Gurrola Robles 1

Veronica Gurrola Robles

Professor Jackie Hymes
English 113A 11am-12:15pm
21 September 2015
Revised: Coconuts for Shrimp!!
For as I long as remember, I had always lived in a family that loved shrimp, especially my
sister who would grab them straight from the freezer, defrost them, drizzle some lemon and pop
them in her mouth. We had shrimp in ceviche, soups, pastas, burritos, tacos, in something called
camarones a la diabla which translates into devil shrimp. Which is basically shrimp drenched
in this really hot, almost not tolerating salsa, fried shrimp with the shell, fried shrimp with out the
shell, breaded shrimp. I probably sound like Bubba now with his shrimp stories to tell Forest
Gump. Shrimp everything!
I honestly never liked them, I, ate them because I had my dads scourging look upon me at
the dinner table, but when ever we had shrimp I would always pass them around the table. I
especially loved it when my boyfriend, Eric, was there because he would take them with out
saying anything, he loves food, especially shrimp. Or anything to keep him full. I, on the other
hand, used to see shrimp as these gooey things they were slimy and they never appetized me. I
detested their melt in my mouth texture. I also didnt like how there was the cleaning part to
them slicing the back of the shrimp open to take out the gut where the nasty poop was. Every
single time my mother would ask me to help her, I couldnt even touch the shrimp when they
were served. Just the thought that poop was once there made me nauseous. When I would see
them whole and fried, all I could imagine my parents doing was ripping the head off and
breaking the legs. I just felt bad for them, I dont know why if they were already dead but it

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would still hurt me. Even eating the head grossed me out because it sounded like a crunching
kettle chip between my dads teeth. And in those moments all I could think was my dad is eating
fried BRAINS!!!! Then zombie mode kicked in and World War Shrimp played in my head.
But one day Eric asked me if we wanted to go to the beach. Of course I said yes! The
beach was my favorite place to go. And this wasnt going to be any ordinary car ride to the
beach, but a bike ride right there and then I though, something new, something new that Eric
asked me to do with him. I felt really good that he wanted to take me. This called for adventure!
It was a challenging ride but I knew that I could do it. The ride wasnt easy, going up hill. The
gears in my bike werent as easy to change as they were in his. I got mad at some points but he
didnt leave me behind, and he never would.
We took two and half hours to get to the beach. When we arrived we were hungry and
Eric suggested Bubba Gump. In my head it wasnt the worst idea; I did want to go inside. I was
curious if there was going to be a difference between my everyday shrimp than in these. I was
wondering what was so special about this place.
For first timers we got really good seats we could see the ocean shore, the sun was low
but it wasnt too low, and it was just perfect where you could see yellow light coming and
contrasting with the brown wood tables in the restaurant.
I honestly didnt know what to ask for, everything in the menu had shrimp, of course it
did! If this was the place where there was a million ways to make, and have shrimp. And why not
order shrimp if this was shrimp paradise. I asked the waitress who attended us what her
preference was. She suggested the coconut shrimp. It sounded for the first time tasty, it sounded
new, sweet, maybe this one would change my pallet.

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Ive always had a shrimp with garlic, lemon, salt, and pepper but never with coconut. It
was different. For some reason I trusted this waitress whom I had never seen in my life it, just
felt right to order that. So I did. Erics plate didnt sound too appetizing because it was the
shrimp pan with steamed veggies and sauted shrimp. Sauted shrimp sounded gooeyish to me,
too wet. Just not me, I wanted finger food, so I went for the coconut shrimp. I was so excited, I
was trying to imagine the taste and I started tasting sweet coconut. Maybe it was like warm
crunchy coconut with honey on pancakes, I thought. I tried to wait patiently, but I was too jumpy.
There was something different about that day. When our order arrived after a million years of
waiting, the presentation was so beautiful it took me by surprise. The shrimp were arranged in a
circle around some perfectly seasoned fries. The tails were up, very pink, and the actual shrimp
was covered by golden specs of coconut. There were three types of dipping sauces, a sweet
dressing, a thick spicy sauce, and last but not least typical honey ketchup. The plate was
decorated with such detail that made my mouth water.
I analyzed the plate for a while and then took a deep breath, it was almost how I had
imagined the smell-like coconut honey pancakes, in the good kind of way. As I looked up from
my daze to see Erics plate, my smile turned into a smirk and he even noticed that his wasnt
what he had expected. Taking note on that I went back to listening to my plate.
What are you doing? Eric asked as he saw how close my ear came to the plate.
Im listening to my plate; I want to remember this with all my senses!
Up until this day, I still do not know what that meant, but it felt right to say at that
moment. When we started digging in, it was something so different, almost spectacular. The
shrimp was cooked to perfection, with a great crunch at the beginning, and a great sweetness at
end. The sauces complimented the shrimp so well. I had never had shrimp like this! It was so

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good and at that moment I realized that I was eating and enjoying shrimp. It was like a party in
my mouth, a very sweet savory taste that I can still taste.
What I learned from this is that I from the beginning I judged the shrimp and always
keeping the disgust in mind, and having that present every time, it would make me not like them.
But these shrimp made me experience something wonderful and now I like shrimp in any way.
After that day I decided that I would always try something in many different ways before I gave
a definite thought about it. Judging isnt good, it never is, and it limits the mind to its wide range
of possibilities.

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Works Cited
Gurrola Robles. Veronica. Original: Coconuts for Shrimp! Sept 22, 2015. Essay.