Seafood and I are okay friends, but not best friends. 

I didn’t grow up eating a lot of sea life. Our church, at that time, followed the clean and unclean animal eating laws laid out in the book of Leviticus. Believe it or not, there are a lot of seafood no no’s on that list.

As an adult now, I have discovered I like a lot of the seafood on the no no’s list. I have a real love of shrimp, and one of my favorite fancy restaurant entrees are scallops. 

One thing I have never developed a taste for are oysters, clams, mussels etc.  Ever the polite guest, I will eat them if they are placed in front of me, but they are not my first, second, third, fourth… choice.  

All this is said so you will understand the angst when I tell you what happened to me at a restaurant in Ireland. This misunderstanding all stems from simple reading comprehension. And mamas, when you are in a foreign country, I suggest you read the menus carefully and SLOWLY. 

Hubby and I were selecting an appetizer to share.  The restaurant had fewer options, so it didn’t take long to zero in on the mussel and prawns appetizer.  As I confessed earlier, I have a love of shrimp, what could be better? How about a prawn; a super sized shrimp? Yes, please!

In selecting this appetizer, I just assumed I would take the prawns and hubby could eat the mussels. Everybody wins!  Well that is how it should have gone.

Instead, this was delivered to our table.

Mamas, can you see any prawns? Me neither!

Not fully convinced that this was my mistake, I asked our server about the prawns. It turns out; the mussels are served in a prawns sauce.

You know that life saying about being given lemons and making lemonade. That was me. I was given a bowl full of mussels, of my own choosing even, and I had to deal with it. Now I had help eat a bowl of mussels.

Mamas, life is going to present you with countless mussel moments.  

Sometimes your only option is to simply ‘muscle’ your way through it.