Crawfish stories keep coming in. Here’s one from Peter Dassey, of Kenner:
“We were returning home from Waveland, Mississippi, one hot, dry spring evening when we ran into the customary weekend traffic along the stretch of Interstate 10 near the Louisiana-Mississippi border.
“Trucks with empty trailers, and some cars, were pulled over in the grass along the tree line, between the Old Pearl River and Pearl River bridges.
“Crawfish were migrating across the interstate! Wide-eyed crawfish lovers were picking up and scooping up those little crustaceans like dollars bills spilled from an armored car.
“If you were lucky enough to have a flat shovel in the back of your pickup, you would have easily scored enough crawfish for a large gathering in under 10 minutes.”
Sandwich from heaven
Who says we don’t have geniuses around here?
For instance, consider this tale from Kevin Reed, of New Orleans:Â
“My brother Henry used to get family and friends to help paint his house by feeding us and supplying alcohol when we finished every day.
“The first day was boiled crawfish and beer. The second day was alligator stewed in red gravy. The third day he used the leftover crawfish to make bisque.
“He had not saved enough heads, and had some stuffing left over. Having completed the paint job, we didn’t want the leftovers to go to waste, so someone had the bright idea to toast bread and make finger sandwiches with the stuffing.
“One of the greatest ideas ever! And since we don’t need the heads, we could suck the juice again.”
Worth the drive
Earl Newman, of Baton Rouge, says, “Stories about crawfish bisque at Hymel’s in Convent must bring back memories for lots of people.
“For those of us in Baton Rouge, the trip was somewhat of an ordeal before Interstate 10, but worth it.
“I can’t remember how we got to the River Road, but once we got there it seemed like a long, winding journey.
“Crawfish was a drawing card, but my memories are of huge boiled crabs on the newspaper covering the tables, and ice cold fishbowls of draft beer.
“A similar tale can be told regarding Middendorf’s in Manchac and the thin-cut catfish, before Interstate 12/Interstate 55 led you there easily.”
Earl adds Pat’s, a great crawfish place in Henderson. “Before I-10, as I recall, folks coming from the Baton Rouge area had to use a levee road to get there.”
Gas and more
“B. Jake” says back in the day they were “filling stations,” not service stations.
Amenities were limited to free road maps and, at the fancy ones, indoor “facilities.”
“In the ’30s it was not difficult to sweep out the car; just brush it into the holes on the floorboards.”
Bucket seat blues
After my Wednesday mention of drive-in movies, I got this message from Harry Clark, explaining a possible cause of their demise:
“As a teenager I was a big fan of drive-in movies. Most every weekend I would pick up my current girl friend and go to the movies.
“I have been wondering lately if those movies would have been as popular if our cars back then were configured like modern vehicles, with bucket seats and large center consoles.
“Along those same lines, I saw a bunch of movies but can’t remember a single one.”
Sour note
Francis Celino, The Metairie Miscreant, says, “I see some citrus trees were planted in your name at the Baton Rouge office of The Advocate. I hope there’s not too many ‘lemons,’ there, or in your column.”
Actually, Mr. Miscreant, in “Smiley’s Orchard” there is so far one Meyer lemon, one blood orange, and two satsuma trees.
They’re rather small, so it may be some time before I can invite you up for mimosas. Â
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