Fried Shrimp, Pg. 76; D.P.L.'s Cocktail Sauce, Pg. 99; Hot Slaw, Pg. 177

Today was my first day as a Lady of Leisure.

My husband started a new job and, as I'm still woefully unemployed, I made the most of my free time. I even took a trip to the grocery store and made a Charleston Receipts Feast! Each of these recipes was really good - I'm counting them among my first true successes with this ancient cookbook.

1. Fried Shrimp:  Mrs. Henry Chisolm (Elizabeth Edwards) recommends removing the heads of each shrimp and peeling them, leaving the last segment and tail on.

No, thank you Mrs. Chisolm.

Instead, I went directly to the freezer section of the Fairfax, Va. Whole Foods and picked out a pound of shrimp that came conveniently de-headed, peeled and vein-less. Some magical mystery shrimp picker even left the last segment and tail on for me. How cute.

This recipe was surprisingly simple as far as Charleston Receipts go. I paused momentarily over the listed ingredient "cracker meal," used for breading the shrimp before frying. I thought cracker crumbs would work just as well. All I had were the Keebler Multigrain Club Crackers, which I crushed with my own bare hands because I forgot plastic baggies at the grocery store.

These shrimp were good. And they cooked super-fast. Two thumbs-up from Brent.

2. D.P.L.'s Cocktail Sauce: Mrs. Lionel K. Legge (Dorothy H. Porcher) managed to submit a receipt that calls for 11 ingredients where two would have sufficed. Mayonnaise, lemon juice, ketchup, chili sauce, horseradish, whipped cream, hot sauce, mace, celery salt, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. That's 11. Count 'em.

I'm with you Christine: Screw the mace. I don't know where to get it, either.

This cocktail sauce was fine. Could've been spicier. I'll probably just stick to ketchup and horseradish next time.

3. Hot Slaw: Mrs. R. Bentham Simons (E. Marion Small) hit a home run. This was fantastic! Christine posted earlier this week her attempt at some green beans cooked in bacon fat. Pretty much the same concept here except I used the hot bacon grease to make a salad dressing with brown sugar, vinegar, dry mustard and a few other spices.

I tossed my chopped napa cabbage in the dressing, so that the cabbage wilted, but didn't cook through. Crunchy bacon bits. Crunchy cabbage. Makes sense to me.

I can't wait to eat this for leftovers tomorrow. Brent wasn't crazy about it - he doesn't like sugar masquerading in savory-sounding dishes. He prefers high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavoring.

Speaking of Brent, I'll leave you all - our faithful followers - with a laugh he gave me this afternoon after I picked him up from the Metro station.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I told him, "Today was my first day as a Lady of Leisure."

"Isn't that a prostitute?" he asked. "Oh, no wait. That's a Lady of the Night."

-Lauren