For the love of shrimp and tofu

I don't like shrimp or tofu, but I have a new found respect for each.

Let's start with tofu. I spent the summer of 2007 working at a Girl Scout Camp in Park City and because I had a few weeks before my new job started I decided to help them out this summer while camp gets set up. I spent a week at a camp in Provo and last week in Park City. When I arrived at each I was informed of the number of vegetarians and vegans I would be cooking for. I had very little experience with tofu, but with some advice (and some experimentation) I think my skills have improved. The creation I am most proud of I called, tofu stir-fry. I started with some sauteed onions and garlic, added 1 package of firm tofu (seasoned with salt and pepper), minced celery and carrots and let it go for 10-15 minutes. Then I added a few handfuls on sliced mushrooms and let those saute for another 10 minutes. This is the weird part. I have always thought it was weird that I didn't like mushrooms, but I love the smell of them cooking. I think I have discovered that I only don't like raw mushrooms because when this stir-fry of sorts was done, it was good! We didn't have rice, but this would have been perfect over rice with a little soy sauce. I know a lot of you think I'm crazy, but the key to tofu is to not mess with it. If you let it cook in the pan without stirring it for 5-10 minutes then the outside will brown similarly to chicken. (If you keep stirring it will keep breaking up and even after 30 minutes will still be soft and mushy)

Next is shrimp. I don't like shrimp either and that hasn't changed, but today I went kayaking on the Great Salt Lake (so fun!) and I learned a lot about the brine shrimp that live there.

1. There are only 2 places in the world that brine shrimp are harvested: Great Salt Lake and the San Francisco Bay
2. The majority of the shrimp you eat in a restaurant come from the orient and those shrimp were fed brine shrimp.
3. Brine shrimp have live young (in the spring) and lay eggs (in the fall). I have never heard of another species that does that.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera on my kayaking adventure, but some of the people I went with will hopefully be emailing me their pictures.