musing

I married a man who will go out into the wilderness and hunt for meat to put on our table, doing every step of that process, forest to plate, field-dressing to sauteeing, all on his own. How manly is that!? But he will then eat that delicious Venison with me while watching marathons of Gilmore Girls on Netflix. (We're almost done with the last season.) I snagged the White Whale of husbands, ladies, so put away your harpoons, he's taken.

I've talked about this before on my previous blog, but it deserves repeating- there is so much to love about eating game. The money we save on meat is significant, not to mention how healthy game is compared to factory-farmed meats. And once you get a few solid recipes under your belt, it starts to seem more like butcher-shop fare. Venison can be used in almost any way you use beef; and pheasant, while a little more temperamental to cook (it can easily dry out) can often replace chicken. So far our favorite recipes are Venison Philly Cheesesteaks (David's own recipe!), Venison Barbacoa (think Mexican BBQ, ala Chipotle,) and Pheasant Pot Pie. I think we're going to try pheasants in my favorite Mexican tinga recipe in place of chicken. And I have been meaning to do a stir-fried venison and broccoli.

Game will not be on our Christmas menu unless Dave bags a duck. Ever since I saw Anthony Bourdaine sear a wild duck breast I've been dying to take a stab at it myself. Maybe make a cherry or pomegranate sauce to go with. Festive! Duck would be a big score since Dave hasn't ever shot one yet, so we will probably do roast beef unless he gets lucky. We scored a ton of grass-fed beef from some wonderful people earlier this year and we still have a few nice roasts among the booty.

This year, with Christmas falling in the middle of the week, we're delaying travel until the weekend after New Years. We will get to see our extended families then, and we will get to do our own little Christmas at home with just us on Christmas Day. I love that we get to start our own Christmas traditions; for us, that means a focus on food, being together, and Jesus, with a little gift-giving as a bonus, but not the main concern. And it's Roger's first Christmas! He will even get to eat some of the meal!

And with Christmas comes my birthday (the 24th,) which I will continue to love no matter how old I get. 28 isn't old. Although it does feel odd to be so close to 30. I told David what I want for my birthday: I want to go get my nails shellacked and go thrifting and come home to a clean apartment, where we will eat meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, and peanut butter chocolate cake--made by me because I have control issues--and watch a movie, and then drive around looking at Christmas lights. Hopefully Roger will cooperate with the plan. He's in a bit of a needy phase-- he wants mom and no one else will do. He may go with me on my birthday thrift shopping just so daddy can get the cleaning done.

And now the day is about to start: when I get some coffee into me. Happy Tuesday.