The Dog Days of Summer

Sunday was a sleepy summer day. For more sleepy dog pics, go to our Flickr page.

Jeweled Scarab

Jimi found this iridescent green scarab in the backyard last night. Right after this picture was taken, the beetle took off and we lost it in the house. We hope the dogs didn't eat it.

Shrimp Scampi

Our friend Jesse, on whom we love to test out recipes, came over for dinner Saturday night. Jimi made some shrimp scampi, and I did the almond saffron rice to go along with it. Jimi slightly modified Alton Brown's Scampi V1.0 recipe in I'm Just Here for the Food. In Jimi's words, "It's a rockin' dish, easy to make, no complaints!"




Shrimp Scampi

1 lb large shrimp, peeled & deveined
2 TBSP butter
6 cloves garlic, minced
Old Bay seasoning
4 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1/3 C panko crumbs
2 TBSP chopped parsley
salt & pepper

Heat broiler. Melt butter in large saute pan. Remove from heat & cool. Arrange shrimp in pan, coating with butter, in one layer. Scatter garlic over shrimp & season with Old Bay, salt & pepper. Broil for 2 minutes. Sprinkle lemon juice, panko & parsley over shrimp. Broil for another 3 minutes or until browned. Serve immediately.

Night Bloomers

One of our night blooming cacti is flowering again.

Clams Dijon & Mocha Chip Gelato

Saturday morning we were watching the cooking show Simply Ming on PBS. Every few minutes I kept thinking, "Damn, that looks good! Damn, I'm hungry! Man, I sure could go for some mussels!" So we found one of the recipes online and ran off to the store to purchase the ingredients. Unfortunately Whole Foods won't be carrying mussels for the rest of the summer (they must be getting them from the gulf), so we got some littleneck clams instead, something we'd never cooked before. Things to remember when cooking clams: (1) Clam shells weigh more than mussel shells! You need probably 1.5 pounds/person for a full meal. (2) Clams don't open quickly when exposed to heat like mussels do. They pop open at the last minute when they're done. These took about 7 minutes. We left a few things out of the recipe (fennel, chervil & sambal oelek), but it still turned out delicious. Two thumbs WAY UP. Jimi also roasted some garlic heads to have with toasted baguette slices and sea salt.

On Sunday, we made some mocha gelato in the ice cream maker. I used 2% milk & more instant espresso than called for. Nice way to beat the heat.



Recipes:
Andrea Immer's Mussels Dijon (Simply Ming)
Mocha Chip Gelato (Epicurious)