Crawdads!

I can't sleep, so I'm going to blog.

A few weeks ago mister lover and I went to the Gator by the Bay festival which was centered mainly around good food, fun, and music. The event itself had many food vendors and booths full of random type things to buy which are representative of the Lousiana culture. I have to admit it pained me to see people buying hotdogs and hamburgers at a cajun food festival! Argh. I guess you'll always have those people in the world who plays it safe. Sure glad that isn't me. Whatevs.



This was our third time going so we had the logistics all planned out. We had a plan of attack. We were pros.

You see, the first year we parked at the airport, crossed through dangerously heavy traffic, both paid for admission, spent $40 on 20lbs of crawdads, and took 10lbs of crawdads home (the large size), still we were left hungering for more. The cost of admission for two $40, and a grand total of $40 for 20lbs.

The second year we parked near the Sheraton by one of those benches overlooking the the harbor, you could see the naval base from across the way as well as Coronado. We walked to the gates, I went in, bought 30lbs of crawdads, walked out, we sat on one of the benches and ate 10lbs, then took the rest back home. The only downfall to year two was that I forgot to bring aluminum foil because they don't provide you with any, in case you want to take yours to go. The cost of admission for one $20, and a grand total of $60 for 30lbs.

This year, we were lucky enough to find parking by those same benches, proceeded to the festival, both went in, purchased 10lbs each to enjoy there, bought an additional 30lbs to take home, and this time I brought aluminum foil and a bag to carry it all in! Genius. Plus it was a perfect Saturday afternoon on Mother's day weekend, slightly overcast with sprinkles of sunshine, warm and breezy. Sigh. The cost of admission for two $40, and a grand total of $100 for 50lbs.


First bite.


5lbs eaten in 5 minutes, syke. It was more like 30 minutes.


An hour later.

So how does one reheat 30lbs of crawdads at home without destroying the integrity of the product you ask? A bamboo steamer. It works wonders. I was able to continuously reheat crawdads later that day and the following day without destroying the texture or compromising the flavor. MMmM. It pays to be a cook sometimes. Especially if you're Asian, and have a bamboo steamer like I do. =)



The sheer pleasure we both got from eating these little critters all weekend long, priceless.

I will try my best next year however to go the the LSU alumni event because food cost wise it is more cost effective.