Early morning walks and Moules façon Philippe. Mussels just like Phil makes.

For a while now I have been getting up ludicrously early of a Saturday and Sunday morning (both of which I work) and walking for half an hour to the nearest tram stop to where I live in order to get to work a bit earlier. On a Saturday morning this means getting up at 5am and leaving the house at 5.40am and on Sunday morning leaving the house at 7.30am. I don't need to be at work until 9.30 but I do love my coffee and steaming fresh almond croissant stop en route.

Last Sunday it was a tad foggy on the main road out of Ruddington and just by the bridge nearest the first tram stop (Ruddington Lane) I saw a large grey dead rat laying un-squished in the road. It looked as if it had just fallen asleep. Along the way I witnessed many a glistening translucent spider's web in the bushes and the trees. Alas I had no time to photograph them.

As it happened it was a morning of frustrations as the tram was only going as far at Wilford Village due to the Robin Hood Marathon taking place in and around the city centre. When I reached the tram stop I had no prior knowledge of this. I wasn't exactly late for work but the delays cut into my 'nice coffee before starting my Sunday shift' moments.

Fields near Ruddington on a foggy Sunday morning.

Foggy Road

A tram replacement bus took me to the outskirts of Nottingham city centre (London Road by the canal) and then I had to walk to the bus station - wait for a bus to take me Beeston hence which (said bus) went a rather circuitous route to Beeston. As I had had a rather fraught night out the evening before I arrived at work in a rather tetchy and tired mood. Thankfully I managed to chill during the busy Sunday shift and actually enjoyed selling a decent amount of fish from the fish counter. The day whooshed by.

Carapelli olive oil used to warm through garlic and parsley

On the previous Saturday evening I fashioned a delicious meal from some fresh Tesco rope grown mussels and added the remainder of a left over spaghetti Bolognese sauce. Inspired from a tomato and onions based dish of mussels I once had in Biarritz France (close to the Spanish border) I invented 'Moules façon Philippe'. Basically it was a kilo of cleaned mussels steamed in a fresh tasting French white wine cooked with chopped organic garlic and fresh green flat leaved parsley with the Bolognese sauce added at the last minute to add extra favour to the already sumptuous peeping orange cooked mussels in their ochre open shells. The original garlic and chopped parsley stalks were warmed through in a sensuous glug of Carapelli olive oil. Additionally I cut off a small amount of sexy St Agur blue cheese and melted it into the final dish. A delightful chat with one of my customers on Saturday afternoon actually inspired this decision. Lastly a cool dash of Crème Fraiche was splashed onto the finished dish. A rapid dash into my French style Mediterranean  garden gave the dish a chance for a photo opportunity (below) and then the food was devoured equally as quickly at my kitchen top.

Moules façon Philippe

St Agur blue cheese

Back to the Sunday evening a blush of autumnal leaves against a white washed wall made my evening complete. Such beauty discovered unexpectedly after an arduous weekend of work.