The Best Laid Plans
It’s hard not to like Maine when you visit in the summer. The land is lush and green and the coastline is rocky and dramatic. Shades of blue and gray are constantly changing, growing lighter or darker with the weather.
Out my window right now there are three white sailboats billowing past. A seal pops his head up, looking for lunch. A thin line of fog has rolled in and out several times, and both the sky and water are a silvery light blue. Cicadas are buzzing in the thick grass
Maine is great…even when you have covid (if I could find a sad looking lobster emoji, I’d insert it here).
Yup. I’ve spent almost my entire vacation in Maine looking out at the same view while I recover from covid and isolate from the rest of the family. It hasn’t been great, it definitely wasn’t what I had planned, but honestly, it hasn’t been horrible either.
We’ve had a lot of luck in other ways and a beautiful place to stay by the water and almost perfect weather. One of the great gifts of parenting is that you learn how to roll with whatever comes. You know things aren’t going to work out perfectly. So when life starts going sideways it doesn’t take too long to bounce back and salvage whatever good you can out of a situation.
Most likely because I’d envisioned myself eating copious amounts of seafood this week (but have yet to eat a bite) I’m sharing shrimp recipes today. They’re perfect for summer, no matter where you live. They’re recipes that are easy but look impressive and feel like a special treat.
Cucumber Shrimp Salad
This refreshing shrimp salad combines chilled shrimp and sliced cucumber with a creamy, lemony dressing and fresh herbs.
Shrimp & Feta with Garlic Bread
In this one-skillet dinner, shrimp and feta are baked with a swirl of olive oil, butter and garlic with fresh basil on top. Serve with garlic bread to soak up the deliciousness.
Instant Pot Orzo & Shrimp Scampi Pasta
This Instant Pot shrimp pasta cooks very quickly, even though the orzo cooks first and then the shrimp is added. This lemony pasta has a creamy, risotto-like texture even though no cream or dairy is added.
Reading
For the first time, I planned ahead and chose to read a novel that was set in the same place where I was vacationing. I highly recommend it! It’s been fun and has enriched both the reading experience and getting to know a new part of the country.
The book I devoured this week is The Midcoast by Adam White. It was a perfect vacation read, well-written and also plot-driven with really intriguing characters. It’s set on the coast of Maine and follows the rise and fall of a family with humble beginnings and insatiable ambition. There’s lots of local atmosphere, like lobster boats and foggy piers and local characters who respond to most questions simply by saying, “yuh.”
Please note that book titles in this section are Bookshop.org affiliate links. Your cost for purchasing the book is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to me and help support my work. When ordering from Bookshop.org you’ll also be supporting independent bookstores.
I hope that your good times this summer have outweighed the bad. Next week we’ll be back home and gearing up for start of a new school year. See you then!
Jenny
P.S. If you’d like to come back to these recipe later, you can find past newsletters with recipe links in the archives.