I had a chance to work on this recipe a bit more for a Potluck we had at work. I have to admit that cooking for one's self is a completely different challenge than cooking for a large group of people. Thankfully, I've had a lot of guinea pigs...uh...I mean tasters to use for feedback ;)
I managed to hammer out a recipe that produces a great tasting treat and it's easy to double or triple the quantity based on how many you want to serve. So without further ado...
Ingredients
1 lb Shrimp (Stay between 20-30 count for best results)
1 lb Thick Sliced Bacon. You may need more depending on how many you wish to prepare.
8 oz. Philidelphia Cream Cheese Whipped
1/4 Cup Diced jalapenos
2 tbsp Butter (salted)
1 oz. Tiger Sauce or Cajun Power Garlic Sauce
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 drops Tabasco
Preparations
Take your shrimp and peel, clean, and de-vein them. I normally don't season them, but you can sprinkle some salt and pepper or Tony Chacherie's (lightly) on them and put them to the side.
In a large mixing bowl, take the rest of your ingredients (except the bacon) and mix them together. I fold them in by hand, then mix with an electric mixer.
Take your cream cheese mix and cool it in your fridge for about an hour to help the ingredients thicken.
Take your bacon and cut the entire package in half, down the middle. This should double the number of slices you have. Each "half slice" should be laid on a cutting board and flattened thin with your fingers.
Place a shirmp on one end of the bacon slice, then spoon in about 1/2 tsp of the cream cheese filling you prepared earlier. Wrap the bacon around the shrimp / filling mix and fold end over end until the entire shrimp is wrapped in that bacon-ny goodness :D
Place these wrapped shrimp in a Pyrex baking dish (if you plan to broil these tasty treats) or put them in a container to bring out to your grill.
When cooking these, you have two options:
1) Broiling for about 20 minutes on full-out broil. Remember to keep your oven door open while broiling!!!!
2) Grilling them for about 15 minutes on each side. This is more time consuming because you HAVE to flip the shrimp, and doing it one by one can take a while. I prefer them grilled, but I have to admit I don't always have the patience to do the work before eating the little treats!
That's pretty much it. You can see the pictoral results from our last batch in my last blog post - enjoy and good eating!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Fun With Seafood
Sam recently celebrated her 22nd birthday with me here in Austin. We had a great time together and I cooked her a birthday dinner extraordinaire ;)
My Mom taught me how to make a delightful dish called Shrimp En Brochette. Literally, that translates into "Shrimp out of skewer," according to Babelfish. Depending on how you wind up preparing it, you may, in fact, skewer the little crustaceans.
Basically, the dish is a raw shrimp wrapped around a cream cheese & jalapeno filler, then wrapped in bacon and either grilled (my favorite) or baked to a crisp. It really is sublime, and works great as a finger food appetizer or a fantastic side dish to a main entree. For Sam's birthday I did them both ways (grilled and baked) as a side with a Grilled Ribeye entree.
I've posted a couple of pictures below, and there are a few more over at my Flicker site. I'll post the recipe soon:
My Mom taught me how to make a delightful dish called Shrimp En Brochette. Literally, that translates into "Shrimp out of skewer," according to Babelfish. Depending on how you wind up preparing it, you may, in fact, skewer the little crustaceans.
Basically, the dish is a raw shrimp wrapped around a cream cheese & jalapeno filler, then wrapped in bacon and either grilled (my favorite) or baked to a crisp. It really is sublime, and works great as a finger food appetizer or a fantastic side dish to a main entree. For Sam's birthday I did them both ways (grilled and baked) as a side with a Grilled Ribeye entree.
I've posted a couple of pictures below, and there are a few more over at my Flicker site. I'll post the recipe soon:
Friday, May 26, 2006
Facebook | BJ Hoffpauir
Facebook | BJ Hoffpauir - Ok, so I broke down and joined Facebook. I couldn't resist or something. Yeah, that's it!
