A Tray full of Shrimp..Crowder Peas..Pecans..or FUN!

Mark came in with fifty pounds of shrimp today but then had to leave. This meant that Son and I were left with the job of heading and peeling the whole lot of them. Twenty-five pounds of the shrimp were medium-size but..oh, my goodness!..the other twenty-five pounds were huge! Usually, Mark will head most of the shrimp while Son and I peel. Occasionally, Son will relieve his dad with the heading leaving me to the peeling. Today, however, Son took off the heads and I peeled. After he finished heading, he turned around and helped me peel! How nice to have help!! It took us several hours but at the end of that time, we had a goodly number of bags all headed, peeled, washed and ready for freezing! Plus, the kitchen was all cleaned with mopped floors! Whew!

When we get a bundle of shrimp like this, I immediately pull out one very large tray. This tray sits on the kitchen table and as the "header" gets a nice bowlful ready, he dumps them there for me to peel. The tray is so large that it covers a good bit of the table. This makes cleanup a lot easier as it catches all of the nasty "shrimp juice" that sort of erupts from a shrimp as it is peeled. Today, as I pulled the tray out of its storage spot, I thought of all the folks that have used it over the years. I am not sure just where it came from originally but my grandparents had it first as near as I can recollect. It could have been handed down to them, for all I know, since the history of the tray was not deemed important enough to pass down with the tray itself. Like I said, so many folks have used the tray and not all for shrimp (although, if the family ever had a "Shrimp Boil", that tray was the focal point of the event. It held the mounds of delectable morsels fresh from the cooker! The steaming hot shrimp would be dumped on the tray which was set in the middle of a makeshift table. All "Shrimp Boils" were held outside so any dropped peels would land on the ground and not make a mess of the kitchen floor! The same with "Crab Boils"! Summer would see plenty of such gala events with all the aunts, uncles and cousins gathered around. Each would bring a dish of potato salad, coleslaw, garlic bread, baked beans or some dessert! The table spread would be tremendous! Yep, this tray has seen a lot of such events!

In the fall, crowder peas would be heaped on the tray so everyone could get in on the shelling. Usually, the pea-shelling would be on the screened porch as the gnats or mosquitoes would have munched on our legs causing red welts to swell and itch like crazy! During the winter months, this same tray would be mounded over with pecans as we all sat around shelling them. The tray sometimes would be placed on the floor so all the kids could shell the nuts while the adults would pick out any of the small pieces of inner shells. There was always a lot of chatter and plenty of laughter! It seems as if, back in the day, we could make a party out of anything! Speaking of parties..out came the tray again! Not just to serve food but to be used in a "family" party game. An adult..usually my grandmother..would have collected together a very odd assortment of small trinkets and household items the day before the party was to take place. After the tray was used to serve sandwiches or cookies, it would be wiped down and all hundred or so small items would be randomly placed on the tray. Each game participant was given a pencil and paper (sometimes teams assigned). Then with a "Timer" holding a kitchen timer ready, she would bring in the tray of assorted odd items. We were given one minute to look over the tray and try to remember as many things on the tray as we could. At the end of the minute, the tray and items were whisked away to the kitchen. The timer was reset for five minutes and all players raced to jot down as many of the names of the items as could be remembered! Everything being a commonplace item made it harder than you might think! A clothespin, a diaper pin, a spoon, a postage stamp, a hair comb..things of this nature that you see every day have a tendency to slip the mind when something like an ice cube (melting, by the way!), a diamond ring, a live goldfish in a tiny bowl or a lit candle drew your attention! At the end of five minutes, Grandmother would bring the tray back in again so we could check our lists. Whichever player remembered the most items from the tray won the game! One of the small trinkets was given as a prize and the tray was again put back up to wait for the next gathering. It was a fun game for all ages and all ages attended these parties! These "Back in the day" times were all about family! Good, clean fun, tasty food, lively chatter and lots of laughter created an atmosphere that all enjoyed! And this tray, well, it saw it all...and still does! I hope that one of my children will want the tray and see just how versatile it is...and not just use it for food-serving!