Rosewood Crawfish Fest 2016!

I have a bit of a sentimental side for the Rosewood Crawfish Festival.  The first one we went to was about one month after my daughter was born. Neil and I dressed her up, got the stroller outfitted with all we would need and walked up there to show off our beautiful new baby. And to get crawdads.  Of course.

We've been going ever since.  There is something to be said for having a city-wide festival right in your own neighborhood.  Come park at our house and walk on over.  Go early with the kids, get crawdads with no lines, ride rides, listen to the bands from your front porch in the afternoon.  It's pretty daggum perfect.   

So, how was this year's festival?  Let's get right to it:

Upon arrival selfie, or is it an "us-ie?"

 

Bags and bags of crawfish

Have crawdads, will travel.

Quite a cooking operation

Start by getting your crawdad tickets

Trade your ticket for one of these babies

Join all the other crawfish aficionados

This is what $18 gets you; a little high, but it's fun

Decide which one to keep as a pet.  Not.

What?  Neil's smiling?  Yes, crawdads make Neil smile.

Get in my belly!

After our crawfish feast, we headed out to check out the rest of the festival.  There is really something for everyone at Rosewood's fest: morning 5K, live music, rides for the kids, Crossfit exhibitions, arts & crafts, tons of food and lots of good beer.  

Make sure you don your crawdad gear

Rosewood Market serving shrimp burgers, watermelon, amongst other things

Wacky food display. Gyros, funnel cakes, homemade chips, sausage dogs

Food truck action: Pawley's

Neil couldn't resist the monster turkey legs

Icy treats

I think she rode this contraption about 6 times

Festivals: they're not just for Budweiser anymore!

The first time I've drunk a beer in a can in a VERY long time!

We had a great time at this year's festival.  I think the Rosewood Merchants Assn has done a really great job of creating a family-friendly (without being dorky and boring) festival that is truly part of our community.  Living in Rosewood/Shandon is like living in a village.  Our kids walk to school, thanks to our Rosewood Drive corridor, we can hit the grocery store, local coffee shop, Dairy bar, gas station, local market, delis and restaurants, meat market, all in one trip, we have block parties and we know all our neighbors.  The Rosewood Crawfish Fest is just another cool component to our village. If you haven't come over to our neck of the woods for this event, go ahead and pencil it in for early May of next year.  Let the good times roll!

Crawdads!

My brother-in-law accepted a really great job offer back in the fall.  IN TEXAS. 

This is amusing on one very obvious level.  My sister lived in Colorado for many years.  Her best friend is a Colorado native.  One thing we know about Coloradoans, they LOATHE Texans.  This may sound silly, but one of the first thoughts that went through my sister's mind was "oh, crap, what's Amy gonna think?"

Well, they are alive and well in Houston, specifically the Clear Lake area.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Houston like myself, the Clear Lake area of town is where NASA is located. I mean, really.  I think it's pretty groovy that on a day to day basis, my sister is now traveling down Space Center Blvd and NASA parkway, etc. The other surprising thing is that Houston is coastal.  Now, before you all think I'm stupid, let me explain. I'm a map geek.  And, while I've always realized Houston is near the water and right across the water from New Orleans, I never realized that Houston has contact with salt water. It's freakin' awesome!

The first night we were there, Katherine and Darren kept talking about taking us to "the place under the bridge."  After I realized they weren't referring to a soup kitchen, I was intrigued.  It's a cool place called Outriggers and it is, in fact, under a bridge and right on the water.  

It is a casual place with an awesomely seafood heavy menu.  Mom and I ordered the same thing: the shrimp/avocado appetizer, which was just the right size dish I needed that night.  It was spicy grilled shrimp served on top of 2 avocado halves, which were seated on shredded lettuce.  All was drizzled with a terrific remoulade.  My dad ordered an oyster Po-Boy, which was the one dish of the night that didn't score any points.  Dad said it was way too much batter and not enough oyster.  

My sister ordered shrimp tacos and my brother-in-law went for the Tilapia Veracruz.  His dish looked wonderful, but I was so busy with my shrimp remoulade, I forgot to bug him to give me a bite!  But, the star of the night was what my Wunderkind ordered...crawfish.  According to Katherine, it seems to be crawfish season in Texas.  She said everywhere you go, you see people even steaming and selling them on the side of the road!  Of course, I immediately asked my baby-child if she was interested in having "crawdads" since she devours them each year at the Crawfish Festival in our neighborhood.  I was quickly reprimanded by Katherine..."we" call them crawfish.  Well, you know what happened next, right?  I refused to call them anything but crawdads.  After all, they ARE crawdads.

The only thing I wish I'd thought to ask was what type of spice, or level of spice they cooked their crawdads with.  They arrived at the table, and it was evident that they had a pretty good coating of spices on the shells.  Nonetheless, my baby was undeterred.  I peeled them for her and she made it through about 8 of them before the cumulative effect of the spices got her.  I asked the waitress for milk and was shocked to learn that they have no milk.  I actually asked her, "So, wow, you guys don't make White Russians here, huh?"  Her reply?  "Oh yes, we just make them with creamer."  <<Insert gag reflex here>>

They were incredibly good and the pound we ordered was only $6.99.  Needless to say, we had plenty to take home.  Next day, we ate them right out of the fridge and they were still just as good.  They were so tender, well flavored, so so good!  Truth be told, as we were all standing around my sister's kitchen island doing some late night snacking, I pretty much ate all the leftover crawdads.  Nobody else got in the game...oh no, too slow!