I set myself the goal of NOT complaining in my next blog post.
So this may possibly be the weirdest post you've ever read. That is, if you don't like clams.
Most people have a strong opinion about clams. The innocent clam has inspired a lot of haters.
But...
I love clams.
I like other shellfish, too, but clams are excellent.
It may have something to do with my ancestry. Lots of coastal people hanging around up there in the family tree. Fishermen/women. Some of the foremothers and forefathers were glad to get anything they could to eat, even if it was clams they dug from the mud themselves!
Dad is from a tiny spit of land called the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay is on one side, the Atlantic Ocean is on the other. The air is salty and so are the clams.
Mother, not from there, calls it the Land that Time Forgot. Definitely an out-of-the-way place! Dad's family came over from coastal England, oh, about 1650. I joke that they were thrown off the prison ship (that really happened to some folks in the 17th century) and never looked back. They probably started digging clams after swimming to shore.
Mom's side of the family includes some coastal Irish people, along with some thrifty German and French folk. I bet they all ate clams.
I eat clams any way I can get them, and typically to excess. This weekend, my husband came home with 50 fresh medium clams from a good local fish house. What a man!
We ate them. They were superb, a breath of the ocean, of summer.
Ah, clams. I get misty just thinking about them.
Do you have a favorite food that not everyone understands?
First let me say that my hubby and I love clams too. We could eat clams, and muscles and oysters included, till we are sick. Clams steamed in garlic, olive oil butter and wine, with a loaf of French bread for sopping up the broth, is ecstasy!
ReplyDeleteMany people cringe when we mention tongue or tripe, but we love the stuff...of course, it must be cooked to very tender, and seasoned to perfection!
Loved your post, Melanie. (Smile!)
Once I ate so many oysters at a local oyster roast that I was (slightly) ashamed of myself. The servers just kept bringing them to us, and I couldn't stop!
ReplyDeleteI haven't had tongue, but I've always read about it in the older novels that take place in England. I imagine I'd like it; now tripe... maybe! :-) You cook it, I'll try it.
I eat scrapple, a "mixed-meat" product that has all the left-over pig parts in it, so I guess I have the taste for the "accessories."
Sorry to offend any readers who are vegetarians. Thanks for reading, Virginia! You keep me smiling.