Snowzilla or the Apocalypse...depends on who you ask

One of the most entertaining parts of living in Virginia (which I absolutely love), is watching Virginians react to snowstorms.  As soon as the first snowflakes start sticking to the ground, all common sense fly's out the window.

First off - without fail - grocery stores everywhere will run out of bread, milk, and bottled water.  Without fail.  If it's going to snow, there will be a run on grocery stores.

And while it might have been a two-lane road yesterday, once it’s covered in snow, it’s fair game.  Feel free to drive wherever you want.  And if you want to make a U-turn, no need to wait for an intersection - just go over the median.  Median?  What median?  I didn’t see a median.  

There's also a very strange, I mean perfectly normal, correlation between snowstorms, driving, and hazard lights.  The only time I've ever driven with my hazards on was in a funeral procession.  Last winter, when I saw cars in front of me with their hazards on, I respectfully pulled over to let the funeral procession pass.  Only, there was no funeral.  Just people driving with their hazards on because it was snowing.  Apparently, when snowing, you should drive with your hazards on so people can see you.  Maybe if it was a really thick fog, I'd be on board.  But snowing?  "I was driving and hit a car because the falling snow had camouflaged it perfectly."  Said no one, ever.

So you can imagine what it was like as Snowzilla was getting closer.  People weren’t preparing for a snowstorm, they were preparing for the apocalypse.  There was no telling who would make it out alive and who was going to starve to death, in the 24-48 hours it would take the plows to clear the main roads after the storm.  Panic was in full force.  Stores were running out of everything in record time.  

Check out lines went all the way to the back of the store.  Milk and bread, forget about it.  That was gone before you even got in your car.  By the time you get there, half the produce section is gone.  A friend foolishly thought she could just grab a couple of potatoes.  This was no drill, my friend, this was Snowzilla.  

Now I don't have a cow to get my own milk, or the ability to make bread, because yeast hates me and refuses to cooperate.  Nor do I have a garden to grow my own produce.  But I'm not worried, because I watched The Martian.  Thanks to Mark Watney, Space Pirate, I know what needs to be done to grow potatoes.

You know how the saying goes - when life gives you poop, make potatoes.  Or something like that.  

In the end, Snowzilla came and we all survived.  A friend of mine measured 27" in her backyard.  That's pretty legit for 24 hours.  The fact that they canceled school for seven days, was maddening.  Don’t they know the buses could just drive with their hazards on and they’d be fine?

Regardless – when snowed in, what better way to spend your time than cooking Carmine’s.  Because Grandma was visiting, I wanted to make something she'd enjoy.  She loves shrimp and I love saying parmigiana, so what's more perfect than Shrimp Parmigiana?

Shrimp Parmigiana (page 162) 

When I went to the store to buy some fresh shrimp, the guy behind the seafood counter had me follow him over to the freezer section.  He grabs a bag of frozen shrimp,  hands it to me and says, “We take these bags out in the morning, thaw the shrimp, and then put them on ice behind the glass counter.  If you want, you can buy this bag, put the shrimp in room temperature water for 20 minutes, and thaw them yourself.  Otherwise, I can charge you more for thawing them for you, this morning.”

Frozen bag of shrimp it is. 

While the shrimp was thawing in water, we made the breadcrumb (pg 283).  Who knew it was so easy to make your own??  Since I forgot to take bread out of the bag the day before (shocking, I know),  I threw them in the toaster and that worked just fine.   

My breadcrumbs are on the left and a store brand on the right.  I'm not sure if they should have been finer, like the store ones, but that was the best I could do with my blender.  I guess, for the sake of future breadcrumbs, I have no choice but to go buy a food processor.  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...for the sake of future bread crumbs.  For now, mine tasted way better, so that's what counts.

Once the shrimp was thawed and breadcrumbs made...this was the fastest and easiest recipe.  It took me about five minutes to have everything else ready: cheese sliced and grated, eggs whisked, flour and breadcrumbs on different plates and oil heating up in the pan.

        

I don't even like shrimp, but when I flipped those suckers over and saw that golden crust...I didn't care what it was, anything that looks that good needs to be eaten.  I'm going to learn to love shrimp if it kills me.

When they were all fried up, I topped them with two different cheeses and threw them under the broiler until the cheese was all melted and bubbling in parts.

**The recipe says "four 1/8-inch-thick slices fresh mozzarella," and the instructions say to cut those slices in half and top each shrimp with a slice.  However, the recipe calls for 16 large shrimp.  I'm not sure if it was supposed to say eight slices of mozzarella or to cut the four slices into fourths instead of half.  I went with eight slices so there would be lots of cheese covering the shrimp.  Either way, shrimp smothered in cheese is freaking awesome.  

Once the shrimp was done, I grabbed a plate and dished some up for my mother-in-law, Cynthia.  She loved them!  As for me...this recipe is going at the top of my list for whenever I have to take an appetizer somewhere.  They were amazing right out of the pan and still just as good when they were cold.  

At this point in my post, I usually go over the family reviews.  However, I cannot confirm or deny if in my excitement I shared the rest with my friends, leaving none for my family.  All I will say is that one minute I had a full plate of Shrimp Parmigiana and the next minute it was gone.   

My only saving grace was the fact that I made another Carmine's meal for dinner (which I will post next).  So with full bellies and a promise of another round of Shrimp Parmigiana, everyone was happy.  Whew!