Aarrgh I'm meltiiiiing

Summers in Melbourne are not a pretty sight. It must be 40 degrees celsius today. There's a breeze blowing, but it's only hot air moving around. I dragged the fan into my study, but it's not offering much respite. It's still hot, sticky, and awful. I brought an icy cold drink up five minutes ago, and it's already warm! The cats are stretched out downstairs in the living room looking thoroughly miserable. Chris has been dunking them every day to try to keep their temperature down. It makes them very angry! Poor things, especially Mika, who doesn't seem to have shed her winter coat.

Last night, I cooked mussels for the first time in my life. Well, I cooked black local mussels for the first time. I've cooked the normal New Zealand mussels before (the big, fleshy ones that are frozen). I was so inspired by the simplicity of the mussels at the Pavillion that I thought I'd give it a go myself. I bought them fresh from my favourite fishmonger in Box Hill. Their seafood is consistently fresh and juicy. They were pretty cheap - I got over a kilo of mussels for $8. I also bought some fresh roma tomatoes and an onion. When we got home, I chucked the mussels in the sink with some water, and was quite put off by the obvious fact that the mussels were still alive :( I felt awful, but the desire for fresh seafood overcame my pity for the poor mussels, so I began to clean the shells and pull out the beards.

After I was finished, I chopped up the tomatoes and onions, chucked them in a big pot with a good slush of shiraz, minced garlice and half a teaspoon of red curry paste, then brought it all to a boil. When the onions has softened slightly, I threw the mussels in there, popped the lid back on, and waited. It only took about five minutes for the mussels to cook, and the smell was amazing. I was a bit worried that it would be bland as I hadn't added any salt, but mussels have their own briny flavour, so it tasted amazing. I think it would have been better if I'd used white wine instead of red, but it was all I had in the kitchen :) Even Chris liked them, and he isn't a big fan of mussels. I'll definitely be cooking them again. There's something about summer that makes me crave fresh seafood over meat.


We also have a new addition to the kitchen - a wine bar! Chris bought and assembled it for me yesterday because I've been eyeing it for ages. I finally have a place to put our wine and liquors! I feel so grownup ;)