That's my Dad and me. Until Thursday he lived in Louisiana. My brother Chris and I went down to fetch him last week. My dad was a brilliant engineer once upon a time. When I was born he worked for Lockheed on the space program. I guess that makes him a rocket scientist!Unfortunately, he isn't so great with people. He and my mom divorced when I was 5. They remarried and divorced again. He married a woman named Darlene with a son named Charles. It didn't last long.
He next married a nice woman named Barb with 4 sons and a daughter. I was thrilled to have a big sister and 2 big brothers! It was fun to be part of a big family. Chris and I helped our youngest step brothers with their paper routes. The bonding I had hoped for with the 2 oldest never happened, but I had a little crush on one big brother. We all went camping and sailing, it was odd to share our dad, but having more siblings was worth it. In the space of time between weekend visits, Dad and Barb broke up. Chris and I never saw Barb or her family again. Dad moved down south after that.
That is Chris with Dad. We never met wife #5 (if you count our mother as #1 and #2). Our sweet Grandma said Dad should give up on marriage and just get a dog. Wife #6 was named Jerry. They were married nearly twenty years and were separated and planning to divorce when Dad had his first stroke. Jerry took him back and took over his care until her death last month. Dad said he wanted to come home to Minnesota, so Chris found him a room in a beautiful nursing home equidistant from our homes. Thursday was a long travel day that nobody enjoyed, but dad is safe and sound at his new place.
Jerry had 3 children. This is her daughter, Jamie. This is a TERRIBLE photo of her. Jamie is actually very slim and pretty and does not have even a hint of a double chin in real life! Jamie picked us up at the airport, drove us to Dad and Jerry's house and gave us the keys to the house and the car. She packed up dad's clothes and made multiple trips to check on him before and after he went to the care facility there. She told us to take whatever we wanted our Dad to have from the house. She texted several times a day to see if we needed anything. Chris lived with Dad, Jerry and Jamie for 5 years in the 80's and referred to Jamie as our stepsister. Which she is. I just never thought of her that way. Maybe I thought she'd disappear, too. This makes me sad, because I could have had a relationship with her all these years. When we thanked her for her kindness, she said, "Well, ya'll are family!" Family. That's what it's all about, isn't it? I did have a good time with my brother. He's fun. We went out to eat and tried all the local stuff we could. Alligator is delicious and nutritious. Oysters we can live without. We had a tasty shrimp Etouffee on Tuesday night. I found a recipe for that in a cajun cookbook. You're gonna like dis, chere!
Shrimp Etouffee
2 lbs shrimp (little ones are fine)
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1/3 cup crushed garlic
2/3 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup tomato paste
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tsp salt (taste before adding, you may not need it)
1 tsp tabasco sauce (Tabasco is made in Louisiana)
1 cup oil
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup butter
3 cups water
1 can chicken broth
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika
Cooked rice for serving
In a large skillet, make a roux by stirring oil and flour over medium heat. Stir constantly. When roux reaches peanut butter color, add onions, celery, garlic, and green pepper. Saute 5 minutes. Mix 1/4 cup butter and tomato paste and saute in another pan until smooth and thick, about 5 minutes. Add it to the roux along with the rest of the ingredients except the shrimp. Cook together 5 minutes. Add shrimp and cook 5 minutes. Serve over rice. Crawfish can be substituted for shrimp.
