A venison stew day

Well, another day of puttering and no fishing.
I'll have to change the name of the blog to pokerputter if I don't soon get out in the boat. I just can't get motivated. I was happy not to have to drive again today. Elizabeth mailed my letters and shopped for corn and tomatoes, and I had the quiet of the house.

I finally got all the rough cut boards that have not been doing well in the old dog pen out in the sun. We are supposed to have two nice days and that should dry them enough to put them in the basement. I am glad to get them moved, as they would not have been much good by spring.
Too wet there. A fine salamander was disconcerted to loose his home between the boards.

I boiled the last venison bones from the bottom of the freezer, and got a fine rich broth. As the bones boiled I put a ceramic bowl with a boneless package frozen venison on top and thawed it; then I browned that meat in olive oil, so as to get a stew going in the slow cooker with meat while the bones boiled off that meat.

There was more meat on the bones than I thought and I had enough for two stews.

So with the browned batch and a bit of the boiled meat, some fine small turnips and some carrots and onions I made a good stew in the crockpot.

The bones had been boiled with bay leaf and summer savory and some celery seed so the broth was already seasoned some. Finally I added some left over red peppers and onions that had been frozen last week and a healthy handful of herbes de provence.

I also think that the Iowa deer from Chuck is milder than local deer and that made for a different flavor. All in all a good stew and not overspiced like the chicken stew I made last time. I liked that spicy chicken stew, but it was too much for Elizabeth. She liked this better. I also did fewer turnip and I think that does not allow them to dominate. The stew should be spiced mildly enough that the flavor of the carrots comes through.

In the morning, as I browned some of the meat, Elizabeth and I had chewed on a bit of the venison, so she was very surprised to see how tender the slow cooking made what was a tough but tasty morning treat.

I had enough from the boiled bones to add meat to the stew and still freeze a fine starter container for the next meal with rich broth and plenty of tender meat. The bones are large leg bones and I saved them for Greg's dog Chica on Wednesday.

While the stew cooked, I rearranged and culled some of the spices, so that things are easier to find. We have duplicates of some simply because they were disorganized. Also we have duplicates because we bought some in Florida last winter and then brought those home.

Feels like some good jobs done.

I finished the Chicken Boy adolescent novel which I loved, and read a bit more in the Bill Bryson's Lost Continent book trying not to get to worked up when he trashes just a bit too much. I am determined to finish the book. He is just now in Arizona and the Grand Canyon. He did not have too much to say about Gallup as he passed through or much about Flagstaff. He loves the Canyon but arrives in a dense fog. I am having such a strange mixed experience with this book, but overall I think it fails as a travel book because it does not capture the essence of the places he visits, but seems more to capture his own frustrations in order to make sarcasm. In one spot he find a diner that serves some sort of "potato logs" and rather than try them and see what they are, he just has coffee thinking the entire idea too foolish to sample. Well, I would like to know what they are and why they make them there and if they are tasty. He is sort of a McDonald's eater; so no wonder he is seldom satisfied.

It was fine to read on the deck and watch the squirrels. The birds seem fewer and seem not to look for seed. The peanuts were hardly touched. A woodpecker was on the deer suet this morning, but none came back. Meanwhile cedar wax wings and some small warblers are around but hard to see in the trees. Elizabeth is out with her binoculars, but rarely successful. Then at twilight a whole flock of crows chased this small hawk across the open sky.

I thought I had the doctor's tomorrow, but it is next week. It is not quite right on the calendar. Then Wednesday is very busy with the dentist, a lunch with old Bruce S. and poker in the afternoon. Thursday is breakfast with old school chums.

I was hoping to get up to Vermont and see Isaac for a day, but I just don't have the spirit for the long drive, so I'll have to do it another time. We meet up with him for a Cafe Lena concert on October 4th.

Well, none of this is very exciting, but since I can't seem to remember things from one day to the next, recording them is very helpful for me and reading over just the mundane activity of a day in the past seems magical to me.