A Big Slough Hike...

I made a little scout around to the Big Slough Wilderness Area in the Davy Crockett National Forest. Hunting seasons are open, most notably deer season but I like duck hunting. The season happens to open this weekend and these old sloughs are a good place to ambush wood ducks like my dad taught me to hunt them. I saw zero ducks yesterday and probably won't hunt till cold weather brings some migrating in. At the rate I go I'm in no danger of overharvesting the population but Cathy does cook an excellent fried duck breast. 

If you recall all the rain last spring I am sure this low lying river bottom was flooded out. Looks like from water marks on the trees it was at least waist deep on the rises and in the drains armpit level. Maybe we won't get too much water. All over the bottom seems to spread the ducks out and if the water is deep it's hard to retrieve them.  

This is one of my favorite spots when the water is low like this. It's some kind of gravel like ore along the slough bank and nearby are a couple of larger ore looking rocks. I did not check out those formations today but for some reason I always have a great cell signal here for such an isolated area. 

From the abundance of freshwater mussel shells I would say that it's a fine late night buffet for many woods critters and a great population of these filter feeders indicates good water quality. I have never eaten one of these myself and don't see why you couldn't if it's cooked properly but I have picked them up, shelled them and used the meat for trotline bait and caught good blue cat. 

I think I need to look at that infrastructure bill a little closer. I have been going to this area since the late 70s and it's the first time I have seen this kind of water damage to a generally good firm bedded road system. I suspect that this elevated roadway between two low-lying swamp areas is part of the Central Coke and Coal Company railroad that transported harvested timber to the saw mill that was located at Ratcliff. 

I am not sure the policy on maintaining roads in wilderness areas. All the little old pig trail roads through the woods have been allowed to go wild. There are restrictions on what can be done. The Davy Crockett website has an alert that this road is passible by four wheel drive only.    

Glad I came over in the good daylight to scope things out. 

This photo is down the 4 C hiking trail. It's part of the old railroad bed. The Central Coke and Coal ended their operations here in the early 1920s. All the trees were gone.  

 

A Good Fish Sandwich...

No, this is not my breakfast this morning, it's my lunch yesterday. Nothing like making a fish sandwich out of a few left over fish fillets. It's simple, you got the fish, toast some bread, a big slice of purple onion, some pickle, a squirt of thousand island dressing, and a dash of hot sauce. Good, good.

Me and the fish sandwich go back quite a ways. I can remember being a young man, all lonesome and hungry, coming home from the lake with an old white bass and a gasper gou and whipping off four fillets, frying them up and inventing the delight you see pictured above. 

I kind of remember a cooking and kite flying contest, held on Texas Independence Day and sponsered by Suzi Q where I had worked all night at the mill (dsyd long past) and I got off work and fried up a bunch of white bass sandwiches on French bread. I won something for that creation, a Texas cookbook that is still good for an idea or two now and then. 

Then there was that time in Casamento's in New Orleans. Casamento's was on Magazine St., famous since 1919 for oysters, shrimp and catfish loafs. I was in there and needed to take a leak. The route to the bathroom was through the kitchen. There on the gas stoves sat big deep iron skillets, just like the one I own, full of hot grease. You had to walk carefully and not because you needed to go so bad or because of all the beer you drank in the old fashioned short glasses, but because the grease that was soaked into the floor from the frying seafood since 1919. 

Here is a link to a look inside Casamento's:

http://www.casamentosrestaurant.com/tour/tour.html

I actually have a picture of me and some other folks, who as soon as they pay their $39,000 will get posted on this site, sitting in those chairs you see along the wall. There is another picture of the kitchen I walked through.

I guess these remembrances, when looked at in retrospect show that I was not really ever lonesome and hungry. It just seems so when you are eating gasper gou. Now I spend my time frying the catfish my baby catches, making the floor round here greasy as that kitchen in New Orleans.

Oysters...

I drove a friend to a doc appointment in the Woodlands yesterday and as we sat that afternoon I could see from the fast food restaurant where we dined a sign that said Woodlands Seafood. If you recall it is somewhat of a tradition, documented many times on these pages that brother in law Kevin, on his arrival from Indiana stops and buys oysters on the half shell at the Woodlands Seafood to bring to the family Christmas celebration.  He did it this year and on seeing the sign I decided on oysters for supper. 

They had four kinds of oysters from Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Canada. I am well familiar with Texas and Louisiana oysters and have probably been unknowingly served Florida oysters. I'll have to ask my Canadian son in law, Peter about his country's oysters. We are fans of the Texas oyster. It just seems right, like being married to a Texas girl. They were the cheapest compared to the Louisiana oysters which I would have considered if that was the only choice but you can't beat $39 for a 50 count sack. Once long ago a waiter at the fine Galveston Restaurant Gaido's told me when the water is cold eat the oyster. When it's hot eat the crab. I have lived by that creed ever since.      

