G = Grilled Mussels

My Aunt Mary and her husband Uncle Arthur are caretakers of a fish cage in Bolinao, Pangasinan, and because of it, the population of mussels and oysters doubled (and tripled) in no time. When mom and I went there for a vacation last July, the driver had a pleasurable time getting some mussels that thrive in the plastic drums that acted as a floating device for the small hut in between the fish cages.

Normally, my Aunt would drop a rope and wait until the mussels attach to it, and because neither her nor her husband knew how to dive without proper gear, they weren't able to harvest the mussels attached to the inner part of the drums. The driver (he said) grew up near the water, too, and because he now lives in the city, he missed diving so much that he went from one drum to another to gather the mussels. On that day, we were set to go to a beach house to enjoy the sea and the sands, and he wanted to have some grilled mussels for lunch.

Believe it or not, he gathered half a sack of mussels that time! Very fresh seafood doesn't really need any seasonings at all, we just line up the mussels in the grill and wait for it to open up. Each one of us prefer our own dippings, but personally, I preferred dipping it on spicy vinegar. Ummm yum!

*** Jenn ***