When I was in high-school my mother worked at Walden Books.  She would buy me books from the sale table with her discount.  She was very attuned to my interests so she brought home big coffee table art books and cook books.  One of these was a giant British volume on Asian cookery.  I was particularly fond of the sections on Malaysian and Burmese food and cooked almost everything from those chapters.  I now realize that the book was impressively well researched and specific about the subtle differences between the various cuisines of Asia BUT it was written in an era when westerners could not dream of finding authentic ingredients in England or North America.  I no longer have the book, but I copied a couple of my favourite recipes into a cooking notebook that I started keeping when I was twelve years old (the first page of the diary is dated December 25th, 1986).  I recently dug this childhood food notebook out because I was looking for a Burmese broiled prawn recipe that I used to make for my dad whenever he would fire up a barbecue.  My dad and I both loved spicy food.  Of all the food that I made for my dad this recipe was his favourite, so I wanted to make it for his memorial.  I was worried that it would not be as good as I remembered but it was delicious and it is made from ingredients that you can find most anywhere.  If you want to eat these shrimp Jack Berry style, crack open a beer and consume your meal while sitting in a lawn chair, admiring the sunset and occasionally commenting on how happy and lucky you are.

• 16-20 large prawns
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 and 1/2 ground paprika
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground dry ginger
• 3 Tablespoons mild oil
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 4 or 5 bamboo skewers soaked for at least an hour in water

1. Peel and rinse the shrimp.  Let them drain while you prepare the marinade.  You can throw the shrimp peels into some salted water with some vegetables to make a yummy soup stock if you like.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the shrimps to the marinade and stir to combine.  Let the shrimp marinate for at least half an hour and up to a day, stirring occasionally.
3. Skewer four shrimps per stick and broil them on a grill for about 3 minutes on each side.