Small Bites … Adventures in Downsizing

Jan Kinzel

 

Are clams happy ?  I can’t really say, but if they were oysters I am assured that they would be. Oysters live in a home that is coated in luminescent mother of pearl and when something as small as a grain of sand irritates them, they create a beautiful pearl. Oh, why can’t a clam be more like an oyster? For that matter, why can’t I be more like an oyster! In the process of downsizing, there are many irritants and when something irritates me…well, let’s just say I didn’t produce many pearls!

A tip I would like to pass along in regards to moving into a smaller space is to keep the living space clear of moving boxes and stacks of stuff. This is what we did and it was very smart. Our interior space looked beautiful and peaceful. However, the garage was a different matter and it really bothered me. We had a “catch-22” situation out there because when the movers brought the boxes it filled the entire garage! We couldn’t unpack the boxes until we had storage built and we couldn’t have the storage built until the boxes were unpacked!

The young man who built the storage, which, by the way, lines 3 walls of our garage and provides plenty of storage, was creative. He built a section at a time and we would empty boxes onto the new shelving. It took three full weeks, but the results are great. And here’s another little tip, instead of hinged doors, all of the shelving has sliding doors.  That means when we need to retrieve items from storage we don’t have to move our cars out of the garage in order to open the closet doors. When all of the sliders are closed the garage is lined in white, not totally unlike the oyster’s home!

 

CLAM CHOWDER A LA MY MOTHER-IN-LAW

This is a very simple and delicious recipe and the first of many dishes I learned from her. She was a great teacher to me in so many wonderful ways.

 

3 cans fancy minced clams, including juice
2 bottles clam juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small to medium yellow onion, diced
1/3 cup flour
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 carrots, peeled and cubed
3 stalks of celery, including the leaves, cubed
2 bay leaves
Salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups half & half cream

A few chives for garnish

Sauté the onions in the olive oil until they soften. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the vegetables and stir so they are coated with the oil and onion mixture. Add the clams and the bottles of juice, bay leaves and seasoning. Simmer until the veggies begin to soften. Bring to a boil just until the flour thickens the soup. Bring heat back down to a simmer and add the cream. Serve piping hot in deep bowls. Snip the chives over the  top to add some color and flavor. The chowder may also be served in bread bowls as they do on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. To prepare the bread bowls, scoop out the white bread, leaving the crusty shells intact. In the oven, toast the shells until crispy on the inside. Toasting them keeps them from getting soggy. Ladle the soup into the bread bowls and serve at once.

*To enhance and update the soup a bit, add some prosciutto bits with the onions in the sauté pan and substitute fresh clams for the canned ones. Get these from a trusted fish counter. For the fresh clams, cut away the dark parts and discard. Chop the clams and add them and their juice just before the cream.

 

TIP: I want to be as happy as a clam ..er..oyster.  Don’t you?

Philippians 4:12 …for I have learned to be content in all of my circumstances….