Crayfish!

What better way to end a week of dealing with crayfish than going to Popeye's after work to buy a box of fried ones?  The history teacher I work with mentioned it on Wednesday. Then I saw the commercial on Thursday.

I had to have them.

As I was teaching kids how to safely hold crayfish (behind the arms), and how to tell if it's a male or female, I kept thinking "How do you suckers taste anyway?" I couldn't help but find it a little ironic as I gave the kids the "humane treatment" talk at the start of the lesson as well. I'm all for not torturing and terrifying my animals before I eat them.


Every year, the students in my county study a model freshwater ecosystem. There's elodea, guppies, snails, duckweed, and (drum-roll, please) CRAWDADS! The crustaceans are the highlight for the kids. The moment those critters go in the tank, my students usually can't keep their eyes off them (especially when I'm teaching).

Normally, the crayfish don't make their entrance until late April or close to May. This year, the curriculum was flipped and they made their appearance on Wednesday in the middle of sixth period. They arrived in the form of a large box with "Live! Fragile!" and some haphazardly poked air holes. I opened the box and aside from the smell, the first thing I noticed was they were huge! The crayfish were easily twice the size as previous years. My basic skills kids went nuts. I ended up letting the kids deliver the box to other teachers after I took four out for my room.

Fast forward to Friday. It's Veteran's Day, and parents are allowed to come into school and observe their students' classes. The science department has decided to stop what we're doing and deliver a crayfish observation lesson. It's high interest for the kids and the timing is perfect for having parents come in. In previous years, I've let the kids pick up the crawdads. There would be squeems and screams, but the little guys were too small to do any damage or even hurt. This year? One of the little darlings drew blood when he managed to catch my co-teacher's finger. Thankfully, none of the students lost any limbs in front of their parents (though I did tell the kids I had plenty of band-aids and knew how to call 191 if there was an emergency).

After work, I sent Carrie a "I'm going to be late, because I MUST go to Popeye's email/text." I admit, I was a little hesitant ordering a fishy-type of food from what I consider fast food (even if Popeye's is close to top quality when it comes to fast food in my mind). It was only $5 and I couldn't resist the comedic connection, so I bought a box anyway. The crayfish tasted a lot like a stronger/sweeter popcorn shrimp. It was a little saltier than I'd normally want, but the horseradish dipping sauce was perfect. I ate the whole box on my traffic-laden ride home. If the crayfish came in bigger chunks of meat, I'd definitely order it again. Otherwise, I think I'll stick with their chicken...unless I get pinched by one of my crayfish and then I might need a revenge meal.

This week was a fun, crayfish-filled endeavor....both in the classroom and in my belly.