A Change of Plan

What a nice change in our dinner menu this evening. The Colonel and I had plans for a pasta dish until our friend and neighbor (a fellow Hoosier from Speedway) who runs a seafood business called us.

"I have four pounds of shrimp for you. I will be there in five minutes."

A couple of weeks ago The Colonel was taking his morning walk down the gravel road in front of our house. As he passed our neighbor's house, on his way back home, he was stopped and handed a bag of huge, beautiful shrimp (about two pounds worth). Our neighbor said it was to help me feel better after my appendectomy/hernia surgery. The Colonel made Shrimp Creole with the shrimp. We had Yam come over for dinner.

When I felt better to start my morning walks with The Colonel again, I stopped and told our neighbor that the shrimp was much appreciated and did indeed make me feel much better. I told him I would like three more pounds of shrimp whenever he could get it. He got some today. He gave me four pounds (but only charged me for three). I love my "Shrimp Man"!

When our neighbor handed me the bag of shrimp he told me that these type of shrimp are only available at certain times. I know we are very fortunate to have gotten some (and so many).

The shrimp were huge. The bag was near to bursting with the pretty, pink crustaceans.

I began cleaning the shrimp as The Colonel ran to the grocery store for the seafood breading we like and some tater tots. He said that he didn't want to eat fried shrimp without tater tots, especially if we were going to break out the deep fryer (a rare occasion for us).

I had a big bowl full of cleaned shrimp when I was done. The Colonel and I opted to have five shrimp each (the rest are in the freezer). I butterflied them.

The Colonel was in charge of cooking the shrimp (He cooked the tater tots first). First the egg wash.

Next, our favorite seafood breading and the excellent cocktail sauce (recently discovered) to accompany the shrimp when it was done.

Everybody in the pool!

Just checking the degree of "golden-brownness"...not quite there yet.

Shrimply perfect! (I couldn't resist).

Dinner is plated up.

Our house now smells like a hole-in-the-wall shrimp shack and probably will for a few more days...but heck, the change in the dinner menu was worth it.