Give children time to experience life on the shore, on the beach or on the rock.
By Anders Geertsen, July 2016
Since the children were small, we have bathed and played in water. We are perhaps above average fond of the wet element and share it with children. Regardless of what we've learned from new freediving techniques, how deep we've dived or how long we've held our breath, we discover that it's the plain and simple that gives us the best shared experiences. It is the time and the experience together that matter most, not what we have caught or how deep we have dived.
We never get tired of the simple stone soup from the shore. Over time, it has been tried in countless variations. It gives everyone on the shore a gathering point and something to share. The most important ingredient is a stone from the sea, followed by mussels, flounder, crab and some seaweed. One of our easiest recipes consists of steaming all the ingredients in a little seawater and pouring ready-made tomato soup over it, alternatively cream with broth.
No matter what is made, it tastes heavenly when you are near the sea in a wetsuit. The taste is good even for those who participate without a wetsuit.
For those who wonder whether it is safe to eat mussels, we have followed a simple rule that you can always eat a couple of mussels. If the mussels are poisonous, you will notice it after eating a few, but you will manage. When we want to eat a lot of mussels, we test them the day before by letting someone in the family eat 3-5. Mussels do not go bad from one day to the next and can therefore be eaten in larger numbers if the selected test subject is well the following day.
For the children, home-caught fish and shellfish is always a winner. For the pickiest of us, bread dipped in the power of beach soup is impossible to resist.
