This long weekend my son was at my in-law's, so my husband and I got some of our own time together. Since it was a rainy day, we decided to go to St. Lawrence Market to look for some fresh local vegetables and to stay dry.
Honestly, my husband is not the guy who enjoys looking at vegetables, so he suggested to find something to eat right after we entered the market. It was bustling and filled with people's chatters and laughs, just like any Sunday markets. My heart lifted, I felt alive.
There were a few seafood shops right beside the entrances, but one of the shops in particular offered dine-in service. It brought out our excitement. We have oysters once in a while, but we usually brought them home and shucked them ourselves, because that way was cheaper and more comfortable anyways. It'd been a long time since we sat at the restaurant and enjoyed well prepared oysters that I didn't need to scrub and shuck. We like creamy oysters so we ordered European flats and Blue point oysters, plus some seasonal clams. Our mouths started to water.
Other than the variety of fresh seafood, they also had a pretty complete section of condiments for oysters and clams - rose vinaigrette, mignonette, cocktail sauce, Japanese soy sauce, and lemon wadges. My husband and I tried each on the clams and we both agreed that the best condiment is just a few drop of fresh lemon juice. They were good, but not as fresh as we expected. And they were quite sandy around the edges. Apparently the staff didn't scrub the clams and oysters well before shucking them. We were a bit disappointed.
After we finished the whole tray of seafood, we actually felt like more oysters. The good quality oysters. So we decided to drive to Diana's Seafood across town where we could always buy the best oysters. I was hoping to get a case of sixty, but my husband insisted on just buying the fifteen for the two of us because we would have no way to finish them. But I recalled last time when we bought the oysters, I ate nearly thirty just by myself. I am not kidding. I am truly an oyster craver and I have a very strong stomach for that. We ended up settling on thirty of the European flats. I carefully scrubbed them under running water with a toothbrush as always. They tasted much creamier and fresher than the ones we had this morning, and they were sand free!
I learned how to shuck oysters long ago when I was working at a fine dining restaurant. I used to be able to do it so fast, but now my skill was rusty. And, I started to enjoy just sitting and eatting the shucked oysters rather than serving them. I showed my husband how to do it. He succeeded in one take, which took me nearly ten attempts back then. He showed me a winner's smile and took the shucking knife from my hand. I was delighted. I immediately pulled the bowl of lemon wedges closer to myself and got ready to be served. My husband patiently took on the role until all the oysters were down into our tummies. For a man who rarely set foot in the kitchen, he was very sweet.
I also prepared this mushroom dip for our Entree. You can use white mushrooms instead of the brown ones, but I like the contrasting colours on the dip. Wrap it tightly, and it can keep well for at least 4 days.
INGREDIENTS:
7-9 Brown Button Mushrooms, rinsed
1 pack Cream Cheese, 250 gram
1/3 cup Coriander, leaves only, roughly chopped, squeeze out all the juice
1/2 Lemon of Juice
1/3 teaspoon Sea Salt
材料：
7-9 顆 蘑菇
1 盒 忌廉芝士，250克
1/3 杯 莞茜，葉部份，切碎，搾乾多餘水份
1/2 個 檸檬
1/3 茶匙 海鹽
DIRECTION 做法:
1. Roughly chop the mushrooms and place them in a bowl. Add sea salt and lemon juice and mix well; leave them for about 10 minutes. Squeeze out all the excess juice.
1. 蘑菇切碎，加入大碗內。下海鹽和搾入檸檬汁；拌勻。靜置10分鐘；搾乾水份。
2. In a clean bowl, combine the chopped mushroom, chopped coriander, and cream cheese. With a spatula, mix everything until well combined.
2. 下莞茜和忌廉芝士；用力拌勻便成。
3. Serve it with tortilla chips or crackers. This mushroom dip can be kept in the fridge up to four days.
3. 配以墨西哥玉米片或梳打餅食用。封好，可處存在雪櫃內若4天。
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