Lunch at the Better Duck

Noodles Yet Again

I shucked the top necks and opened a fresh box of Trader Joe’s Japanese noodles. The chef at the Better Duck makes them from scratch. I have never done that, but he and the cook on the Research Vessel Bowser are both master noodle makers.

I shucked the top necks, saved them and the liquor from every clam in a bowl. There were four dead ones. I knew when I opened the container from the fish market. Any top neck that shucks easy is dead already. Dead clams can make you sick. They stink. I was a little disappointed but the rest of the three dozen were better than fine. I ate a dozen raw.

I have no fresh garlic, so I started dried minced garlic in the pan with olive oil, a half a can of diced tomatoes, and the clams I cut in the bowl with scissors. I added pepper and dried parsley. Lastly two of the three packages of noodles from the box. I let them simmer in the broth, and that was that.

I did this cooking today after eleven hours plus in the littoral zone starting not long after dawn. Life During War Time at the Better Duck Inn. Field work comes before respite. Those noodles tasted delicious. I forgot to take a picture.

This one here Below is from Sandy Hook looking west toward the Earle Pier. I took it this morning on my way to Keyport to buy clams.

From the driver’s seat of The Red Rocket (2011 Honda Crosstour) today. The very same one that I drove to California in 2011 and back to New Jersey in 2021.