Linguini with Shrimp Scampi - why bother

On Monday, I made this amazingly great dinner: Linguini with Shrimp Scampi. I had eaten it before and it was wonderful (thanks for the recipe Karla) - and was eager to share it with Jon. I was really excited to have it, and worked hard on it - shelling shrimp does not rank up there on my favorite things to do list. It smelled so good. YUMM. At the last minute I decided to hurry and make some alfredo sauce for the kids...just in case.

When Jon came in from work, the first thing he said was "Is this going to be good?" I should have known how the evening was going to end. Let me just clarify that one reason that I do like to cook is becuase of Jon. When he likes something, you know it. He "Mmms" and gushes over the food for the enire dinner. Let me tell you, it is good motivation to cook.

Well, anyway, we sat down to dinner and everyone dishes up -the only kid to try the shrimp is Josh and he liked it. Annie would have, but had a bit of a queasy tummy. I was okay with this, becuase it meant more for me. (by the way, all my kids like shrimp, especially on skewers on the grill). I was careful to clarify for Jon before we started that this was "a restaraunt quality meal, and it was good.". He then proceeded to cover his bowl with alfredo sauce - which totally covered the taste of the lemon sauce with the slight warmth of the red pepper as well as the shrimp scampi that had been sauteed with the garlic. AAUUGH!

He didn't MMmm, and he didn't gush over how good this meal was--I did. I enjoyed every bite for both of us, although he did eat his. When we were finished I asked him what he thought. It went like this:

"well, you know, how I like shrimp"
"how's that?"
"battered, and deep fried"
"oh" (that explains all the leftovers we had)
"well, I kind of like it with cocktail sauce too...well, I don't know, I might like the cocktail sauce better than the shrimp."

Anybody need a recipe for Linguini with Shrimp Scampi?