How to Eat a Mudbug!

Today while I was picking out flowers to plant around my yard
so that I can watch them wither and die..
As I do every spring.
(I swear that I can hear the plants whisper to each other...
"Here she comes, the angel of death"
as I walk down the each row.)
It was then that...
...I was met with a familiar smell.
A most delicious and enticing aroma.
Outside my local grocery store were huge metal pots
of rolling, boiling, spicy beautiful crawfish.
I might have a brown thumb and know nothing about keeping plants alive
But I do know how to eat a crawfish.
Beautiful, big, burgundy red.
So that is what I am going to show you how to do today
In hopes that one of you will be able to trade your knowledge of plants
For my ability to eat.
Deal?

This is a crawfish/shrimp boil. It is a pretty simple concept actually. A big pot of spicy boiling water where you throw in crawfish, shrimp, new potatoes and corn on the cob. After it is cooked to perfection (definitely not overcooked) you put down newspaper and dump. Then everyone just comes running.

My daughter Peanut is my model and champion crawfish eater. (she is such a southern belle)

1. Pick the biggest one you can find in the pile.

2. Next you shake it's hand..er..claw and say hello. (Peanuts idea)

3. You pull it's head off.

4. Next you suck on the head...(completely optional..only hardcore crawfish eaters do this)

5. This is what's left...the edible part. Turn it to it's belly side and crack it in half like a lobster tail.

6. Slowly pull the meat out of the tail. If you are good at it you can pull it out completely leaving only the digestive tract inside the shell.

 7. This is what it looks like all cleaned up. A lot of work for a small piece of meat but......

                         IT IS DELISH!....
(After a while your lips kinda sting from the spices so you eat then with your teeth)And you know what one of the best parts of a crawfish boil is???

THE CLEAN UP!!
You just wrap all of the remains up in the newspaper and throw it in the trash.
No dishes or forks.....
Nothing.
Just a walk outside to the trash can
where I pass by the newly planted moss rose
who have looks of fear on their little petal faces.
I think I can hear them whisper to each other...
"See I told you she was a monster"