Week of May 14: Crawfish Boil

About 2 years ago, Andrea and I attended the wedding of my friend Zach to his wife Laurie in New Roads, Louisiana, a small Creole town about 2 1/2 hours northwest of New Orleans. It was there where we had our first genuine crawfish boil. Ever since then, we've had the biggest craving for crawfish. After two years of just talking about having a crawfish boil, we finally decided to just do it. We had originally wanted to have a small crawfish boil with just our Cajun friends but as it always does, we ended up inviting a few more friends.

Due to the birth of their first child 10 days before, Zach and Laurie were not able to attend. Laurie is from New Roads, LA and we had wanted her expertise on our first crawfish boil. Fortunately for us, our friends Peter and Chantel did attend. Chantel is Cajun as well and her boyfriend had received some schoolin' in the fine art of crawfish boilin' from Chantel's family last summer.

Early in the week, I place the order for 60 pounds (approx 5.5 pounds per person!!!) of live crawfish from Louisiana Crawfish Company to be flown in via Fed-Ex and delivered on ice by Friday. It arrived promptly on Friday and was transferred and packed into a cooler full of ice for the boil on Saturday.

The crawfish arrived in a Styrofoam box. Inside, the crawfish were divided in two 30 pound mesh bags. Kodi had never seen one of these critters before. Kodi wasn't quite sure what to make of them. Brandon had a fun time chasing Todd around the yard with a live crawfish. Leslie was right, Todd does scream like a little school girl!



Here's what 60 pounds of live crawfish look like. I think this was a 130 quart cooler... big enough to double as a coffin! The first step was to purge the crawfish in water and baking soda. By doing this, the crawfish "spit out" all the swamp gunk from their system.

While we were cooking the crawfish, Andrea made some Pigs in a Blanket. After being chased by Brandon and the crawfish, Todd took comfort in this tasty treat. Here is a manly picture of Todd grabbing the hors d'oeuvre... "Ouuu!"



I had to stop and admire Peter's skills. Chantel's parents would have been proud! The crawfish were cook to perfection. Chantel gave her "just like home" approval as she sampled the first batch.

And with Chantel's approval, we began to pile on the cooked crawfish directly onto the table. And as usual, Brian and Brandon were the first ones ready to eat

Along with the crawfish, we boiled some corn, potatoes and hot links. Soooo good!

Who says that a crawfish boil isn't sophisticated?

There really is no limit of how much fun you can have with these critters!

We discovered that eating 60 pounds of crawfish was a lot of work. Notice that no one is actually talking here. Brian was supervising to make sure everyone ate at least 5 pounds each!!! We managed to suffer through it ;)

There is a trick to properly eating crawfish. Towards the end of the 60 pound meal, we were all experts in peeling the crawfish... well, everyone except Leslie.

Ed and Laura's son, Sean, thought it was a crabgrass boil. Our weed problem could have been solved... too bad he didn't like it.

After we had gotten our fill, we got down to some serious fun. Brandon was the big winner of Acey Duecy. We'll definitely have to do this again real soon.

Week of May 7: Eating Tour

This week, Andrea's parents, Rick and Karen, flew into town from Bemidji, MN, a week early for Rick's conference in Reno to spend some time with us. They have both been to the Bay Area many times before so we decided to take them around to places where Andrea and I have always wanted to tour but never gotten around to. Lucky for them, Andrea and I have excellent tastes!

On Thursday, we made reservation for the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory tour in Berkeley. If you've never had Scharffen Berger chocolate before, consider yourself lucky. It's highly addictive and can be an expensive addiction. Scharffen Berger is a first-tier chocolate manufacturer. That means that they execute every step of the manufacturing process, from sourcing the beans to molding the bars. They pay close attention to every step along the way, never taking shortcuts. The result is evident in every bite... and we did take lots of bites during the tour!

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I think I found my true calling. Not only was I able to crank out 8 kilos of premium grade cocao but I got to wear a real hairnet. Lucielle Ball, eat your heart out!

Smokin'!

Hard to find a good Wiener these days. This Wiener made great chocolate! Don't you just love the word "Wiener"?

After the chocolate tour, we had lunch at Cafe Cacao which was in the same building as Scharffen Berger (not really sure if its operated by the factory). Perhaps it was the chocolate high that we were on but we all agreed that Cafe Cacao had the best cheese burger and pulled pork sandwiches that we've ever had. Honestly, they were amazing!

After gorging ourself silly on chocolates and bergers/pulled pork sammies, we drove up to Napa to get a behind the scenes wine tour at Hess Winery. A good friend of mine from college, Scott, is one of the four winemakers at Hess. He was kind enough to take some time out from his day to walk us through the wine making process and to personally deliver the wine tasting. I must say that Scott's discriptions of each wine we tasted really made us appreciate the love and care that went into wine making.

