Hemingway’s is a great place…it has a laid back Key West style, and the food is phenomenal. I had the Shrimp Scampi dish, which included fried green tomatoes and truffle oil!

I have this thing where I always want to make the dishes that I enjoy at restaurants, so of course I hopped on the internet when I got home (oh who am I kidding, I googled it from my iPhone as soon as I got back in the car) and found the EXACT recipe on the local paper’s website! You can find that version here, but my version is a little more realistic and still turned out AMAZING!

This is a great alternative to the typical shrimp scampi recipe that everyone makes, and the presentation is amazing. Make it on a special occasion or for someone you want to impress 

Now, there’s a lot of ingredients in this shrimp scampi recipe and it does take a little bit of time to make, but the payoff is SO worth it.

Shrimp Scampi
(Inspired by Hemingway’s, makes 4 servings)

• 4 green tomatoes, each sliced into 4 thick slices
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 2 cups Panko breadcrumbs (you can use regular too!)
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• Salt & Pepper
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup milk or cream
• 1 pound of lasagna noodles, cooked
• 1 pound grated parmesan
• 2 ounces of truffle oil (I got mine at World Market, but Amazon has some cheap options too. My preference isBlack Truffle Oil.)
• 1.5 pounds of jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Olive oil
• 3 tablespoons of shallots
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 pound cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 teaspoon of tomato paste
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 pound of butter
• 1 tablespoon of fresh basil, julliened
• 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano, finely chopped

Step one in every recipe is to prep all your ingredients. Do all of your chopping and measure everything out the best you can so that it’s ready for you. The thing with this dish is that you want to do everything all at the same time so it’s hot, fresh and ready to serve together.

For the fried green tomatoes, mix bread crumbs, cornmeal and Parmesan together in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon chives and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Break the eggs into a bowl and add the milk or cream, whatever you decide to use. Put flour in third bowl.

Boil the water for the pasta and cook it.

Add olive oil in a cast iron skillet at a shallow level and turn to medium heat. This is where you’ll fry the green tomatoes. While that’s heating, work on cooking the shrimp…

In a hot skillet on medium heat, saute the shrimp with olive oil, salt, and pepper. When the shrimp are halfway cooked, add the shallots, garlic, and tomatoes.

Saute the mixture until the shallots are soft, and DON’T BURN THE GARLIC! Deglaze the pan with the whine wine, and lightly whisk in tomato paste.

Let the liquid in the shrimp mixture reduce by half. While you’re waiting for that to happen you can start on the fried green tomatoes.

Dredge each tomato in flour then into egg mixture, making sure egg mix adheres, then finally into cornmeal mixture. Fry the tomato slices.

Back to the shrimp! When the liquid has reduced by half, add the chicken stock. Cook for 30 seconds and then whisk in the butter. Whisk in grated parmesan. Finish by whisking in the rest of the chives, basil, and oregano.

Plating your amazing meal

Take the lasagna and lay each piece flat. Sprinkle with Parmesan and truffle oil, stack three pieces together, and roll them lengthwise.

Take 2 fried green tomatoes and cut them in half, then place on 4 sides of the plate with the rounded edges facing out and the cut edges inside. Take the pasta roll and place it in the middle of the plate and the tomatoes, end up.

You can either divy up the shrimp mixture between the 4 plates and pour it over top, or you can carefully place the shrimp on top of the tomatoes with the tails facing out and then pour the sauce over. Garnish with leftover herbs and Parmesan.

It should look like this, or better!

Ugh, this post was hard to write. I can almost taste the deliciousness again! If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you and if you did anything different.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was driving to the gym today and that abomination of a song, “Truck Yeah” by Tim McGraw came on the radio. I almost rear ended someone in my haste to change the station. On the next station, I caught the very beginning of “Not A Moment Too Soon” by Tim McGraw. Such a great song!! It was this Jeckyl and Hyde moment that made me sad and got me really thinking, trying to figure out what in the world happened to Tim.

It’s kind of like when your best friend in middle school moves away, and then you’re reunited with them a few years later and they are a completely different person in a weird, screwed up kind of way. You wonder if the person you used to know and the person they are now are the same.

So where was the tipping point for Tim, why has gone this awful direction with his music, and WHY ARE WE PRETENDING THAT HE DOESN’T SUCK??

I think it happened in 2004. When Tim released Live Like You Were Dying. “Live Like You Were Dying” was an ok song, it wasn’t his greatest, but I definitely blasted it in my car a few times. But then he did that weeeeeird duet thing with Nelly, “Over And Over”, which may have been the start of the downhill fall. Back When was on that album too, and it sucks too. And ever since then, we lost him. Last Dollar was his next single, a song so awful that I called my local radio station one time to beg them never to play it again.

