Driving Range and Shrimp Etouffee

Would you believe that before yesterday, neither of us has ever been to the driving range before? Wow, what fun! A hundred balls for $10, we could borrow the clubs, and just whack the heck out of them. My shots were wayward at best, but Tavo really was getting the hang of it. (it didn't hurt that they had beer for $2 to sip while watching or playing) Here's some pics of the up and coming golf pro.
(I can't believe these photos came from my cheap camera phone...I'm impressed!)
Very fun! We'll definitely do that again.

Now, I've made Shrimp Etouffee before, altering Katherine's Crawfish Etouffee recipe from Smoky Mountain Cafe. I really, really enjoyed that recipe. I do love to experiment, though, so this time I decided to give Paula Dean's recipe a try.

Rouxing it up--I'm never using butter again, oil is so much more forgiving...
**ad lib** maybe I should stick to butter? How do you roux?

Everything but the shrimp, cooking down. Paula's recipe suggested using Ro*Tel but I stuck with regular whole tomatoes, broken up by hand.
Dinner, with our herbs from the garden. I was in the healthy mood, so we have brown rice.
Lunches!

Verdict? We both still like Katherine's recipe better. Maybe its because we cooked the veggies down first, then started the roux? Maybe it was the use of stock as opposed to clam juice? The addition of sherry? I'm not sure, but both of agreed that while Paula's recipe is good, it isn't the best.