Scampi Scallops...Yum!

Well, now that the household has finally been cleared of the "great stomach virus of 2012," I finally feel like I can cook again.  And eat again.  And, to top it off, I had a helper in the kitchen tonight!  My almost-17 year old has always been interested in the kitchen and now that he's learning at home, we're adding cooking to his list of subjects.   Just before we got sick, we went grocery shopping and got the most beautiful sea scallops.  It was so sad opening the refrigerator and seeing the package, just knowing that there was no way my stomach was accepting that.  But, tonight was our Valentine's.  I know, I know, late.  Germ-stricken households do that sort of thing.  I gave the boy an assignment - look up some scallop recipes and make a plan.  When he first said Scampi Scallops, my mind instantly went to a post by Warren on Table for Two Cookbooks about how scampi meant shrimp so wouldn't Scampi Scallops be Shrimp Scallops.  Oh, I'm so confused!  But I listened and thought that would play great with a nice sear in pan in the scampi butter and then popped in the oven with a nice parmesan and panko topping to brown.  So, the boy and I combined our thoughts and set to work.  It was a fun collaboration and I tried to remember to give him real jobs to do.  I'm so used to spending my days with the little ones that I sometimes forget a whole preteen separates his age from theirs and it has to be a conscious effort on my part to treat him differently.

And our creation was beautiful and delicious!

It was just fun being in the kitchen again, busy at work and enjoying having him there with me - hubby was in the adjoining room looking at Valentine's gifts and just commenting back and forth with us and we were a family.  I've missed that!  If only the girl had been home a bit earlier life would have been perfection, even if only for that moment.  I love those times when food and family come together to make life better.

Enjoy both your food and your family tonight everyone.  Much love to you all!