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How about Pickled Shrimp? They can be done a couple of days ahead. Serve in a pretty bowl with crackers alongside. Pickled Shrimp 7 1/2 cups water 2 1/2 pounds unpeeled fresh shrimp 3 medium onions, sliced Fresh ground pepper Whole peppercorns 4 bay leaves 2 whole cloves garlic, peeled 1 cup cider vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the shrimp and cook until just pink, no more than 3 to 5 minutes. Drain well and rinse in cold water to prevent further cooking. Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails on. In a large glass airtight jar (about 1 1/2 quarts *) layer shrimp and onions and top each layer with ground black pepper, peppercorns, bay leaf and a clove of garlic. Keep layering until jar is about 2/3 full. Pour vinegar and lemon juice over layers until jar is almost full. Leave space at the top so you can gently shake jar to remix ingredients. Seal jar tightly and chill for a few days up to 2 weeks. Turn jar upside down to remix every other day or so. Serve chilled as an appetizer. * Note: for larger shrimp you may need a larger jar and adjust ingredients accordingly. PD says they'll keep for 2 weeks. Hugh Acheson in Saveur says a week - http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pickled-Shrimp. I'd go with a week or less. Here is a link that might be useful: Paula Deen's Pickled Shrimp

I find inspiration and ideas from many threads at the Cooking Forum, pudgybaby, and I hope you will too. Welcome! Here are a few recipes I make that everyone seems to like. PORK CACCIATORE 1 lb. boneless pork, cut in 1/2 inch cubes 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 stalk celery, finely chopped 1 carrot, shredded 1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced 1 (1 lb) can tomatoes, diced 1/3 cup dry red wine 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves 1/2 bay leaf Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add pork and cook pork over medium heat until brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. Add onions, garlic, celery and carrot to same skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add pork and remaining ingredients, stir well, cover, and simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf and serve over hot cooked pasta. (We like rotini or gemelli shapes best with this recipe. Unless you are a big fan of rosemary, you may want to start with less than the recipe calls for.) FRENCH ONION SOUP ��" serves 4 to 6 3 Tbs. butter 4 large sweet onions (about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled and thinly sliced 1 tsp. sugar (optional, see note) 1 cup dry white wine 2 quarts beef broth 2 ribs celery with leaves, each rib cut in half Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1/4 cup dry fino sherry 4 to 6 slices baguette, cut 1/2 inch thick, lightly toasted 1/4 cup coarsely grated Emmental, Gruyere, or other Swiss-type cheese Melt the butter in a 3 or 4 quart saucepan over low heat. Add the onions and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly caramelized, a minimum of 30 minutes. (The longer the onions cook slowly, the richer the flavor of the soup.) Add the white wine and cook over medium-high heat until the wine reduces to about half, about 10 minutes. Add the broth, celery, salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and allow the soup to simmer until the onions are meltingly tender, about 40 minutes. Remove and discard the celery. Add the sherry and simmer soup for another 5 minutes. To serve, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Ladle the soup into individual ovenproof bowls. Top each with 1 slice of bread, sprinkle with 1 Tbs. cheese, and place the bowls on a cookie sheet. Heat in the center of the preheated oven just until the cheese melts and bubbles, 5 to 6 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven and serve at once. Note: The tiny bit of sugar added to the onions helps caramelize them, but the onions themselves will caramelize if they’re sweet enough and if you’re patient enough. I never use it, just keep them cooking. I always use firm yellow onions. The large white onions don’t seem to get soft enough and vidalias become soft but have such a bland flavor when cooked. MOLASSES COOKIES ��" makes about 4 dozen 2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp. ground allspice 1/8 tsp. ground cloves 1 cup sugar 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 egg 1/4 cup molasses 1 tsp. grated orange rind (optional but nice for a change) additional sugar In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients except sugar. Mix well. In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses. Mix well. Add dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Shape dough into 1 inch balls (you can chill dough for 1/2 hour to make it easier to roll) and roll in sugar. Place 2” apart on ungreased baking sheets. (I always use baking parchment paper on the cookie sheets.) Bake in preheated 375 oven for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are firm and the surface cracks. Cook on cookie sheets for 1 minute; then transfer to wire racks to cool thoroughly. Tip: I usually triple the dry ingredients, mix, and divide into three zip-lock bags. They’ll be fine stored in a cool dry place for months. Then when I want to make cookies, it only takes a few minutes to mix the other ingredients and stir in the mixture in the bag.

Made this last night, and it was yummy! Bang Bang Shrimp Sauce 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used Duke's of course) 3 TB sweet Asian chili sauce 1 TB sriracha hot sauce 2 t. rice vinegar Mix all together; let sit for flavors to blend. Add to hot fried shrimp, tossing well to coat the shrimp with the sauce. Serve on a bed of cabbage or lettuce finely shredded.