A day in the life

I'm sorry I haven't written.

As my hubs says, "It's deer season - everyone's got to make sacrifices."

That used to mean that he was going to be in a tree stand and staying at a buddy's house, and I'd have to find something else to do on the weekends.

Now, it means I'm elbow deep in guts and fur.

He brought two deer home Wednesday.  We hung them that night after Babygirl went to bed.

Last night we skinned and quartered them, and today and tonight we butchered the meat.

I'm sorry if this is too much gore for your tastes - you're welcome to read this entry if you've got a weak stomach...


(In addition to being open and unabashedly honest - I'm a bitch with a twisted sense of humor.)

I am thankful that we have the opportunity to eat venison 80% of the year - if we get our goal of 4 in the freezer before January.

In my twitter adventures, I've come across several ladies who are at odds with themselves if their beaus end up coming home with a deer.  They know the men are excited for a kill, but then what?  They have never eaten deer, let alone cooked it!

I've been a wife (and before that, the live-in girlfriend) of a hunter for nearly a decade now. Prior to that I had no venison experience other than a nibble or two of jerky from an uncle's deer.  Trial and error and trial and error until something worked.

We ate a lot of meat that more closely resembled a hockey puck than prime rib.

Now, I look forward to the abundance of meat in the freezer that we run ration so severely during the summer months.

Then it came to me - I need to write a cookbook for the wives of deer hunters!

I need another project like I need a kick in the jaw, but what the hell? Remember, I was going to simplify? Trimming off the fat to start anew is what it's about ... right?

As with any other project, opportunity, impulse - I'm all in.

It'll take me a good portion of the winter to get recipes fine-tuned and tested - and another few months of production.

I hope to have it ready prior to Deer Season 2011 to share with the universe.

But now, I have to go scrub my hands for the umpteenth time to get the raw meat smell off of them.

Nice sensory image, eh?

It's deer season - we ALL have to make sacrifices.