I began shucking and Cathy started the preparations for various ways to cook them. By the way these things shucked very easy. A 100% shell out. This photo captures a butter garlic cilantro sauce that was sprinkled with parmesan and broiled in the oven.  

Of course some were eaten raw. 

Here is Cathy with what you could call an oyster four way. Fried, broiled, Rockefeller and raw. I though for a brief time we would have to make a quick run to the Woodlands for more. For Suzi and Charlie who we invited over but they could not make it, I hope you feel better but it's a good thing we did not have to drive back to the Woodlands for more which I would have done just for you. I do have a grip of when we get together how many oysters we will need.   

What to do When it's Cold...

I was in Gaido's Seafood Restaurant one time. That's a classy place to eat in Galveston. At least it used to be considered real classy because you had to wear trousers and a real shirt when you ate there. Times have changed because now you can get in wearing shorts (nothing permitted bottomless yet) and with declining attitudes toward what is considered classy I bet a tank top from a major designer brand will now gain you admittance. I think in my life time a person will be able to walk right up from the beach in a bikini and flip flops all sun burnt and sandy and get seated. Maybe not me in a bikini, but someone will break that barrier one day and I'll be ok with that. One barrier that won't be broken is what a waiter there told me once when I asked what was good today. He said if the water is hot, eat crab. Water cold, oysters. Well the water is cold so for right now it's the oysters. 

Christmas with the family is past but not too late to thank brother and sister in law Kevin and Margaret for once again bringing the oysters. When they fly in from Indiana for time with the family they always stop by a seafood market for a sack of oysters in the shell. Here's Kevin standing by the grill having an oyster basted in a special sauce created by Chef Morgan.

I would say that the sauce Morgan made was as good as any I have ever had on a plate of grilled or broiled oysters. I am at a time in my life when I am always impressed when my children know how to do stuff well and it's stuff that I have not taught them. 

Morgan and Pop shuck the oysters out and eat them raw. That's Samantha's boyfriend Mitchell in the middle. He's a new blog character and a real good guy. Knows how to deer hunt and catch big bass. Has a good job following Samantha's dad Jim around and holding up cell phone photos of big deer and bass Jim has caught as as he tells the story. It's a good gig if you can get it.  

Real men shuck oysters in pink shirts. 

It was nice having those young boys in there shucking and sucking. I can slack off a little bit. Don't have to lead the charge. Maybe that means I'll last a little longer. 

With the temps expected in the low 30s tonight I'd say oyster time is the right time. 

Everything You Need?...

Cathy asks this question as she sits at the Oyster Bar in Felix's French Quarter restaurant. Eat raw oysters, drink tomato juice and wear the shells for clothes or at least earnings and I think you would have a diet rich in nutrients and fun. 

Felix's has always been one of our favorites for raw oysters. Nice little bar to sit at with easy access to spicy condiments and great big oysters makes it for me. They do have a kitchen cooking stuff but I have not eaten cooked food since they took the great bacon wrapped oyster loaf off the menu. That might have been a hurricane causality  because things, decor and menu changed after that event. 

Right across the street is Acme Oyster house. The line was out the door. It's been on the food shows. It's good, and I might eat a fried dinner there but for a few quick dozen I'll take Felix's. 

Shucking our oysters is Anthony. He kept up a personal history while he worked. Born in 1966 I think he said he was shining shoes in the Quarter by the early 70s. Moved up to tap dancing on street corners after that. Kind of left some gaps as to what happened between tap dancing and the shucking gig but he was good at his job which is as it should be for all of us.  

Oysters...

Brother in law Kevin, seen here in the foreground, is a man with a mission. Each Christmas he flies to Texas like some kind of culinary good taste Santa and on his way to the family gathering picks up a sack of oysters on the shell. In the back ground oyster elves Morgan, Cathy and Rose busy themselves at the shuck shop.
















Right from the shell...That's Margaret, Santa Kevin's main helper and Cathy's sister in the background.






























Close up of Cathy and Margaret at work.


These were Louisiana oysters, nice and fresh from Woodlands Seafood. Why aren't we driving down to buy these each weekend?


 Texas oysters not doing so good right now with low water flows into the Gulf and fall red tides. The next day after this party we shucked what was left and broiled a nice Oysters Rockefeller in the oven. 














 

Did Ya Here About the Last Fishing Trip...

We really killed them. Didn't fire till we saw the whites of their eyes. No really, that's the battle ship Texas. We did not really fish from it, but I bet they do have a decent size live well. When we dropped Katie and Peter at the Hobby airport on their recent visit we saw the sign for the ship and the adjoining San Jacinto Battleground so we stopped by for a visit. We dis not go on the ship but instead toured the monument.



