Woohoo!!! and a recipe

I got my partner at the Summer Yarn Swap, my good friend Libby!!!! I'm very very excited about it!!!!!

Yesterday was a belated surprise dinner to celebrate my eldest brother's birthday. I could not take any photos for a very simple reason: there was a storm and a blackout.

We were already at my brother's when the blackout came, so we had a candlelit dinner... wanna know the menu?

- Shrimp Sushi

- Yakimeshi (with chicken, beef and shrimp)

- Chow Mein

- Spring Rolls

- Fried Cheese Wraps

- Fried breaded Shrimp

- Sweet and sour pork

-Garlic Bread

Now, I did my best effort to eat some of everything cause my SIL and my nieces and nephew had worked so hard on the menu, but I had this for lunch:

Shrimp cocktail

(serves two adults and two little kids who squirm and

jump and pretty much never eat while sitting down)

1 pound of shrimp, your choice of size, washed. I like to get the ones without head because my girls freak out if they see them whole in their soup bowl, but I leave the skin and tail.

1/2 pound fresh peas (in the pod. Yes, you will have the extra step of shelling them but they taste so much better than the canned type!)

1/2 pound Chickpeas (if they are dry, soak them in water since the day before. At morning change the water and leave them soaking again)

Garnishes:

1 tomato, diced

1/2 an onion, diced

2 cucumbers, seeded and diced

1 avocado, cubed.

2 lemons, quartered

Ketchup

Chiplotle sauce if you like it

Here's how to do it, super simple and tasty

About an hour and a half before dinner, put the peas and drained chickpeas in a deep pan with lots of water (if you like it stocky... I like all kinds of soup, and usual ly add lots of water so I can have lots of shrimp stock) to boil, then lower the heat to medium. Add just a little salt, because the shrimp tend to be salty.

While the peas are cooking you can dice the garnishes.

Ten minutes or so before you serve dinner, bring the heat back up and add the shrimp. As soon as the shrimp turn pink, lower the heat again and let cook for a couple of minutes, no more, or the shrimp will turn chewy instead of crunchy. Taste for saltyness. Try to leave it just a little salty (a little!) cause with all the garnishes it will change the flavor a bit.

Serve in bowls. Add garnish to taste.

Isn't it yummy? We had BIG BOWLS of the thing!

Can you tellme how could I possibly eat after having shrimp cocktail? and a lot of it??

Someone is trying to sabotage my diet, and that someone is staring at me in the bathroom's mirror!! LOL!

Happy crafty weekend, friends!