By March. The crawfish are back. Year six of writing, and the crawfish have come back six times, and each time the return feels like forgiveness — the earth forgiving the winter, the water forgiving the drought, the calendar forgiving the months of grey and dark and no boiling. The crawfish return and the world is right, and the rightness is temporary, and the temporary is everything.
Last crawfish boil before Luc leaves for college. I didn't announce it as that. I didn't hang a banner. I just boiled — sixty pounds, the neighborhood, the standard — and watched my son eat crawfish the way he's eaten crawfish for seventeen years: methodically, precisely, one tail at a time, like an engineer disassembling a machine. And I thought: this boy. This specific, particular, quiet, brilliant boy who disassembles crawfish the way he'll disassemble engineering problems — carefully, completely, with the patience that the roux teaches and the crawfish demands.
Six years done. Three hundred and twelve weeks. The pot is on the stove. The boy is eating crawfish. The door is open. Six years. The number is: half of Rémy's life. A third of Colette's. A quarter of Luc's. And a fraction of mine that gets smaller every year and feels larger every week. C'est bon. Year six is done. The crawfish are on the table. The family is eating. Come in, cher. We're still here.
Sixty pounds of crawfish feeds a neighborhood, but it’s the sides that feed the in-between moments — the plates people pick at while they wait for the next batch, the bowls that stay on the table after the pot is empty and nobody’s quite ready to go home yet. I’ve been putting this Cabbage Waldorf Salad out at every boil for years now, and it’s the one thing that’s always still there when Luc finally pushes back his chair, fingers orange, quiet and satisfied. Cabbage goes in the pot, cabbage goes in the bowl — it belongs here, and so does this salad, at a table where belonging is the whole point.
Cabbage Waldorf Salad
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 4 cups green cabbage, thinly shredded
- 2 cups red cabbage, thinly shredded
- 2 medium apples, cored and diced (Honeycrisp or Gala)
- 1 cup celery, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup walnut halves, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup red grapes, halved
- 1/3 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper until smooth and combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- Prep the salad base. In a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded green cabbage, red cabbage, celery, apples, grapes, and golden raisins. Toss gently to distribute evenly.
- Dress the salad. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss well to coat everything thoroughly. Start with about two-thirds of the dressing and add more to your preference — the salad should be creamy but not heavy.
- Add the walnuts. Fold in the chopped walnuts just before serving so they retain their crunch.
- Chill or serve immediately. For best results, refrigerate for 20–30 minutes before serving to let the flavors meld. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired. This salad holds well for up to 2 hours at a outdoor table.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 195 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 210mg