Orange shrimp and Planet of the Apes — It’s a madhouse!

Have you ever done something to impress someone you wanted to like you? Or just to make them aware that you existed? But in the doing that you discovered a bit about them and sometimes a bit about yourself?

There was a time when I was “just friends” with Paul. I recall trying to impress him with my knowledge of George Perez and of pop culture. I realized I had to take it further to prove that I was girlfriend material — I had to cook for him. Something special and something that would impress him. I discovered that he looooved seafood.

Well, growing up around seafood, I was no stranger to preparing it from start to finish. I used to help my mom clean and devein the shrimp in the kitchen while she was cooking. I guess I took it for granted because when I brought over some raw shrimp to Paul’s place too grill for lunch, he was surprised to find the shrimp turn from translucent blue to an opaque orange! His words were “Shrimp TURN orange?!?”

I thought he was joking — it was truly a WTF moment in all honesty — but I found out that seafood was never prepared at home when he grew up and he only ordered it from restaurants when he would go out to eat. Aside from the occasional slab of fish he would cook on his own, he never prepared shellfish for himself at home.

Along the same lines, Paul and I went to see a Charlton Heston movie marathon early in our relationship. It was a double matinee at the San Diego Museum of Photography and thought it would be a fun thing to do so I could spent 4+ hours with my cute co-worker. Despite falling asleep though much of Soylent Green, I did manage to keep my eyes open throughout the second feature, Planet of the Apes. And much like raw shrimp turning orange as it cooked, I was never cognizant of the actual ending for Planet of the Apes. My reaction in the full theater, much to the amusement to Paul, was “NO! WAY! THEY WERE ON EARTH THE ENTIRE TIME?!?”

Somehow during my 27+ years of existence, I was never fully aware of the twist at the end of Planet of the Apes, despite seeing snippets of it being aired on television. Sure it has been parodied many, many times but I never got it. Really, what else is there to know about the movie aside from it being about a bunch of apes as the alpha species on a planet Heston crashed-landed on? Or so that was what I thought.

Well, Paul is very glad to have been there when I was made aware of the ending — one of the many highlights of our relationship. As for me, I’m glad he finally knows that shrimp aren’t orange until cooked and can help me prep seafood.

Although it’s a hassle to get the shrimp onto the rosemary skewers, the dish is sure to impress even the ghost of Charlton Heston.

Grilled Garlic Shrimp on Rosemary Skewers

4 rosemary sprigs
12 medium prawns, peeled and deveined
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon olive oil
pinch kosher salt
lemon wedges

Soak the rosemary sprigs in water for 30-50 minutes. While the rosemary is soaking, place the prawns, garlic, olive oil and kosher salt in a bowl and toss to coat. Set aside in the refrigerator to marinate until sprigs are finished soaking.
Skewer the prawns on the rosemary sprigs. Preheat grill.
Grill prawns for 3 – 5 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through. Transfer to a plate and serve with lemon wedges.
Serves 2.