nom nom nom.

Josh has a cousin who used to be very vocal in her appreciation of food as a baby. Every time she ate, her chewing would be accompanied with her saying "nom nom nom nom nom nom." This cousin is a teenager now and has long since given up that habit. Man, I bet it was cute.

I never had the urge to nom-nom-nom while eating until he told me that story. But a few days later, I made shrimp cakes with voodoo sauce for the first time, and I was nom-nom-nomming the whole time. Even the next day, when I was eating the leftovers by myself, I started nom-nom-nomming. The flavors go together so well without losing their individuality, like an ensemble cast in a well-written sitcom. Shrimp cakes are just nommy or maybe I'm just a noisy person. Or both!

I clipped this recipe from the News & Observer, from their column which features the recipe of a dish from a local restaurant. If you'll recall, that's also where I got the chocolate coma cookies recipe. I picked this one because it combines shrimp with spicy, and my man loves both. Also, I had eight pounds of shrimp in the freezer from the last buy two, get three sale at Harris Teeter. I made these again over the weekend, and he told me they were his favorite of all the things that I make. To which I said, "Nom nom nom nom nom nom" because I was already eating.

Shrimp Cakes with Voodoo Glaze

A couple of notes: I find that the recipe needs more bread crumbs than are called for, like at least six more bread crumbs. You'll have to play that by ear. I could tell you that it takes 3 of my homemade hamburger buns run through the food processor, but that wouldn't mean much to you, would it? Also, we rarely have roasted red peppers, so I leave those out. Also, the eight six pounds of shrimp in my freezer are not the tiny ones the recipe calls for. So after I peel them, I just chop them up a bit.

The voodoo sauce is ear-burning HOT. Josh usually adds hot sauce to spicy foods, but he does not do so with these. Voodoo sauce will kick your butt. That being said, it's not merely Hot Sauce. There are some other flavors going on that you might notice if you stop thinking about how much your eyes are watering. I like to mix it with some sour cream and put it on my shrimp cakes that way. Also, the recipe makes a lot. We just have a jar of it in the fridge from the first time we made the cakes. I'm trying to think of other things that I might voodoo up.

If you don't like shrimp or don't like spicy or don't like newspaper clippings, then this recipe might not be for you. Otherwise, you should give this one a try. You might find yourself saying "nom nom nom nom nom nom."