flowers in the attic and a crawfish boil

this past sunday, we went to a crawfish boil at andy's cousin's house.  it was fun.  i don't eat crawfish, but i do like to partake in the potatoes + corn on the cobb, mmmmmm. 

these particular cousin's of andy's are really nice people.  good people.  however, they have a photo of their kids hanging in the living room that you can see right when you first walk in and there is something very "flowers-in-the-attic" about the photo.  if you've read those books or have seen the movie, you know what i mean and i don't have to explain.  totally freaks me out to the point where i feel like i run past the photo so i don't have to look at it.  problem is, you can see the photo from the kitchen, as you walk out of the bathroom and if you're in the living room.  it's like the kid's eyes are following you around.

so yeah, crawfish - i still remember going to my very first crawfish boil, it was about 9 years ago, right after i moved to new orleans.  i don't think i ever even heard of crawfish in new york.  no, i take that back...i heard of crayfish.  and when i say heard, i mean exactly that, as i had never actually seen / knew someone that had seen / knew someone that had eaten crayfish/crawfish.   

so flashback to 9 years ago...

the scene: a parking lot at tenet's baptist hospital, it was employee appreciation day and a local crawfish seller had been hired to cater the event.

i walked with my group of co-workers to the parking lot and saw groups of people gathered at picnic tables covered with red+white gingham plastic tableclothes.  in the rear of the parking lot was a very large boat looking thing (that i later found out is called a pirogue) filled with red loster looking specimens.  but much, much smaller than lobster.  mean looking little suckers.  at the time, i wasn't familar with crawfish eating etiquette and i probably was staring at my co-wokers with a look of awe as i saw them pile anywhere from 3-5 pounds of crawfish onto a large plastic tray.  yep, that's how much each person eats.  of course, 3-5 pounds of whole crawfish only yields about 8 ounces of actual meat.  ok, more than that.  9 ounces.  from what i have witnessed, it's a lot of work - eating crawfish.  some people suck the heads.  some stick their pinky finger deep into the bowels of the crawfish body to really get the meat and some just snap + eat.  it's interesting to watch people eat crawfish because each person has their own way of eating, a system if you will.  snap, eat, dig, suck.  over and over again.  and this goes on for hours.

you know what the funny thing is?  watching people clean their fingers when they are finished eating.  or watching someone try to crack open a beer with slimy fingers.  or trying to open a door. or forgetting that they ate crawfish hours ago and they scratch their eyes (the spices are usually still on the hands and it burns).

so that's my first crawfish experience.