Shrimpfest in **Adrift-iii

Knowing that fortune favors the prepared, I try to have in my mind a rough plan of attack on the food stands at Shrimpfest. I was figuring on a Cajun pistol [a tasty bit of deep-fried bread stuffed with crab meat and cheese], corn on the cob, gumbo, and a brisket taco. Then someone I met in the morning told me that there wasn't a corn stand this year, so I had to scratch that one my mind but figured the rest of the fantasy would stand. Still, the corn was important in my plan, as we all know how important vegetables are to good nutrition. When I got to the fest grounds on the seawall, I saw that the Cajun wagon wasn't in this year either. So, I did a container of the fine seafood gumbo, followed that with a deep fried jalapeño wrapped in bacon and stuffed with crabmeat. I figured jalapeños count as a veggie. I know they grow on bushes ... i have one in the yard. The brisket taco was, at least, reliably there. The stand backed up to the bay, making a nice view behind. The guy cooks ace brisket, tender and juicy. Kids romped in the bay while we onshore stuffed ourselves. A table by the wagon selling funnel cakes had a sign saying funnel-cake eaters only. That way when you drop dead in the middle of eating the funnel cake, you don't fall in a graceless heap on the ground. I was kidding with a guy who had a funnel cake. He said he was gonna take it home and eat it with a glass of milk. It was a good but not great Shrimpfest. No carnival this year, which deprived us of some of the feeling of decadence so important to this sort of observance. Maybe they are a little nervous after the state cracked down after the girl was killed in Victoria.