Darrah has been such an amazing addition to our family and such a powerful influence in my brother Ryan's life. She has brought two wonderful daughters into our family one of which looks exactly like my Mom and the other who keeps us laughing and on our toes constantly. She has broadened my scope of many areas of life and educated me on how I am not as "southern of a girl" as I think because she certainly is a Southern Girl! We are beyond blessed by the addition of her in our lifes!
In honor of her I am going to post today about my first experience with broiled Crawfish.
When we went to Louisiana a couple of weeks ago Ryan and Darrah wanted to give us a REAL cajun experience. Our last meal at the Lowe casa we ventured off the base to pick up 30 lbs.... yes you read that right, 30 POUNDS of boiled crawfish and 10 lbs. of boiled shrimp to bring home and feast on. Ryan and Darrah had been talking about crawfish since before we actually got to Louisiana, and me being a HUGE fan of Pappadeaux fried crawfish or crawfish et toufee I was ready and waiting for that big meal. It wasn't until we got to the little "restaurant" to pick up the food did I realize that not only it was boiled but that I would have to peel the crawfish myself. Then my happy face went away. Now I can peel me some shrimp with the best of them but when you hand me a food that has eyes staring back at me it becomes a different story. I didn't realize either that our "sides" had been all boiled with the fish and consisted of corn on the cob and potatoes all sacked up with the crawfish for the pickings.
We got home with the hot boiled food, spread it out on the patio table, grabbed a roll of paper towels, along with a cold coors light and got to cracking. I had decided I would stick to shrimp and realized just how much my Mom and I were alike when she gagged at the sight of the crawfish and gracefully began to peel her shrimp looking the other way from the rest of the clan chowing down on the fish they had just torn open.
My lovely, southern, cajun, sister-in-law began to crack the crawfish for me so that I could try the meat which I of course LOVED. It wasn't until she told me 2 and a half year old niece that next year she too could peel her own that I actually decided to try it for myself and embrace the moment with my family. Darrah patiently taught me how to crack the crawfish in half, peel away the tail, dig out the meat and enjoy while Drew looking lovingly on. After about 2 tries of my own I resumed allowing Drew and Darrah do the dirty work for me... but I did try on my own!
It was messy, spicy, and in any other situation kinda gross but it was such a fun dinner shared with my family and I loved every moment of it!
