Ladies Who Lunch

Four times a year, I am a Lady Who Lunches.  I get together with two friends and we spend hours engaged in chit, chat, and chow. We started out with three dates per year to celebrate our birthdays.  But that left a gaping hole in our calendar from June to January.  So we decided to add a Very Merry Unbirthday Brunch in the fall.  In addition to being an Unbirthday get together, it’s the only one that we don’t go out for.  Birthday Brunch always involves a buffet…how else could we spend hours at a table without getting the evil eye from a server?  But VMUBB is a home cooked affair.

This year’s VMUBB was hosted by Miss Lynn.  Our agenda consisted of:

1. Work talk
2. Eat
3. Boy talk
4. Eat
5. Vacation talk
6. Eat
7. Boy talk

In between stories about our recent trips abroad (hello Miss Lynn, you still haven’t posted the Aruba pictures!) and the status of boys in general, we nibbled on appys, sipped on glasses of bubbly, and chowed down on Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp.  It may be Unbirthday Brunch but that doesn’t mean that it’s untasty.  After all, we’re ladies who lunch well.

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

Adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon red curry paste (or more to taste)
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut
• 1 teaspoon sugar (omit if using sweetened coconut)
• 12 ounces large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/3 cup light coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/4 cup scallions, chopped

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook for five minutes.  Add curry paste, coconut, and sugar (if using)  and quickly saute until the coconut and onions are deeply colored from the curry paste.

Add the shrimp to the pan and cook for three to five minutes, stirring frequently, until the shrimp is just cooked.  Stir in the coconut milk and fish sauce, stir to combine, and remove from the heat.  Add the scallions and basil and serve over rice.

{Printable Recipe}