Smiley: A tale of hijinks on the high seas – The Advocate

Dear Smiley: Here is another Timbalier Bay oilfield story. This one involves Dave Crosby, skipper of the boat Hanna Baby.

One Christmas lunch, we put on a big feast, and sent the boat to Leeville to collect wives of the engineers and our superintendent.

Dave picked up the wives, headed down Bayou Lafourche, through the Havoline Canal into Terrebonne Bay.

(Note that most crew boats have dual controls for operating the vessel.)

As they cruised along, Dave tells the superintendent's wife Renia to take the wheel, because he needs to check on the engines in the back.

He pointed the bow of the Hanna Baby at the tall communication tower in the distance, and assured her it was open water, nothing to dodge, just keep the boat pointed at the tower.

Then Dave, unbeknown to the crew, grabbed the rear controls, and proceeded to turn the boat back and forth, side to side, eliciting screams from Renia and the other wives.

After giving his guests a thorough roller coaster ride, Dave staggered back to the bridge. "Renia, what in the world were you doing?" he quizzed her, trying to keep a straight face but then busting out laughing.

At the dock, we heard the wives' excited replay of the prank. And luckily for Dave, the superintendent chuckled over his shenanigans.

PETER DASSEY

Kenner

Dear Smiley: More on Louisiana nicknames:

Lots of Louisiana men got the nicknames "Boog" or "Booger;" probably a derivation of the French "bougre," meaning "buddy" or "man," as in "Comment ca va, bougre?" (How's it going, buddy?)

EARL HIGGINS

River Ridge

Dear Smiley: (More about your recent discussion of double-meaning words.)

"Admissible" and "inadmissible" have opposite meanings, but "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing.

CHARLIE ANDERSON

Shreveport

Dear Smiley: I was thinking about your mention of strange dishes in the Tuesday column.

Each week we'll highlights the best eats and events in metro Baton Rouge. Sign up today.

During the Depression in the 1930s, one could buy a beef round steak to make grillades for 35 cents, but often we didn't have 35 cents.

We did have eggs, because my grandmother kept chickens. My mother made a grillades gravy, cut hard boiled eggs in half, heated them in the gravy, then served it over rice.

We called the dish "stewed eggs," and enjoyed it very much.

NATHALIE G. NELSON

Metairie

Dear Smiley: On the subject of steaks and steak restaurants: 48 years ago, when my wife Katherine and I were married, our first residence was a one-bedroom apartment in Gretna.

There was a nearby restaurant called "Buck Forty-Nine," which was also the price of their specialty steak dinner.

It was not prime rib, but for that price you received a decent steak and sides.

To put it into perspective, a steak dinner for two was cheaper than the price of a half-pound of ground meat at today's prices.

DAVID PALMISANO

Marrero

Dear Smiley: This poor couple spent a four-day honeymoon in New Orleans, at the apartment of my uncles friend on the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann.

At the end of our honeymoon, he came by with two frozen rib-eyes as a gift.

A week later, as we were having toast for breakfast in our tiny garage apartment, my husband described how he would grill the steaks for dinner.

We cant afford grilled steaks! I answered.

That evening we enjoyed a delicious rib-eye in brown gravy with rice and white beans. We had the leftovers for dinner two nights later.

The following week we feasted on rib-eye red gravy with spaghetti and garlic bread; leftovers enjoyed again.

Now, 54 years later, rib-eye spaghetti is still a frequent family dinner. And I often entertain with rib-eye brown gravy with grits: a big hit with out-of-town company.

My eight grandchildren, who prefer their steak medium-rare, closer to rare, are not as impressed.

BILLIE LANDRY

Erath

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Smiley: A tale of hijinks on the high seas - The Advocate