Maybe Tim hated Curb Records so much that he actually sabotaged his career so that he could dump them? Maybe all the good songwriters boycotted him? Maybe he’s brainwashed by Luke Bryan fever and will now have trucks and tailgates and stupid country references in every song?

Tim. If you’re listening, I love you. Or at least, I used to love you. When you weren’t a sell out and trying to continually re-invent yourself because that’s what you think you need to do to stay relevant and sell records. Let me clue you in on a little secret: Every album you ever put out is going to go to Number 1. It doesn’t matter how horrible your singles are, you have crazy brainwashed fans that will still think they are great. So Tim, please…stop phoning it in. Why not keep what’s left of your legacy intact record some GOOD music? Surely, SURELY, there is a phenomenal songwriter out there with a song that they would kill for you to record. But instead you pick a song called “Truck Yeah”?

Truck no.

Honeymoon Island is actually a state park, so it costs a little bit of money to get in the park. There were two of us and one vehicle so it cost $8. We parked at the North Beach and walked down a little ways and found a great secluded spot. The one thing about the North Beach of Honeymoon Island is that there are LOTS of shells and rocks. I went barefoot, but if you don’t have tough hillbilly feet like I do, I would recommend bringing flip flops or crocs or something if you’re going to be walking around a ton. I don’t think the whole Island is like that, but if you’re going for shelling the North Beach is probably where you want to be. The friend I was with said his cousin got married on the beach there, and the tent was set up on the beach in the sand. How romantic! Totally my dream wedding.

Shelling

The nice thing about Honeymoon Island is that it is secluded. We went on Sunday before Labor Day and we were able to find a spot with only a few other people around. Plus, the beach goes on for miles past where you park if you REALLY don’t want any one around. I found some great shells when I was there…with it being SO shelly (yeah I made that word up), a lot of them are crushed and broken so you do have to look for the good ones, but they are definitely there! Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite shells that I found there:

The rocks and shells extend into the ocean so depending on where you go in to take a dip, you might have to wear your shoes with you! But the water is SO nice and warm, and there’s just a few waves so you can stay out there for hours if you wanted to.

Sunsets

My favorite part about Honeymoon Island, and the reason I wanted to go there, is that it faces due West and makes for the most beautiful sunsets! We brought a picnic dinner so we could stay and watch it, and it was so gorgeous. Here’s a few photos below.

The only really bad part about the experience was the mosquitos at the end of the night. When we drove in, there was a sign on the park ranger booth that said “Mosquitos are Plentiful.” Well duh, we live in Florida. We made it through the whole day without one mosquito bite, so we didn’t think anything of it. So there we are, watching the sun go down, enjoying the perfect weather and the waves crashing…it was about 20 minutes after the sun went down and all of the sudden we got BOMBARDED by mosquitos! And it wasn’t like they started coming out, like one bit us every once in a while, it was literally a swarm. We looked down and they were everywhere. We literally grabbed all of our stuff real quick and ran to the car! So, word of warning…if you stay for the sunset, leave shortly after the sun sets or you WILL be eaten alive.

Other than that, Honeymoon Island was so fun! A great place to gather shells and watch the sunset, which is what I look for in a beach. Plus, the name is super cute

The ugly $5 garage sale coffee table

I picked up this super ugly coffee table at a garage sale for $5 bucks. There’s no redeeming qualities about this big ugly thing except for that it’s big, and fits great in my living room. Oh, and it was 5 bucks! I planned on re-painting it, but it seemed like it needed more than just a coat of paint to cover up the ugliness. So, I chevroned it. I love the chevron pattern, and already have this great chevron rug from Urban Outfitters in my kitchen. I used this chevron stripes how to tutorial from Laura Beth at A Step in the Journey as a guide, with Valspar paint color Portland.

First I took apart the coffee table and spray painted it with a gloss white.

Then I taped off the chevron pattern and painted it. I also painted the legs in the Portland color.

I screwed it all back together and there you go! Chevron camouflage for an ugly coffee table.

My other idea was to upholster the top and turn it into an ottoman, but I just didn’t have the energy to deal with all that! If I ever get bored of this or find a really great deal on the supplies I’d need, then I might attempt to upholster it.

Do you have an ugly coffee table like this that you’ve re-done? I’d love to know what you did to it! Tell me what you did to make it over in the comment section.