Sunday, April 20, 2008

Rusty, the Dachshund Meets Clovis

Yesterday, we celebrated my husband's birthday which is actually on Monday with a crawfish boil. Both Marion and I grew up in South Louisiana (Cajun country). Springtime especially 
Easter or Mother's Day  was crawfish (pronounced craw fish not crayfish) time. We'd buy crawfish by the sack. I can remember Dad buying 75 pounds and boiling them for our family. Here in the Atlanta area we are fortunate to have a seafood market that makes weekly runs to Louisiana for fresh seafood. Marion called "Boudreaux" earlier in the week and reserved a forty pounnd sack of live crawfish. 
 
Crawfish are boiled outdoors.  We  have a special pot and burner to boil them. Red peper, salt, onions, corn, potatoes are all boiled at the same time.

 Rusty, our minature dachshund loved the smell. We had to keep him indoors so that he didn't get too close to the gas burner. We served the crawfish in aluminum pans. Here they are cooling a bit so that we could eat them.

Rusty actually took one out of the pan and tried to eat it hard shell and all. 



Who may you ask is Clovis? Clovis was the star and main character in a series of books written by Mary Alice Fonenot. The first book was printed in 1961. Here is the Wikopedia entry on Clovis the Crawfish:

Clovis Crawfish is the lead character in a series of nineteen children's books written by Mary Alice Fontenot published between 1961 and 2004.

"Clovis Crawfish and His Friends" by Mary Alice Fontenot, illustrated by Keith Graves, Pelican Press, 1961
"Clovis Crawfish and His Friends" by Mary Alice Fontenot, illustrated by Keith Graves, Pelican Press, 1961

Clovis is a crawfish who lives in the bayous of Louisiana who speaks in English with occasional Cajun words or phrases. Several volumes have also been published in French editions, usually translated by Fontenot's daughter, Julie Fontenot Landry.

The Clovis Crawfish books are beloved by generations of Louisiana children and have a following throughout the world as well.





















6 comments:

Vicky said...

OMG, crawfish, a dachshund, and a Fontenot all in one post!! You get the GOLD STAR blogging award today!! And you made me VERY hungry and homesick!!

Anonymous said...

You're cruel! All day I've been thinking about making a run to Louisiana next week and if I do and if my husband isn't so happy that I do it, I'm telling him it's all your fault! :)

Gretchen said...

Now I want some crawfish too. Maybe I'll bring over a big sack sometime and have Marion cook it for me LOL!!!!! Can Rusty be more cute????? I don't think so :) At the next Stitch In you'll have to being the Clovis books to read to us; I've never read them.

Susan said...

Some of my cousins lived in Lousiana for a while, and they would have big crawfish boils. I've never eaten one, but I caught them in a creek in TN when I was a little girl. We'd just play with them and let them go. I like shrimp. Do they taste anything like boiled shrimp?

Rusty looks like he's being brave to attempt to eat one! Ha ha, he's just too cute!

That sounds like a fun book for kids!

Paula, the quilter said...

I've never had crawfish either. What do they taste like?

Becky said...

Crawfish have their own unique taste. They are kinda like lobster, but juicier. I grew up with crawfish - boiled crawfish, crawfish etouffee, crawfish pie, crawfish stew and even crawfish salad. It is my favorite seafood.