Mudbugs?

Saturday morning I woke up super early, 4 am early! I wanted to go back to sleep but I was wide awake, so I got up, got dressed, and headed down to the beach to watch the dolphins! It was a beautiful morning and I couldn't wait for what the rest of the day had in store for me.

After a morning well spent, I found my way to the farmers market. I'll tell you what, that place is incredible! Fresh EVERYTHING! Finding a good farmers market is incredible, where I'm from, our farmers market is really lacking. This one had ice cream!!! I explored the whole place and right when I thought I had discovered it all, I saw a sign for seafood, and being the seafood lover that I am, I just had to check it out! I walked across the parking lot and entered this tiny wooden hut. A young girl at behind a small table smiled and handed me a sheet listing all the seafood they had available. The list was huge for such a tiny place. As I scanned the small shop I noticed a sign that read "MUDBUGS" in large print. I'm not a southern girl, but I do know that mudbugs is a nickname for Crawfish. I've never had crawfish, and it seemed like a good day them.

I asked for a pound of crawfish. The girl smiled and lead me to the cooler to check them out; they were alive!!!!! I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT! As she carefully picked my pound of crawfish I began to feel a little uneasy. I've never cooked anything that wasn't already dead. She handed me the bag and I carried it at arms length to my car and sat in in the passengers seat beside me.

On my drive home, I called my mom and told her what I had done! She laughed and said "You'll never be able forget their screams!" I was about ready to call it quits and free the little bugs back into the wild! But I persevered! I threw them in a pot of water and waited... I'm pretty sure I cooked them longer than necessary, but I wanted to make sure they were dead. I threw them on a plate, grabbed some old bay and started chowing down on those little suckers. Let me just say, they were fantastic, and now that I've gotten a taste for them, I'm pretty sure I'll be going to the farmers market for more!!!