Salt and pepper

28 degrees F. and a heavy frost in Redford on Thursday morning. If I had pumpkins, the frost would be on them!

I left work at lunch for the day. Today is the day I refinance the house. So, I went home and had some lunch. I tried calling my daughter Amy for her birthday. I just got voicemail, so I left her a Happy Birthday greeting.

Then I headed to the bank. I got there just at 1:00 PM. But, nobody was waiting for me. The bank asked me to wait until they called my mortgage broker. It turns out my appointment was for 2:00 PM! I was confused, as she had told me 1:00 on the phone and I wrote that in my planner. But, I apologized and said I'd just go home (less than two miles away) and be back at 2:00.

Back at home, I checked my planner and it did say 1:00. So, I checked her confirmation email and it said 2:00!?! WTF? Am I losing it? I never make mistakes like that!

Back at the bank at 2:00, the lady doing the closing (not sure what you call them, but it's never the broker. In spite of all our conversations, I have never met the lady) happened to be the same one I had when I first bought the house. So, we reminisced a bit and then she said, "Sorry about the confusion. Deborah told me 1:00 PM, but then when I was leaving she said no it's at 2:00." So, I am not losing my mind, Deborah apparently just had a disconnect between what she said and what she wrote.

It went smoothly (it's a LOT quicker when it's just you and not you as the buyer and somebody else as the seller reading all the documents) and by 2:30, I was back home.

I did some final house cleaning because my friend Tracey (the one who got married a week ago last Friday) is coming over for dinner tonight so we can plan our Christmas cookie baking event this year.

Once that was done, I started prepping for dinner. A couple of years ago, we were at dinner at a restaurant and she ordered shrimp scampi. So, tonight, I am making Shrimp Scampi with Linguini. Now, this is a recipe that both Carla and I had played with, back in the day. So, it's a mess, with handwritten ideas and suggestions all over the place. But, the final result was outstanding, as I recall!

So, I filled my pasta pot with water and a liberal amount of kosher salt. I turned that on low. Next, I peeled and deveined a pound of shrimp. I put them on ice and back in the fridge. I finely diced two shallots and four cloves of garlic. I put them in a bowl with a pinch of red pepper flakes.

In another bowl, I finely chopped about 1/4 cup of fresh, Italian (flat leaf) parsley. In the last bowl I put the zest from a whole lemon (this was pure Carla, BTW). I juiced that lemon and got almost 1/4 cup of juice. To that I added white wine until I got 1/2 cup of liquid.

I put two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter on my big skillet and, at that point, my prep work was done. So, I fixed my first drink of the day and sat in the living room to wait.

It was just after 5:00 PM when I remembered the garlic bread. So, I cut the small loaf of Italian bread I bought on the bias and got four 1-inch slices. I put them on a sheet pan, turned on the broiler and moved the rack up. At that point, Tracey showed up.

It was a joyous reunion, between me, Tracey and Scruffy. Scruffy, no
doubt, was wondering where Samson was (Samson has retired and is living in West Branch, BTW). In the middle of all of the commotion, the lady in the bedroom (my smoke/carbon dioxide detector) started screaming, "Fire, Fire!" Sure enough, the bread was charcoal. Tracey got herself a beer while I dug them out of the oven.

So, I cut the last four slices out of the loaf (I did say it was a small loaf, didn't I?) and put them back in the oven. Before I could sit down, the smoke detector went off, again! I must have the rack WAY too close to the flame. Dismayed (and out of cool bread) I threw away the last of the Italian bread and got out the toaster and the Pepperidge Farm Sourdough bread and toasted four slices of bread. When they came out right (and, I must admit, I burned the first two!) I rubbed them with a clove of fresh, peeled garlic and drizzled them with olive oil.

While we were chatting, I heated up the simmering pasta water and added a pound of linguini. I cooked that about 8 minutes, until it was al dente.

Here's where it got really weird. Caley, who hides for hours while anyone else is here (even Jake and Carla) came out and sucked up to Tracey! I told her that was a first, but you would have never believed it, watching Caley!

I turned the skillet on to medium-high and when the butter melted, added the shallots, garlic and red pepper flakes. I let that all cook until the shallots were translucent (about 3-4 minutes). I added the shrimp to the pan (I should have seasoned them first with salt and pepper, BTW) and cooked them until they turned pink (about 2-3 minutes). I pulled the shrimp out and covered them (to keep them warm) while I added the wine/lemon juice/lemon zest and brought it to a boil.

I added two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of olive oil. When the butter melted, I added back the shrimp, the parsley and the cooked linguine. I was supposed to season it with salt and pepper again at this point, but I was distracted and it didn't happen. So, I plated it (here's a tip: Grab a bunch of the pasta with your tongs and then as you put it on the plate, twirl it as you release. It makes the pasta mound up and looks great!)

I topped it with Parmigiano-Reggiano grated through the micro-planner and we dug in. To be honest, I noticed the lack of salt and pepper, but Tracey thought it was great (and, as Paul Simon said, "Who am I got go against the wind?").

We retired to the living room and caught each other up on current events. Finally it was time for her to leave. She graciously accepted my offer of the leftovers and then sped off in her truck.

I looked at all the dishes, pots and pans and decided there was nothing so pressing it couldn't wait until tomorrow, So, I turned off the classic rock on the radio, went into the bedroom and turned on the TV.