Welcome to my eclectic journey of my life and delights. This year my theme is surrendering my writing pen to the true author, Jesus Christ, while looking forward to the future, reflecting on the past and dancing through my journey.




Friday, November 11, 2011

You Have Come a Long Way Baby!

Isn't it funny how time can resolve just about everything?

I wish I could have understood that concept years ago and even today.  There is hardly anything that time can't teach us....especially in the area of motherhood and handling a household.

I was one of those overly-energetic new brides.  I truly wore "rose-colored" glasses as I entered the venture of being a wife at the naive age of 19.  My husband (the dreamer) could just carry me away with all the possibilities that were before us.  I could just take any idea and start to run with it.  There was nothing I wouldn't try when it came to being a "good wife".


This is my copy from the early 80's and I was stunned to find out it is worth a pretty penny...again, who knew... and time.

The kitchen was one of my first mountains to climb.  I made a vow that the first year of our marriage that I wouldn't cook the same dish twice....so collecting recipes and cookbooks became necessary to achieve my goal.  I have to say I achieved it...mainly due to the fact that with my college classes, my husband's out of town travel and our weekend schedule, the challenge wasn't hard for the amount of meals we ate at home.  

As our children continued to come (four in 7 years), I used my kitchen as one of my creative outlets....and that is why this story comes to mind.  You see, even if you don't know what you are doing...time will eventually give you the experience you need.


My adventurous, get-tired-of-anything-more-than-once-a-month mentality, took over while corralling little ones in the grocery store.  There they were!  I was missing our traveling and I could bring some of our traveling cuisine to our dinner table.  The kids eyes lit up with excitement as I grabbed the iced red bag of crawdads for our Etoufee that evening.  As a home school mom. I would also treat this as part of our science studies, telling my interested students about this crustation.



As was the norm, the older boys were to help bring the groceries from the car.  I threw the red crawdad bag on the countertop, to deal with later after taking care of the youngest child.

Hubby made it home and he, too, was excited about the Cajun dish I would be serving.  Then he heard a SCREEEEEEEEEEAM coming from the kitchen....it was me.

To my horror, those crawdads had awakened and were crawling all over the kitchen cabinet!

Who knew they were still alive?   Not ME!!!  I had no clue that they were live crawdads which had been lulled to sleep while sitting on the ice.  Once removed from the ice, they would be revived.

My husband was rolling over with laughter as I pleaded with him to catch them.  He looked at me with the look of , "what were you thinking?"  I am yelling "they are alive!"  "Yes", he replies.  I start to negotiate.  "I am not going to cook those.  I don't know how to cook live crawdads.  Please do something!"

My loving husband goes to the phone to call the grocery store.  Over the phone he re-tells the story to the butcher who is now laughing his head off.  "Well, just bring them back up here and I will boil them for her!"  Now I must say...I didn't show my face in the store for them to identify me....NO, my hubby gathered up the crawdads and took them back to their timely death.
google image
So you see...time does resolve so many of the issues that can set our hair on end.  With just a little time and some experience we can all say, "You Have Come a Long Way, Baby!"

29 Joining in with more words:

Mary said...

i can just picture them and...you!
funny, funny, funny.

we used to live by a creek. one day my oldest son, then around 7 or so came running in and said, "there's lobsters in the creek, there's lobsters in the creek". they were crawdads...

Alice said...

Crawdads! I have never eaten them.

We also live near a creek and one floody spring day my son came in yelling

"There's a giant spider in the driveway!"



that was the biggest "spider" I had ever seen;)

Rebecca said...

I have never had an "issue" with crawdads--and I doubt that I ever will! This is ONE thing that time and experience won't be required to solve for me :)

Maryann said...

Haven't eaten a crawdad in years and have never cooked them. I can just picture them crawling all over your counter top, pretty cute, I would have been calling for husband help as well, funny

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the sunshine!!
And the new word...Etoufee...
How Etoufee!
Would you like a little Etoufee with that?
:) :) :)

Sue said...

Well,This must be the day for laughing, as I have just left, Kim, and Vee's blog, on my rounds this morning, and am still laughing.
Commenting on yesterday's post..... OH! how right you are janette! my heart is broken over what I see happening to the marriages , especially in this country! If my heart is broken, can you imagine how broken God's heart is, over the first institution he created.
What a wonderful heritage for your children.
Hugs,
Sue

Debbie said...

Oh my goodness I would have been SCREAMING too, haha...I have never eaten a crawdad....I am not sure if I even want to try. : ) I was that same perky "I will be the best wife" any man ever dreamed of gal too. Took me a GOOD LONG WHILE to handle the kitchen though, haha. I enjoyed this....Have a wonderful week-end! HUGS

Unknown said...

LOL! I could just picture this. I can say I have never tried this and don't plan on it. My hubby is allergic to sea food so I guess I have an excuse. :)
Thanks for the laugh this morning friend.
Love ya

Karen said...

