It’s Father’s Day, Y’all (that’s an ironic ‘Y’all’ as I am not from the south). So, I guess that means once a year we have to get off our high horses and pretend that the men in our lives are deserving of our praise and appreciation. Insert: massive eye roll.

I am kidding of course, without dads who would we have to call when our cars break down, or we need someone to help us move some furniture ORRRRRR that one time I flushed my cell phone down an Ikea toilet (thanks dad!). WHO WOULD WE HAVE TO MAKE SILLY FACES TO COUNTER MOMS SERIOUSLY-I’M-NOT-LAUGHING FACE?!

In reality, dad plays a different role than mom sometimes but are just as important. In my house, we have only been mom and dad for 2+ years now (if you don’t count all the fur kids) and Brett definitely compensates in the areas I lack. I won’t delve into details anymore as I am very tired writing this and it already shows by my concession that I am not do-it-all super mom.

In this post, I just wanted to share how our family had a simple celebration for an anything but simple guy. My husband is used to one-off celebrations, his birthday every few years falls on Thanksgiving, so we are occasionally celebrating the day before or night after. He’s not one for the fanfare and attention and since we are going to a few BBQs on father’s day that celebrates all the dads in our families I wanted to make sure that we did something just for him!

Of course, the best way for me to show my love and appreciation is through cooking-

TIS WHAT I DO.

You know what they say- The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and while I may have gotten there too many times (since Brett has been on a crazy diet lately) he conceded for one night and let me cook up some of his favorite things.

I love mussels. You can cook them so many different ways, they’re cheap and a crowd pleaser! You really can’t go wrong with a big pot of mussels, that cooks in less than 10 minutes, a big crusty loaf of bread and some wine.

When you pick them up from the store, I like to make sure they’re still alive. If you see some open ones- I generally give them a few taps on the shell with my finger. If they close down, you’re good to go. If they are still hanging open, they’re dead and we don’t want to eat those! When you get them home make sure to scrub them down. I like to fill my sink with some cold water and scrub them and look for anything that looks off, broken shells, heavier than normal ones (probably full of sand), or ones that may not be closing.

You also want to debeard them, I got lucky and most had already been removed but I was able to find a few to include. I’ve read different ways to remove, some say to pull them out (but pull down towards the hinge) and some say to just cut them off with a paring knife since mine were farm raised and not so heavy duty I went with the latter.

Simple white wine, butter, garlic, shallot, and herbs (from the garden!) are thrown in a pot with a lid, steam them for 5 minutes (until they are open), and serve! They are so easy to throw together. I hope to share a few more ways I’ve done them over time but I figured I’d go simple and classic tonight since this was just our first course.

We’ve been on a corn on the cob kick since it started showing up in the grocery stores with the warmer weather. I love to just clean them up, soak them well and throw them on the grill. Can’t get much easier than that. I try to do as much as I can on the grill in the summer.

The main “dad’s staple” of course was 2 bone-in Rib-eyes that fell off the bone. Turned my grill on low and threw some gorgonzola on it. Brett is a big blue cheese fan, it makes a regular appearance on our cheese boards (…sometimes it’s the only cheese on our cheese board…) so I, of course, had to add a little extra “treat yo self” finishing touch to them.

 

During dinner, we opened cards, gifts and shared some giggles about Mussels/Muscles.

So, I hope all you dads out there have a wonderful and relaxing day!  We couldn’t do it without you.

And (enough about Brett) a very special Happy Father’s day to my dad! The OG dad who inspired my cooking hobby with his own talents and interests and continues to just be an all-around huge influence and important person in my life. (Let’s see if he even reads this far.)

 

 

 

Next week we’re off for dad’s birthday/family vacation to Block Island again so I will definitely have a little post on how we change things up this year!