Weekend Crawfish Boil

We had a very sunny and hot weekend, and opted to spend as much of it as we could down at the river.  It was so nice to be able to relax in my chair with my feet in the water!  And it's a good feeling to have a suntan, too!  The kiddos had a great time "swimming," or river crawling, along the shallow bank, and stayed busy for hours. 

As we were getting ready to head to the river on Saturday, Husband said, "you know I'm going to need my crawfish gear, right?"  I did not know going to the river meant crawfish hunt.  But this is the same man who has headed up many a hunt, contrapted metal crawfish traps out of spools of wire and dropped them down the side of river walls into the current, had said traps stolen off the river, cooked up crawfish boils for friends, looked into crawfish farming, and the same man who knows all the words to Boondocks, and could fool folks into thinking he sings in a country band.  

Then off he went for his goggles and his sun hat. 

The crawfish Husband and his friend caught averaged 3-5 inches,

and once you boil them, they turn reddish-orange, just like lobster.

And they taste somewhere between lobster and crab, except their meat is in much smaller portions as you would imagine.

Nothing screams summer like a crawfish boil!

my man can decorate a cake.

It is true.  And it's not the first time.

The latest cake comes on the heels of an engagement!

Our little brother Timmy, caught himself a keeper!

He proposed on the Washougal River, here in Camas,

while he and his perused the early morning waters in their waders.

Luckily, the river was high that special September morn,

and not one caught a fish...

except for Timmy, of course.

Aimee!!!  Welcome to the McCully clan!

We're so glad you're hooked and a keeper!

Tim is lucky to have you and we think you're lovely.

We are so excited about the engagement, that we celebrated last weekend,

and ate a fish cake!

Here is the evolution of the fish cake.

Husband is an artist and builder of many things...

in wood, ink and cake {to name a few}.

No tracing here.  Nope.  Just a vision.

It was realized early, that cutting and decorating the likes of a salmon fish

would be pushing our luck.  Whimsy it was.

Husband even added a little oomph to the middle section

to give the belly curvature.

Lotsa corn starch!  Possibly too much!

He insisted this eye be "bugged."  I thought we might be eyeless by the end of the night,

but she held up!

I love the beaded outlining he chose.

and of course the newly-engageds' names.

Besides a couple minor cracks and bumps, the fondant cooperated,

and Husband prevailed.

Husband receives an A+ in my book

and with all the party goers!

There were some of these, too, in the same flavors as the cake.

Carrot for him.

Vanilla for her.

{with cream Cheese frosting, of course}.

Hope your Friday is great!

P.S. I'm linking up to Joyce's Friday Pretties!  Go see the other pretty things here.