Too Darn Hot

I've mentioned before that Thatboy and I live fairly coastal - running distance from the beach. Which means it's a little cooler here than other parts of the county.

Today Thatboy and I traveled east 20 degrees. I'm not kidding. At some point, we passed one of those digital thermometers that read "95 degrees." Can I please point out we are in April right now?

When we finished our errands in Hades, I begged Thatboy "Please - drive west. Just go until the water starts coming in through the windows." (I tend to be a bit melodramatic.)

And so he did. Our errands including picking up lots of chocolate and candies for Thatniece and Thatnephew's Easter Baskets, which we had to leave precariously in an oven-like car while running into the supermarket. (Disclaimer- no chocolate bunnies were injured during this escapade.)

When we finally finished and had brought our bags of movies and candies and sundries back home, we both peeled off our clothes and (get your minds out of the gutter) threw on our swimsuits and headed down to the pool.

Obviously we were not the only ones with this idea. It seems like the pool is an excellent substitute babysitter for actual parenting. I mean, sure it seemed like some of the adults sitting along the side must be related to the screaming and running children, but surely one of them would have spoken up had it been their child who was casually throwing himself backwards into the corner of the shallow end of the pool. (Given that this is the same child who was tearing around the edge of the pool, just skimming the corners, I'm tempted to think he was actually gunning for some form of head injury. Perhaps they give out prizes for such a feat in his home.) I'm also not quite sure which adult belonged to the three year old who was sitting in the hot tub during our entire time there. Perhaps she belonged to the nine year olds who would race from the hot tub to the pool jumping in both? Or perhaps I'm the only one who doesn't quite see why a child would need to ride a bicycle around the edge of a pool.

Whatever the case may be, the pool was not quite as relaxing as I had hoped, although it was a welcome relief to cool down a bit. And of course, now that we're back home and the sun has set, it's back to normal night chilliness. And there was no way I was going to ruin the chill with something from the oven. If it's hot where you are, let me suggest something stovetop and spicy. Stovetop because....it's not going to heat up your whole kitchen/home. Spicy because it'll make you sweat a bit which will then evaporate and cool you off. Same idea as drinking hot tea or soup on a hot day. As a word of caution - drinking something cold on a cold day does not have the effect of warming you up.

Firecracker Shrimp
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup panko
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup sweet chili sauce
1 tsp Sriracha
1 tsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil

1. Dip shrimp in buttermilk and coat with panko.
2. Heat oil in skillet until hot. Fry shrimp 3-4 minutes, until crispy.
   
3. Whisk chili sauce, sriracha, fish sauce, and sesame oil.
4. Toss shrimp in sauce and serve hot!