May celebrations call for outdoor grilling! For graduations, dust off the grill and welcome the fun. I like to try new combinations of flavor and recently experimented with Grilled Shrimp Sliders. It hits all the marks: flavorful, colorful, crowd pleasing, fast … and easy! What’s not to like. So, grilling is game on and the celebrating is vital. Select your raw, but peeled, shrimp of choice. Marinate the raw, prepared shrimp for at least 30 minutes in an Italian vinaigrette dressing of your choice. Then, skewer the shrimp so that they don’t fall under the grill rack. A grilling basket rack is a good substitute; however, you will need to clean the basket before and after – and too much cleaning takes away from the fun. Grill your shrimp, about 10 per person, until just cooked. Serve on slider buns with condiment garnish choices of coleslaw, pickles, tartar sauce, red sauce, thin sliced tomatoes, grilled onions, etc. I like to really reach with the condiment selection to add a superior flavor enhancement opportunity. Adding condiment choices of sundried tomatoes, julienned colorful bell peppers and hot pepper choices, will make the celebration even more exciting. Wow your celebratory moments with style and offer the condiments in containers with staggered displayed heights. This is done by lifting the condiment containers onto various pedestals. The tablescape gives the moment character. For example, during my husband’s birthday celebration, all of the cold selections (there were 22) were staggered in different clear glass containers, with an antique punch bowl filled with boiled shrimp as the center focal point. Between each of the 22 selections, I wove dried grapevines between the containers and filled the grapevine with silk hyacinth flowers and grape leaves. The guests were drawn to the tablescape and couldn’t wait to eat the delicacies. Planning is everything and in order to create the most memorable entertaining concepts just use tap into the most fun aspect – your enthusiastic creativity. © Kelly McBride Loft