:))) This LA girl just learned to eat them in the past few years! I leave the cooking the "boogers" up to the men. I must share my easy "shrimp etoufee" recipe with you. Didn't realize that cookbook was a collectible.

Farm Girl said...

Oh my gosh, that is a totally great story. I will have to tell my family, Who knew they would be alive once they warmed up.
We used to catch them when I was a kid but we always let the go.
You were so brave to cook them and eat them too.
Thanks for making me laugh this morning.

Canadagirl said...

You have some of the funniest stories. And I say that in a very good way my friend. [o= Thanks for the chuckle today. It makes all my work lighter. [o=

Blessings and ((HUGS))
-Mary

no spring chicken said...

Oh my word! I was all prepared to comment that we had just parted ways (as far as, "I totally get you Janette) seeing as I could never cook crawdads! You had me rolling as I read, and I can now gladly claim, "I so get it!!" Ah, I missed you!

Blessings, Debbie

Sally said...

I LOVE crawfish in bisque soup. Discovered it at a restaurant and then a friend had a wonderfully similar recipe. I had never eaten them before although those I buy are cooked, shelled and frozen.

Sandy said...

I've never eaten them or cooked them. I would have been screaming even louder!

no spring chicken said...

I just found your comment on the older post. Please do email me.
prinepen@yahoo.com.

~~Debbie

Unknown said...

omg girlfriend..you are not only adventuries.. but amazing toooo..
you go girl.. I think at the sight of them walkin around would of sealed the deal for me.. Scream and Run away..lol

http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/ said...

Well I think you were brave way back then to even THINK about trying to cook that! I have yet to cook my first one, so if and when I do... I'll be calling!

Angela said...

My early marriage cooking story: I had a recipe to make some kind of Chinese green beans, which called for a clove of garlic. I looked at the bulb of garlic thinking "what is a clove?" This was of course pre-internet, so I had no way to find out. I had only used garlic in the powdered form before. Thinking it must be like an onion, I peeled it and put the whole bulb in the pot of beans. My husband and I each took one bite....after that I understood that a clove of garlic is one little section. Lesson learned :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeanette - What a fun, upbeat story! Not sounding like storms, but I pray you are becalmed and not a creeping crawdad in sight!

Bless you, friend!
Joy!
Kathy

Christine said...

Making memories is so much fun. This is one that will probably live a looong life.

Well, how did it turn out? Did you giggle all through dinner?

Mary said...

Oh, my gosh! That's a cool story!

Petra said...

I am so laughing right now! You're funny. I could picture the whole ordeal. We had a creek full of crawdads in TN. Our dog would fish and eat them, crunch, crunch. :-)

moreofhim said...

Hilarious! I wouldn't have known they were "sleeping" either. You have a sweet husband...sounds like mine...he would have taken them back to the store for me, too. :)

Thanks for sharing such a funny and sweet story.

God bless you - Julie

Tanna said...

LOL!!! I had that same experience with clams!!! LOL! Who knew they were still alive?! Oh, I still remember my horror and refusal to throw them in the hot pot! LOL! Loved this Janette! blessings ~ tanna

Debbie said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

You just gave me a very much needed laugh this morning. I kind of thought about it when you tossed the bag on the counter. Not that I knew for sure they would be alive since I've never cooked craw dads... I just had a little hunch.

My shoulders are still doing that up and down thing as I am typing.

(By the way, the kitchen was my first newlywed battle ground, too. Unfortunately, it was also my Waterloo. Sigh. Consequently, we had a lot of repeat dishes. Once I mastered one, I kept fixing it over and over. But I'm fun? Does that count for something?)

LeeAnn@Encouragement Is Contagious said...

Oh that is sooooo funny! Yay for your hubby being the hero. I would have no idea, even to this day of how to cook crawdads!!! So you are a great woman in my book.

Seriously Janette, you should sent this post/writing into some magazine to be published. It is an awesome story and so is your writing!

I'm sure smiling now!
♥Lee Ann

myletterstoemily said...

hee hee! i wouldn't be able to show my
face to that wonderful grocer, either!

when our kids were little, hans brought
home some live boston lobsters and let
them crawl all over the kitchen floor. it
was horrible to think of his throwing them
into the boiling water. i'm grimacing
even now.

thanks for the darling story.

moral: frozen does not necessarily mean
DEAD!!!!

Sharon said...

OK - this is just cracking me up! Janette, I can just picture those crawdads a'crawlin all over your counter! I'm glad that you let the guy at the grocery store euthanize them. I don't think I'd ever be able to cook crab or lobster either - I don't think I have the heart to boil anything alive. Maybe an egg...are they alive?!? LOL!

And yes, we've all come a long (loooonnnggg) way, baby.

:)

Cecilia Marie Pulliam said...

That story is hilarious! I can just picture it. What a wonderful husband you have to come to your rescue, and then take them to the store! For a moment there I had pictures of an ending similar to the one in Julie and Julia with the live lobster. Then, I guess it was sort of, your husband stepped in took care of the little critters. By the way, how did the dish taste? Wonderful, I bet.

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