Crawfish boil night is one of our local annual fundraisers that I love, the Sacred Heart School Crawfish Boil. I'll be honest... I'm a convert. I never liked crawfish. I have become a tail cracking, corn eating, full fan, lover of the mudbug!
My kids went to school at Sacred Heart, so I went to the first of these annual events to support the school, but I had a blast! I caught up with old friends and made new ones. The first year I would not go near the crawfish, I just enjoyed the company and the band. They always bring in a great act.
The next year I was there and found myself in a showdown , at a table with a group of friends, I sat and sipped my chardonnay as they wolfed down tail after tail of the red tiny lobsters. Then it happened... the gauntlet was laid down by a beer fueled challenge from a friend of ours. They offered me a twenty dollar bill to try one crawfish. I scoffed at the idea. Then through the laughter, the pot was raised. "Fifty Dollars!" another friend shouted and threw another twenty and a ten into the pot. No, my pride and taste could not be bought! Then another friend tossed in a hundred dollar bill on top! Now... I'm not a woman who escapes her convictions by any means... but I am an accountant and the numbers were crunching in my head. About 10 seconds of chewing for $150 does come out to an hourly rate of $900. Before I could let that sink in another friend piped up and threw in another hundred and before I could say anything, my right hand grabbed the money and my left grabbed a crawfish off of my husband's plate!
Apparently I did have a price!
I looked at the thing. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but everyone else was. So encouragement and directions came from all sides as I stared down the thing... literally... it had eyes.
I broke the tail off and cracked the thing open. I pulled the meat out and cringed as I could smell it. I slowly moved my hand to my mouth, wincing at the thought.
Then I opened my mouth.
I took the bite.IT. WAS. DELICIOUS.
I savored the flavor. It was like a guilty pleasure. A dirty little shrimp. I had no clue what I had been missing out on!
The peanut gallery erupted at the obvious pleasure on my face! They cheered and laughed.
I? I went to the crawfish bar and got myself a plate of mudbugs with the easriest $250 I ever earned in my pocket!
I also won a mani-pedi at the silent auction, for oddly enough... $250.
