On New Year's Day we celebrated Dad's birthday a week early with the first-ever Gates Family Boil.
No, not the skin disease. That was last year.
A boil is some sort of Cajun affair where you cook a ridiculous amount of seafood and dump it all in the middle of the table for a salty medieval free-for-all.
Note: this post is graphic heavy. Meaning I took a lot of pictures.
Jill's ready for the boil.
So's Callie Jane.
We covered the table with newspaper and wax paper. I'm not really sure why the bags are on the chandelier. I think the plan was to have them handy for shells and other shrapnel.
Zach and Aunt Lucy wait for the deluge.
Dad shows Ty the ropes. Apparently oysters are resistant to being pried apart.
Tyler regarding raw oysters: It's like riding a roller coaster. I've done it before but it still makes my stomach feel funny.
Did Nathan know what he was getting into when he married Katy? We've yammered him into doing all sorts of things since he's been mixed up with our family. Swim with snakes. Eat raw oysters. He's a gamer.
This is as close as Katy got.
I have no idea how we convinced Zach and The Bud to take the plunge.
They did not dig it.
Seriously.
Crawdads are creepy.
Callie and Mom are pretending to eat the crawdads. None of us actually ate them. Again, creeeepy!
And there were twelve baskets remaining!
Mom's ready to roll it on in but Pop's still chuggin' along.
How we digest.
5 comments:
Wonderfully DIS-gusting!
Wow. I can't imagine a more delightfully horrifying event...the people and frivolity=super great and not to be missed. The consuming mass quantities of things out of the water=downright offensive.
Wow...I'm torn!
My favorite...random cobs of corn tossed on the pile of shellfish apocapolypse.
it is amazing how much hoiday spirity a little oceanic carnage can whip up!
with admiration from corona
burns
Sam, I haven't forgotten your rule: If it comes out the water, it doesn't go in my mouth.
But, do you know how much I would have loved to have you present for this?
Burns: You too. Not because you hate seafood, but because you would probably have eaten all those leftover crawdads.
What a glorious mess of shellfish on that table (I love the overhead shot!)
I think it's the eyes that make the crawdads creepy. I might have been able to try some if someone else had cracked it open and dug out the meat for me. I hear they're good eatin'. (Of course, some people also say that about squirrels, and I'm not lining up for roadkill stew.)
Wow. I really don't know what to say about the shellfish...
But I will say that I love the fact that Zach is wearing a Northpoint shirt. :)
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