French-fried shrimp

When I was a little girl and my family would go out to eat, I'd always order "french-fried shrimp" whenever it was on the menu. It must have been a pretty typical item in the early-mid '60s.

It always came with french-fried potatoes and cocktail sauce. I'd eat the potatoes first, then the shrimp. Or maybe it was the other way around. Anyway. I didn't like to mix my food back then. It seemed important. It also seemed important to my Dad that I eat some shrimp with my fries and some fries with my shrimp. He thought cleaning the plate in a circular fashion was weird and impolite. I'm sure he's right. I've never met an adult who eats that way. Or if I have, I was only paying attention to my own plate, so I didn't notice. He'd tell me that if I couldn't eat like a polite person, I couldn't order french-fried shrimp anymore. That was a threat too horrible to bear. So I mixed. I'm sure I argued about it, though.

Today we found a place that serves shrimp and chips -- just like fish and chips -- with cocktail sauce. It was the best ever. There was another place here that had it as a special once -- they even called it "french-fried." But I never saw it again. This place has it on the regular menu. I think it was priced for 1962, too. Just $80 pesos -- about $7.50.

Yum.