Swimpses

Today I ran some errands at the University, and on the way back to the Bywater I swung by a seafood store I'd read about.

Zimmer's Seafood is on St. Anthony in Gentilly, and it's known for its fresh seafood and its high-quality po-boys.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to get, but when I walked in, there was a huge bin of super-fresh looking shrimp on the counter, and a smiling lady behind it. Big fat shrimp, heads on, with their long wiry antenna waving. The price? $4.99 a pound. I walked out of the store with a pound and half, for just over six dollars.

At home, I boiled up a pot of water with a cut-up lemon and a bag of Zatarain's Seafood boil, plus a teaspoon of salt, a shake of red pepper flakes, and a bottle of Abita Amber. When it came to a rolling boil, I dumped in the shrimp, and after three minutes drained them and plunged them into a colander of ice.

Chilled, with some cocktail sauce mixed with horseradish, they were mighty fine.