Grace, Mystic Nice Girl

Grace. Photograph submitted by Grace.

Nice Girls!

by Grace

There once were some girls we called “Nice,”

Who liked both the sugar and spice.

They stayed all together

Through all kinds of weather,

And had only one glaring vice.

You see, they did often imbibe,

And with that they too did proscribe

Anyone nasty,

and all things quite dastardly,

And thus this band stayed quite alive.

Now some were quite arty,

While others just partied,

And some were quite mighty with pen.

But all gave quite generously

To all in the coterie.

So “Nice Girls” stayed hale and quite hearty.

No drivel here. All I write is quite true.

The ‘Nice Girls’ pulled off a great coup.

For nowhere was seen, one single mean fiend,

Nor even one single loud shrew.

So if you are like-minded,

(But perhaps not quite right-minded),

You might want to consider this brew:

Take girls thus agreeable, altogether impeachable,

And put in your very own stew!

Grace's Fantastic, Died-and-Gone-To-Heaven Seafood Newberg

By Grace

Here's a recipe I always make for parties, in a big crockpot, sometimes two, because it disappears so fast.  Ingredient amounts are very forgiving.  Put out cups and spoons and let your guests serve themselves.  Even folks who claim they don't like seafood will become believers.

Ingredients:

Shellfish and white fish (shrimp, scallops, crabmeat, lobster, cod, flounder, etc) 

Olive oil

Butter

Minced shallot

Old Bay or other fish rub

Dry sherry

Beurre manie (2 tablespoons flour + 2 tablespoons butter, mash together with your fingertips)

1-2 cans lobster bisque or cream of shrimp soup

Heavy cream

Pinch nutmeg, cayenne and white pepper

Steps:

1.     Put a can or two (depending on how much you're making) of cream of shrimp soup or lobster bisque into a crock pot and warm.  Add minced shallot.

2.     Sprinkle raw shellfish and fish with Old Bay or other fish rub and sauté separately in butter and olive oil.  Put aside.

3.     Take a sip of wine.  :)

4.     Add cream (lots) and beurre manie (butter you've mashed with flour in your fingertips) to the crockpot to thicken.  If it becomes too thick, add fish broth (I sometimes use whey that I've sieved from plain yoghurt). Add some sherry and cream.  The more sherry and cream and butter you add, the happier your guests will be (and unsuspecting).

5.     Add nutmeg, cayenne and white pepper.  Check flavors and add salt if needed.  Keep warm, but don't overcook with too much heat.  

6.     When you are almost ready to serve, add the fish and shellfish you've sautéed.  (Adding last will keep the fish from getting overcooked and tough.)

7.     Serve with a teaspoon of sherry or Marsala wine on top. 

8.     Some folks serve this over short-grain rice.  It can be frozen if you have leftovers (ha!) but there probably won't be any left, so make plenty. 

9.     Now you can finish that glass of wine.  :)

ABOUT GRACE

Grace lives in Mystic, Connecticut and Monterosso Calabro, Italy

Note from Grace: 

I live, blissfully, a life on the water in an old sea captain's house, filled with extended family/friends chaos in summers, and in winters, I am in Italy in my tiny 12th century home there.  I attended St. Joseph College, Trinity, and Universities of Hartford and Maryland, and armed with degrees in English and Art History (not quite as useless then, as now), I eked out a living in area museums (Mark Twain House & etc.) and taught American Art and Architecture at the college level for a year. 

Moved to DC, talking my way into jobs as press spokesperson for the Navy in astronomy and then oceanography (go figure).  Published extensively, featured in the New York Times, the Post, and Courant for astronomy writing.  Contributed 15+ years to The Atlantic Magazine; wrote 6 years the Astronomy page for Natural History Magazine.  Published a book on the history of the Vice President’s House, and another small one on Halley’s Comet.

Convincing the Navy they could use their oceanographic ship fleet as floating classrooms, and getting the National Geographic Society to pay for it, I sailed around the world for 10 years with school kids.  We did oceanography onboard, and geography and history when on land.  Wild stories could be told… picture a bunch of geeky Navy oceanographers on camels in the Sahara… or diverting a ship into Casablanca by convincing the Captain to say he needed to refuel… or rescuing a 7^th grader from a snookers den he’d wandered into in South Sulawesi.  Need I say more?  

That program ended sadly after 9/11, so I bought a place in southern Italy when my days of free travel courtesy the Navy ended.  After one more science-writing stint, I retired as soon as I could and moved back to CT.  Traveling lots, and currently writing a book on the history of my mountain village overlooking the Mediterranean.  Grace is a nickname acquired when working for the Navy.  Don’t ask!

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