Dibs and Dabs...

Business first.  I was led to believe that if you plugged your cell phone (iMac) into your PC, the photos would automatically download.  Not so here.  If you know how to do this, please advise.

I want to put up what I think is a really funny picture.  I am having swimming pool physical therapy which requires a bathing suit.  Mine is a swirl of black and white just like Shamu.  The other session I noticed two orca pool toys - which are huge - parked on the roof of a "beach shack" inside by the pool.

What better than a family portrait - Mommy on the left, Daddy on the right and me in the middle.

Yesterday, Natacha, the adult daughter of the late French teacher Arlette Nelson, wrote announcing the publication of her book!  She had mentioned this project at Arlette's memorial and again at a French class monthly luncheon.   Naturally we all wished her well.  That was all last August so it was a fairly quick thing for Natacha.

More formally, Natacha is Dr. Natacha D. Nelson, and her book is "Finding the Courage to Let You Out."  available at amazon.com

The Sweet Home Café is located inside of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture.  As a fundraiser, no doubt, the Smithsonian has published a cookbook - the Sweet Home Café - which is 215 pages, $29.95  I liked the idea of this first recipe because it sounded like it could be a first cousin to the dressing used on the house salad (romaine with baby shrimp and hard-boiled, grated egg) at Old Tony's on the Pier.  I like it almost better than the entrees.  So the following appealed because Tony uses a "white dressing" that I just  know is half-and-half buttermilk and mayo.  But maybe not. Which is why I read this recipe carefully.

BUTTERMILK DRESSING
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 T mayonnaise
1 teas. Dijon mustard
1 teas. cider vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup snipped fresh chives
1 small garlic clove, chopped and made into a paste
freshly ground pepper.
Mix it up and it will keep in the refrigerator for three days.

PICKLED GULF SHRIMP
4 quarts cold water
1 lemon, halved
2 T kosher salt (I'd use 1 T sea salt myself)
3 lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 teas. whole allspice berries
1 teas. celery seeds
2 garlic cloves, chopped and mashed
1/2 teas. red pepper flakes
2 1/2 cups olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup chopped parsley
1 Vidalia or sweet onion, thinly sliced
3 fresh bay leaves
3 vine-ripened tomatoes sliced serve with 2 ripe avocadoes, thinly sliced.  Think garnish, if you will.
Cook the shrimp, mix up everything else.  Pack the hot shrimp in a glass container that will hold them, pour over the sauce, close the lid and let it "rest" in the refrigerator all night.