Sam has been working to get me in there. Apparently I received an offer I couldn't refuse. It's a pretty easy to use social networking site, and I've got some pictures up there on my profile.
Sam has been working to get me in there. Apparently I received an offer I couldn't refuse. It's a pretty easy to use social networking site, and I've got some pictures up there on my profile.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Barton Creek Adventure
This is an interesting post - I get to photoblog and try out some technology at the same time!
I went mountain bike riding a few weeks ago with my friend Kevin over at Barton Creek. There are some great photos of the area on the City of Austin's website, but the Austin Chronicle also has a great guide. The complex has a private trail that takes you down to the creek trails without having to deal with the throngs of people and traffic near Mopac, which is nice.
At any rate, it was an amazing experience. It was, of course, challenging. I am not an advanced rider by anyone's stretch of the imagination, and this was 'technically challenging,' as Kevin put it. I got to do this one climb that was....amazing.
And, instead of posting photos on the blog directly, I've created an interactive map of the ride using the Google Maps. It's got the important points setup, and when you click on them, you'll be able to see the photos I snapped on the trip:
You can view the full screen version of my map if you'd like to play around a bit more.
So I was able to embed that directly in this blog post by using a free service called Community Walk. They make it REALLY easy to do this - much more so than coding it all directly using the Google Map API. I'll tackle that task in another post...
I went mountain bike riding a few weeks ago with my friend Kevin over at Barton Creek. There are some great photos of the area on the City of Austin's website, but the Austin Chronicle also has a great guide. The complex has a private trail that takes you down to the creek trails without having to deal with the throngs of people and traffic near Mopac, which is nice.
At any rate, it was an amazing experience. It was, of course, challenging. I am not an advanced rider by anyone's stretch of the imagination, and this was 'technically challenging,' as Kevin put it. I got to do this one climb that was....amazing.
And, instead of posting photos on the blog directly, I've created an interactive map of the ride using the Google Maps. It's got the important points setup, and when you click on them, you'll be able to see the photos I snapped on the trip:
You can view the full screen version of my map if you'd like to play around a bit more.
So I was able to embed that directly in this blog post by using a free service called Community Walk. They make it REALLY easy to do this - much more so than coding it all directly using the Google Map API. I'll tackle that task in another post...
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Jazz Fest 2006
I was able to wrangle a day off of work to head down to New Orleans for the last weekend of the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival. Truth be told, I didn't manage to make it to the festival fairgrounds proper. I had a couple of friends in from D.C., along with some s, ightseeing to do.
Truth is, I've lived in New Orleans (while Mom was doing her masters work at Tulane) and I hadn't been back since Katrina hit. I left Louisiana to come back up to Austin the weekend before it struck, and I've kind of been intentionally avoiding returning for a visit.
So, I went down and had a blast. Of course, it was depressing to see the extent of the damage (even after all this time, until you've seen it with your own two eyes, it seems unreal), but all hope is not lost. I was able to visit with my brother and some friends, and we passed a good time, cher!
For all of you who revellers who were there with us in New Orleans, you can view the pics Samantha and I took from Dinner at my Flicker Site. Download and enjoy.
First, we went to dinner at an AMAZING restaurant - John Besh's latest, "August" The meal was amazing, and the atmosphere was divine. It was one of my best friends' (John Stubbs) birthday, and we celebrated together with his two brothers (Nathan and Drew) and a few other guests that had come down from DC. A couple of high notes - sitting next to us after his show at the Jazz Fest was Jimmy Buffett:
The picture's pretty dark, I know, but that's him. We were trying to be polite and not disturb Mr. Buffett by using our flashes while he was having dinner. That's John being non-chalant and trying to tell us that Jimmy Buffett was behind him. Heh.
