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I don’t have too many updates this week, but sometimes that’s a good thing! I’m in the midst of preparing for my holiday trips, some of which I will be taking PTO for and others in which I will just be working remotely. My first stop is to my parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving. We haven’t had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving together as a family in a while since both my sister and I moved to California. This is the first time in what I believe is 6 or 7 years that we will be having a Thanksgiving dinner together. My dad is in charge of preparing the Thanksgiving meal, so I know it’s going to be delicious. I’m really excited for it. It’s been nice being back on the East Coast for a while and being able to visit my parents more often. My sister is also on the East Coast for a quick visit, so I’m glad the 4 four of us will get to spend some more time together.
After Thanksgiving I will quickly but safely drive home and get ready to head to California for a bit. I’m thrilled for this because I think it is freezing n the East Coast right now and I can’t wait to be back in California for that “winter” weather. I’ll be visiting my boyfriend which I’m excited for since we currently live on two different coasts. It’s definitely been tough, but I think we’re trying all we can to make the distance feel minimal.
After visiting my boyfriend, I get to relax in my home for a few days before I have to start packing again. This year I’m spending Christmas in Spain with my boyfriend’s family. It’ll be my first year not having Christmas with my family which makes me a little sad. I do really enjoy spending time with them and being together at the holidays is always special. We’ll be doing a mini Christmas on the 21st so that we can still say that we had Christmas together!
In between all that, I’m fitting in my work schedule, my blogging, and I’m looking to be a part of some virtual volunteering opportunities. It’s hard to find something in my location because I do travel quite a bit to visit my family and there is potential for future work travel. I don’t want to commit to an in-person volunteering event only to find out that I can’t make it. I think the virtual option is much more realistic for my schedule.
On the topic of food, I’m starting to draw a blank. I have a few recipes and pictures on file that are ready to be shared, but I can’t decide which is a good choice to share. I assume I’ll eventually share them all, but some are from before I purchased a ring light, and now looking back at those photos, they’re pretty bad.
I shared the blueberry scones on my Instagram this past Monday, but a post relating to them is not live. So if you’re looking around for it, stay tuned!
This week I’m sharing this super easy One-Pan Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Asparagus recipe. My biochem brain sees “asparagus” and immediately thinks of asparagine because that’s how I would remember the amino acid and know how to spell it. Full disclosure, I used two pans. You can find this recipe from the blog Carlsbad Cravings. I’m always amazed when I look at the home pages of the blogs I try recipes from. Everything looks so effortlessly delicious, and it usually is!
Asparagus is high in asparagine, from which it was named (of course!). Asparagine is a non-essential amino acid (amino acids our body can synthesize) which is critical for producing many of the body’s proteins, but also plays a role in the metabolism of ammonia.
I’ve started to notice that many of the recipes that I am making are not heavily focused around meat (even fish). It’s not intentional, I just found it curious that it was a pattern. This week, however, I am sharing a shrimp recipe and for dinner I made some chicken (which will be shared soon!).
Rating
9/10
I’m so focused on taking videos for my Instagram page that I often forget to take pictures. This is one of those recipes in which I forget to take a picture of the full, finished meal. I did take a picture of the shrimp, which turned out delicious!
This was a great recipe to make in a pinch because i only had to purchase 3 ingredients to make this work because I already had the rest at home. Some notes and lessons learned:
- Add rice or pasta to make this a more filling and complete dish, unless you’re stacking up on the shrimp and asparagus
- Following the cook time from the blog, my shrimp were still heavily grey when I pulled them out
- I popped them back in for the same amount of time and they turned out great. Just play it by ear to make sure you’re cooking the shrimp based on the capabilities of your oven.
- If you don’t like asparagus, my recommendation would be to replace with broccoli. I personally find them to be relatively light vegetables so the dish doesn’t make you feel stuffed afterward
Try it out an let me know what you think!
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Gabriela Maria 