Bomb Diggity

Does anyone LOVE Pandora like I do? Ok, maybe I'm behind the times, but I just discovered it thanks to James and a late night involving entirely too much rum. I have created my perfect radio station. A mix of all of my favorite music in the whole world. A sampling includes Bob Marley, Buena Vista Social Club (and now other fun Cuban music is in the mix), Jack Johnson's surf soundtracks, Carla Bruni (the French Prime Minister's wife, incredible voice and guitar talent), Finley Quaye, Katie Melua, Slightly Stoopid, Xavier Rudd, the list goes on and on. They make a station based on what you like, adding in all kinds of musicians you've never heard of. I'm hooked. The best part about it, it's free! This morning I mixed it up and created a Reggae station. It has a great beat for typing. Plus you can't beat Red Red Wine first thing in the morning.

I bought a new light yesterday for my food photo shoots. I hope it does it's job. I never realized how difficult lighting can be when you are trying to take pictures of food. I've seen some pretty bad food photography and it just makes you not want to try that recipe. I also splurged and bought a set of white plates. They are actually the same plates as the ones at Norman's Cay Beach Club, so it brings back good memories to use them. Now my pictures are looking more legit. I can appreciate my mother-in-law's taste in dining ware, but I just feel like my ginger citrus pasta could have looked more appetizing on some crisp white plates.

My goal yesterday was not to go to the store. Well I went to Super Target to get my light and plates, and I bought bananas (for Dave), so technically I did go to the store. But I wanted to see what I could make with what I had on hand. Some of the best recipes transpire from not going to the store. I feel like I've been eating pasta every night - we brought spaghetti and meatballs over to Grandma's on Sunday - so I wanted to diversify. I searched through Saveur.com's recipes looking for a light-ish shrimp dish. There was a tequila shrimp that popped out at me, until I came across a Thai shrimp in garlic sauce. Ok folks, this is officially the "bomb-diggity" - the words of Chef Susan at The Majestic Cafe when something was exceptional. You will LOVE this. And it's super easy. It took me all of 20 minutes to make it. Dave didn't get home until 6:30 last night and wanted to go for a beer. We went to our usual spot, Lansdowne Street, just up the road. It's a New England theme bar, dark cozy interior with a huge stained glass window on the wall. They have a good selection of craft beer, which keeps us coming back. I got a Flying Dog Imperial Porter and Dave tried Gordon Double IPA from Oskar Blues Brewery, which was the best beer in a can I have ever tried. Anyways, my point being, we didn't get out of there until 8:30 and Dave was hungry. As soon as we got back I put some white rice on to cook - 20 minutes. I was done with the rest of the meal by the time the rice was done. My only issues that made me initially hesitate with making this dish was the oyster sauce that it called for. You can't omit oyster sauce. But since I wasnt going to the store, I looked up oyster sauce alternatives. I love Google. Ask and you shall receive. It took me a bit to track down an easy alternative. A lot of them called for boiling down oysters - if I dont have oyster sauce on hand, what makes you think I will have oysters? The easiest one was just a mixture of ketchup, soy sauce and hot sauce. I also happened to have celery and onion, so I sauteed the celery and onion the same way I did the shrimp. Put the celery in first because it takes a while to soften. So here we go - best recipe of the week, so far.

Shrimp in Garlic Sauce

Recipe adapted from Appon's Thai Food

serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil

5 cloves garlic - chopped

1 tsp butter

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce - recipe below

1 lb frozen uncooked shrimp

1 tsp flour

1 tsp water

Oyster Sauce

1/8 cup ketchup

1 tsp soy sauce

dash of hot sauce - I used Cholula

Thaw shrimp in colander under cool running water. Remove shells and tails.

Combine ingredients for oyster sauce in small bowl.

In large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and stir for a few seconds, until fragrant. Don't let the garlic burn. Add butter and stir in until melted. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce and stir until blended. Add shrimp and cook for about a minute, until pink.

Mix flour and water in separate bowl and add to pan. Cook for another minute until sauce is thickened. Serve over white rice.