After losing Mija, Brenda told us to drag our butts down to the Bayou to visit with them We headed out on Sunday and decided that we’d cook for them that evening. We picked up a chicken with crawfish stuffing and some stuffed shrimp from a Cajun butcher in Metairie. With some roasted veggies and some French bread, we had a feast.
But nothing could compare to the shrimp boil the following night. We drove to Cocodrie in the morning to pick up the shrimp- fresh off the boat.
But nothing could compare to the shrimp boil the following night. We drove to Cocodrie in the morning to pick up the shrimp- fresh off the boat.
Just a few blocks from John’s old “camp” is a major shrimp fishing/processing operation and he can call them to set aside some big ass shrimp. We picked up 110 pounds of shrimp. They gave us a tour of the shrimp drying operation across the street. It was an amazing operation. Although the occupation of sheep crotcher is still the number one “worst job in the world”, there were a few jobs in that operation that would come close. The first step was boiling the shrimp. This guy stood all day loading shrimp into huge boilers with a flaming hot 
fire to keep the kettles going. It was SO hot inside that room- it made the heat outside feel like air conditioning. From there, they add salt and begin the drying process. In the last step, they put the shrimp in a huge thrashing machine that literally tumbles the shell off of the shrimp. It was quite an operation and the local Cajun owner was probably a millionaire. Interestingly, a large percentage of his dried shrimp is sold to Canada….
Well
, the pickup in Cocodrie was only the first step. Then, we had to bring the shrimp home and wash and de-head them. John’s pool house was already set up with the sink and we had a four person operation de-heading the shrimp, cleaning them and putting them in zip-lock bags for flash freezing. The cat, “El Gato”, was in heaven- catching a few of the raw shrimp as 
treats. Finally, it was time to boil them up and eat them. John and Brenda invited Lynn and Dan over and we had huge platters of gorgeous fresh shrimp with Brenda’s homemade shrimp dip. It was fantastic.
We thought we’d have a free day on Tuesday as John had a funeral to attend in Baton Rouge and Brenda was involved in a 4H garden contest as a judge. Well, at the last minute, Brenda’s third judge bowed out- so I was enlisted into the contest. Knowing nothing about gardens, particularly vegetable gardening, Brenda told me to keep my mouth shut and look official. It turned out to be a very interesting experience. We had to judge 17 gardens- 4 of them were adult gardens, 13 of them done by kids from age 7-17. It was quite amazing to see the quality of the gardens. Since the kids were still in school, we were often met by a parent who would show us the garden and provide us with their gardening journal. We got to see beautiful gardens that were obviously done with full family/parental support. And, we got to see some where it was obvious that the parent’s weren’t as involved, but the child had poured their heart into the garden. The adult gardens were truly spectacular. 
fire to keep the kettles going. It was SO hot inside that room- it made the heat outside feel like air conditioning. From there, they add salt and begin the drying process. In the last step, they put the shrimp in a huge thrashing machine that literally tumbles the shell off of the shrimp. It was quite an operation and the local Cajun owner was probably a millionaire. Interestingly, a large percentage of his dried shrimp is sold to Canada….Well
, the pickup in Cocodrie was only the first step. Then, we had to bring the shrimp home and wash and de-head them. John’s pool house was already set up with the sink and we had a four person operation de-heading the shrimp, cleaning them and putting them in zip-lock bags for flash freezing. The cat, “El Gato”, was in heaven- catching a few of the raw shrimp as 
treats. Finally, it was time to boil them up and eat them. John and Brenda invited Lynn and Dan over and we had huge platters of gorgeous fresh shrimp with Brenda’s homemade shrimp dip. It was fantastic.
We thought we’d have a free day on Tuesday as John had a funeral to attend in Baton Rouge and Brenda was involved in a 4H garden contest as a judge. Well, at the last minute, Brenda’s third judge bowed out- so I was enlisted into the contest. Knowing nothing about gardens, particularly vegetable gardening, Brenda told me to keep my mouth shut and look official. It turned out to be a very interesting experience. We had to judge 17 gardens- 4 of them were adult gardens, 13 of them done by kids from age 7-17. It was quite amazing to see the quality of the gardens. Since the kids were still in school, we were often met by a parent who would show us the garden and provide us with their gardening journal. We got to see beautiful gardens that were obviously done with full family/parental support. And, we got to see some where it was obvious that the parent’s weren’t as involved, but the child had poured their heart into the garden. The adult gardens were truly spectacular. 
Our last stop was at the home of a 90+ year old man whose garden covered his entire yard. He was so sweet. He told us that he wanted to withdraw from the competition because he had just had a stroke and hadn’t been able to keep up the garden the way he should. We included him anyway and he walked (with a crutch on one arm and using a hoe as the other crutch) us all through the gardens telling us about each of the plants.
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