You know I'm Cajun, right?

You know those shrimp cocktail rings you can buy in your local grocery's freezer section? Well, I just ate a 30 count shrimp ring. I mean, all 30 shrimp in one sitting. Now, before you get all bug-eyed about one person eat an entire shrimp cocktail ring all by his lonesome, let me explain.

There's Cajun in my blood. True, I claim the Irish more than the Cajun but that's just 'cause I like good beer as opposed to Bud Light. It's more about the drinking rights. But, I was born in deep southeast Louisiana in a small town about an hour's drive west southwest of New Orleans. Our house was just over a mile from Bayou Lafourche (La-FOOCH). I'm from down the bayou as we say. Though, far enough up the bayou to have culture and no accent. But, sha, I cun do a tick kay-jen akcent when da tyme be right, yeah.

Anyway, what does that have to do with 30 shrimp? Well, where I'm from, it was not uncommon for families to get together for a shrimp, crab or crawfish boil. In fact, during Lent, my family would generally eat about 10 pounds of crawfish on Fridays. With 4 people in my family, that's an average of 2 1/2 pounds of crawfish per person. That's alot of head suckin' and tail pinching. When you think about it that way, 30 shrimp is a lite snack.

Now, I'm in Indiana where there is no sea, therefore no seafood. Heck, I'm just happy I found a Popeye's that is only 20 minutes from work in the wrong direction. Of course, when I was younger, I was more fond of boiled crawfish than I was of boiled shrimp. But, here in Indy, a shrimp cocktail ring is about closest I can get to "cajun cooking." Yes, there is YATS, which I love, but it's alot less convenient than my local Kroger's. And after all, a shrimp cocktail ring is just frozen boiled shrimp. All I have to do is defrost and it's almost like home... Almost... Lord, I can't wait for Christmas vacation...