Moules frites, or, a Nice Day

Yesterday, while I was walking around in Monaco, I got the idea to make "moules frites", or, mussels with fries back at the hostel kitchen. This is an old favorite of mine from the Canoe Club in Hanover, although pretty much anything served with their fries will be tasty. So, while I was out on the town in Nice today I bought up the various ingredients. One of the main attractions is the flower market in the old town. It consists of flower and produce vendors and is open every morning. I picked up some violet garlic from Provence (the French Departement where Nice is) and some green onions there. After a day of sightseeing, panoramic views of the city, and lots of sun on the beach, I picked up some white wine and fresh mussels on the way home. The wine I got from a wine shop, where I used my steadily improving French skills to explain that I needed a wine that I could use for both cooking and for drinking. The woman working there gave me a suggestion of what looked to be a local wine that she explained was good for my purposes because it was a little less dry than some of the others. It was only three euros, awesome! The mussels I picked up from a place that appeared to be a restaurant that also sold seafood out in front.

Making the moules frites was actually more work than I anticipated. You have to clean the mussels before hand, but other than that it went very smoothly, so while everybody else was eating the house pizzas for the third night in a row, I treated myself to delicous seafood.

But the Canoe Club ones are still better.

Now I just have to find the Canadians I've been hanging out with, who went out to dinner and probably aren't coming back. We've hung out at the hostel together the last two nights, but not out in the town. I know the guys are looking to get smashed and the girls might be as well. This will be my last night in Nice, so I want to make sure I see the city at night, some of the things around town look to be fitted with flood lights and I bet the place looks amazing at night as well as in the day.