Saturday was my husband’s birthday and we had about 30 friends and family members over for an old-fashioned shrimp boil. This is one of my favorite easy summer meals and there is nothing to it. (Well, normally there’s not, but this time I did have to boil in three stockpots because my HUGE one was at my mother’s house and she forgot to bring it.)

Anyway, first I added the tiniest new potatoes I could find (which are at Winchester Farmers Market) to a pot of boiling water liberally seasoned with Zatarain’s shrimp and crab boil powder. I added smoked sausages after about 10 minutes, then ears of corn (halved) after about 5 more. Finally the shrimp went in, cooked just until pink, then I drained it all and poured it out on the kitchen island, which was covered with newspapers. Clean-up was a breeze–just roll the newspaper up and throw it out.

We had plenty of cold beer and I made pitchers of Hurricanes–real ones, not cough-syrupy ones. I’m not sure of the authenticity of the recipe, but preliminary research says the original Hurricane was made from passion fruit juice and light and dark rum, with a few other things. I’ll tell you this: 1) They were mighty tasty, and 2) I think the reason they eventually added grenadine was because they were a ugly, muddy color. Now why someone eventually decided to start adding every liquor in the world to them, well, that I can’t say.

Anyway–happy birthday to Bob!