Slice of Life 2026: 29 of 31- Frozen shrimp

  In March, Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life Story Challenge. Everyone is welcome to share writing and comment on others in this special community. 

I knew I'd be cutting things close. Yesterday was one of those days when everything had to be on time, I needed a back-up plan in case it didn't, and I had to have things prepped for efficiency. With tutoring sessions, airport pickups, a pickleball tournament, and nine for dinner, the error margin was small. 

The day began with a message from Delta. 

Okay, I could handle that. It just meant that I went to the grocery store beforehand. My plan was to get shrimp at the Big Y. However, they only had the easy peel shrimp that I'd need in frozen form. I had decided that those were going to be worth the extra cost today given the schedule, and I really didn't want to deal with thawing shrimp. 

Okay, no problem. I'd stop at Whole Foods on my way home. They'd have the shrimp I wanted. Fortunately, it was cold enough that I could safely leave the ice cream in the car. (One of the few times you'll hear me say it's good that it's cold outside.)

"I need four pounds of these," I said, pointing to the lovely, unfrozen, easy-to-peel shrimp. 

The fish man shook his head at me. 

"I'll have to give you frozen ones," he said. He then went on to explain how to thaw shrimp. (I had a pretty good idea of what to do, but he was too serious and invested in his explanation to interrupt him. Good thing it was cold for that ice cream in my car.)

And so, the frozen shrimp went into the refrigerator, I did the all the prep I could do for the rest of dinner, and continued with my schedule-bound day. 

The schedule again went awry when matches backed up. And then there was the problem that my partner and I made the playoffs, and then the finals, so we had to stay for the medals. Okay, high fives to us (higher fives if we'd won the finals and came in first instead of second, but whatever...). I texted Clare and Garth for back up. 

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Aside and Important Background Information: One thing you need to know about me is that I am often overcoming a tendency to buy too little food, especially seafood, since leftovers tend to be left until thrown away. One of my four daughters regularly ask me, especially when boys are invited for dinner, "Did you get enough protein?"

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When I walked into the kitchen, Clare had things going in the kitchen. She's pretty awesome that way. But when I looked in the sink and the colander of shrimp, there were not many shrimp. The pile seemed small. 

"Where did those shrimp come from," I asked. 

"The freezer," Clare said. 

"Uh oh," I said. "You used the two-pound bag?" (I keep frozen shrimp on-hand for quick weekday meals.)

I opened the refrigerator-- the logical place for the shrimp that needed defrosting-- and pulled out my big bag of still-frozen shrimp. 

I have zero doubt that there were disparaging comments made about how I was going to starve all the dinner guests before I got home to the plenty-of-food rescue, and now there were some disparaging comments about my communication skills of which I could not defend. I tried for a moment to explain that I'd written my text in between matches with people talking to me and pressuring me to get to the court... but, still. I admit. I was not clear about the location of the shrimp. 

Fortunately, we had a good laugh, the frozen shrimp from the refrigerator defrosted, team-make-dinner made dinner, everyone had plenty to eat, and...

We have a lot of leftovers. This is a great recipe for anyone looking for a healthy and quick-to=prepare meal for shrimp lovers.