A busy bee in the kitchen

Tags

baking, blanching, cooking, peach pie, postaday2013, shrimp scampi

Since coming home from the hospital yesterday with my hubby, I have been a busy bee in the kitchen. I find that keeping my mind occupied with recipes and my hands busy with chopping, peeling and mincing results in my keeping an emotional even keel or balance if you will. Yesterday I made shrimp scampi which is actually very easy and doesn’t take long at all to make. In this day and age of easy peel shrimp, the work is halfway done for you, al you have to do is peel away the shells and give the shrimp a quick rinse, the garlic and the parsley need to be chopped but that takes all of maybe ten minutes. I sautéed the shrimp first in sunflower oil and then put them onto a plate right off to the side and I threw in the garlic, deglazed the pan with chicken stock, that’s what I had in the pantry, and then added three tablespoons of butter, I waited maybe a minute and then in went the shrimp with the parsley not far behind. I already had quinoa ready at the waiting and if not quinoa, Jasmine rice or even couscous would be wonderful to serve it with. Quick and easy, plus the kitchen smells really good because even if you’re not crazy about any lingering shrimp odor, the amount of garlic and parsley used easily dispels the shrimp smell really quickly. As a homecoming meal, my hubby was seriously happy and it definitely outdid what he had eaten at the hospital by about a mile, well actually most anything would beat hospital food by a mile, but it still was tasty lol.

Today I tried for the second time to replicate the Briarmeir fresh fruit peach pie. I have written about it before, the fresh peaches covering a type of whipped, thick, tangy, sweet, cream cheese filling and how we love it so much, that a two hour drive isn’t out of the question to procure a pie as special as this one. Between my hubby and I, we had assembled what we think are the components of the pie; peaches of course, I already had a pie crust dough ready, cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla, sugar and a glaze. The only baking needed for this pie is the pie crust and that only took forty minutes. It isn’t really that hard to assemble; I blanched the peaches beforehand to peel them easily, I then whipped three packages of room temperature cream cheese with 2/3 cups of sugar, I then added about a cup and a quarter of sour cream, whipped that up and then I added about 4 teaspoons of lemon juice and two teaspoons of vanilla. Once my pie crust had cooled off after being fully baked, I spooned the mixture into the pie shell and put it into the refrigerator for about 4 hours.

I sliced the peaches up and I tried to make an attractive rosette on top of the cream filling, it didn’t come out as elegantly as I had hoped, but I think that the abundance of sliced peaches on top of the filling gives a real homemade look to it, rustic is a good word for its look, I think. The last step is to brush on the glaze which is nothing, but apricot preserves boiled to become more liquid, strained through a sieve and slightly diluted with water. And voila a shiny peach and cream fresh fruit pie. I hope that my hubby and the baby boy like it. If they do, I’ll be making more of these and using other fresh fruit such as raspberries and blueberries.

Daily prompt: Name that …you!

Tags

blogging, names, origin, postaday2013, writing

Do you know the meaning of your name, and why your parents chose it? Do you think it suits you? What about your children’s names?

According to the site “Behind the Name” Laurence, my real name, Laurie is a nickname because my real name was too confusing living here in the States because in the English usage it’s a masculine name, just ask Lawrence Fishburne the actor, whereas in France where my parents are from, it is used for the feminine. Regardless of the gender, the origin is Roman and it is designated from the town in Italy called Laurentum and beyond that there was a second century monk and martyr Laurence who stood up to the Roman soldiers, refusing to hand over the church’s relics and was burned over a gridiron alive for his defiance.

My mother picked the name Laurence because when said with the French accent, it is very pretty, that was the only reason. I am fairly sure that my parents didn’t do any research regarding the origins of the name. If they had, I would think that they would have chosen another name since they aren’t particularly religious. Back then the sex of the baby was always a surprise and they were hoping for a boy and I might have been a David, instead they came up with Laurence. Further proof in my mind that the musicality of the name when said in French is the sole reason for my name.

Anyway no one addresses me by my name Laurence, it’s always Laurie or if people are being a little cheeky, it’s Larry. I don’t get riled up over it anymore, that all ended when I was in grammar school when I realized that I was more than a name, I was myself.