I Can't HEEEAARRRR Youuuuu

 

Today, I am completely ignoring the elephant--and the donkey--in our national room and purposely not looking at any media content relating to elections.

Instead, I will create my own media content (this post--that's my own media content) focusing on completely different topics.

Like bull meat!

I actually hadn't yet cooked any of the meat from the bull we butchered on Friday, but I took some of the steaks out of the freezer last night to thaw and fried a small test piece this morning.

So how did it taste? Like beef. Hooray! 

I know it seems obvious that a bull would taste like beef, but I've been eating home-butchered animals long enough to know that there is huge variation in the taste of meat even from the same kind of animal, depending on its age, sex, sexual maturity, manner of death, how long the carcass ages, and on and on and on. 

I was afraid that this animal, which was a mature male that has been breeding for the past three years and was butchered quickly and very roughly, would be strong-tasting.

It wasn't. So that's a relief. Although it will be sort of tough, I think. No problem, though. I've spent my entire adult life learning how to cook tough cuts of meat (because those are the cheapest ones, of course), so I feel capable of handling this meat.

I feel now would be a good time for a completely unrelated photo:

I can't remember the last photo of me that I posted here, but my sister took this when she was here for Poppy's birthday, so here I am. With my mom, not looking at the camera. I think we were looking at one of the children, who was obviously being amusing.

Also related to the bull and butchering, I finally cleaned out the gross, bloody coolers today. The ones that we transported the meat home in.

Yes, I should have done it immediately, but man, I was exhausted this past weekend after all the activity related to butchering and all the other things I usually do (mostly laundry and a lot of food prep), and then I worked yesterday, so I didn't get to the real scrubbing until today.

I did at least rinse them out, so there wasn't actually flesh stuck to them or anything, but I still had a lot of scrubbing--with water, with vinegar, and with boiling water--to do until they weren't totally nasty. 

This is the hidden labor of butchering. The cutting itself is arduous, of course, but so is all the prepping and cleaning that goes into having clean, accessible meat in a freezer.

Anyway! It's all done now and the coolers are getting further sanitized out in our strong New Mexican sun.

Let's pause here for another random photo:

Hey look! There I am again! This time showing Poppy her birthday cake.

In addition to scrubbing the coolers, I have also done three loads of laundry (and hung them on the line, of course), made spiced almonds, roasted two pans of tomatoes to keep ahead of the many green tomatoes that are slowly turning red, rinsed out the outdoor trashcans, watered the animals, and cared for Poppy.

I am not lacking in distractions, anyway. Which is lucky on a day like today.

So, tell me: What are you up to today?