First of all, I just completed my very first full Diabetes 365 project on Flickr!!!!! For those of you who don't know, diabetes 365 is an online community where people post one picture per day for an entire year depicting what it's like to live with diabetes. I started my 365 mostly as an outlet for the frustrations I encounter daily - most of which I've yapped about here as well. Unexplained highs, poorly timed lows, the judgement that constantly surrounds every food choice you make - well, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? And it was great, purging those feelings somewhere. But what was surprising to me was how many of my pictures weren't about diabetes. They were about my husband's graduation, Christmas with our family, a girl's trip to the beach, or endless farmer's market trips. The pictures were reinforcement that while diabetes may encroach on my life in ways that I hate, it isn't my LIFE. I think that's pretty cool. Not to mention that I became friends with some great members of the diabetic online community. These folks get it because they are living it too, and there was no end to their support, suggestions, and humor. I feel like I learned more about diabetes and ways to fight it in one year from them than I have in the 12 years since diagnosis from any doctor or CDE. (PS, if you want to see pics from my Diabetes 365, click here or there are some thumbnails to the right of this page.) I can't wait to start year 2 of 365!
I was in a slight cooking rut until recently as well - not huge, but one of those "why-bother-cooking-for-only-two-people" kinda things. Last week, I was completely blessed to go spend some time with my best friend and her family. I got to have plenty of girl talk, I earned a new nickname, and best of all, I got to chase around and play with her 21 month old son. We even got the chance to cook for a party she had at her home over the weekend! We just did simple things - cooking with a very active 21 month old underfoot can be a bit of a challenge - but it just solidified that cooking with a friend, and for other people to enjoy, is one of the most joyous experiences. Of course, I meant to take pics to post here of all the gorgeous food we made. And yeah.... that never happened. So hopefully some recipes will suffice, along with me promising that they are easy, gorgeous, and tasty.
This little guy is about the cutest thing there is. He calls me "Innie". Being the child novice that I am, I let him pour milk on his head. He wasn't really sure what to think about that - until we started laughing, so he decided to laugh too.
Other things adding to my bright mood today? Temps are in the 80's, and I'm wearing a cute new sundress. What else does a girl need?
And now, for some party recipes:
Roasted Shrimp with Rosemary and Thyme
(from Fine Cooking)
This is super simple and super delicious. I honestly would make this any time I need to impress somebody...Make sure you have a loaf of French bread handy so you don't waste a drop of the herby olive oil.
6 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
6 fresh thyme sprigs
3 large rosemary sprigs, halved
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pound extra large shrimp (26-30 count), uncooked but peeled and deveined
1 1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
kosher salt, or even better, fleur de sel (my friend swears this makes all the difference)
Preheat oven to 400. Pour the oil into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Add the thyme, rosemary, and 1 tsp pepper and bake until fragrant, about 12 minutes. Add the shrimp to the dish and toss until coated. Bake the shrimp until pink and firm, 8-10 minutes. Add the vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt, toss well, and lest rest about 5 minutes. Discard the herbs and serve.
My note - there is precious little you can do to mess this up. You can accidently just mix the whole thing together at the beginning and bake until the shrimp is done. You can completely forget the white wine, as I have done. And resting? Trust me, this smells so good there is no one willing to let it rest 5 minutes. The only key here is fresh herbs and good ingredients.
Blackberry Sage Water
This is one of those things I ordinarily deem fussy. (Anything I have to bring out the blender for is "fussy".) But this surprised me - it was crazy easy and really refreshing. The sage note was definitely different for a summery drink. If I were to make this again though, I would probably double the amount of blackberries in it.
15 medium fresh sage leaves
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup boiling water
6 ounces fresh blackberries
Put the sage leaves and sugar in a small pot and crush the leaves with a wooden spoon. Pour in the boiling water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to steep for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the blackberries with 2 cups of cold water. Strain the blackberry liquid and the sage liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl, discarding the solids. Pour the liquid into a large pitcher and add 5 cups cold water (or seltzer water). Serve over ice.
