The word Mussel comes from Latin. Mus is an affix, meaning mouse, so the Latin meaning of Mussel is "little mouse".

I think this is named after the shape of the Mussel's shell.

? This is the first time I know the name Mussel. It is the official Chinese name of Mussel.

Mussel, before you figure out its exact Chinese name, there will be no mistake in using English.

Mussels have different names and calls in different regions.

In Hong Kong and Macau, mussels are called mussels.

In the Chaoshan area, it is called "green spoon" or "green spoon", which is very similar to the name in Hong Kong and Macao, because the inner shell edge of the mussel is green.

In Taiwan, it is called "green shell clam", and there is also a common name of "peacock clam".

In the northern Bohai Bay area, it is called "Haihong" or "Haihong". It is said that the flesh of Mussel is orange-red, but the flesh of male Mussel is white.

In addition, Mussel has many other names, such as: Chrysanthemum, Red Clam, Lady of the East China Sea, Emerald Mussel.

? It seems that there are quite a lot of names for Mussel. Mussel should be the most popular name at the moment.

Since mussel is its official name, let's use that name.

? After dinner yesterday, Lao Xiao went to Costco to buy milk and fruit.

When he came back, he was smiling and happy, and besides milk and fruit, there was ice cream, cheese, baguettes and other things.

What made him happy was that he was holding two boxes of fresh Mussels in his hands, weighing about 5 or 6 pounds.

He wanted me to burn a box at that time, but we had already had dinner, so I said, "Let's do it tomorrow. It's better to eat less at night."

?Nanjing is on the Yangtze River and far away from the sea, so we almost never had fresh mussels before moving to Toronto.

When we first arrived in Toronto, what we ate the most was seafood. Lao Xiao loved it, especially all kinds of snails and shells. He never got tired of eating them. Shrimp has become less rare.

? At that time, I learned how to cook soup with Mussels from a Fujian friend.

In fact, it is very simple to make, but very delicious.

Cut some minced garlic and ginger, sauté in oil until fragrant, then add washed mussels, add water until the water level is equal to the mussels, then add some winter melon slices and salt, cook until the winter melon becomes translucent, sprinkle with some chopped green onion and eat

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Yesterday, what Lao Xiao wanted to eat was not the mussels and winter melon soup. He no longer remembered this soup, but another way of making mussels.

That was the method we learned when we stayed at his classmate's house the summer before last.

? Fiona went to French kindergarten when she was young, and later went to elementary school, also French Immersion.

At that time, Fiona was asked to speak Chinese at home, in school she spoke English to her classmates, and in class she spoke French to her teacher.

Fiona was not a verbally gifted child.

Alas, Chinese parents are all big-hearted.

In order to keep her from giving up French, Lao Xiao and I made a promise to her: In the summer of seventh grade, we would take her to Paris.

This move was really powerful. Later, Fiona became good at English and French.

? If our children work hard, we as parents cannot break our promises.

Last summer, Lao Xiao and I accompanied Fiona to Paris.

Fiona loves that city so much. She loves everything about Paris: the food and drink, the scenery, the streets, the Louvre, the Seine.

? The family of Lao Xiao’s middle school classmate is in The Hague.

So we took the Eurostar high-speed train from Paris to the Netherlands and got off in Amsterdam.

We walked into the windmill and felt how cold the sea breeze was in the Nordic summer.

When we saw so many bicycles, we were really shocked. Sure enough, the title of Bicycle Kingdom is not false.

? In The Hague, we lived in the home of classmate Lao Xiao.

We went to the Mauritshuis Museum, the International Court of Justice, and Swan Lake.

They treated us to herrings and mussels, and while drinking French red wine, they recalled the food, beauty, and stories of Nanjing.

? From then on, in Lao Xiao's mind, mussels was connected to his classmates, to the friendship between classmates, and to the young days and green years when we were both in Nanjing more than 20 years ago.

? Today, I cooked mussels using Lao Xiao’s method.