exercise from class #5: 15-minute spill (prose poem)

The average man wears trousers, but the best lounge in baggy linen. One such type waltzed into a china shop, hoping to purchase a bookshelf of cedar. Within his hand he held the design he desired, a near-Celtic knotwork carved deep into the flesh. He wandered from one store to the next, his fugue a sapient one: he imbibed the sights and curiosities with unvarnished relish. His traipsing led him to the harbor, the salt-swept air lingering in his nose, astringent. He filled his hands with sand, witnessed the waves litter the shore with shells. Two ships out to sea sounded their foghorns like whales emitting mating songs. Such was his fortune, this Swede who eschewed Swiss leather, this globetrotter who peered into dark places, this lark who spelunked in underground mansions, exploring the nether secrets nestled there. His vision, telescopic, garnered him insight into the nature of shadows.

( word list )

culinary adventures

Last night, I stirred up some shrimp alfredo with angel hair noodles. I don't make the sauce from scratch (I use Buitoni brand) but I do take care with the shrimp. I dust them with salt, pepper & paprika, then saute them with garlic & shallots. Then I squeeze some lemon juice over them & combine all that with the noodles & sauce. It turned out pretty well, though I forgot to add the lemon juice until the very end. Still tasty.

While grocery shopping today, I stopped by the meat department to restock my shrimp supply (it's on sale) & found, to my delight, fresh alligator! I've never known that to be sold at Kroger, ever. I've only had alligator once, at a cajun restaurant in Belleville (since closed) about seven years ago. It was surprisingly delicious.

Now I must do some recipe research. :)

(no subject)

"If you think education is expensive, wait until you see how much ignorance costs." -- President Obama, just now

alligator fun!

Well, not so fun. I decided to try to incorporate Andrew Zimmern's directive that "[s]mall cutlets turned in a hot skillet with lemon, roasted cherry tomatoes, and capers is a divine way to enjoy gator." I had no cherry tomatoes, so obviously there was no roasting to be had, but I did have tomatoes on the vine & capers, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Unfortunately, I forgot to decrease the amount of salt needed by the amount of capers used. Not that I had a lot of them, but the brine of the capers combined with my eyeballing of the salt had it all came out badly, especially since the tomatoes I used had not enough sweetness to counteract said saltiness.

So, yeah, next time, only pepper with this manner of cooking for coating alligator meat.

I still have more than half of the amount of alligator I purchased, so I have room for experimentation. Next attempt will be a marinade. (The acid in such should prevent the flesh from becoming too rubbery when cooked. We'll see.)

Edit: Or maybe I'll go wild & attempt alligator fajitas.