Blessed With Good Food

The annual Biloxi Blessing of the Fleet is scheduled for this weekend. The ritualistic event is held near the beginning of shrimp season to pray for a bountiful harvest for the area's shrimpers. I haven't been to the blessing in several years and won't this year as business calls me away to another part of the country. However, growing up, it was a big deal in my family. And one we always looked forward to.

The party would kick off a night or so before the official opening of the season with the crowning of the shrimp queen and king , followed by a big block party (fais do do).

On the day of the blessing itself, the boats, gussied up with flags and pennants paraded around the Mississippi Sound, then lined up to receive a sprinkling of holy water from the pastor at St. Michael’s (in later years joined by the bishop of the Biloxi Diocese).

Most families, ours included, would load up the boat early and head out toward the barrier islands for some swimming and picnicking.

When all of the cousins were small, we would all squeeze onto the Peggy Rae, the boat Grandpa and Uncle Raymond shrimped on. In later years, we upgraded to Uncle Raymond’s double rigger the Lucky Lady which could accommodate our by now much larger group including spouses, boy and girl friends and extended family members. Uncle Steve and my cousin Stevie sometimes brought along their motorboats for water skiing and also to ferry groups up to the beach.

After splashing around, building sand castles and eating ourselves into oblivion, we’d head back to shore to get in line for the blessing. By this time we were all pretty much passed out on air mattresses, quilts and pillows strewn along the decks. What is it about sun and salt water? Our moms would have to nudge us awake so we could get up on our knees and make the sign of the cross when we received our sprinkling.

There was always lots of good picnic style food on the boat - fried chicken, potato and pasta salad, my mom's infamous Coca Cola cake - but the best stuff came later after the nets were dropped. Shrimp dip is one of my favorite recipes for summer entertaining.

Shrimp Dip

1 lb. of shrimp, boiled and peeled (if you want it extra spicy, add a little crab boil to the boiling water)

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

1 small onion grated

4 green onions chopped

1/4 cup celery chopped fine

1 clove of garlic minced

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (you may want to reduce this or eliminate if you don't like your dip too spicy or if you used a lot of crab boil).

Mayonnaise (about 3 Tbsp)

A dash of Worcestershire sauce (to taste).

Grated boiled egg (optional)

Salt and pepper

Soften cream cheese. Boil shrimp in salt (to taste) and crab boil (if desired). Drain. Chop shrimp fine with a knife or in food processor (I actually prefer to leave a few chunks in mine; I like to know what I'm eating).

Mix all the ingredients into the softened cream cheese. Season to taste. Chill. Serve with crackers.

Photo caption: My mom took this photo of her sister, Aunt Selema, and her husband, Uncle Russ, during a family picnic.