🍚 SPICEY SHRIMP AND RICE 🍤
The Perfect Eat Alone Christmas Meal
The Holidays —
Christmas Eve 2010 and I am home alone, its thirty-five degrees outside, cold, very cold for Florida, a major water main almost six feet in diameter burst three miles from me and I have no water.
Usually during the power outage and Hurricane Season I have bath-tubs full and gallons of sealed potable drinking water plus a pail and rope we lower to the pool for toilet flushing, being on the fifth floor does have advantages,
Gravity.
And the whole part of the county will be in the same mode — And we will not have for two days which translates in Florida to three maybe four.
About 300, 000 homes. And I had to cancel plans we had for the Holiday because I felt assistance might be needed in our condos if any of my neighbors panicked. I am a care-giver and responder. And some are old enough and borderline panic types.
I have a thirty-fifty day four person Hurricane survival setup in my garage six feet high on a shelf above the highest water levels with 10 gallons of potable water, food including MRE’s, gas stoves and lights, Meds and First Aid etc. I am ready for anything, all that Special Ops training could be needed one day. So Far OK.
I do for hygienic reasons stock an extra six gallons of potable drinking water in my garage for coffee, hot chocolate and dental care. This was 24 hours at best, half the county was out there working and didn’t need to bring out the heavy stuff.
Since the county was in the same mess I was in, I knew the restaurants had no water either. And they were ordered closed as required by law for "health reasons". No toilets, nor dishwashers and we are a tourist town so many of our restaurants do a lot of business feeding tourists over Christmas.
To use my own facilities, I innovated, the bucket brigade. I went down to the pool, took water from the pool in Home Depot Orange five gallon buckets to use in the bathroom. Again, living on the top floor of a five story condo so I have the advantage of gravity which supersedes the “ float theory”.
I was prepared. But I'm not climbing fire short sized dangerous stairs with two five gallon buckets — water is 7 .3 lbs per gallon meaning 70 pounds up five flights. So sent the one kid down, he was the filler and the others on my floor pull up the ropes and we filled all the bath-tubs — And I congratulated all the kids and told them they were pooper-rific!
Cooking Survival Instinct 101 (CSI) —
So I just went on cooking survival instinct (CSI) and voila, a one skillet put together and it was great. I had both diced chicken marinating in the fridge and a pound of shrimp. I chose the shrimp, if the power went out the shrimp would pass first. The chicken was in heavy spiced teriyaki sauce. ( and half cup of Captain Morgan Spice) The chicken was happy —
Basic Ingredients — Nothing Fancy —
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 pound Shrimp medium or equivalent in large size
3 cloves Garlic, smashed and chopped fine
2 Tablespoons Butter
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 diced green onion
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup instant rice
1/1/4 cup Swanson low sodium chicken broth
1 can ROTEL tomatoes and chilis
Crystal Louisiana Pepper Sauce to taste (Optional, the Rotel is enough for most)
Parmesan cheese - I use a zester, with Parmigiano Reggiano, all you want, enjoy.
DIRECTIONS
In a 12 inch skillet, medium heat, sauté the olive oil and garlic, just flavor the oil, don’t burn it, add the chicken broth for the instant rice, salt and pepper.
After the rice fluffs up, add the butter, the ROTEL, the whole can, the parsley, green onion and the shrimp.
Cook till the shrimp looks right. About three to four minutes, don’t overcook.
Toss it for even cooking and final season with salt, pepper, and Crystal sauce or some Franks sauce. I ate the whole thing...