Hurricanes, Tropical Storms & Shrimp Stir Fry

Gulf Coast living is the hurricane life. Most of my hurricane seasons growing up were spent just 70 miles away from the Gulf of Mexico. Then I decided to go to college in New Orleans, located on the gulf AND below sea level. Maybe I just love a good Hurricane Party. Well, there is really no maybe about that.

My first hurricane party was actually a Tropical Storm party. It was pretty appropriate since I was only seven when Tropical Storm Allison came to Texas. This party involved a sleeping pallet in the closet under the stairs. Pretty much the coolest thing ever when you are 7. 

Hurricane Lili headed toward Louisiana in the fall of 2002 and we bought as much alcohol as we could find, stocked up at Whole Foods and had a giant sleepover at 900A. FANTASTIC. We watched the weather channel until the power went out and didn't go to sleep until the eye passed through. It was a cat one. Nothing to worry over. 

This is what a hangover looks like.

In 2005, one month after Katrina (a serious hurricane that is not to be made fun of), I was living in Texas with E (she's a BFC member) and Hurricane Rita was heading our way. Everyone lost their freaking MINDS. People in Houston kind of forgot that we weren't a city below sea level that was surrounded by levees that could breach. Subsequently, every single person in the fourth largest city in the United States, tried to GET OUT. JJ (who is the same person as E) and I just decided to make some Hurricanes with rum and everclear, take a little nap, and then head 40 miles north to my parent's house. Those 40 miles took about 4 hours. THEN we had another more formal hurricane party with Mexican Martinis and dinner at the dining room table. Our apartment in Houston never lost power. 

Best Friends' Club. BFC por vida

In aught 2008, the year of my marriage, Hurricane Ike was upon us. S & I hosted a hurricane party at our place. This was an amazing party.. we fired up the grill, had friends and neighbors empty their freezers and bars and head on over. And it was FANTASTIC. The next day at 7pm we lost power. Then the storm came through. THEN we didn't get power again for 9 days. So the party served its purpose since we had to empty out everything else that was left in the freezer and the refrigerator and migrate around town to different guest rooms and movie theaters to keep cool. Two trees fell on my parent's house (thankfully no one there was hurt) but we knew plenty of other people who were hurt. Having a hurricane party isn't making light of a hurricane and how dangerous it is, it's a way for people who are going to ride it out to come together and make the best of a serious situation. I'm not pro hurricane, but if there is going to be a hurricane anyway, why not have a party?

Now here comes Isaac, but he's not going to be a Texas mother.. shut yo mouth! Hopefully he will be kind to my dearest Big Easy, but he is not so tough and I know NOLA can handle that. I think back on all of the Hurricane/Tropical Storm Parties in all of the different stages of my life and I'm pretty sure if I had one now it would look a lot different. Hurricane supplies now include things like powdered milk and toddler appropriate food. If we stay up all night grilling venison and drinking wine, Landon won't get the memo. She doesn't like sleeping in.

So if anyone is over in NOLA (and I know they are) waiting on Isaac today, grilling up some freezer goods and drinking bloody mary's, just know that I'm a little jealous of the good times had before the storm. I am not at all jealous of the after storm experience. Don't be idiots and you should be just fine.

In honor of the gulf coast and swirling winds, I'm going to talk Shrimp Stir Fry.

I had about a pound of 20 count shrimp. I took it out and brought it to room temp in a bowl while marinating it in  the juice of 1.5 lemons, and the zest of one lemon, plus some soy sauce, fresh ground pepper and kosher sea salt.

Shrimp Marinade Items

Marinade and Shrimp Combined in the bowl.

 I let the shrimp sit out in the marinade for about 30 minutes while I prepped the rest of the items for dinner.

Vegetable are good for you

I washed the broccoli and cut off the florets. Then I put the stir fry pan on the stove over medium heat to warm it up. Since the broccoli takes longer than the shrimp to cook, it went in first. I sliced a few cloves of garlic and chopped half an onion and threw it in with some grape seed oil. After about a minute we added the broccoli with some sesame oil and oyster sauce.

