While going through my spending of August I realized that I spend way to much eating lunch outdoors. Most of the time the food isn’t as tasteful like if I made it myself. For the month of September I’m going to try to make my lunch everyday instead of buying it. Note: not that I buy lunch everyday but I do more then I should.
I love sandwiches, I already eat sandwiches daily for breakfast but mostly nothing fancy. For the month of September I’ll be making sandwiches everyday for lunch(or breakfast). I’ll be starting with products I already have in my fridge with the exception of a few that I still need to buy or make.
- Thin sliced salami
- Amsterdam Old cheese
- Mushrooms
- Tomato paste
- Edam cheese
- Gouda Smoked cheese
- Sweet Chili Sauce
- Wholemeal bread
- Bacon
- Lettuce
- Tomato
- Mayonnaise
- Mustard
The purpose is to save money and to learn more sandwich recipes, trying out new things.
I’ll try to do a write up of the sandwiches that I liked most and a daily photo of each lunch sandwich. This will also push me to take early morning trips to the bakery to get different breads that sell out fast. I will also be searching for recipes and possible combination for a sandwich. Hot and cold sandwiches are game.
This week I was engrossed again in making a “perfect” steamed mussels. I had an old friend come over for dinner and I make mussels about once a year so I don’t get to practice it a lot. After consulting my sisters boyfriend who is a restaurant cook and reading many recipes I settled for the following recipe;
Steamed Mussels or Moules Marinières
- 2kg of fresh mussels
- 1 small white onion finely chopped
- 1 leek stalk cut in rings, discard green leaves
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 carrot diced
- a handful flat parsley chopped
- unsalted butter
- olive oil
- 1 1/3 cup of white wine, preferably a Pinot Blanc
Make sure to use only mussels that are closed, rinse them in cold water and give them a good shake.
I never measure butter and olive oil, but if you are unsure there are plenty of recipes that say how much as those ingredients are standard. My motto is “don’t hold back on the butter”.
Use a deep pan, any will do as long as the mussels fit in it and there still rest some space for when they all open up.
Add butter and olive oil, add the onion, garlic, leek, carrot and cook until fragrant. Add the parsley and mix well. Add all the mussels and pour the wine over the mussels. Put the lid on the pan and let the liquids boil while steaming the mussels. Keep checking if they have opened, I had to raise the fire a bit to get the liquid steaming. Once the mussels start opening stir them with a wooden spoon, cover the pan. Repeat this 2 or three times. As soon as the mussels start opening they should be done in 5 to 8 minutes.
Serve them in deep bowls with the liquid pored over over them, serve with bread or french fries.
The new plates
While in the city shopping for last things needed for dinner I noticed that iittala has a 50% off sale. I already own four pieces of their turquoise Teema dinner plates and I’ve been wanting their deep bowl for a while but they are not exactly cheap. So when I saw that they are currently 50% off I could not pass it up.
I bought 4 pieces of the deep bowl in turquoise and 4 pieces of a small sized deep bowl in olive green. The deep bowl was perfect for serving the mussels. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take a photo of the mussels served(above photo is one I got online) in my new bowls.
I’m now pretty happy with the selection of dinnerware I have. I have the complete IKEA 365+ dinnerware in white which combines nicely with the iittala dinnerware
