beekeepers in public

Never a good idea.  The more of us, the less merry for everyone else.  And we love to travel in large groups.  As a result, dinner can be … challenging.

But I had a feeling that Yamato, the Japanese steakhouse on Galveston Island, might be the sort of place that could happily handle our collective appreciation for debauchery, cocktails, and seafood.

It all started out innocently enough.

Our group of about 20 took our seats and began discussing what to order, and who had been most/least entertaining at the conference earlier in the day.

But when the flat top was turned on and we were told to keep our hands away from it, our thin veneer of civility was cracked.  Honeydew, Jana, James, Jackie, and Penny immediately embarked on a contest to see who could hold their palm against the heat the longest.  Nevermind the fact, as Sober Sally pointed out, that our food was about to be prepared on this now rather unsanitary surface.

Kenny sampled the miso soup, and perfected his air pinkies.

And Dan showed us how catching shrimp tossed by the chef was done.

All in all, our debauchery level was steady at 6 on the 10 point scale.

Until someone got the bright idea to order a round of sake bombs.

If you’ve never had one, sake bombs are a demitasse cup of sake (Japanese rice wine) balanced on chopsticks over a rocks glass filled halfway with Sapporo (Japanese beer).  When taken in groups, everyone smacks their palms on table, causing the sake to fall into the Sapporo, and then everyone chugs it down.

By everyone, I am not including pregnant people, by the way.

Perfecto!

But of course, our group smacked the table with such ferocity that everything on the table, not just the sake cups, jumped.  I think only 2 glasses were broken as a result.

One of our favorite fearless leaders bore the brunt of this overzealousness without complaint.

And after dinner, we all hugged and promised to get together and harass other restaurant patrons at next year’s convention.  Miss y’all already, beekeepers.

2011.  Glacier County Honey Co.  All Rights Reserved.

 

a few of our favorite things II

Earlier this week, we featured a tasty Raspberry Corn Muffin recipe from The Wood Family, my friends from college.  They sent us another delicious recipe featuring the best honey you’ve never tasted, and I think y’all will enjoy – Mango Chutney BBQ Shrimp!  Talk about some of my favorite things: honey, mangoes, and shrimp …

Glacier County Honey.  Sticky Fingers BBQ Sauce.  Scrimps.

Beginnings of Mango Chutney.

Here’s the recipe – thanks Lynn, Julia, and Eliza Grace!

Mango Chutney BBQ Shrimp:

– Large Shrimp from Apalachicola (This is my favorite part of the Woods’ recipe – Oh, how I wish I could use large shrimp from Apalachicola!  If you can, chow down on some Apalachicola scrimps for me!)

– Dehead, devain, and peel shrimp placing onto a skewer

– In a bowl, stir together a cup of BBQ sauce (In this instance we used Sticky Fingers’ Carolina Sweet as it compliments the honey) with a half a cup of Glacier County Honey

– Using a rubber bristled basting brush, baste both sides of the shrimp very liberally with the above concoction. Do this no more than 5 or 10 minutes before cooking. Marinating shrimp for a long time tends to make it a bit mushy.

– I am using a Big Green Egg, but a grill of your choice is certain to cook to your delight. Spray grate with PAM. For simplicity and great firm shrimp with nice grill marks, heat your grill to 475 to 500 degrees. Now, place your shrimp skewers on for just one minute and fifteen seconds per side.

– Yep, this part of your dinner is now basically done in the time it has taken to read to this point.

Mango Chutney:

– We don’t have specific measurements for the chutney, but encourage you to finely dice ingredients to your taste.

– In our version we include: mango, pineapple, jalapeno pepper (include the seeds to make it extra spicy!), green onions, red onions, cilantro, honey, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and the juice from a lime.

– Dice ingredients, mix, and refrigerate until dinner is served.

We served the shrimp and chutney with our favorite rice. Rice Select Royal Blend Whole Grain Texmati Brown and Red Rice with Barley and Rye. Add a chicken bouillon cube when cooking the rice for extra flavor!

2010.  Glacier County Honey Co. All Rights Reserved.