Here's one of John and his lovely wife, Victoria (right), with myself and my better half, Samantha (left):
After much fun and rejoicing, we adjourned for the evening. Well, Samantha and I did, anyway. As I heard it, the rest of the birthday crewe went out and partied as one can only do in the Big Easy until like 7:30 AM. Ouch! Plus, brunch with the parents that morning? Nice. Here's the party after dinner:
Jimmy Buffett wasn't the only celebrity having dinner at August when we were there - Willie Garson (Stanford from Sex & The City) was also sampling some of the delicious morsels from Chef Besh's kitchen. I managed to take a couple of pictures through the window while out for a smoke break, but I (once again) didn't use a flash and the pics came out WAY too dark. But seriously, he was there.
Truth is, I've lived in New Orleans (while Mom was doing her masters work at Tulane) and I hadn't been back since Katrina hit. I left Louisiana to come back up to Austin the weekend before it struck, and I've kind of been intentionally avoiding returning for a visit.
So, I went down and had a blast. Of course, it was depressing to see the extent of the damage (even after all this time, until you've seen it with your own two eyes, it seems unreal), but all hope is not lost. I was able to visit with my brother and some friends, and we passed a good time, cher!
For all of you who revellers who were there with us in New Orleans, you can view the pics Samantha and I took from Dinner at my Flicker Site. Download and enjoy.
First, we went to dinner at an AMAZING restaurant - John Besh's latest, "August" The meal was amazing, and the atmosphere was divine. It was one of my best friends' (John Stubbs) birthday, and we celebrated together with his two brothers (Nathan and Drew) and a few other guests that had come down from DC. A couple of high notes - sitting next to us after his show at the Jazz Fest was Jimmy Buffett:
The picture's pretty dark, I know, but that's him. We were trying to be polite and not disturb Mr. Buffett by using our flashes while he was having dinner. That's John being non-chalant and trying to tell us that Jimmy Buffett was behind him. Heh.
Here's one of John and his lovely wife, Victoria (right), with myself and my better half, Samantha (left):
After much fun and rejoicing, we adjourned for the evening. Well, Samantha and I did, anyway. As I heard it, the rest of the birthday crewe went out and partied as one can only do in the Big Easy until like 7:30 AM. Ouch! Plus, brunch with the parents that morning? Nice. Here's the party after dinner:
Jimmy Buffett wasn't the only celebrity having dinner at August when we were there - Willie Garson (Stanford from Sex & The City) was also sampling some of the delicious morsels from Chef Besh's kitchen. I managed to take a couple of pictures through the window while out for a smoke break, but I (once again) didn't use a flash and the pics came out WAY too dark. But seriously, he was there.
Swamp Romping
It's been awhile since my last post, but worry not, loyal reader(s?), I have been busy.
My most recent outings have been (mostly) documented by my trusty RAZR's phone-cam.
A few weeks ago, I was lamenting about how much I missed home. The music and the food are one of a kind, and I was longing for the spicy flavor of boiled crawfish and the funky chank-a-chank of Zydeco. I happened to be riding my bike in downtown Austin and came across the 2nd Annual Louisiana Swamp Romp.
Sweet! They had crawfish & Zydeco & Traditional Cajun music a-plenty. I really enjoyed it and was able to get some decent shots from the festival:
Fellow Passers of a Good Time. These two were cutting it up to a little Zydeco. Who was playing, you ask? Well, none other than Corey "Lil' Pop" Ledet, all the way from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
Incidentally, Breaux Bridge is the self-proclaimed Crawfish Capital of the World. Although I'm not sure exactly what that means, if you ever have a chance to visit during their Annual Crawfish Festival, you should. It's pretty amazing - the food is unbelievable and the music is top notch.
The above two pictures are from The Bluerunners. They're a great band from my hometown of Lafayette, LA. I picked up their new CD, Honeyslides, which is pretty damn entertaining. You can check it out on their MySpace page if you don't want to buy the album now (but you should buy it anyway ;) )
My most recent outings have been (mostly) documented by my trusty RAZR's phone-cam.
