HodgePodge Wednesday

http://joyce-fromthissideofthepond.blogspot.com/

1. What is a pet peeve you have when vacationing?
No planning ahead other than research, no reservations except for lodging, no timetables, alarm clocks or scheduling unless for a baby or dog sitter.

2. Would you describe yourself as a light packer or do you need everything in your closet plus the kitchen sink?
Definitely fall in the light compact mode. Mix and match is a high priority within a three outfit capacity for weekend stays.  Jewelry limited to a single set that wears well with all and always travel size toiletries.

3. What is the best lesson a child ever taught you?
Never doubt that the time and attention you give a child either in learning or play is meaningful to that child.  I tutored a young lady over a thirteen week period and on the last day of tutoring she cried rather than reflect on her genuine success in learning.  When I asked her if her crying was actually joy, she said it was the absence of our time together that saddened her.

4. Share one piece of advice you'd give to a recent graduate as they attempt to enter the job market.
Start small, build around that experience with service and community work so that when a greater opportunity arrives your well-rounded approach does not go unnoticed.

5. What is your favorite lemon something?
I love candied lemon peels for snacking, lemon pie for dessert, and lemonade all summer long.

6. Flat sandal, wedge, heel....what's your favorite footwear?
I'll opt for the flip flop in my casual life, wedge in my professional life and heel when extending the leg required.

7. What do you like best about a beach holiday?
Fresh seafood every day, several times a day.

8. (Random thought for the week) Evolving a typically genuine good trait one possesses over a lifetime.  In a political arena not so much.

Simply clockwork shrimp for the beach

While some families traverse to the beach the same week every single summer, our family had an annual menu of meals that were produced on specific days of the week during our week at the beach (whatever week we happened to land on the beach, some years it was early in the season, other years late in the season). My mother was not an expansive cook. In fact, she seriously only mastered about nine main courses during her lifetime, two of which were made in a crock pot. Of the nine, there was one dish that my mother reserved for the beach experience and only for the beach experience. That dish was Shrimp Jambalaya and it was always served on Day #2 at the beach. I honestly haven't made this dish since my mother's death in 2001, but somehow the universe for all her glorious works seems to know how to kick something back into mainstream life without too much fanfare (and much to my delight). This year, when the reconstituted version of my family gathered at the beach, my pseudo sister Linda (a family dynamic too complicated to explain here)and I each brought recipes from our personal collections to have and prepare on demand. Thus, it was more than fitting this year that Linda brings a recipe for a one pan dish she calls Savannah Shrimp (pictured here). The dish is simply, fresh from the dock sauteed shrimp seasoned with Old Bay accompanied by sauteed Vidalia onion, chopped and cooked creamer potatoes, newly picked field peas, fresh corn off the cob and diced vine ripe tomatoes. Like clockwork this simple dish brought back a treasured favorite albeit a revision of my mother's shrimp dish, but all the same it was served on Day #2 at the beach and will be from this point forward fittingly. Life's better at the beach with shrimp back on the menu.