CRAWFEST
A day dedicated to gorging on delectable little red crustaceans that have been boiled alive in a Cajun mix of herbs and spices together with plenty of garlic, potatoes and corn on the cob, all the while listening to a variety of different bands on the grounds of Tulane University. It was a hot day at the beginning of summer, before the terror of humidity had set in. People were stripped down to the bare essentials soaking up the rays during the brief window of opportunity that allowed them to enjoy being outside in the heat. Beer was flowing, and through the strumming of guitars and blasting of horns you could hear people sucking the juices out of crawfish heads and off their fingers. It’s a very social meal, there’s little meat in each crawfish and for the unskilled it can take quite a few minutes to get what is there safely out of the shell and into ones mouth (and let me tell you, it can take a lifetime to become skilled at this practice), so to eat enough to fill you can take a few hours, all the while munching on the potatoes with garlic smushed on them, and nibbling spicy corn cobs. As if the food weren’t enough of a draw, the music is quite a spectical too. I went to see RiverLeft– the drummer is dating a friend of mine, and the lead singer did his PADI dive master at the dive shop on Utila where I worked as an instructor (small world). They are a great group, my favourite song of theirs is ‘American Girl’ – their website is: http://www.riverleft.com/fr_home.cfm if you want to check them out.
KILLER CATERPILLARS
Okay well they aren’t exactly killer but they’re close enough! Usually around February but this year in May (the delay due to our extremely cold winter) the Buck Moth Caterpillars assault New Orleans. The ceramic-esqu eggs are laid in batches at the top of oak trees. And once hatched, they eat their way through the leaves down the tree. They have even been known to strip a tree of all its leaves. The caterpillar’s spines are connected to poison glands, which when they make contact can cause burning sensations and painful inflammation, with the irritation lasting as long as several days and causing nausea. The problem here is that St Charles Avenue is lined on either side with numerous oaks – from which during this period caterpillars are known to drop and sting. I have to travel down most of the length of this famous and beautiful, though temporarily perilous, street to get to work and back each day. I braved the journey on my bike for a few days, until eventually I decided my luck would run dry soon enough and I had to decide whether to cover myself from head to foot in the heat for the hour long ride, or throw my hands up and get on the Street Car. I decided on the latter. And am happy to say successfully escaped the treachery of the buck moth caterpillars.
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