A few weeks ago, I was lamenting about how much I missed home. The music and the food are one of a kind, and I was longing for the spicy flavor of boiled crawfish and the funky chank-a-chank of Zydeco. I happened to be riding my bike in downtown Austin and came across the 2nd Annual Louisiana Swamp Romp.
Sweet! They had crawfish & Zydeco & Traditional Cajun music a-plenty. I really enjoyed it and was able to get some decent shots from the festival:
Fellow Passers of a Good Time. These two were cutting it up to a little Zydeco. Who was playing, you ask? Well, none other than Corey "Lil' Pop" Ledet, all the way from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
Incidentally, Breaux Bridge is the self-proclaimed Crawfish Capital of the World. Although I'm not sure exactly what that means, if you ever have a chance to visit during their Annual Crawfish Festival, you should. It's pretty amazing - the food is unbelievable and the music is top notch.
The above two pictures are from The Bluerunners. They're a great band from my hometown of Lafayette, LA. I picked up their new CD, Honeyslides, which is pretty damn entertaining. You can check it out on their MySpace page if you don't want to buy the album now (but you should buy it anyway ;) )
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Introducing....The Beastles!
I ran across a really interesting site yesterday hosted by djBC - The Beastles .
He's a pretty solid DJ from the U.K. that is quite a fan of both the Beastie Boys and the Beatles. Who isn't, though, right?
He's quite adept at mixing together songs and loops / hooks from each into pretty intriguing tunes.
I found that at first they were a little weird to listen to - I've grown up as a mega fan of each band, and when you've listened to a song thousands of times, you come to have a feel for it that is shaken when you hear a remake. These really don't even qualify as a remake - or a re-mix really, they're "mashed-up" - interweaving samples from different songs of each artist together.
However, djBC has skills, and I think his love for the original works really shines through. The music offers an unexpectedly refreshing twist on some of my all-time favorite melodies.
Give them a listen and let me know what you think :)
He's a pretty solid DJ from the U.K. that is quite a fan of both the Beastie Boys and the Beatles. Who isn't, though, right?
He's quite adept at mixing together songs and loops / hooks from each into pretty intriguing tunes.
I found that at first they were a little weird to listen to - I've grown up as a mega fan of each band, and when you've listened to a song thousands of times, you come to have a feel for it that is shaken when you hear a remake. These really don't even qualify as a remake - or a re-mix really, they're "mashed-up" - interweaving samples from different songs of each artist together.
However, djBC has skills, and I think his love for the original works really shines through. The music offers an unexpectedly refreshing twist on some of my all-time favorite melodies.
Give them a listen and let me know what you think :)
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Where You From?
For me, the answer to that question is the small Cajun Community of Lafayette, LA. I've spent most of my life there, and it is truly where I call home.
My small town was in the news today, covered by USA Today for it's struggle against BellSouth in providing Fiber Optic Internet to the parish. I'm so happy to see the direction that the community is heading in this area. It really shows a solid grasp of the long-term potential of these technologies and serves as a reminder that not all parts of the state are completely controlled by the "good old boys."
There's a great blog covering the blow by blow at Lafayette Pro-Fiber. You can obviously tell from the title of the site that it's going to lean in one direction, but I'm in favor of the project so go figure?!?!?
I just wanted to throw a little link lovin' and kudos to my friends and family back home who are fighting to give Lafayette a solid technological edge to compete economically.
My small town was in the news today, covered by USA Today for it's struggle against BellSouth in providing Fiber Optic Internet to the parish. I'm so happy to see the direction that the community is heading in this area. It really shows a solid grasp of the long-term potential of these technologies and serves as a reminder that not all parts of the state are completely controlled by the "good old boys."
There's a great blog covering the blow by blow at Lafayette Pro-Fiber. You can obviously tell from the title of the site that it's going to lean in one direction, but I'm in favor of the project so go figure?!?!?
I just wanted to throw a little link lovin' and kudos to my friends and family back home who are fighting to give Lafayette a solid technological edge to compete economically.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Apples & Bounties?
