More rain overnight, another dull, cloudy morning.  As long as the rain continues to fall overnight and clear up by noon, we’re good with that.

A couple of months ago, Steve had discovered the Tregastel Aquarium during some casual web surfing.  Peter was also aware of it and we decided today was the best day to visit.  It is a very unique structure in that it is built into the Pink Granite Coast rock formations and was once a chapel, an arms depot during the war, a home, and a museum.  Now, it’s a very interesting aquarium.  It wasn’t as big as I was expecting but it’s very well done and we had Florian, who popped in and out to provide educational information.  It was a bit of a challenge to get some good photos as I couldn’t use my flash, I didn’t bring a tripod and, besides, the inhabitants wouldn’t pose and smile.

                                                                                                      

There is an acrylic bubble built into one of the displays that children can crawl into, then poke their heads up and be right in the middle of all the fish. I kept looking at this and moving on, then looking at it again and moving on, and looking at it again… Finally, I couldn’t resist my inner child and crawled on my hands and knees, under the display and poked my head up into the bubble. The pictures I took of the fish around me didn’t turn out, but Steve took a video of me, which you can watch here.

It was still a bit early so we drove down the coast a bit, taking some more back roads, and ended up in Lannion where we stopped for a drink (un apero).

Steve wanted to cook our own mussels for dinner tonight but Jan and I weren’t too keen on that.  We compromised and settled on scallops.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find any fresh ones in the Super U, so bought frozen ones.  I found 3 different recipes on Google, then combined some of each to come up with my own Scallops in Cream Sauce on Linguini,  It turned out so well, I will definitely do it again.  Here’s my made up recipe – serves 6:

• Sauté finely chopped onion (or shallots or green onions) and garlic in a healthy dose of butter and a bit of olive oil (only so the butter doesn’t burn) until soft
• Add ground pepper, crushed thyme, a bit of paprika, 1 cup white wine (or a bit more), dijon to taste
• Add scallops, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes
• Add 1 cup (or a bit more) of crème fraiche and stir until sauce thickens a bit
  • If it doesn’t thicken, don’t worry – the moment you add freshly grated parmesan in your bowl, it will thicken up beautifully
• Spoon scallops and sauce over pasta in individual bowls, serve with fresh baguette and salad

We had enough live (huge) escargots crawling outside our kitchen door to dish up as an appetizer for all of us but, somehow, they didn’t seem as appealing on the wall and the patio floor as they do sizzling hot in garlic butter on a plate in a restaurant – so we closed the door and left them alone.