Not the 4th I was expecting, but still good!

When I woke up this morning I was expecting a quiet day where I may go to Subway to get a sandwich for lunch, watch The Revolution on the History Channel and just relax. On my walk to Subway, I looked to my left to find a bunch of tents and music a block away from the University. Curious, I walked toward it to see what was available and figured they may have some food at least, if nothing else.


I got to the park and found tents and tents with food, wares, play areas for kids, crafts, and a live band in the back ground. It's a sight I haven't seen very often. My small home town had some summer and 4th of July festivals but they seemed to feel half-hearted or passionate by only a few while the rest of the town was in 'whatever' mode. This was a nice change. Everyone was relaxed, enjoying themselves, kids playing and food plentiful.

I walked up through the stalls and found a stall providing Cajun food. Hrmm, odd choice for Western Oregon. I look at the menu and see that they're selling Craw fish boats with the Craw fish, potatoes, cajun sausage and Corn on the cob and doused in a Cajun spice blend. I had never had Craw fish before. I was quite scared to get it because it was so different than anything I'd ever eaten before. Despite my reservations, I decided to be bold. I really needed to get out of the middle class stay safe rut that I have been in for most of my life. The kind looking lady from a Louisiana family loaded up a white papered cardboard boat with butter, corn, craw fish and sausage. She then walked to the opposite part of the booth, grabbed a shaker and sprinkled what smelled like heavenly Cajun seasoning. She set the boat on the table in front of me and we exchanged money.

With a reserving face I exclaimed, "I don't even know how to eat them!". A man behind the booth chuckled and said he'd help me. He grabbed a top craw fish in the big pot and showed me how to eat them. It's much like a mini lobster. I thanked him and went to sit down.
I dug in and tasted all the goodies. The Craw fish wasn't bad, but it is a new taste that takes some getting used to, but I like fish so it wasn't that hard. The Corn on the cob was the best corn I've ever had in my whole life!

After I had my Cajun lunch, I went and splurged on some funnel cakes that were awesome too. Yummy powdered sugar covered fried goodness. It's good this type of thing isn't available to me every day!

I hope every on has a great 4th of July!