Salmon, Shrimp, & Sweetest Day

The third Saturday in October...Sweetest Day... a Great Lakes region holiday started by a worker in a candy shop. Most think of this as a hallmark holiday or something started by American Greetings since it began in Cleveland in 1922. A worker in a candy shop wanted to bring joy to friends and family and share sweet treats with orphans and those who had no one. In a way this holiday balances out Valentine's day. That is unless you are in our family, where October & November are heavily loaded with birthdays and anniversaries. Our sweetest day began with working around the house and trying to get things ready for our anniversary rally with our silver family and friends as well as ready for the four letter s word that they are predicting for next week.

As the morning turned into afternoon, Mike set out to help my father cut down some trees as I sneak out with my mom to hit the grocery store. My in laws were invited to dinner to help mike eat some Alaskan salmon, which I find totally unacceptable for a meal choice, so I would have a little more room in my freezer.

So for our sweetest day dinner with Mom and Dad St. Peter we had:

Alaskan salmon, cooked in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with a little kosher salt and a freshly squeezed lemon on top. I began by placing skin side down and waiting until the pink was gone 1/2 way up and then flipped it to finish. about 4 minutes on side 1 and 3 minutes on side 2. According to "The Chew" if you over cook fish, that is when it get gamey and fishy. So I watched it like a hawk since this was the first time pan cooking. Usually I opt for the oven and bake it for 15-20 in sealed foil packs.

For my main dish, I opted for precooked shrimp, tail on. I got a frying pan screaming hot and melted half a stick of butter and 3 cloves of garlic minced, then dropped the heat to low and threw in my rinsed shrimp for a total of 2 minutes.

Side dishes were:
White medium grain rice cooked in the rice cooker with a little butter and salt
Fresh pineapple chunks
Fresh salad with pieces of cauliflower, green peppers, broccoli, cucumber, and carrots (normally I would have also added fresh mushrooms and cheese but my MIL doesn't care for those so i put them in small dishes on the side.)

Crescent rolls with butter

All in all it turned out well. I think next time I will heat the sauce for the pre cooked shrimp and then turn the heat completely off, and drop in the shrimp for 1 minute before turning them out into a serving dish. They were a little rubbery but not bad.

After a glass or two of wine we adjorned the dinning room to more comfortable chairs and watched a little tv and chatted while our food digested. My parents joined us for dessert and we satisfied our sweet tooths with not one but three different kinds of ice cream. A great evening was had by all and we got to spend our evening with some of the sweetest people we know!