Back from two weeks' holiday in a vacation cottage on the North Shore, I'm relaxed and treasuring memories of the quiet joy it gives me to plan menus and make use of what's available — in this case, limes from my brother's garden, Haden mangoes, sweet pineapple and tart apple bananas brought over by friends in celebration of my birthday and shrimp from the nearby Kahuku shrimp operations.

The limes, juiced and combined with simple syrup, became fresh limeade, which served as a base for cocktails or a plain afternoon thirst-quencher.

The mangoes, pineapple and bananas became a tropical trifle: yellow cake (from a mix, I admit), homemade egg custard and whipped cream layered with the fruit. Another day, the leftover fruit was great sauteed with a little butter and poured over Roselani haupia ice cream.

We have a tradition of having dinner with some friends when we're out at the beach, and I always make one dish that starts with live shrimp from Romy's shrimp stand. Last year, we had head-on prawns, fried briefly in butter and garlic, then finished in cream — a decadent French recipe I found in a cookbook at the house where we stayed.

This year, I wanted to do a spicy broiled shrimp that is a Portuguese classic, served as a tapas-style dish in taverns and small restaurants.

I'd never dealt much with live crustaceans, and I admit I had to have help with the prawns last year (they are as big as your hand with a wicked blue claw and red whiskers and they scared me so badly that I was almost in tears). I made my friend, a chef, do the dirty work.

But with the smaller, claw-less shrimp, I've learned to run over to Romy's mid-morning, returning with a bag that rustles and jumps disconcertingly as the shrimp try to kick their way to freedom. Put the bag on ice for a couple of hours, however, and the shrimp are quiescent and easily handled.

Once the shrimp are ready, preparation is easy: For 1 pound of medium shrimp (which allows about 4 shrimp per person, enough for an appetizer course), make a paste of 5 cloves of finely minced garlic, 2 tablespoons minced parsley and 1 seeded and very finely minced Hawaiian chili pepper (the small, red-to-orange fiery hot kind) with a few drops of olive oil. Place this mixture with the shrimp in a zip-closure bag, tossing to coat the shrimp and marinate in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours (overnight is OK).

Place the shrimp in individual ramekins and pour over extra-virgin olive oil to form a pool around them 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Broil the shrimp until they're pink and the oil is shimmering. Serve immediately with chunks of country-style bread. Fish out the shrimp and dunk the bread in the oil. If you like hot, drizzle with a few drops hot sauce or Portuguese piri-piri chili sauce — a recipe I'll share another day.