How To Eat Mussels

The best way to eat mussels is to use a mussel as a tweezer. Try this method once and you will be hooked for life. It just works. Mussels also make a great supper club starter.

Spending summer vacations on the east coast, one of my fondest memories was going “musseling” with my wife, our kids and my mother. The bay near mom’s always had a plentiful harvest of mussels. The say that you marry the girl like the girl that married dear old dad, Mom and my wife were like two peas in a pod filling buckets up with “free” shell fish.

After scrubbing and soaking in water with corn meal to get rid of the grit, I like to prepare mussels two ways with:

Red sauce (olive oil, garlic, onion, canned tomatoes)
White sauce (butter, white wine, olive oil, garlic, onion)

Add fresh herbs and a hearty baguette to soak up the sauce and you are in for a treat.

Using one mussel as a tweezer to eat mussels is not something we grew up with. My buddy Lucien who grew up in the south of France is the one that taught us this one. If you ever go to Paris you have try moules frites. Chez Leon along the Champs -Elysees is a great experience. While moules frites is originally from Brussels, the French do a great job. You can get your moules 10 to 20 different ways. No choice is bad.

I like mussels for supper clubs because it adds the dimension of sharing. While mussels are increasingly popular at restaurants, they are not everyone’s favorite. Chances are you will have a guest or two that is not a fan, but my bet is that you can get a few converts to the “tweezer” method and have lots of fun with it.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Pick Your Poison – Adult Beverages of Choice?

Wine has always been the adult beverage of choice for supper clubs. The increased popularity of Craft Beer and the fact that hard liquor (without mixers) presents a low/calorie/carb option has brought the wine choice into question. A deeper dive into the data might suggest otherwise.

Per the Wall Street Journal Americans aren’t drinking beer like they used to.

AB InBev, Heineken, and Molson Coors have all reported significant drops in beer volume in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year. According to The Wall Street Journal, AB InBev (BUD, -0.39%) saw a 4.1% drop, Molson Coors (TAP-A) a 3.8% drop, and Heineken (HKHHF, +0.75%) saw a “high-single-digit percentage” drop.

The decline in sales is brought on both by consumers increasingly turning to other alcoholic beverages like whiskey and wine, and an overall falloff in alcohol consumption.

Craft beer sales have taken a hit as well “Some of the country’s biggest craft brewers are struggling with falling sales, hurt by a glut of competitors crowding retail shelves and moves by megabrewers to scoop up some of their rivals.” “They used to say a rising tide lifts all boats. And it is definitely not that now,” Mr. Steinman said. His firm estimates that shipment volumes declined for 16 of the top 36 craft-style U.S. brewers last year.

So where are the trends going. Yes I am a data freak. If you look at three key variables the answer becomes clear

Health trends with calorie and carb content are important.
People want a balance between alcohol and calorie/carb content
Supper clubbers want to socialize, not get wasted

The data tells a very clear story:

Beer just isn’t the answer. Calorie and carb content are an issue for regular and craft beers and lite beer while somewhat healthier just is not the answer.
Hard liquor while great (Low calorie/carb) by itself when you add in mixers to make cocktails issues arise.
Wine, while not a panacea, certainly presents a healthier alternative and pares well with foodie delights

Salvation For Overloaded Parents…Impromptu Friday Nights

Have you ever thought of having an Impromptu party to sneak socializing with friends into your busy schedule?

There is a great article in today’s Wall Street Journal A salvation for overloaded parents: the weekday mini-date. The solution presented is a mini date with your partner is a great idea.

Weekday mini-dates are good, but sometimes you need to have adult conversations with someone other than your partner. I am not saying that conversations with your partner aren’t important. I would say that it is equally important to talk to others too. Everyone needs socialization and there aren’t many things more fun than dinner with good friends, good food and an adult beverage or two, or four.

A perfect solution is an Impromptu Friday Night party where you get to socialize with friends over food and wine. It doesn’t have to be a formal dinner party. In Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide To Supper Clubsa solution is provided where you don’t even need to cook.

My daughter’s mother in law is a great hostess. Her theory is “I don’t cook, but I know where to buy”. Helene and her husband Rick throw great dinner parties where they source everything from local restaurants and markets.

This formula works really well when you coordinate and delegate. You would be amazed how receptive your friends (Overloaded Parents or not) will be to an impromptu invitation. The hostess/host can get texts flying with instructions as simple as:

Kenny’s buying Chinese
Smiths bring red wine
Harper bring beer
Nangle bring white wine
Flora’s bring dessert
All Show up at 7 pm

Voila… you have your solution. You can even simplify further by deciding to meet at a restaurant.

The key is coordination and delegation!