A couple food successes

When a good friend threw a package of live mussels into my fridge because she wasn't going to be able to use them before she left on holidays, I really wasn't sure whether they would go to good use.
After all,  I've never cooked mussels and my family is not too crazy about seafood.
But then as if by fate, I had the short notice opportunity to have Anita and Brenda for dinner. My SIL, Brenda is a seafood lover, that I knew. But what I still didn't know was how to cook mussels. So Google became my friend and I found a recipe that looked simple enough and off I went. Turns out mussels are really easy to cook and they were delicious, if I do say so myself. Actually my lovely guests said so too. But as for my non-seafood loving kids...I didn't convert them. Anita actually paid Reagan and Cooper $5 to try one, which they both did. Cooper actually ate a few more but Reagan ate only the one to get her five dollar bill and then ate a bowl of cereal.
But I still call this a culinary success.



My second success was our meal of watermelon and rollkuchen. This wasn't an experiment or a first try. I have made them a couple times before, but somehow I never think I am going to be able to cook them like my Mom did. She is on my mind the whole time I roll out the dough, twist the little rectangles and do the frying. I think I am trying to channel her somehow to make them turn out as light and lovely as hers always did.
 
 
 
After my first bite, I realized quickly that these are not my Mom's rollkuchen. A little tough and just not the same. But the looks on the faces of those that I cook for as they walk into the kitchen and see them piling high in the dish and the smiles as the enjoy them is why I still consider this another culinary success.