Teriyaki Shrimp on Garlic Rice with Vegetables and Mango Salad

While out and about their individual days R&D acquire more kitchen accessories. Raul scours a thrift store to find a $1 Parmesan cheese grater and small mason jars, 49 cents each, ideal for filling with spices (an entire cupboard is filled with spices and condiments in varying packaging and with even more erratic forms of identification). Drew finds an authentic Japanese knife sharpening stone (made in China) to hone the edges of their hodge-podge selection of cutting and chopping implements. The night before R&D had been reminiscing about the not-so-distant time when the older man towing a knife sharpener had worked the streets by ringing a bell. Rather than replacing the knives R&D own, a motley but high quality collection, they can now, well now Raul can, turn their blades into razor sharp slicing tools. "It really makes a difference," enthuses Raul after a YouTube tutorial on the proper technique of utilizing the stone. "And it's actually safer if the knife is sharp and cuts instantly into the object instead of slipping and severing a finger."

Drew is busy googling street knife sharpeners, wondering where he has gone and what he used to charge, "Is the $11 for the stone actually a bargain?"

Once the knives are ninja-worthy, Raul begins to repackage the spices and reorganize the cupboard. "What is this?" he asks holding up a metal container. "It's called 'The Ultimate Garlic Seasoning for Rice & Pasta' from a company called The Garlic Box."

"That was a Christmas gift from my niece and nephew," says Drew. "They know I love garlic. It's spices that mix with rice or make a rub."

"We'll have to try it," says Raul. "What should we have with it?"

"It's summery today. Something light. Shrimp? Tandoori shrimp?"

"Tamarind shrimp sounds too sweet."

"Tandoori," says Drew while googling. "Here, tandoori shrimp with mango salad, there's about 30 variations but there's a jar of tandoori sauce in the fridge somewhere."

"I just reorganized the spice cupboard," notes Raul. "We'll have shrimp but the spicing will be from scratch."

Raul marinates the shrimp in a mixture of soya sauce, Hoisin sauce and a touch of green Thai curry. The rice goes in the rice cooker with two teaspoons of The Ultimate Garlic Seasoning. He slices a mango, the newly sharpened knife vivisects the pulpy fruit with ease, and sprinkles it with diced red peppers, diced green onion and coriander from the balcony garden. The vegetables are of the frozen variety but the steaming is done with TLC. Once everything else is prepared the shrimp are dropped in a pre-heated cast iron skillet for a minute each side.

"Delicious!" enthuses Drew.

"What I love about it is all the different flavours mixing flawlessly," says Raul. "And now that the spices are organized and accessible we can experiment. I don't know why we don't have tarragon though. Maybe tomorrow while I'm out and about I'll pick some up"

"Or we can grow some on the balcony," muses Drew.

"There is no more room on the balcony," asserts Raul. "One more pot, one more gnome, and it will explode."

"The gnomes protect the plants from the squirrels!"

"That should be Mickey's job," reminds Raul. "You wouldn't want me to not be able to get to the barbecue . . ."

"We'll get a little jar of tarragon," acquiesces Drew. "There's room in the cupboard now."