The holiday tour of local food
The day after Christmas Rian and I had lunch at Shuck's with my sister and her husband and a couple friends of theirs who were in town. Or in Lafayette, rather; he's from there and his parents still live there. They're very... Los Angeles-y (as are my sister and her husband), but nice people. I had a craving for fried shrimp, Shuck's makes a really good peppery cane sauce AND a mean remoulade, so I asked for a little sauce cup of each.
Last night was crawfish night.
They're pretty small for this far into the season, because of the cold weather we've been having. When it gets below freezing they burrow really far down into the mud and kind of hibernate, so their metabolism (and thus, their growth) slows down. However, they're also really sweet and tender, so it's kind of a trade-off. Personally I've never liked them when they get really big, they get tougher and blander as they grow. The season officially ends in June or July, but I've always felt like Mardi Gras is the peak and they aren't worth eating past that.
Also, the cold makes them grow an extra layer of fat, so having a cold snap during the holidays is a ticket to Flavortown.
Normally my crawfish dip is mayo and Sriracha (I like to keep it simple), but Jamie used all the Sriracha so I used Frank's Red Hot, and now I'm wondering where that flavor combo has been all my life. It was like Buffalo crawfish.
I gave up trying to get everyone to watch Glass Onion and last night just watched it on my tablet with my wireless earbuds while everyone else visited. It was a little more fantastical than the first Knives Out, but I enjoyed it. Supposedly the genius/idiot character played by Ed Norton wasn't specifically based on Elon Musk, but everyone's seeing it that way since Musk is in the news so much for blowing up Twitter. (I think that wouldn't be getting so much media noise if the media didn't rely so much on Twitter, but that's a different rant that I don't really feel like making right now. Well, I guess that's the rant.)
I think Rian is going to insist on making everyone watch the Kennedy Center Honors tonight, which will be my cue to retire to my bedroom after supper and catch up on His Dark Materials. I couldn't care less which doddering old half-dead irrelevant Boomers are going to be made to watch mediocre medleys while wearing ugly necklaces. I hate awards shows regardless, but there's something especially cringe about this particular one. It's like if the Oscars were nothing but the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and the In Memoriam reel of all the actors and directors who kicked the bucket that year.
Last night was crawfish night.
They're pretty small for this far into the season, because of the cold weather we've been having. When it gets below freezing they burrow really far down into the mud and kind of hibernate, so their metabolism (and thus, their growth) slows down. However, they're also really sweet and tender, so it's kind of a trade-off. Personally I've never liked them when they get really big, they get tougher and blander as they grow. The season officially ends in June or July, but I've always felt like Mardi Gras is the peak and they aren't worth eating past that.
Also, the cold makes them grow an extra layer of fat, so having a cold snap during the holidays is a ticket to Flavortown.
Normally my crawfish dip is mayo and Sriracha (I like to keep it simple), but Jamie used all the Sriracha so I used Frank's Red Hot, and now I'm wondering where that flavor combo has been all my life. It was like Buffalo crawfish.
I gave up trying to get everyone to watch Glass Onion and last night just watched it on my tablet with my wireless earbuds while everyone else visited. It was a little more fantastical than the first Knives Out, but I enjoyed it. Supposedly the genius/idiot character played by Ed Norton wasn't specifically based on Elon Musk, but everyone's seeing it that way since Musk is in the news so much for blowing up Twitter. (I think that wouldn't be getting so much media noise if the media didn't rely so much on Twitter, but that's a different rant that I don't really feel like making right now. Well, I guess that's the rant.)
I think Rian is going to insist on making everyone watch the Kennedy Center Honors tonight, which will be my cue to retire to my bedroom after supper and catch up on His Dark Materials. I couldn't care less which doddering old half-dead irrelevant Boomers are going to be made to watch mediocre medleys while wearing ugly necklaces. I hate awards shows regardless, but there's something especially cringe about this particular one. It's like if the Oscars were nothing but the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and the In Memoriam reel of all the actors and directors who kicked the bucket that year.