I'm sure this will be all over the blogosphere, but there's a guy who stuck his neck out on the line (and put his money where his mouth is) to try to get Windows XP to dual boot on his newly purchased MacBook laptop. You know, Apple's new Intel-based laptop.
He basically told his boss to buy him one, and not to worry because it would run all his Company's windows stuff fine. HEHEHE. So basically, he offered a bounty of $100 to anyone who could make it happen.
Needless to say, he's also accepting donations for the bounty fund, since $100 isn't likely to motivate many hackers, but the fund's up to around $3,300 as of this writing. I've donated $25 bucks, and thought you readers might be interested in contributing to the cause.
I know, I know - I work at Dell, and I'm contributing to this? It's one of my dark secrets - I'm a Mac wannabe, I guess. I like the design of Macs and have been an Apple fan since I first started programming on the Apple ]['s WAAAY back in the day.
So, donate to the cause! It'll help buy some crazy hacker caffeine-loaded water, which they'll probably need if they're going to finish the project by the March deadline.
He basically told his boss to buy him one, and not to worry because it would run all his Company's windows stuff fine. HEHEHE. So basically, he offered a bounty of $100 to anyone who could make it happen.
Needless to say, he's also accepting donations for the bounty fund, since $100 isn't likely to motivate many hackers, but the fund's up to around $3,300 as of this writing. I've donated $25 bucks, and thought you readers might be interested in contributing to the cause.
I know, I know - I work at Dell, and I'm contributing to this? It's one of my dark secrets - I'm a Mac wannabe, I guess. I like the design of Macs and have been an Apple fan since I first started programming on the Apple ]['s WAAAY back in the day.
So, donate to the cause! It'll help buy some crazy hacker caffeine-loaded water, which they'll probably need if they're going to finish the project by the March deadline.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Nimble Fingers
I am just returning home from what will likely be one of the coolest experiences of my life. I went to see a performance hosted by the Austin Classical Guitar Society. I joined a few months ago, but I haven't made time to attend any of their events until now.
If you are in Austin, or may be here soon, make some time to attend one of their shows.
Tonight's featured performer was an incredibly talented and breathtaking guitarist from Karlovac, Croatia : Ana Vidovic.
Amazing.
Honestly, that word barely does Ana justice. I've tried to find another that might more accurately portray the passion and intensity she brought to the fretboard, and I must sadly admit that I could not find any.
Here's a few pictures of the virtuoso that I snapped after the performance while she was signing autographs:
I managed to get in line first and nabbed an autograph. She even spelled my name right without asking. SCORE.
HEHE.
So, if you haven't already bought her CD from her website that I linked to above, you should do so IMMEDIATELY ;) You can also get it at Amazon.com - The one she was selling at the recital was from the 1998 International Francisco Tarrega Competition, Benicasim where she took first prize.
Keep an eye out for her, and do try and make a recital if you can. Even if you're not a huge fan of classical music, you'll enjoy her performance.
If you are in Austin, or may be here soon, make some time to attend one of their shows.
Tonight's featured performer was an incredibly talented and breathtaking guitarist from Karlovac, Croatia : Ana Vidovic.
Amazing.
Honestly, that word barely does Ana justice. I've tried to find another that might more accurately portray the passion and intensity she brought to the fretboard, and I must sadly admit that I could not find any.
Here's a few pictures of the virtuoso that I snapped after the performance while she was signing autographs:
I managed to get in line first and nabbed an autograph. She even spelled my name right without asking. SCORE.
HEHE.
So, if you haven't already bought her CD from her website that I linked to above, you should do so IMMEDIATELY ;) You can also get it at Amazon.com - The one she was selling at the recital was from the 1998 International Francisco Tarrega Competition, Benicasim where she took first prize.
Keep an eye out for her, and do try and make a recital if you can. Even if you're not a huge fan of classical music, you'll enjoy her performance.
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