the happiest day of the year in San Diego

So, finally we've come to the annual LSU Crawfish Berl! The Food Pimp and I went back home for the weekend, then we intended on flying back to FL for another week and help my dear old dad get situated in his widower's life.

Okay, TFP did have to work that Monday, and we had to pay rent and stuff. And we couldn't bare to be trapped in that house with my dad for another week with no respite. But, was it all a very expensive excuse to fly all the way back to the west coast to eat crawfish from the east? You Betcha, Tiger!

So, our friends who introduced us to the crawfish boil - Mr. Male Nurse (formerly known as Mr. Future Male Nurse) and Mrs. Sexual Innuendo - were preggers and not going to the boil. So we decided to buy our own table - 10 seats. After the last year's asian drama crawfish berl 2009 , we decided we were going out on our own. We figured we could find 8 friends who would pay $47.50 each for all you can drink beer, 5# of crawfish each and fun and entertaining company in sunny mission valley. We were wrong. If it were free or we paid people, they probably would have come. But as it turned out, we got 2 couples to go. Last minute we got our friend Marin to go, for a free ticket in exchange for taking care of our cats when we left in a few days.

So, we had 3 tickets to get rid of. After posting an ad on craig's list, lots of emails, text messages and a couple phone calls, it was narrowed down to 2 buyers. We went early to take care of the transactions. So we were waiting outside the gate, and the buyer of 1 ticket bailed. So I told the other buyer, and he said he'd take it. So, the FP and I waited outside the gate. I told the buyer that I would have a purple sundress on. A couple girls had a purple sundress on. I had forgotten that purple is an LSU color, and a Mardi Gras color. Duh!! Anyhow, a black SUV drives up and asks if I'm... my real name. So, I said yes, we exchange money and tickets, and then the FP and I were free to walk through those gates. And we were in. And we stopped at a beer truck - seeing as how our table is alllllll the way across the field. And it was that Longboard Lager or something like that. It was cool and refreshing. So we got to our table, we plopped down, and we were grinning ear to ear.

We just sat there... and talked about the past month. About my mom, and my dad. And then we needed another beer. So I went to the beer stand nearby. Somehow, the guy asked me if I grew up in Louisiana or something, and I said FL - and how I actually had just come back from there. The guy said he was from Jacksonville, and he had just spent a lot of time there because his mom had cancer and passed away. So I said how my mom had had a stroke and passed away. So, we had a few kind words, hugged, and I brought the beers back. The FP, of course, asked what that was about. So I told him. I think he might have been worried that I was going to be one of those people that prefaced every conversation with, so my mom recently died of a stroke. I hoped I wouldn't become one of those people.

So, everyone started coming in. From there on out it was just drinking and talking and everyone being happy to be together. We hadn't all hung out in a long time. Our table mates showed up, and they seemed cool.

So, then it was time to get our crawfish. So we waited until the line built up a little. We were informed before that you want to wait a while, so you don't get the crawfish that were cooked earlier. So 3 of us went to wait in line. That way you can tagteam keeping your place while one person pees, and then another person gets beers. So then - there they were.

We brought them back to the table. I had actually had tape in my purse, I think, so we had taped the paper on the table. So, they dumped them out!

And we all pretty much just dug in. They were yummy. Corn and potatoes were good too. See all the beers. The all you can drink portion of the boil was winding down, so everyone had to get 2 beers each every time they went. Even though after the "free" beer it was only $2 a beer, which isn't bad.

So, we pretty much demolished our crawfish... from what I remember. But these 3 tables behind us weren't really crawfish eaters - they were just there for the party, so they had all this crawfish for the taking! Piles! They had barely touched theirs. If I had driven, I would have loaded up every box and piled them into the car.

But, we were carless, and we were headed to True North - just like last year. Except this year there was some mormon gathering at the stadium. I mean they were everywhere. So the cabs had to follow a long route to get in and out of the stadium. So we split up into 2 groups to get 2 cabs. And I remember that it was a big debaucle, but we got there. I think we got there before the other group though.... but anyway, it was a good afternoon, more drinking. But we decided to break away and call it a night before there was even any chance of fighting to start. It was once again, one of the best days of the year, maybe the beers and the crawfish and the sunny sky and the company all seemed the more sweeter because I did not know if I was going to get to go to the crawfish boil, after all the drama and tragedy that I had gone through the past month. You can say that I did not take anything forgranted that day.

Comments

amanda said…
what?!?! there's an lsu crawfish boil and this san diegan lsu alum didn't know about it? :-) i looooove a good crawfish boil and you know how hard it is to even find frozen tails in this city. looks like a great time. i'll have to be on the lookout for next years boil.
The Food Ho said…
OMG, I can't believe you didn't know about it! So, it's the Sunday before Memorial Day - but you have to buy the tickets one or two months prior - I guess everyone mailed their order in this year.