand out.  I love road trips.  :)