I RECOMMEND EATING Shrimp Scampi. I couldn’t imagine a pasta dish being any better than this. The perfect combination of both flavor and zest gets me every time. I can’t think of any other dish worth eating 2nd and 3rd servings of. I have always been a lover of pasta. I like most pasta dishes, but shrimp scampi has always been my favorite. The dish itself isn’t very complex. It’s basically noodles and shrimp. The shrimp is sauteed in butter, olive oil, with a around a handful of white wine. In my mom’s, case she would either add some Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay, depending on whichever mood she was in. The wine getting cooked down was always my favorite part. Even though the alcohol content is evaporated I always felt like it balanced everything else out. It ends up being not too lemony and not too garlicy. Just the right amount. On the contrary to many popular recipes my mom always prepares it her own way. She wouldn’t just use black pepper and salt to taste, but a wide array of seasonings. She’d thrown in a dash of paprika, a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash seasoning, and even some Lawrey’s. At which point you can smell the beautiful aroma of the shrimp being cooked. Then you just add in as much garlic and lemon zest as your heart desires. Even though it is a pretty straightforward dish the flavor is otherworldly. That first fork full is like heaven. Once your shrimp is done and you have a substantial amount of sauce you can pretty much use any pasta you like. In my opinion any long pasta from spaghetti to angel hair would do. It will taste the same regardless. After briefly researching my beloved scampi I learned there isn’t a specific person who invented the dish, but the dish itself originated in Italy like most pasta dishes. Traditionally, it isn’t even made with shrimp. The version I know and love is yet another form of Americanization. Which I gather is much like many of the dishes we know and love. The scampi dish is originally made with scampi which is a type of edible lobster. It is prepared with white wine, garlic, olive oil, and onions. There are many other variations as well. Americans just added shrimp to the name and adopted a similar concept, like many other things. Up until this point I didn’t even know what a scampi was, but i’m quite familiar with the dish itself. Being one of my all time favorites, it is one of the first dishes I ever learned how to cook, so for me there is a sentiment about it as well. Any time my mom prepared it was usually in an effort to make me happy. In my household it can be considered a celebratory meal or even as an attempt to shift the mood. Despite trying many variations of it at different restaurants I know it will never top the one I make at home. I’ve learned that  making it at home makes it all the more worthwhile. It’s the one food I know will always taste good and the one food I know will never fail at putting a smile on my face.