"Winter Madness Sets in" or "It's Summer in Australia"

There is nothing like a wintertime funk to make you crave something warm and exotic
 and we've had more than our share of funk around here lately what with the never ending cold and flu cycle, the snowy grey days, my laptop crashing  and  the White Stripes breaking up. It's all got me pining for a warm sunny holiday, somewhere new, fresh and ocean side.  But since I haven't gotten my tax return yet (bwahahaha yeah right) I can't quite afford to go globe trotting to perk up my mood. So the next best thing, a warm exotic recipe.

 This taste of heaven comes once again from the lovely lips of the cooks at Fitness Magazine ( how I love them) and despite it's expense ( and believe me it was expensive) it practically cooed a salty kiss of ocean. Shrimp with kalamata olives in the winter time is almost enough to tempt a bikini clad afternoon walk (almost). In the picture you'll see I ate it with rice but I think it would practically move the earth if set atop a bed of pasta (angel hair?) I just happened to have some cooked rice around I needed to use up. Fitness suggests serving it with a warm whole grain baguette which I'll bet would be lovely, but the perfect thing I think would be a pair of sunglasses and a drink with an umbrella.

Shrimp Saganaki

Fitness Magazine

1tbsp Olive oil

1 large onion thinly sliced

1-2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/4 pounds large shrimp, thawed if frozen, shelled and cleaned, tails removed

2 cups grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup pitten Kalamata olives

1 tbsp frsh dill, chopped

1 tbsp frsh parsley, chopped

3 ounces feta, crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Whole grain baguette, a bed of your favorite pasta, or whatever you like

1. Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium- high heat. Add onion, garlic and red pepper flakes; cook 5 minutes.
2. Add your lovely shrimp, tomato halves and olives to the skillet and cook for another five minutes or until all the shrimp are hot pink. Stir in the dill, feta and parsley and cook 1-2 minutes until it makes this lovely cheese sauce. Add black pepper to taste. Serve nice and warm.