Rescue
My long absence has been due in part to falling down the rabbit hole of dog rescue. In October, the county shelter's population exploded, inspiring the director to publish a kill list of 17 dogs with a lead time of about two weeks. The rescue community mobilized, saving all the dogs and in fact removing another couple of dozen puppies and adult dogs, which reduced the head count from 70-plus to mid-30s. That's still crowded, but more manageable. This week the head count is in the 20s. In the meantime the director resigned, so the county is headhunting a new one.
Also in the meantime we both came down with something like a cold that lingered more than usual. Mine turned into pneumonia. I am well at last, but between the shelter Dunkirk action and the illness, I lost quite a few weeks in there. We had just built 3 spacious outdoor kennels, six by twelve feet, which allowed me to take in 4 largish shelter dogs. Although a couple have found homes, we took in one more, which still makes for three rescue dogs on the premises, in addition to our own three. Hired-help dog-walkers were a lifesaver when we were both sick.
Now we're in a reasonable routine, including trusting the new dogs enough to let them run on our property, even though these large, young, incredibly springy dogs could easily jump the 4-foot perimeter fence. Luckily, they don't seem so inclined. In more good news, they're learning the drill on pooping in the woods instead of in their kennels. Confinement in shelter cages knocks the training out of a dog, but they do pick it back up in time. Next they all need to learn some basic manners, especially on a lead. A dog that doesn't try to pull you off your feet is easier to place in a new home.
Yesterday we enjoyed pot-luck Thanksgiving with neighbors at the house of one of them. Greg brought his usual brined, spice-rubbed turkey, which two young relatives of our neighbors pronounced the best they'd ever eaten. Brining prevents even the white meat from drying out. Today, also as usual, he is accommodating my unvarying demand for leftover Turkey Tetrazzini. We may also make turkey and dumplings, using the turkey schmaltz to form the dumplings.
It has been a great deal to be thankful for.
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17 comments:
Welcome back. It must be a comfort to have such an excellent cook as your husband.
I'm glad you're back and glad you're well.
And I think we should henceforth leave Thanksgiving in the hands of the men. My brother and his wife's brother did most of the cooking yesterday and both the turkey and the gravy were the best I've ever tasted.
I can't speak to how good it was, but I did make the turkey and all the fixings yesterday -- and today turned the thighs and drumsticks into Hungarian-style paprikash. People ate it and said nice things, so maybe it was all right.
Going to someone else's house for Thanksgiving dinner is a joy and a luxury on the day itself. The downside is that we don't have leftovers. Sigh. Now I want tetrazzini and paprikash.
We took home just enough turkey leftovers to make tetrazzini. But you can usually buy a turkey breast or (my preference) a turkey drumstick at the store.
That's a lot of work for something as ephemeral as a meal.
I'll happily eat the results of others' cooking efforts, though, and then help with the cleanup.
Eric Hines
And, welcome back. It's good you and your husband are healthy again.
And and, good on you re those dogs.
Eric Hines
“… for something as ephemeral as a meal.”
I would never have thought of a meal as ephemeral. Meals are surely substantial, for they are actually transformed into your own substance. It may not take long to eat it but it becomes part of your makeup and remains with you, elements of it for a long time. Meals are a serious business.
Meals are a serious business.
Meals, as meals, surely are. The same nutritional value, and long-term incorporation, can be had with far less work. The fancy meal is ephemeral, since the fancy pleasure disappears into memory and the past. Only the nutrition remains.
Eric Hines
Ah, but the skill and virtues like patience and tenacity that one develops in the process of learning to cook well — not necessarily fancily, but to do even simpler dishes as well as possible — those things are also lasting. Indeed, of all the arts I have learned in my life, the one that provides the most enduring good may be having learned to cook well. Each meal is short, but the need to eat meals is enduring, and thus the effort is rewarded daily, indeed multiple times daily.
Certainly, and that's a use for fancified cooking. But patience and tenacity--any virtue--can be learned from a broad variety of things, of which cooking is only one.
Eric Hines
A propos this discussion, here's my cooking thesis carried to an extreme, which I've just run across purely by chance--or the Chef gods are mocking me:
https://twitter.com/HumansNoContext/status/1727182665248374790
Eric Hines
“Certainly… But patience and tenacity--any virtue--can be learned from a broad variety of things, of which cooking is only one”
I agree. We were discussing whether meals are substantial or ephemeral: and any art which alters your character by developing its virtues is substantial.
I suppose that is an exceptional way to make hot dogs, and in at least two senses.
It's good to see you back, Tex! I'm glad you're feeling better and bravo for saving the canines!
I don't know anything about fancy meals, but a beautiful meal is a different thing altogether.
Goodness, I've been so busy with work and hosting the extended family Thanksgiving, I've been away and not seen this till now- Glad you're on the mend, Tex- there is definitely something going around that's more portent than the usual- I had a hockey teammate out for two weeks here.
" today turned the thighs and drumsticks into Hungarian-style paprikash.
Oh, that sounds excellent! Curiously, my beloved Hungarian born bride who makes excellent chicken Paprikas (the H sound is in the s in Hungarian) makes Enchiladas with the Turkey leftovers. I'm still eagerly anticipating those this year.
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