Our next open mic begins at 7:00pm on July 26, 2016 at R Patisserie Cafe & Tea Boutique located at 302 Huguenot Street in New Rochelle. Come by to read your poems, fiction, memoir, etc., or to listen to others…like me. Don’t be shy – it’s a warm and supportive group.
Author: adtaylor
Shrimp & Liberty
Liberty Weekend 1986 – the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration. Hundreds of dignitaries and celebrities were on hand for the spectacular four day celebration and upwards of 20,000 boats were in New York harbor. There were Tall Ships from all over the world, pleasure craft of every size and charter yachts that people had booked years in advance to ensure they would be part of the historic festivities. One of those yachts was the Mariner III from Biloxi, Mississippi and I was on board.
I found the photo (below) while going through my collection of saved magazines and newspapers from historic events. It is the centerfold of Time Magazine’s July 14th, 1986 edition and my finger points to the approximate spot where I was aboard the Mariner III, in our assigned anchorage for all of the festivities including the July 4th fireworks extravaganza, wherein pyrotechnics were launched into the sky from eight barges. It was a breathtaking display of “rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air ” that turned me into a fireworks snob. Sorry – nothing since compares.
Liberty Weekend 1986 also kick-started my career in catering and adventure on the high seas. I was originally hired as a waitress but once word got out that I grew up in a family of Italian restaurateurs, I was invited to work in the galley as an apprentice to the onboard southern Chef – a person whose name you would probably recognize today. One of my first assignments was to peel, clean and boil shrimp for the raw bar. I thought it was an easy enough task – I had, after all, grown up eating and serving shrimp cocktail in my grandmother’s restaurant. But this was whole new world – a world where boiling shrimp in just plain water was seriously frowned upon – a world where I was going to explore new flavors and a find my inner chef. I was almost immediately introduced to Zatarain’s – a nifty boil-in-bag collection of herbs and spices – and was taught how to use it to boil shrimp – Southern style.
Spicy Boiled Shrimp
Over the years, I have experimented with alternative spices which led to the development of my own version of boiled shrimp – Yankee style. So, in honor of our Nation’s 240th year of Independence, the Statue of Liberty’s 130th birthday and the 30th anniversary of the beginning of my catering career, I share with you now my version of boiled shrimp. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
-Two (2) 2 lb. bags frozen, deveined but shell on shrimp (no smaller than 26-30 count per pound)
-Four (4) whole ears raw fresh corn – each ear cut into 4 pieces
-Three (3) whole large lemons
-One (1) lb. bite sized red potatoes (or fingerling potatoes) the smaller the better, skins on
-One (1) large yellow onion, skin removed
-1/4 cup freshly ground sea salt
-2 tbs. Tabasco sauce
-2 whole bay leaves
-5 tbs. Old Bay seasoning
-3 tbs. coriander seeds
-2 tbs. cayenne pepper
-1 tbs. dried garlic flakes
-1 tbs. dried onion flakes
-1 tbs. ground cumin
-1 tbs. dry mesquite flavoring
-1 tsp. dried dill
-1 tsp. red chili pepper flakes
-1 tsp. freshly black peppercorns
Preparation:
-Thaw the shrimp
-Fill a large stock pot with 16 cups of water
-Cut the lemons into quarters add to pot
-Make sure skin is removed, cut the onion into quarters, add to pot
-Add the salt, Tabasco and all of the dried spices
-Cover and bring to a rolling boil – making sure not to allow it to boil over
-Add the potatoes stir, cover and bring to boil, then uncover allowing potatoes to cook for 5 minutes
-Then add the shrimp and the corn, stir, cover and bring to rolling boil, then uncover and cook for 5 minutes
-Then turn off the stove, cover the pot and allow to sit 5 more minutes
-Pour into a large colander in the sink to drain all of the liquid, discard bay leaves, onions and lemons
-Place the shrimp, potatoes and corn in one large bowl or platter and serve immediately “as is” or with cocktail sauce.
