nutritional guidelines

Here's what I'm currently feeding on.  First for the body, from CostoCo, Penn Cove mussels.

I just happened to glance in the fish case and there they were, all netted and cleaned and just begging to be taken home.  So for $15 I got 5 lbs. of the sweetest, plumpest, most tender and delicious mussels imaginable.  Almost 20 years ago Mr. C and I took a trip up to Seattle, Polsbo and Port Townsend.  We went to a little waterfront resto in PT and had big steaming bowls of Penn Cove mussels and have been hooked ever since.  I know we had mussels in Siena, Bruges and Paris, (and the Paris ones were the best) but these were even better.  First we had them in a simple wine-onion-garlic-shallot broth.  We had the rest in our favorite recipe from the NYTimes, mussels with roasted tomatoes and garlic served over fettuccine.   Mr. C bought some excellent cherry tomatoes at the Farmers Market ~ some sweet, some acidic, all with tender skins ~ and roasted them for the sauce.  It was fabulous!  I think there's a little left over for my lunch today.

Second, for the soul, I am about half way through this marvelous read.

If you're as big a fan of books about academia as I am ~ think Lucky Jim, The Groves of Academe, Pictures at an Institution, Richard Russo's Straight Man and Donna Tartt's Secret History (although it's in a somewhat different vein), you'll not want to miss All Souls, a take on life at Oxford as lived by a young Spanish instructor.  He is there for two years and, later in life, is recounting his experiences.  It's wonderfully wry, sardonic, funny and also soulful.  This author, Javier Marais, is new to me and I look forward to reading more of his work.  I should add that, to my ear, the translation from Spanish to English is spot on and rings completely true.

We are continuing to have bright, sunny days here in the valley although it is cold and brisk.  I had a fine walk this morning, tromping through piles of leaves on the sidewalks and streets.  The fireplace is getting good use in the evenings.  This next week is filled with doctor and dentist appointments, a hair cut (at last), and packing for Bozeman and what's become our annual family Thanksgiving.  I've already sent the Trader Joe's care package and it has been received so we're set for snacks.  In truth, we've never gone hungry.