Memorial Day Weekend. Crawfish Saturday.

Memorial Day Weekend???

Started with a bang.  BOIL time!!

There is NOTHING better than a boil, great company, and plenty o' booze.  I actually find myself feeling bad for those who think a "party" consists of high-end cupcakes, some sort of fizzy drinks (non-alcoholic, of course), and worrying about how everything looks.  How does one do it??  To me, that would be the second circle of hell - I'd rather deal with crazy drunks rather than the Joneses.  True story.

Let's start off with Friday night.

So.  Went to Perino's last night (I had such a hard-on for some properly fried oysters).  We sat in the bar area (which also has electronic gaming machines - so no one under the age of 18 was allowed - SCORE!!) and ordered our deviously delicious seafood.

I had a basket of sweet fried oysters and curly fries.  Husby had the fried shrimp (which are JUMBO) and he drank a couple of Abitas.  Needless to say, I drove home.  ;0))  Perino's is THE place to eat fresh Louisiana seafood.  It's not fancy (not by any means), but the beer is frosty and cold, the menu is simple, and the food comes to you hot and fresh.  One of our very good friends introduced us to this very local restaurant, and I won't eat oysters anywhere else.  The decor is awesomely tacky, though...

^^  An alligator sucking down a beer??  WINNING!!

^^  Cheezy mural outside Perino's...  the crab isn't really looking boiled.

But the gator has a beer and is wearing "over-hauls".  <3

After dinner, we stopped at Barnes and Noble (again) on the way home - I had just found out that the new Joe Hill book was out (I've given up waiting for the trade paperback/regular paperback versions - I'm rough on my books and I love to have them forever), so I picked that up and found a book which was a collection of short stories/novellas by some of the best horror writers in the genre.  So, I started reading that today (Sunday - as I'm a bit behind).  :0))

So... on Saturday, the neighbors were having a crawfish boil.  Oh, yes.  I picked up a Bananas Foster Cake (banana cake with rum custard - if I were religious??  I would've had an epiphany!!) and some Mike's Hard Cherry Lemonade from Rouses Market (which is one of my favorite local stores here in NOLA)... and bestowed my friends with the gifts.  I also drank some Abita beer, white wine, and a lovely mixed (girly) cocktail.  Delish!!

 ^^  It was 10* cooler under the overpass.  I was glad to get some shade!!

^^  Looking down a side-street on the way to my house...  I love how I can see the city (even when it is beyond the levees AND across the Mighty Mississippi)...  shots like this make me appreciate living in New Orleans.  The difference between a "big city" and a "little neighborhood" are obvious, but not unreachable.  This city is FANTASTIC.

^^  Live crawfish.  Waiting to be boiled.  And, yes.  That is a boat paddle in the upper right-hand corner of the picture.  Certainly necessary for getting every last live crawfish into the boiling pot.

^^  It takes 30 minutes to boil the crawfish, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and corn (along with cayenne and other Cajun spices) on a 80,000 BTU gas burner.  Sounds like the space shuttle taking off, it's so loud.  And when everything is done, it's spread out on a large table and everyone eats what they want - it's a communal experience.  We were really lucky - we had some out-of-country visitors (a married couple from Brittany, France - and an Irish woman on a short stay from Dublin).  It was very cool to teach them how to eat the crawfish and they really enjoyed the whole experience.  

^^  After dinner, L. (who works for the New Orleans Saints), took out her ring that she received when the Saints won the Superbowl.  It's from Tiffany's - and it is HUGE.  Weighs over 2 ounces with all the  gold, diamonds, and onyx... and it is heavy.  

^^  Here I am, wearing the ring (to give you some perspective, my solitaire is 1.2 carats - and the Superbowl ring makes it look minuscule)... I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever worn a piece of jewelry that is so very expensive...  

^^  View from the front porch after the boil.  Everyone is keeping their lights off, because right now - the termites are swarming.  Yes, you *did* read that correctly.  However, it was a really balmy night and the wind coming off the Mississippi River was lovely.  So, we braved the swarms.  ;0))

I didn't get home until well after midnight and managed to sleep until 8:00 AM.  Woke up, showered, dressed, popped some Tylenol, and headed to another friend's house because I was on doggy-sitting duty for her four pups.  Hung out there for about an hour and a half, ran the dogs until they were tired, watered and fed them, and headed home.  Where I promptly fell asleep on the couch while reading one of my new books (no, the book wasn't boring or badly written - I was just wickedly tired).  I managed to snap some pictures of the pup-dogs, though...  they were so happy to see me and so very cute!!

 ^^  Petey (the ugliest-pug-in-the-world) is wrestling with Clementine... the hairiest dog in the house.

^^  Petey's profile.  He has a massive under bite and the worst breath.  ;0))

I didn't get pictures of Sophie and Bootsy... as Sophie had jammed herself under an end table and Bootsy moves TOO fast for me to get a decent picture of her.  Maybe I'll be able to get a photo in the morning (when I head over to the Grotto to water, feed, and wee everyone).  

Speaking of tomorrow, I don't think we're planning on doing much.  I borrowed the Lord of the Rings trilogy from my friend, K. - so I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty laid-back day.  I'm thinking that we'll probably do some upscale bar-food (spicy buffalo wings, home-made pizza with a ton of roasted veggies, and some jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and broiled) and we'll probably graze for most of the day.  Besides, it's supposed to be hot and humid here again, and I think it'll just be in our best interest to take it easy.

Because... come Tuesday, I'll be back at the gym for my 3+ miles on the treadmill and then off to the pool afterwards to hopefully start a tan of sorts and swim some laps.  I love, love, love to swim!!  

I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing, fun, happy, awesome weekend... because we most certainly did (and are technically still working on it).

x0x0