use real butter

Recipe: chopped shrimp waldorf salad

Frenzied. I’m feeling frenzied here. There is much going on at use real butter headquarters because summer is when everything except sleep gets turned up to maximum intensity: travel, visits, socializing, entertaining, outdoor pursuits, house maintenance. Like a nearly empty tube of toothpaste, we’re trying to squeeze every last bit of summer out of August before Jeremy resumes teaching. [Even though my summer runs through September, his does not.] You know the drill. Or maybe you don’t? You might be one of those types who likes to relax. My idea of relaxing is doing something, so in essence, I can’t relax. It’s okay, I am happier functioning that way. From the still photographs, you’d never be the wiser for the flurry of activity going on behind the scenes.

can’t resist fruity cocktails: piña coladas

brilliant mammata clouds after sunset

dinner at sushi den in denver with my parents and friends

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Recipe: drunken spicy shameless shrimp with brazen cocktail sauce

I like to think that I’m not a shallow person… and then a recipe like this comes along. I read the title and immediately knew I wanted to try it – just because of the name. Perhaps from now on we should indulge in creative recipe names? Beyond the name, after skimming over the recipe I realized it was a fast and simple dish that makes traditional shrimp cocktail look like a wallflower. This take on shrimp cocktail is like the *hussy* of the shrimp cocktail world – spiked heels, overly tight jeans, bad lipstick, and cleavage. I love it.

a kilo of lovely, raw shell-on shrimp

mixing up creole seasoning

The recipe comes from the Dinosaur Bar B Que cookbook, which I always seem to rediscover each summer. I can’t recall if I bought it for myself or if my friend, Carrie, gave it to me. Even if I bought it for myself, I wouldn’t have known about Dinosaur BBQ had it not been for Carrie’s love affair with the place. So thanks either way, sweetie.

BRAZEN sauce! she’s got a bite

the boil requires beer

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Recipe: butter-poached cod with powdered flavors

Two posts within 24 hours can only mean one thing… something Daring is going on. It’s the 14th. While my Frenchie friends are dreaming of rolling heads, the Daring Cooks are rolling out their reveals today. Our founders are the same wonderful and amazing ladies as last month and as the month before: Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice. I am really quite fond of them. Our host this month is Sketchy of Sketchy’s Kitchen (site seems to be in need of a domain re-registration at the moment). His challenge this month: Skate with Traditional Flavors, Powdered from Grant Achatz, found in the Alinea cookbook.

daring cooks – yeah baby, i got your onions right here

I’m going to be brief with this one because the challenge itself has already used up its allotment of time suck this month. The recipe is a toe-dip into the realm of molecular cuisine and Sketchy’s intent was to push us to try something new and very different.

the flavors in fresh form: parsley, cilantro, red onion, banana, brined capers, lemon

prepped for the dehydrator

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