I told you it was auction season, remember the year supply of dry sodas? Well, we get a kick out of picking one interesting item per auction, perhaps one with a story or experience. At a recent auction, I renewed our family pass to the Seattle Art Museum—which was brilliant timing as they just renovated a huge portion of the museum. It is gorgeous.

At last year’s school auction, we were nudged by our children (they let the kids drool over auction items, so they can ‘encourage’ their parents to gun for specific items—smart, eh?) to check out “shrimping for a day.” My kids want to shrimp?

We walked away with a day on a shrimp boat.

And it is May, and shrimping season has arrived. So we picked up our one-day shrimping licenses, wore layers and layers of long-johns and wool socks and shoved on our rubber boots… and got up WAY to early for a Saturday (why did we buy this again? oh yes, we spent money for a good cause… and it will be a memorable family experience…). And off we went.

And it was great. And for the sake of culinary school (couldn’t write a post without that in mind), having hoards of shrimp (80 per person, so we came home with 320) to deal with and learn to devein and clean and cook is, well, pushing me out of my comfort zone. And that really is the point, the ‘why’ behind culinary school: to push my kitchen knowledge and comfort and experience far beyond what it would ever be without school. And it all starts right about now, with all these live little buggers and their iridescent eyes, legs flailing.

Once we were home we simply had the meat in the shells and all I had to do was pick a recipe and clean ‘em. My son looked through my culinary book, while I was cleaning them, to verify the proper cleaning technique (well, I actually developed my own improper method, which will no doubt be corrected sometime this fall, at school, with yet another pile of shrimp). Because the index leaves much to be desired, he wrote up my own special little sticky note and inserted it on the shrimp deveining page.

My family is supporting my schooling efforts, one sticky note at a time.

Know what else warms my heart? My son learned how to clean shrimp, too.

Well, I have been an observer rather than a partaker in Weekend Herb Blogging, the food blogging event and brainchild of Kalyn over at Kalyn’s Kitchen. I figured the best way for me to jump in with TWO feet, was to start joining the fun at the Weekend Herb Blogging TWO Year Anniversary of this event.

The aim of this big party is to submit a dish that is doubly delish: with a favorite herb and vegetable all wrapped into one recipe. My recipe? Cilantro Mango Coconut Sauce. The vegetable inclusions are onion and green pepper. This little sauce/chutney is a really bold combination, yet pairs beautifully with the peppered shrimp.

I love learning about herbs. More importantly, I like to push myself out of my culinary comfort zone and try new recipes with new herbs. It has not been too many years since I began using cilantro, an herb I have a crush on. Though it is an herb that demands attention sooner than later (too much later and it will wilt—this herb has a short life so use it quickly!). But if you lovingly pursue this herb, it won’t let you down. It adds panache to any dish, pairs beautifully with seafood and has landed on my table in both guacamole and pesto.

Peppered Shrimp
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander (from same plant as cilantro)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp freshly ground, coarse black pepper
15-18 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
fresh lime juice

Place shrimp in bowl (I used a bag of already cooked jumbo shrimp, defrosted them and put them in a bowl), sprinkle on coriander, pepper and oil. Give a toss to blend. Let sit for 20-30 minutes while you prepare sauce. Then, grill 1-3 minutes per side, sprinkle with lime juice and serve.

Cilantro Coconut Sauce
2/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup cilantro
3 T sweetened coconut
2 T fresh lime juice
2 T mango jelly (or chutney if you prefer spicy)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 T fresh green chili (I use anaheim, they are very mild; use a jalapeno if you like spicy)
pinch of coarse salt
2 cloves garlic

The sauce pushes my culinary patience: chop this, dice that, squeeze citrus, etc. I am a big fan of keep it simple. I kept it easy: I just plunked all the cilantro sauce items into my mini chopper and pureed. I didn’t pre-chop anything; the only cutting I did was to ensure the onion and pepper pieces fit into the chopper. I didn’t mince garlic or chop up the cilantro. So here are the instructions: add all sauce ingredients to blender and puree.