Dragon or Rock?

  One thing about living on the Bayou is that there is a season for all things.  Besides the obvious garden seasons, there are also "water" seasons...meaning that certain bits of seafood can only be caught at certain times of the year.  Blue crabs tend to be more plentiful during the summer months, redfish, while here most of the year are active during the fall, flounders find their way here during the spring, trout are a great wintertime catch and shrimp are usually a fall treat.  Since we share our seafood with a good many elderly folks and with family members, I like to keep a well stocked freezer...actually, three freezers.  If I start to run low on shrimp during an off season for us, we buy from the local shrimpers.  They have a hard time making a living since factories and stores wish to buy at the cheapest rates possible and will buy foreign seafood over local if it suits their needs.  Personally, while I have nothing against foreign products, I feel helping our neighbors on the Coast is a better option.  Plus, the shrimp are fresh!

  Mark bought fifty pounds of lovely shrimp today so we could share half of them with some elderly folks who cannot get them otherwise. That left twenty-five pounds for Son and me to head and peel.  This is a workable amount and is not stressful.  In just a short time, the shrimp were headed, peeled, washed and bagged.  All were frozen except for four pounds of the peeled beauties that will become our Easter dinner, tomorrow. While working with the shrimp, Son and I were amazed at how large some of them were.  We weighed them and found them to be eight shrimp to a pound!  Those are huge!  The shrimp that we catch from the pier are far smaller but, in my opinion, much tastier! 

  Son (who was heading the shrimp while I peeled), pulled a funny looking critter out of the cooler.  "I don't think this is the right kind of shrimp." he deadpanned.  I was much more animated in my response. Ewww!  What is that thing?  "I dunno.  Should I head it?"  Son is one of those folks who is willing to try anything once.  Not me.  That thing was ugly.  I looked closer at it.  It had spikes running all down its back!  Ok! I knew I was not peeling that thing!  It would have been like trying to peel a rose branch!  The spines resembled a rose thorn and felt just as sharp.  Nope!  Ain't happenin'!  Son and I dubbed it a "Dragon Shrimp"!

  The ugly critter was identified later by the hubs.  Mark looked at it and told us that it was a "rock shrimp".  Yep.  A rock shrimp.  I did a bit of research and the thing was indeed just that.  It is edible...if you wish to take the risk of getting pricked by the many horns on that guy.  The two horns (one on the head end and the other on the tail end) on the white shrimp and brown shrimp are enough stabby things for me.  That other thing, Dragon or Rock, can keep its horns to itself.