What did I miss? I thought you were eating in the dining room already. Didn't you post a pic from there just a few days ago?
Retirement + Sheltering = Suspension of Time At least many of us have some freedom of movement/change of scenery. I've thought of getting a part time job just to impose some routing and frame of reference, but I resented being told what to do when I made good money.
I used to eat at a Greek 24 hour diner in my home town. It has been there forever...really great food and a fantastic bakery. They have the best linguine with Cherrystone clams (in the shell) in a red sauce, any time of the day or night. I just finished dinner, but I'd eat a serving of that linguine if it were put in front of me right now.
@John Brunner I know little of clams, or oysters, or if there is a difference, but as a kid, my dad told me the guys at the bar gulped down raw oysters washed down with beer. He even imitated the "slurping gulp" sound they made. Not too impressive; I never tried it. Frank
I don't really like clams all that much...they're a little too strong for my tastes. Mussels are even stronger. I only like clams in that red pasta sauce...and in New England chowder (the white sauce.) I've been clamming (and crabbing) as a kid on the east coast (Ocean City, MD.) You would go to the shallow areas around sand bars and drag a metal garden rake in the sand until you felt it scrape on their shells...then just pick them up and throw them in a basket set in an inner tube you kept floating nearby. I do like oysters. I've had them raw, smoked, fried, steamed. Expensive but good. Milder than clams. Of all the weird places, Hooters has some great shellfish.
Raw oysters are pretty common here on the Gulf coast. My dad loved them, and when I was growing up we'd drive down to near Galveston and buy a bushel of fresh oysters to bring home. We'd spread them on a picnic table in the back yard and daddy would start popping them open. He'd sprinkle them with Tabasco sauce and slurp some of them down, and mama would cook the rest. My husband also loves raw oysters but I prefer mine fried or in a nice oyster stew. I also love fried clams or in a garlic sauce on pasta, but I don't believe I have ever had mussels.
When I was a kid, we would camp outside Ocean City. Every time the tide came in, I would have crab lines out (the old fashioned string/chicken/sinker rigs.) I can't even begin to guess how many I took over the years. That was our big ocean treat. These days, a bushel of Maryland BlueClaw crabs are $150-$200.
Oh yeah, we'd get the "croaker sack" of blue crabs, too. After being dumped out of the burlap and rinsed off (with some valiantly trying to escape) they got tossed into a big pot of boiling water with their claws flailing.
When you mentioned clams in the heading of your post I expected to see clams in their shells hogging up the plate. Nice they just used the innards.
And it's another good meal in the dining room even though there were only four of us a four different tables. Everyone else must be eating in their apartment.