It’s a beautiful day today (made even more beautiful in
contrast to yesterday’s torrential downpour) so I’m sitting outside on our
lanai as I write this blog.

You’ll notice a glass of water by my laptop – my food
journal reveals I am doing fine with food on average, but drink far too little
water. I’ll actually eat lunch often
with nothing to drink. So starting today
I’m aiming for a glass of water with every meal and a “snack” of water in
between each meal. This will become
especially important as it gets warmer.

Lloyd is having a busy week at work, so I thought I’d make a
comforting meal tonight that will remind him of home – Shrimp
and Grits Casserole. We could both use a little taste of home…the last
couple days I’ve been feeling even further away since we fell another hour
behind (Hawaii doesn’t observe daylight savings time). So now I’m five hours behind Texas where our family is and six hours behind Washington for work.

The first step in the casserole is to thaw the shrimp, which
I almost always buy frozen for convenience.
There are a couple ways to do this, as clearly explained on the Mazzetta Company
website…

“For best results, place shrimp in a covered bowl of cold water.
Place the bowl in the refrigerator for approximately 8 hours, or
overnight. Rinse shrimp in a colander
under cold running water. Place unused
portion in a covered bowl of ice water and refrigerate.

For quick thawing, place shrimp in a colander under cold running
water for 5-10 minutes. Gently rotate
occasionally for even thawing. Then just
let them drain for 2-3 minutes. Use
immediately, or refrigerate in covered bowl of ice water until ready to use.”