Another grainy cell phone picture from the monument, 633 feet I think over the Texas coastal prairie. See the battle ship in it's slip on the right as a modern day tanker steams by on the left. I would only assume modern Battle ships are larger today or they would be in danger of being run over by the tankers. Probably in it's day the Texas was quite a welcome impressive sight. I actually had a patient, a WW2 vet who told me he saw the Texas in action during the invasion of Okinawa.

After this visit we invaded the nearby Monument Inn Seafood restaurant. It's the best seafood, with the possible exception of sushi which has to be good to be editable, I have eaten. It was fried up in the good gulf coast style with boiled shrimp and raw oysters on the half shell.

Also Cooney Christmas This Weekend...

The oyster shucking tradition carries on as Carl shucks it looks like Margaret is trying to break his concetration.
Kevin and Margaret visited from Indiana with kids Grayson and Addison. Thanks once again to Kevin for bringing the oysters. He helped pay for some of the BP spill cost as the price oysters seems to have jumped to $52 for a hundred count sack. These were some of the best eating easiest shelling oysters we have had.




Katie and Peter, in from Chicago saw a good spread of East Texas weather, ranging from highs in the 70s on Saturday to a low of 27 Sunday morning. I would say that beats Chicago, at least where travel is concerned with about 1400 flights out of O'Hara were canceled due to snow Sunday.





John, Mary and Pop shuck away and you can see a couple of oysters broiling away on the half shell on the faithful Coleman grill

Eating in New Orleans...

The food was great in New Orleans. It was so great that on the way home yesterday when I stopped for a fast food hamburger my stomach yelled "what you putting on me?" It yelled again today when I cooked a hot dog with wolf brand chili for supper. It's hard to get something good to eat after a long weekend in the big easy. Here Pop downs raw oysters in Casamento's on Magazine Street.









A shot of Cathy in the long narrow tiled covered dining room. Lots of famous people eat at Casamentos. In addition to being a favorite of hipsters like us you might also spot the odd movie star, pro quarterback, rock singer and so on. In fact I think I have some photos I took in about 1985 of a equally hip crew I was with at the time (no singers, quarterbacks etc..,) dining here. Looks about the same. The place, not the crew.

Here's Geneva. I like all the little tile inlays that you find in places like these around New Orleans. I also like the fact that the spray soap is handy. You need that a lot in New Orleans. Not you Geneva, but things like that come in handy for me.

The door in the back ground is passage through the kitchen where the frying takes place. Food is all fried or raw at Casemento's. If you have been to my fish frys my outdoor man kitchen is a built to scale model of the set up they have even down the walk through to the bathroom.

This is a photo of music in the Economy Hall Tent at the Jazz Fest. It's the New Leviathon Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra. They play dance band music like was popular around the turn of the century. This music bridged into ragtime which bridged through Jelly Roll Morton into dixieland with Louie Armstrong who bridged jazz on into a popular form of music recognized today by everyone.

Casemento's Restaurant dates back to 1919. As I listened to the New Leviathon play the old time music I kind of imagined that had I lived in 1919 I might have well been in the same place as I was this past weekend, in New Orleans with a plate of oysters, listening to low down bad jams.

Os!...

Here's another Christmas tradition, I know I know, some have already taken down the lights, the tree but I am still absorbing all the fun and good eating of the last week or some and am fully intent on extending into the new year with same same.

This is the BIL Kevin oyster shuck tradition. Kevin, Margaret and Grayson fly into Houston and don't pass go until they have stopped at Kingwood Seafood and picked up a bunch of oysters in the shell. We had them raw, grilled and fried.

Pop bears down. I think there is about everything you need right there on that 12 square foot of table, family, fresh food, hot sauce, utensils, deep fry supplies and matches.

These oysters shucked out good, clean and fresh.









I like to shuck oysters. My tool of choice is a sears screwdriver, 60s vintage, you can find one in any old man's barn. Sometimes I wish I was dumb, could just head down to New Orleans and shuck oysters in French Quarter restaurants as a career, smoking Picayune cigarettes in back allys during my break times.

Cooney Christmas...

Got together with the Cooneys for a belated Christmas/mid winter gathering at the land this past weekend. It was nice, no presents to buy, just good company.

Margaret and Kevin again stopped at Kingwood Seafood for a sack of oysters in the shell. Her are Pop, Rose, Jeff and Margaret doing the bivalve bop.
Kevin displays grilled on the half shell with his special sauce. That sauce is versatile stuff, on oysters, last year I grilled some fish with it and can even be used as a dipping sauce.