Makes six (6) servings
For the Love of Words Open Mic at R Patisserie Cafe & Tea Boutique
Our next open mic begins at 7:00pm on June 28, 2016 at R Patisserie Cafe & Tea Boutique located at 302 Huguenot Street in New Rochelle. Come by to read your poems, fiction, memoir, etc., or to listen to others…like me. Don’t be shy – it’s a warm and supportive group.
Music on the Move!
Happy Birthday in Spirit Sweet Brother Peter
On May 30 I posted about the 16th Anniversary of my brother, Peter’s death after being a long term AIDS survivor – and that was back in the day when not too many people were “surviving”. Had he not died just shy of his 56th birthday, my brother Peter would have turned 72 years old today. I was at the #LOFTLGBTCenter Pride event last Saturday promoting #YofiFest and came across a number of exhibitors who were providing information about how to stay healthy and stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Throughout his 20+ years of dealing with the onset on AIDS, helping dozens of friends die, dealing with his own guilt depression at “not dying” and then making himself a guinea pig for experimental drugs, he did ultimately die way before his time. I recognize that there are many medications now and many people are “living” with AIDS – but please realize that AIDS did not go away – and people are still contracting, spreading and dying from AIDS.
Sixteen Years Ago Today the World Lost a Beautiful Person
Sixteen years ago on Memorial Day Monday you left this earth sweet Peter. And I miss you every day. You were a veteran of the US Navy and although you didn’t die in combat, I do think of you as someone who died in service to humanity. I think about how you lived with AIDS for twenty years – how you cared for so many sick and dying friends in the 1980’s & 1990’s – how you volunteered in clinical trials for AZT and all of the crazy drug cocktails to try to find a cure for the virus – how you never thought you would see the year 2000 but you did at least for a few months. I remember you those final days under hospice care in your little cottage, surrounded by those who you loved and who love you still – how you remained defiant till the end – determined to live every ounce of your wonderful life possible before giving in to the pancreatic cancer that took you so quickly. I miss the fact that my children have missed knowing you in person. I feel sad that you died just before being able to witness the fruits of your many years of activism and advocacy for LGBT rights. I miss your laugh. I miss your shoulder to cry on. I miss your joy, your love of nature, your sense of adventure, the funny way you danced. I miss your sarcasm. I miss your spirit. I miss your love. Thus I keep you in my heart always. Rest in peace sweet brother.
The Banana Man
Back then we called him The Banana Man. He was a creepy guy who never revealed his name. I had broken the cardinal rule that my mother repeated day after day while I was a kid growing up in 1970’s New York City.
“Don’t talk to strangers,” she’d say, “unless you want to get raped or kidnapped or killed.” Anytime there was a news story about a missing child my mother would nod knowingly. “See! The kid probably went with a stranger. Probably raped and dead by now! Those poor parents, what they must be going through!” Then would come her tirade. “You better not talk to strangers. You better not put me through that! If I find out you talked to a stranger, I’ll kill you myself!”
So, I am sure you can appreciate why I never told my mother about The Banana Man during the two-year period he stalked me.
Finding Yia Yia – Reading at Gerald Jones Exhibit
The Mount Vernon Arts & Culture, Inc. held an opening reception in the Rotunda of Mount Vernon City Hall on March 18th. Gerald Jones, a guest artist whose work is currently on exhibit at City Hall was present at the event, led by Mayor Ernest D. Davis and Cynthia Burgos, Chair of the Fine Arts Committee.
Recipe for Lasagne
I am about to share with you my family recipe that originated at Angelina’s Restaurant in 1936 and was also served in our other Greenwich Village establishment, La Marionetta Pizzeria when it opened in 1961. Carrying on the tradition, I made and served this same lasagne throughout my professional catering days – including to Gwyneth Paltrow during her sixteenth birthday party aboard the Yacht Mariner III in September of 1988. And I continue to make and serve it today – just ask my kids and their friends who have been eating it for the past week! The photo of lasagne – displayed in the actual stoneware dish it would have been served in at the restaurants – was taken by my son Colin Taylor. Here is the recipe…