Action shot

While the broccoli was cooking I put some Japanese buckwheat noodles (soba) in to boil. When the broccoli started to get the bright green color, we added in the shrimp and covered the pan. 

Yamaimo Soba

These noodles take just a few minutes to cook.

Bright green - ready for shrimp.

Shrimp and broccoli, stirring and happy together.

 The shrimp just takes a few minutes. You can tell my the consistency when it is ready. The tails will become more pink and curl. Then you'll want to pull it off the head so they don't get too tough. Overcooked shrimp = tough and chewy. Noodles in the bowl, shrimp and broccoli on top. It's just that easy.

Here is the way I do it.

Ingredients:

2 head of broccoli

1 lb of shrimp

3 cloves of garlic (sliced)

1/2 small white onion, chopped

2 lemons

soy sauce

oyster sauce

sesame oil

grapeseed oil or EV Olive Oil

Soba Noodles or brown rice

 Remove shells, tails, etc from the shrimp and marinade them in two tablespoons on lemon juice, the grated rind of one lemon, pinch of sea salt and a small pinch of fresh ground pepper. Let sit and come to room temp or if already at room temp, marinate for 10 - 15 minutes. 

Put your stir fry pan on the oven to warm up. Wash your broccoli heads and cut the florets off. Make sure the broccoli is dry before you use it. Put a couple of teaspoons of oil in the pan to coat the bottom. Next add in the garlic and the onions and cook for 1- 2 minutes over medium heat. Add broccoli and oyster sauce and sesame oil to taste. Cover and let cook, stirring every so often. 

Once the broccoli begins to turn bright green, add in the shrimp and stir together. Then cover for about a minute following by stirring until the shrimp is ready to come off. 

Cook and prepare noodles or rice according to package instructions and put the stir fry on top.

This is a very simple and straight forward meal. Once you learn how to tell when ingredients are cooked and what they look like when they are in the different stage of cooking, it's much easier to cook at home. You can time the food with your eyes. It takes some trial and error, but that is the only way you will really learn. 

For all of you party animals, here is a recipe that makes 10 - 12 servings of Rum Based Hurricanes. Share with your friends. Then you can all feel awful together the next day. 

 Good luck to everyone riding out the storm. Especially my beautiful sister K and all of my wonderful friends. Love y'all! 

-RT

Ignorance is Bliss. So is Stir Fry.

Hello Internet. My name is RT and I'm a Sugar Addict. I know this because I took a quiz online and the results confirmed my suspicions. I also took a quiz online that said I was going to die at 92, so it's totally fine that I have a sugar addiction. If you have been reading along you know that I have a thing for nestle fudge ice cream drumsticks right now. It started out as a fling and was on it's way to becoming a full fledged relationship. I was making special trips to pick him up, we had a date almost every night, and sometimes he slept over (in the freezer). 

Hey there handsome fella.

Then I made a big mistake... I broke into his phone and read his texts! Wait... I mean I actually looked at the nutrition label. I had clearly been telling myself lies, as one sometimes does in a hot and heavy relationship. I could no longer ignore what was staring me right in the face.... 300 calories per drumstick. That, my friends, is much more than just one glass of wine. Well, unless it's this glass:

Seriously, someone buy me this.

And the story gets even more sorted. Sometimes I went back for seconds. On one lonely day during nap time, I skipped lunch in favor of three drumsticks. It was getting bad. I knew it had to come to an end. The calorie information is the last straw and, well, I wanted you all to know it's over. Our relationship was much better before I knew all of the facts. Now I just feel like a cheap, dirty sugar addict with no self control. So I came home to do one of my favorite things, ask google questions. "Google," I asked, "am I a sugar addict?" Google found a handy quiz for me. It is true/false. Let's review.

1. I don’t eat refined sugar every day These answers are complicated. Usually, FALSE. Fine. FALSE

2. I can go more than a day without eating some kind of sugar-containing food If I try, I can. But I don't try. So I'm going to give myself a False.

3. I never have cravings for sugar, coffee, chocolate, peanut butter or alcohol Just False. FALSE FALSE FALSE.

4. I’ve never hidden sweets around the house so I can eat them later Like in the bathroom? Hidden from whom? I'm pretty sure this is TRUE

5. I can stop after eating one bite of pastry or one piece of candy What are the circumstances? Is there a gun to my head? I guess I can, even though I usually don't want to, so TRUE.

