BAKING AND SHRIMPING!

For my birthday my brother and sister in law sent me this oven mitt. It's actually an oven 'glove' and it has fake fur trim!  A little bit of Hollywood glamour in my corner of the world! It was fun to use and made me laugh a bit...thanks Lamont & Char!!

I also baked an apple pie for our dessert tonight, and a cherry pie to take to our son's family when we go visit them tomorrow and meet in person our newest little granddaughter! I can't wait!!! 

This morning was also shrimp harvest at the Shrimp Farm down the road from us. These shrimp are fed naturally and they are so delicious. We only ordered 3 pounds but it will be enough for the four of us to have a nice taste.  I enjoy cleaning them. They are slippery little buggers though!  I had read a lot about them and found that many say that the best flavor you can get from them is a result of leaving the shells and heads intact for cooking. Many say the heads have the best flavor. After cooking just seperate the heads and sort of 'crunch' on them and suck out their juices and enjoy.

 I had planned on doing it this way until I had them in front of  me. I just didn't think I wanted to try it. I wouldn't hesitate doing that if it was prepared for me by someone who actually knew what they were doing...but to experiement with it didn't appeal to me at all! Plus, Richard said "I don't want a head on mine!!" I thought 3 pounds would be plenty, but once they are fixed it is not a lot of shrimp at all. We'll all get to taste them but nobody will 'fill up' on them!  It doesn't look like $36 worth of shrimp after they are cleaned!! I'm not sure yet how I want to fix them. I was going to grill them and serve them with fresh garden potatoes roasted in garlic and herbs, but since the amount looks small, I may decided to make them into a pasta dish. 

I thought you might enjoy seeing what they looked like. I think they're really beautiful! Something about pulling the heads off and cleaning them appeals to me. I was brought up with parents that butchered their own chickens in our back yard. I can remember vividly looking at the bucket of 'guts' that accumulated as my mom cleaned the insides of them.  Later, we grew our own but sent them  out to have them dressed. A few times we butchered a couple because I thought our kids should see what it's like. Our daughter still feels somewhat traumatized by that!! The only thing I can say to explain my behavior is that I am a country girl through and through.