A Grand Aioli: A fitting Celebration for Elena finishing her Thesis

Yesterday, Elena finished her thesis!!!!  It is over 250 pages and looks at how conscripted versus all volunteer military force impacts voting by states.  She finally went to bed before 4 am last night.  We celebrated by having a really nice bottle of champagne and I made one of the 1000 Things to Eat Before you Die called a Grand Aioli.  This is such a great thing-it is a variety of fresh and cooked vegetables paired with seafood (in our case, mussels, clams, shrimp, crab legs and oysters) eaten with home made Aioli sauce.  I had not made Aioli before and was shocked at how simple it is-blend egg yolks, garlic and lemon juice with olive oil.  We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful California spring.  I almost felt like we were in France…