Recipe: Garlic Prawns (and New Year's Wildlife)

Mr Tabubil and I rang in the new year in style.  When the countdowns and party hooters began in the street below us, we climbed out of bed and went to the window to watch the fireworks above the city skyline, then went back to sleep!
            On New Years Day, we went to the park and lay under a tree on a picnic blanket.  We watched small children playing soccer, and small dogs who wanted desperately to be part of the game, but ran like hell whenever the ball came near them.  Above us, parrots shrieked in the ceibo, showering the grass with little feathery fragments of seed pods, and beaning pigeons with whole ones when the pigeons strutted past.
            Under a tree was a woman with an accordion and a man with a guitar.  They played German polkas and Violetta Parra and Gloria Gaynor. In the sun, we closed our eyes and fell asleep.

In the evening we made a splendid year-end supper - light and summery and rich.

We did it like this:
 
We heated up some olive oil in a frying pan and tossed in 3 - 4 cloves worth of pressed garlic.
We sautee'd the garlic over low heat until it was fragrant and soft, but not caramelized.
Then we tossed in whole packet of prawns  - (previously peeled by moi) and added lots of fresh-ground salt and pepper.
We tossed the prawns in the pan, so they'd cook evenly without scorching, and added the juice of a lemon.  I decided that the flavor wasn't lemon-y enough and added the juice of a second lemon.
The lemon reacted with the oil  to form a nice thick emulsion. We threw in a handful  of finely diced fresh flat-leaf parsley and basil leaves. (previously diced by Mr Tabubil)
And we stirred and tossed until the prawns were tender but not yet rubbery, and served it up with jasmine rice!

I sent the recipe to my mother, who was so excited that she made it herself, and declared it fantastic.  And it is.  Give it a try!

Happy New Year!