Happy New Year ya’ll!  I hope that everyone had a lovely weekend.  LittleTDJ and MrTDJ were nursing colds on Friday and Saturday, so we stayed in and kept our germs to ourselves all weekend.  Finally, yesterday they both felt better and MrTDJ made a request – coconut shrimp.  Um, ok.  Since he’d eaten very little since Thursday and only taken a few obligatory bites of the traditional New Year’s Day fare (collard greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread), I figured why not hook him up.

Full disclosureboth MrTDJ and I have a mild shellfish allergy, so we do take one Benad.ryl tablet before consuming any. Hush up!  I love shellfish and couldn’t imagine living without it.  He doesn’t worry often because he doesn’t love shellfish the way that I do.  I guess that he only eats it about 2 to 3 times a year.  I couldn’t recall him ever having tried coconut shrimp in our many years together so his request seemed random, but whatever.  I’m a happy, smiling, dutiful wife on occasion, so I hopped online to find a recipe for coconut shrimp.  Surveyed a few, checked the cabinets for the ingredients and I was off to the races.

While prepping the dish, I asked, “Hey babe, what made you want coconut shrimp?”.  He chuckled a little.  “Don’t laugh, but remember when we took your Dad to Outb.ack for his birthday in March?  Ya’ll ordered it and I tasted like half of one.  They were good.  I’ve been meaning to ask you to make them.”   Since March?  Yep, I laughed.

MrTDJ went and got us both some Benadr.yl, which we popped while waiting for the shrimp to cook.  Fairly easy dish actually.  The trick seemed to be the dredging/battering and then refrigerating the shrimp for at least 30 minutes before frying.

They looked and smelled quite nice when I had finished frying them.  Golden brown, with little shreds of coconut bursting from the center of shrimp bodies.

Yummy!  We sat down to eat our treat and about halfway into the first shrimp, MrTDJ coughed once.   Allow me to replay our conversation:

MrTDJ:  These are great babe.

Me:        Aren’t they?  I’ll definitely be making them again.

**MrTDJ unbuttoned his top button and bites into another shrimp**

MrTDJ:  Do you think I took enough Benadryl?  My mouth is starting to itch a little.

**munching and barely looking up**

Me:        Yeah, one is enough.  That’s all I ever take.

**large red welts appear on MrTDJ’s face and his voice become hoarse**

MrTDJ:  Babe, something is wrong.  Maybe it’s the coconut?

**nervous now as I watch his nose turn deep burgundy**

Me:        Coconut?  You’re allergic to coconut?  But, but, you love Almond Joys!

MrTDJ:  Babe, YOU love Almond Joys.  I only buy them for you!

Me:        Oh.  Um, damn, maybe you’re allergic to coconut.

3 hrs later, we return home from Urgent Care.  It would seem that yes, MrTDJ is allergic to coconut as well.  So, one puny Benad.ryl tablet wasn’t enough to combat 3 jumbo prawns covered in coconut.

I’ve known this man for 20 years and had no clue he was allergic to coconut.  Hell, neither did he.  I carry an epi pen just in case, but things turned kinda scary in a matter or seconds last night and I thought my little pen might not be enough.  Sorry hon.   Wasn’t trying to kill you or anything.

Do you know all your allergies – food and non-food?  What about your partners’ allergies?

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