A strange thing happened when I went to the market yesterday. There were no mussels. La saison est terminée the fish monger told me, the season is over. Well, that was news to me. The season for mussels usually runs through January (having started in July). So something seems to have shortened the season this year.
Mussels. Summer 2006.
I left the market and drove up to Super U to see if they had mussels, but they didn't either. So, no mussels for us this New Year's Eve. No worries. I got some shrimp and a nice hunk of salmon for today's lunch. Bon réveillon !
Oh dear. Climate change again? One can only wonder.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the same really. I would have been shattered. Happy 2021.
ReplyDeleteI always find it funny when others act as if something unusual for the year is the norm. We used to have an oyster stew New Year tradition. Do we even HAVE oysters in town I wonder. We dropped he tradition when we arrived in Spain.
ReplyDeleteOhh, dear me...what a shame....thats what we're having this evening, from the English store Sainsburys online and delivered. Hmm, I won't rub it in though. Hope you enjoy your salmon and shrimp! We haven't left our farm in 9 months, but are fortunate to get online deliveries from two or three stores. Happy New Year to you both!
ReplyDeleteI’m sure your lunch today was equally good, just different. We had salmon last night and will have shrimp Scampi tonight. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fishing season was hampered by COVID restrictions, somehow?
ReplyDeleteIn any case... hoping your NYE repas is tasty!
That's disappointing. Shrimp and salmon are worth substitutes though. Happy New Year! We bought our once-a-year Dungeness crab yesterday (already cooked), and it was so salty we couldn't eat it. Did they boil it in salt water instead of steaming it? No idea what happened.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing: the salty crab was from Oregon because our local fisherman are in a price dispute with the wholesalers.
ReplyDeleteraybeard, I have no idea... I'd like to think if something unusual happened in the industry, I would have heard about it on the news.
ReplyDeleteandrew, no, not the same, but it was pretty darned good anyway!
mitch, oysters are abundant in France at New Year's. We've stopped eating them raw after Ken got sick from them a year ago. It wasn't the first time he got sick from raw oysters, either. Oyster stew sounds good, though, so maybe next year!
pats, enjoy them! I will look forward to summer when I should be able to get some.
bettyann, yum! HNY to you, too!
judy, possibly. Most mussels are farmed in France, and many of those operations are family based.
chris, that's weird about the crab. And the labor dispute reminds me of 2008 when we spent a week on the Ile d'Oléron. The fishermen were on strike so there was no fish in the markets. Ugh!
I think it would be fun to try to cook with mussels ( certain pasta dishes come to mind) but there are no mussels in Arizona - or at least none I trust.
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