Food Musings

Happy Birthday to My Blog!

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been a year since I began this wonderful journey of cooking and writing this blog.

As I’ve attempted to offer all of you the gift of food and, sometimes, witty writing, I have healed from a difficult period in my life.  It’s been a liberating experience for me to cook, photograph and write about food.  Food and writing have in reality become a remedy for my soul, not just fuel for my body.

Now I enter a new era in life…an exciting and challenging work project (see www.ilovetheledge.com) , a move with Golf Boy to a new state at some point this summer (date still undetermined), and difficult trials that still need to be resolved.  Since I am headed on an exciting yet challenging adventure I have decided to also take Food Musings in a new direction.

With the challenges of everyday life that almost everyone I know experiences, it is impossible to serve foods that are complicated to make, take more than an hour to prepare, and cost a fortune to purchase the right ingredients.  So, my new direction will be to share simpler meals for those of us who are in a hurry.  I may not even always offer a recipe…just a few ingredients (without exact measurements) and some instruction.

Before Food Musings, I rarely followed recipes…instead I would use them as inspiration.   That will once again be my goal.  It’s more fun for me and I hope will be more interesting for you!

Thank you – readers for your awesome support over the past year.  I look forward to many more years of cooking and writing and sharing my experiences with you.

The new era begins with Spicy Shrimp Appetizers which are simple, quick to make, and delicious!

After I prepared this yummy dish last night for a party at Cindy and Tom’s house I decided it was a new staple for my appetizer repertoire.  I knew it tasted good and my suspicions were confirmed when the guests gathered around and basically inhaled it. (Not really inhaled but certainly it went fast).  Move over old favorite, Spinach dip, Spicy Shrimp appetizers are now the preferred choice!

Spicy Shrimp Appetizer

Inspired by a recipe in Bon Appetit Magazine

6 green onions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
10 ounces cooked shrimp or *Langostinos, drained and coarsely chopped

Crackers

Mix sliced green onions, mayonnaise, lemon juice, paprika, and cayenne in medium bowl. Mix in shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)

Mound shrimp mixture atop crackers or serve crackers and shrimp separately for your guests to use as a dip.

*According to Wikipedia, Langostino refers to the meat of the squat lobster, which is neither a true lobster nor a prawn. It is more closely related to porcelain crabs and hermit crabs.