I'm Living For Givin' the Devil His Due

You're probably wondering where I've been the past few weeks. Well, I've either been in front of my computer or out photographing. There was a minor head injury that had me laid up for a week, but other than that, I swear I haven't been lounging around watching television! I finally feel like I have a handle on my editing (thank you, patient clients) and I can make a (triumphant?) return to blogging.

As you know from previous food posts, I've been working on a book entitled Boston Homegrown. It profiles Boston-area restaurants/chefs who rely on locally-sourced foods - produce, meats, and fish. I am not in charge of the text, but I am in charge of the photographs. It has been an awesome inspiring experience. I have loved every minute of getting to know the chefs and the farmers. I thought photographers were a passionate bunch! The dedication and love that these men & women infuse into their days astounds me. I can't wait to share other food posts with you, and eventually the book, of course!

This summer, I visited a chef at his house and was greeted with an enthusiastic, "I hope you're hungry!" It was amazing! Now, I should preface this by saying, I'm no fish eater. My general rule is that if it swims/breathes underwater, I'm avoiding it. So what do I do when I am faced with a multi-course fish meal? Smile and eat it! For the purposes of this post, I'm just highlighting the clams!

These clams came straight from Pat Woodbury's and were super-fresh!


So fresh, in fact, that when I squeezed a little lemon juice on to this guy, he recoiled (in my head, it screamed, too, like a cartoon yelp). Yup. That's right. Still alive. And my lovely cheffing companion said, "Did it move? It's still alive! That's how fresh they are!" What a treat! Well, live clam, down the hatch you go!


Clams in a pan. Sort of like snakes on a plane, but less dangerous.


Cooked clams. These guys went on to garnish the main dish, but that's for another post.


It was a pretty amazing day! This is only a fraction of the photos I took. I imagine that you weren't expecting clams as my first post back, but rest assured there will be people pictures coming up, too!

(Re: post title - the song is by Blue Oyster Cult - both clams and oysters are a class of mollusks called bivalves, so that's pretty close. Plus, I have to save "Pulling Mussels" in case I get an actual mussel dish.)