Play Meter

fROM THE EDITOR Bring on the crawfish and get out of the way! I f you ever visit New Orleans during the first part of the year, you'll know real quick that we LOVE crawfish. We love 'em boiled, stewed, etoufeed, and au gratined. There is no such thing as too many crawfish or too many ways to fix them. Last month my husband's sister turned the big Five-Oh. She's the first of six siblings to hit this milestone, so we all wanted to do something special. Since it was during crawfish season, we decided to boil 125 pounds of the little delights and invite the whole family over (all of my husband's brothers and sisters· live within five miles of his parents). We started out pretty organized as to who was going to pick up what: my father-in-law got the crawfish, brother Kenny picked up the drinks, and sister Frankie bought the corn, lemons, onions, and garlic (stop, my mouth is watering already!l. We set up the boiling pots, rinsed off the crawfish (they're alive when you buy them and pretty dirty), and then the problems began. First, my mother-in-law said she didn't like the onions cooked with the crawfish because onions tend to get slimy and stick to the crawfish. But she was OK with the lemons, potatoes, corn, and garlic. Then sister-in-law Susan said we shouldn't cut the lemons in half, but add them whole for the best flavor and leave the garlic whole. Brother Curtis said that the onions, garlic, and lemons should be added before the crawfish are put in, while brother Tommy was sure the stuff should be added after the mudbugs. Sister-in-law Ann made the recommendation that everything be put in a mesh bag and then added to the water. Sisterin-law Louise suggested cooking the onions, corn, potatoes, garlic, and lemons in one pot and the crawfish in the other. My husband Russell finally told everyone to shut up and get out of the PLAY METEll 10 JULY 1992 way. It was his house and that gave him the right to do it his way !he also plays cards by this golden rule!l.By this time it became obvious that everyone was about to club each other with the 40-pound bags of crawfish and slightly smaller bags of onions, lemons, and garlic. Finally, brother-in-law Jay left the growing group of disgruntled siblings and started cooking. He did it his way and no one dared bother him. After about a half hour, he called everyone together and presented them with the most delicious, perfectly seasoned, cooked-just-right crawfish. Before anyone could ask how he did it, he told us all not to bother asking, just to appreciate the final result. That sounded good to us since we wanted to dive into the mound of steaming mudbugs. Joanne, the 50-year-old recipient of the party, summed up all of our feelings when she said, "These crawfish are the best I've ever eaten and I don't really care how they were cooked." Paul Corey of the Ohio Coin Machine Association said that there's three things you don't want to see being made: cottage cheese, sausage, and laws. Perhaps he could add crawfish to that exclusive list. Many state associations are standing at the boiling pot of video lottery right now. They are being barraged from their members with suggestions about what to include in legislation. There are as many options as you have people suggesting them, including the biggest of all: do you want to help video lottery legislation pass or do you want to fight it all the way? Each state that has passed video lottery legislation has been unique so far. South Dakota is nothing like Montana, while Louisiana is not like either. Oregon is going without operator involvement. South Dakota is a huge state with few people. Louisiana is a small state with lots of people. Nothing that happens here in Louisiana will mirror what is happening in South Dakota, Montana, or Oregon. But for all the differences, there's one common thread: the threat video lottery can create if passed without operator involvement. Never has anything in this industry had such potential for good or evil. Whether an operator is for it or against it, if it passes it will affect him. If he chooses not to operate the games, someone else will approach his location and he can't stop them from using someone else's machines. Once those machines are in, the other types of equipment will suffer. A speaker at one of the many meetings held in Louisiana told operators that if they weren't prepared to change the way they were doing business now that video poker is legal, they might as well start sending out resumes. It's going to be tough, no doubt about that. Next year at this time it will have been a year that the machines have been out on location. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens. Will other states be legal by then? Perhaps a state association or two will have decided as a group to use their resources to fight it. We're all hoping for that perfect batch of succulent crawfish. However, most are still standing there trying to figure out whether to add the onions, garlic, corn, and lemons first or last. It's going to be a long time before they'r e ready to eat. If you're in a state in the initial stages of determining which direction to take, elect some leaders from your state association and let them make some decisions. Can too many cooks spoil the dinner? Just come to my house for crawfish sometime! D Valerie Cognevich Editor