Tostadas de camarones - 233

¡Dios mío! My daughter Erica just called and told me that at work the calendar had yesterday down for "Dios de los Muertos." The god of the dead...

Yesterday I spent a good part of my time in classes explaining El Día de los Muertos to students while showing them YouTube clips of celebrations and processions to commemorate this day in Mexico. I served polvorones, a Mexican sort of pecan shortbread, that I had baked earlier that morning, and passed around a sugar skull (calavera de azúcar) that one of my students brought back to me from Mexico. One student asked me if my husband and I prepared some kind of special meal to mark the occasion in our home, and I had to reply that, no, we do not. It's just like any other day for us, other than the fact that my husband tried to call his brother in Mexico but couldn't reach him because he'd gone to the cemetery.

Here is a link to one of the YouTube videos I showed in class yesterday. It was filmed in the state of Michoacán near to where Javier grew up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4H7WzetpP8&feature=related

Dinner last night? Well, we had to eat the shrimp that we'd bought on Saturday for the party we didn't attend. So, we made shrimp tostadas. This is really one of the best recipes we have found in a long time: About 2 cups of cooked shrimp mixed with diced avocado, tomato, onion, serrano pepper, and cucumber, then seasoned with chopped cilantro, salt and freshly ground pepper. Before serving we squeeze one lime and 1 T olive oil over the whole mixture, then toss gently. We then serve this on tostada shells and top the mixture with a little sprinkling of queso fresco. In the summer we also add diced cucumber to the mixture. Last night it was fantastic, the perfect end to another Día de los Muertos and fit for a dios.