While vacationing in Bar Harbor, my group of friends spent an evening gathering mussels to cook for dinner.
We arrived at a rocky beach during low tide, not long before the sun set. Everyone scattered across the seaweed covered rocks to dig for mussels.
The work was hard and each newly discovered mussel was a cause for celebration.
Picking mussels was challenging and the novelty wore off all too quickly. The water was cold and the seaweed smelled like rotten eggs. The mussels clung firmly to the rocks and many nails and knuckles were scraped as we worked for our dinners.
The sun finally sank so low on the horizon that it became difficult to see. The crew was forced to retreat with 2 large buckets of fresh mussels.
Within an hour, the hard work had paid off: steamed muscles!
As luck would have it, everyone gathered the exact amount of mussels necessary to satisfy 9 hungry friends. No mussels were left uneaten and no bellies were empty. We were simply left with the memories of an evening spent hard at work on a beautiful beach and the memories of a delicious meal shared in good company.
COMMENTS
2 Comments
1. Sharon
June 8th, 2011 04:19 AM
Boy did you pick a perfect week for vacation! Marvelous photos! I love mussels but unfortunately they don’t love me back.
2. Kim
June 8th, 2011 10:38 AM
Ahh reminds of when I was young and we went clamming. Had to check the tide level and it did stink.