By Mike
(Kristy is recovering from sending Miss A to her first day of school. No tears from Miss A…and only a few from mom.)

I’ve never been one to kill my dinner, though as regular blog readers know, I’ve made exceptions when it comes to lobster.  However, we also tried two other live shellfish on our trek to Maine last month–steamed mussels (coming soon) and clams.

Live clams are gross.

They have these little finger-shaped things that stick out and sort of flop and leak seawater, and frankly the most accurate and vivid descriptions I can come up with for them aren’t really appropriate for a family blog.  What’s cool, though, is that if you tap the tip of these mouths, they come to life!  They stiffen up, spit water, and contract a little.  Tap them again with just a little bit of pressure and they retract back into the shell.  It took a few minutes of playing around with them to figure out exactly how they worked, but once I got the hang of it, it was fun.  Mr. N especially got a kick out of it, and liked making them squirt water.  The fun outweighs the grossness, and to our friend Kelly over at Inspired Edibles, we hope you have a chance and the fortitude to try cooking live clams on your forthcoming trip to Maine. Continue reading →