Don’t know if you’ve heard, but the film industry is rather quiet lately. Strikes are happening (and rightly so), which means a lot of actors and writers and crew members are, for the first time in what feels like a long time, free to make actual summer plans. Except when you’re used to working all the time, being “free” feels more like Groundhog Day-like limbo, except not the fun kind where you throw your back out to calypso music. Some people are just not great at doing nothin’, it seems. Even me, the self-proclaimed laziest house cat of a human on the planet, has her limits as to how long she can twiddle her paws.
Of course, a thing like “balance” doesn’t exist in this business. Feast or famine, pedal to the metal or crickets…. It’s never a zen-like experience, to say the least, and predictability is not a part of the job description, darling. As I’ve said before, the best you can do is try to enjoy the time off when you have it, because the pendulum is going to swing back again to chaos. I haven’t had a full summer off in three years, so the idea of wandering around in cut offs with nary a plan in sight kind of has its appeal. Kind of. Working till my eyes are bloodshot will always be my sick happy place it seems, but I’m going to try my best to count my beautiful blessings and shoot my ass down a waterslide with my kid this summer even if it kills me. Which it probably will, let’s be honest.
I’m eating too much again, which is something I just love to do when I’m not working, if only to test whether those cutoffs will still fit by end of August (if my next job comes with a pencil skirt requirement, we’re fucked), so I’m leaving you with a recipe for a lighter dinner I like to scarf when things have gotten a little too indulgent lately. This dish is so simple and just glutton-y enough to satisfy, and also asks for hardly any of your brainpower. If you don’t own any furikake, just know it’s worth seeking out and elevates any rice bowl to umami heaven (I found mine on Amazon and it was shipped the very next day, along with that green onesie I “needed” and my new favourite pineapple shaped soap dispenser! I need a job.)
PS If tiktok is your thing, and if it’s not I sincerely don’t know why you’re depriving yourself of it, I’m on there posting actual videos of me cooking some of these things. Requests considered. Hiatus, shmiatus!
xoJ
Weeknight Shrimp Bowl
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup white rice
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup green beans ends trimmed
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1/2 cup pea shoots bean sprouts or micro greens are great subs!
- 2 green onions sliced thin
- 1 carrot peeled and sliced into discs
- 1/3 cup kewpie mayo regular mayo is fine but splurge on the kewpie if you can find it– it’s sweeter and full of flavour
- 1/2 tsp sirarcha or your favourite hot sauce
- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds toast your own in a hot dry pan for three or four minutes, shaking often
- 1/2 tsp furikake optional.. but you won’t regret tracking this down
Instructions
- Start the rice. Rinse your rice well and cook it in a rice cooker with the water and a pinch of salt. If cooking rice on your stovetop is more your jam, I won’t call the cops.
- Pat your shrimp dry and gently pull the shells off the tails and discard. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper and the garlic powder. Heat a pan over medium-high heat and add the butter and the shrimp, sautéing for around three minutes until pink. Remove and set aside.
- Blanch them beans! Bring a pan of water to a simmer and add a pinch of salt. Cook the beans in the water for four minutes or so until bright green, then drain and rinse under cold water and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the mayo and the sriracha together and season with a little salt and pepper. If you’re not using kewpie mayo, add a dash of sugar and mix well. (I like to add my spicy mayo to a squeeze bottle and keep it in the fridge for easy drizzling.)
- Once the rice is ready, stir in the rice wine vinegar.
- To serve, add some rice to a bowl and top with the shrimp, the sliced avocado, carrots, pea shoots, and green beans. Drizzle the spicy mayo all over and sprinkle the green onions on top along with the sesame seeds and the furikake. So easy, so good for you, and delish, man. Delish.
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