A Hunger For Reading

Though cooking is my number one passion, reading comes a very close second. Of course, the two are often combined. Because of this I have learned that though I love bookstores they are quite a dangerous place for me to visit. Dangerous to my wallet that is! Between my love of reading (anything and everything) and cookbooks I could spend a small fortune in a very short period of time.

I am always reading a book (often 2). I keep one under my pillow to read myself to sleep (occasionally that bites me in the butt when I get to the climax of a book and can't put it down) and one in my bag at work for rare moments when we get some down time. I sometimes keep magazines, especially cooking magazines (or gossip rags...shhh don't tell anyone) in the car for times when I have appointments or have to wait for anything (I am very impatient and if I have something to read I don't get as irritated).

I have come to the conclusion that spending $8-20 (often more for cookbooks) on a book that I often finish in a week (or less) when I can get used books for a fraction at Edward McKays is kind of extravagant. I am just as happy reading a book someone else has read as I am reading a brand new one.

As far as cookbooks are concerned, unless I find one that is just chock full of recipes that I like or has a theme that I use a lot ( My Perfect Party Cook Book is my bible) buying new ones is not very frugal. I can find a recipe for most anything somewhere on the Internet.

Magazines? Well I have a friend who subscribes to Food and Wine and she passes them on to me when she is finished and the bookstore does not seem to mind me paging through theirs while I enjoy a cup of coffee. I just have to leave my credit card at home.

There is one other alternative. The Library. The only problem I have with that is ummmm... Returning the books. I recently went to the library after a long hiatus. Why would a person who loves reading so much shun the library? Perhaps it was the $30 of overdue fines I had.(blushing) BUT, I am happy to report that I have cleared that all up and I am once again welcome at the library.

What does any of this have to do with cooking? Well, a few weeks ago when we had a rare slow day in EMS we decided to make the library our base station (it is right behind the Fire Dept). I was flipping through a copy of Cooking Light and came across an interesting recipe for Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp. But as fate would have it we got a call and I had to hurry out to "save a life".

As often happens, we never got another break that day So I never made it back to the library to copy the recipe When I got home I looked up the website and was very pleased to find the recipe with no problem. I was even more pleased when I tried it. It was really quick and really good.

I have made it twice now and I am adding it to my regular repertoire. The first time I made it exactly more or less just as it was written. The second time I was serving the shrimp over pasta and wanted a bit more "sauce" so I doubled everything (and used a lot more curry) except the oil and shrimp and onions. it was not quite as "light" but it was delish seved over a bed of angel hair pasta. This is the recipe as originally printed in Cooking Light.

Thia Coconut Curry Shrimp

1 teaspoon canola oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon red curry paste (such as Thai Kitchen)

1 teaspoon sugar

12 ounces large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/3 cup light coconut milk

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and curry paste to pan, and sauté 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in sugar; sauté 15 seconds. Add shrimp; sauté 3 minutes or until shrimp are done, stirring frequently. Stir in coconut milk and fish sauce; cook 30 seconds or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in green onions and basil.

Makes 2 servings, 1 cup each.

Nutritional Information as provided by Cooking Light

Calories: 255 (26% from fat)

Fat:7.4g (sat 2.6g,mono 1.8g,poly 1.9g)

Protein:36.1g

Carbohydrate:10.2g

Fiber:1.1g

Cholesterol:259mg

Iron: 6mg

Sodium:740mg

Calcium:111mg