6. There are times when I have no sugar around the house When I eat it all or when I'm trying to lose weight. Does fruit count? Because it shouldn't. TRUE.

7. I can have sweets in the house without eating them So in this scenario, do I have PMS? That would really change this answer. But TRUE.

8. I can go at least 3 hours without eating without shakes, fatigue or bad moods I didn't know we were getting this serious. But also, I have a 15 month old. I am always fatigued. So I need to tie in the food and the fatigue? I'm so fatigued by this quiz. TRUE.

9. I do not eat something sweet after every meal Harsh. This question is harsh. And the statement is FALSE. Because special K red berries is like eating candy for breakfast. Be honest. It is.

10. I rarely drink coffee or eat donuts or sweet rolls for breakfast Is this TRUE? yes. I don't drink coffee. Do I wish I had donuts and sweet rolls for breakfast often? Yes.

11. I can go more than an hour after waking without eating TRUE

12. I don’t drink sweetened soft drinks every day TRUE. I really do believe that diet soda in particular is the devil and will lead you to an early death. When something has zero calories, there is something wrong. Full sugar soda should be consumed in moderation. Like fountain coca cola poured over sonic ice with a fresh squeeze of lime juice. Preach.

Here is what I got: 

"For the record, if you answered four of these questions FALSE then stop lying and seek help for your sugar addiction."

That's a little harsh. I just answered all of her questions and she is calling me a liar. So how does she know I'm not lying about my sugar addiction for blog material attention? Here is my big girl moment and I'm putting this out there for all of the internet to see. S, you were right. I was eating too many chocolate fudge filled drum sticks. Print this out to save and throw in my face later. Actually, never mind. Don't do that. It might not end well.

 Anyway, ignorance is bliss, knowledge is power, blah, blah, blah. I'm switching to Skinny Cow and stepping my way down. I cut my calories in half. Everyone do a cheer. And I didn't have one tonight. Because I had a couple of glasses of wine to get me through the breakup. Regular glasses, not full bottle size glasses. You know what else goes down as easy as a nice pinot noir in the middle of July? Stir fry. (Just go with me on this one.)

Stir fry is actually a great and easy meal for the family or just the two of you or just for you. All you  need is love some veggies, add in a protein if you want, some sauces for flavoring, and best case scenario, a wok. Happy healthy Asian delights. (I think that is a meal I ordered at a Chinese restaurant once.)

Here is how our Stir Fry Night went....

Veggies: Two heads of broccoli (chopped), one red pepper, chopped shallots,
sliced garlic, and sliced green onion.

We used skirt steak marinated in soy sauce, salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar. (Addict)

Here is our rice cooker. It is making rice. It infuriates me.
I need a new one. Please send suggestions.

Seasonings: Light soy sauce, sesame seed oil, & oyster sauce (not pictured)

The broc takes the longest to cook, so it goes in the wok first
with some grapeseed oil and some soy sauce.

Shallots and garlic added.

Show me the beef.

Red pepper so they'll still have some crunch and green onion tops.

The rice is ready. Seriously, someone tell me a great rice cooker. I need it.

Here is dinner! Leftovers were amazing with a little Frank's Hot Sauce.
You could also add some Sriracha.

The reason stir fry is wonderful is because in a wok you can cook with less oils making it healthier. Also, there isn't a lot of guess work with cooking times since you cut everything up before you cook it and you can easily see how it is going. Make up your own stir fry recipes using different ingredients and sauces. It's a fun thing to cook as a couple or with older kids. 

And pour a little pinot out tonight for my homie, fudge filled drumstick. 

Pour out all of the Ramona Pinot you can get your hands on. I'll help.

 We had it good, real good. We were hot and heavy, and cold and delicious. But all good things must come to an end, and it's still bikini season in Texas.

Here's to attempting the skinnies for a little while longer. When winter comes, I won't want ice cream anyway. 

Flat tummies and skinny cow fudge pops,

- RT

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