Stratford upon Avon

Today Lindy took me to see the beautiful town that was home to William Shakespeare. The town is very nice and clean, full of tourists.

We visited the house where Shakespeare was born, the house where he grew-up, and the church where he is buried.

The theater where he used to work is being remodeled, so I was not able to visit. However, just walking on the same streets that Shakespeare walked and seeing his rooms and gardens, and the beautiful park upon the river Avon, with the swans and ducks, oh, just beautiful. Even if you are not a Shakespeare fan, you should visit this town anyway.

We had lunch in a restaurant named “Othello”, all the restaurants, pubs and bars have names related to Shakespeare plays. Anyway, the restaurant did not say much, it had the typical tables with the white tablecloths, very quiet, not much ambience. We had the muscles in a Pernod sauce, and so far, this has been the best meal I have had in a long time. After we eat all the muscles, we did something that you are not supposes to do in public; we cleaned our plates and the bowl with the bread, sucking all the sauce into it, delicious.

Of course being England, most of my visits to other towns are under an umbrella, and today was no exception.

Mussels in Pernod sauce 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 cup chopped fennel   2 cup julienne onions 3 tablespoons minced shallots 2 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 cup Pernod 1/2 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes 2 cups white wine 40 mussels, cleaned and debearded 1/2 cup  chopped parsley

Heat the olive oil in a large pan, saute the fennel, onions and shallots for 2 minutes, add the garlic and the Pernod and cook for a few more minutes.

Add salt and pepper and the tomatoes and wine and bring the liquid to a simmer. Add the mussels and parsley, cover and steam the mussels until all of the shells have opened, about 4-5 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread or baguette.