What's the secret....?

to fabulous tasting shrimp cocktail? In my opinion, Red Lobster has it down. What in the world do they do to their shrimp cocktail to make it so fresh and nummy? And why in the world do they have to charge $7.75 for 6 stinkin' shrimp? If anyone out there knows the secret, PLEASE let me know!

At the grocery today, I walked past the bagged shrimp. Now previous experience has told me that I cannot make shrimp cocktail. I have tried numerous times. I honestly have followed the directions on the back of the bag. There's no science in running cold water on shrimp for 5-7 minutes and then letting them drain for 3 minutes. I can do that.

Shrimp cocktail sounded good and even better, it was on sale. Trust me, I looked....it wasn't expired which is a good possibility when you're talking about Wal-mart. So, I grabbed a bag. While everyone slept, I opened my bag of shrimp and followed the 2 easy-peasy steps in thawing shrimp. I even took extra care and thought about presentation. I'm worth it, right?

Well, it looked "okay". Not stellar, but edible. I snapped my picture and brought my cocktail into the dining room. It took only one bite, but it was enough. I might as well have been chewing on someone's dirty underwear. Blech, blech, blech!!! Fishy, rubbery, freezer-burnt nasty, and enough to make me wanna vomit. They instantly went into the trash. That was a total waste of money and time.

It's really too bad. Now I have a hankerin' for some good shrimp cocktail. I guess I better call Red Lobster on my way to work.