This thread got me thinking back to some time ago. I went to a local reservoir on a warm Sunday afternoon to read under the only big cottonwood on the shore of the lake.

Well, here comes this extended Vietnamese family in all age ranges. They asked in very broken English if it would be okay to set up their picnic by me. I’m thinking, hey, why ask me. It’s not my lake. I nodded that it was fine with me. I acted as though I was reading but I was much more curious to see what they were up to on this picnic of theirs.

The men sat back in the shade and talked among themselves while the women set up the picnic and an ancient propane burner stove. Mean while, all the kids went down to the riprap shore line with a five gallon bucket and each had a string. I finally figured out that they were catching crawdads, having a blast, and filling the bucket with them.

The women had set a very large pot of water to boil on the stove and pretty soon they poured all those crawdads in that pot of water. I was kind of fascinated by the whole affair and interaction of the family.

So, to top this whole thing off, here comes one of the women with a paper plate loaded with cooked crawdads, cold rice and these very small chilies that must be the hottest chilies I have ever eaten.

Those crawdads were pretty good and I’ll never forget the experience of it all.

Yeah, some of those little boogers can taste rather muddy!

i've got a great crawfish etouffe recipe if you'd like it... ;)

Great story, Kent! You were very gracious to eat what she brought you, and generous on their part. :-)

LOL! Actually, I prefer them toasted.. get that nice crunch action going there... :eek::eek::eek:

LOL!!! I can't believe you'd remember it!
I still hate those crawly things - but rejoice every time I see any other kind of spider around, because that means few browns.

I still warn everyone I know about cedar shake.. for anyone who doesn't know it yet, the Brown Recluse loves cedar shake roofs and cedar shake siding. (shudder..!)