Monday, February 23rd - Thai food and Mussels

Breakfast was Natures Optimum Power with milk. I mixed in Heritage Grain flakes to counter act the sweetness.

Lunch, D and I met J at Simply Thai on Hamilton St. below Davie for Lunch. It's fine, like 2.5/5. It's not great. It's fine. I don't know if that was a lunch menu we ordered from. Let's just say, it's slightly too pricey for lunch or slightly too cheap for dinner.

The reason I say it's fine is because I had the Pad Kee Mow. It's my favorite over Phad Thai, which my friend J had. I'll admit, I was glad to see it wasn't that terrible ketchupy variety you get at the Thai House chain. But my Pad Kee Mow had the same noodles as the Phad Thai. It shouldn't the noodles should be thicker and wider. That's why I love it. Also there should have been more thai basil. There was hardly any. Also, I ordered spicey, it was not. As well, I ordered shrimp and this was the only dish for which shrimp was 2 bucks more. That's such a pisser. Anyhoo, they gave me a decent amount of them but they were those cheap tiny variety you might seen in a can. If I had to choose, I'd go for the Urban Thai place just up the road, also on Hamilton Street.

Dinner is Mussels in an Anise (pastis) and Tomato broth.

4 pounds medium black mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
2.5 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup minced shallots
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
1/3 cup dry white wine
4 tablespoons pastis

large pot with coverscrub brush colander
1. Put the mussels in a large pot of cold water. With your hands and a small scrub brush, remove the "beard" and any grime from the outside of the shells. Drain in a colander and set aside. Discard any mussels with open shells. (Try tapping on the open ones; if they close, they're okay.)2. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When it's hot, add the shallots and cook 2-3 minutes, until they just begin to soften. Stir in the garlic, mussels and pastis. Boil 30 seconds.
3. Add the tomato sauce and wine. Stir, then cover the pot and turn the heat up to medium-high. Steam the mussels until they open. (Discard any mussels that haven't opened after 7-8 minutes.) Sprinkle with parsley and stir to coat the mussels with the sauce.

The recipe originally called for 6 T of pastis and that's what we used and it was too much.

We had a loaf of sour dough bread and toasted it for dipping.

The pastis was a bit overpowering and we both love the anise flavour and fennel and all that jazz but this was too much. It could have been the choice of wine we used. I wouldn't recommend this recipe. But I do want you to know that mussels are super easy to make. The classic is just the wine and tomatos and onion and garlic. The classic belgian is with fries on the side with flavoured mayo and beer.

mmmmmm