In the background Matt and John come a running!









Professional oyster shucker enjoys fruits of his labor.

Natchitoches Weekend...

Me and Cathy did an overnighter to Natchitoches La. Not much going on, but we found a cheap motel Called the Riverview Inn that was fine for a town that is really known for the bed and breakfast scene and ate plenty of good seafood.

The area is a left over of the confluence of French and Spanish culture. The river front has that old French Quater look.






Old south charm.











The Cane River passes right through downtown. It is the the second of three river channels that the Red River has occupied during the past couple of hundred years. Here are some shots of some rowing, not quite sure what this is called, but it was a little hard to catch these guys in the view finder they were moving so fast. Natchitous is famous for Christmas decorations. Looks like they might leave the up for Mardi Gras. Check the dove in the back ground.

Looked like a fun body of water that I could imagine being quite busy in warm weather. Lots of docks, boathouses and pontoon boats tied up at houses lining the river.

Lots of old stuff to see, post more as I get the time.

The War is On...

The catfish war I'm talking about. Second time we have had the boat out this year and we rack up 11 keepers. Threw back at least that many maybe more. Good outing, kind of a shake down cruise to check things out. The spot we fished was not even in our usual area so looks like we are ahead of the game this year.


Just to place our presence in the confluence of national events there was the McDonald's Big Bass Splash going on yesterday. The main weigh in was way down the lake, but entrants could put in anywhere so the parking lot and campground were full. Not crowded at the fishing spot though, it's a big lake and if you choose carefully you can be by yourself, kind of like this person.


Our catch went into the freezer. We have folks coming soon and we need a little stock because you know as well as I do that somewhere there is a fish you cannot catch and this means fish fry in the event of a dry run. Instead we stopped and raided the oyster bed at Brookshire Bros. in Huntington and had poor man Rockerfeller and brochette. Hats off to Brookshires for maintaining such fine oysters in their meat department.

To further place us in the the national scene of events we arrived home to a a message on the answering machine. It's a cell phone call from a porta potty at a Jimmy Buffet concert. I'll just say that it was not Jimmy and leave it at that.

Mudbelly's Smoked Duck recipe...

Took three wild duck fresh killed. I skin them and cut them open right down the back bone. Marinate in woostishire to your hearts content.

Stuff with sliced apple.

Use a wrap of bacon to secure a big slice of onion right on top with slices of jalapeno pepper stuffed in all around right next to the meat.

Smoke on grill, not right over the fire, but slowly for two hours. I felt like the fire went out too soon so at the end of two hours I put them in the oven at 300 degrees for an hour.

For a light Thanksgiving day lunch the breasts were sliced into thin strips and served cold with boiled shrimp, smoked oysters, raw veggies, cheese, crackers and dips.

They might have been the best duck I ever cooked.

Aliens among us...

Seems that there is a great influx of cattle egrets this year. Those white birds that stand among the cattle doing I don't know what, eating the bugs off of them or something. They like bugs, when the hay balers are busy here in east Texas there might be several dozen following the tractor as it stirs up dinner. This year is a little different, there are so many of these birds they are coming into my yard and some have been even following my neighbors lawn mower. They fly over in great flocks in the evenings.

I suspect the body of these birds have been taken over by aliens. They are spying on us. Here are several (the white dots)I photoed getting ready for a cattle mutilation which is something aliens like to do. Forgive the grainyness of the picture, but that is the way it is with unapproachable creatures like aliens and big feet. You just can't get close.

The way I first suspected they were aliens is when Cathy reported seeing the big teenage that lives next door, across a grassy field when the have been landing shooting at them. Notice I said landing, that is what aliens do. The other thing they do is plant something, some kind of controller, and I suspect it might look like a bug or a grass seed in your ear to sway you to their bidding.

He was shooting at them with a pellet gun so I suspect that they have powers that render gunpowder useless. Cathy, who only supports the death of catfish, oysters and heavy beef, said she put hard eyes on him and he stopped shooting. They have put a controller in her ear.

But just think, like those movies where the main guy recognizes the problem but no one else does, this big teenager is fighting the aliens alone, shooting at them with the only weapon available, the symbolism of using a toy from his childhood to kill hanging heavy in his heart and in a sweat of fear as his big soft teenage belly hangs out pants that are really made for little skinny guys to wear down low. He no doubt shook his head at the knowledge that Cathy was controlled by them because of the disapproving glances she sent his way. He puts cotton plugs in his ears to keep out the tiny controller. The cotton has a side effect, it causes him to install ever larger and louder stereos in his car. He is a walking deaf man.

So there you have it, have you noticed these things, these suspect happenings that cannot be explained any other way? If not, it may be too late for you.