Not a bad way to spend a Thurday afternoon... a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon with my buddy Scott. Scott's wife, Margaret, by the way is an amazing pastery chef. Andrea and I are extremely jealous.

After the personalized tour at Hess, we visited Luna Vineyards and Darioush Winery. Although they both had good wine, we preferred the wine from Hess. Before heading home, we stopped over at Scott and Margaret's home in Napa and dropped in on the informal happy hour party they were hosting for their friends and colleagues. The majority of people at the party were wine makers or related to the wine industry. Maybe because it was a hot evening, but nearly everyone at the party were drinking either beer or margarita. Good thing I didn't listen to Andrea and bring over the Almaden Cabernet Box!

Blackberry Update: Tuesday, 5/16/2006

Blackberry got his pins and halos removed today. He has a splint and a soft cast to aid his recovery. The external pins have been giving Berry a minor infection. So this should close all the wounds and eleminate all the infection. It will probably be another 2 weeks before the splint is removed and Berry can begin his rehab. Blackberry has been doing a lot better with the splint. His energy level is up and seems to be in less discomfort. Will keep you all posted.

Here is a picture of the new and improved Blackberry. He really walks like a pirate now! Arrrr!

Berry is still getting used to his splint. Because the tip was very slippery, we had to stick some felt down for a little more traction.

Week of April 30: (Married) Girls Gone Wild

After an extended 3 month vacation, Andrea will be starting her new job in mid May. So when her friends from home, Ginger and Lea, invited her to meetup with them in Palm Springs, Andrea was all to eager to have one last "hoorah" before getting back into the daily grind. Should I have been worried a little? Afterall, Palm Springs is full of Cougars and Cabana Boys... remember The Flamingo Kid? Perhaps a normal man would have been a little concerned. But when you've got the whole package like I do, you don't think twice about sending your lovely wife off with a "Have a great time!" Besides, I was looking forward to a real man's weekend alone with my dog, my TV (Giants, Sharks, NBA Playoffs, etc), my X-Box, beer and take-out!

Here is a picture of Lea, Ginger and Andrea going crazy at a sports bar in Palm Springs.


Palm Springs is in the Southern California desert, about 107 miles southeast of Los Angeles and is known for its world famous resorts, golf courses, and hotsprings. It's a beautiful place to visit in spring when its not too hot.


This is the before and after picture of a girls' night out. Nothing like partying all night, returning to your room at 10 PM, changing into your plush Egyptian cotton robes and calling your husbands.

As for my weekend? I think I drank 2 beers, worked in the yard, dogsat Steve's Blackberry and made myself a fantastic green salad with walnuts, mandarin oranges and artisan cheese... a real man's weekend!!!

Week of April 23: Spring is Finally Here

After record breaking rainfall in February, March and early April, I think its finally safe to say that the winter rain season is over. This week, we were able to enjoy a whole week of consistent warm spring-like weather (minus our usual morning and evening fog). And with the warm sun, both Andrea and I were able to switch from jeans into shorts (and skirts) and from sneakers into flip-flops. With our shorts and flip-flops on, Andrea and I attended our first official backyard BBQ of the year at Brandon and Shannon's.

Andrea and I have always commented on how balanced Shannon and Brandon's relationship is... Shannon works for a profit driven international corporation while Brandon is a school teacher, Brandon likes exotic (and sometimes weird) food like Pho while Shannon prefers normal meat and potatoes, they have a very cute son, Max, and a new born baby girl Kate, etc. In the two pictures above, we can clearly see this harmonious balance that is the essence of their loving relationship.

The picnic umbrellas that were used only a few days ago to keep out the rain were now being used to shield our delicate pale winter skin. We started eating and drinking early.

It didn't take much drinking nor the sun to drive Brian indoors to assume his favorite position.

After drinking a few Miller High Lifes, things got a little more serious. Mike, Brandon and I were engaged in a passionate debate about a topic that is in the minds of many conscientious Americans today... the Top 5 Rap/Hip-Hop albums of all time. Brandon fronted that Ice Cube's Amerikka's Most Wanted and Nas' Ilmatic should unquestionably be on that list. While Mike agreed with Brandon's Ilmatic selection, Mike represented that Notorious B.I.G's Ready to Die album was far superior to Ice Cube. I dissed them both and stated that Eric B and Rakim's Paid in Full and Dr. Dre's The Chronic deserved more props. Needless to say, this debate was never resolved.

The kids didn't seem interested in our adult discussion and simply played. Little did they know that they too will be having similar debates when they grow up. They have much to look forward to!