Sunday, August 26, 2007

Eating Good In The Woods
















As you can see, I spent a long weekend with some of my buddies. We've been doing this for eight or nine years now, a small group of us at a cabin, fishing, watching movies, and discussing issues of national and international importance. Such as: "Which tastes better, bourbon or scotch?" and "Goddamnit, where's the fucking remote?" and "Holy Christ, what's that smell?"

While much about these trips remains shrouded in mystery, at least as far as our spouses are concerned, I can pull back the curtain just a little to give Friends of Befouled a quick glimpse of life at the cabin. There's no better way to do that than to describe a typical year's dinner menus. There are other meals of course, sodden breakfasts of coffee and meat, festive lunches of beer and meat, but those are an afterthought really. After all, as Plato liked to say, "Dinner makes the man."

Thursday Night

We typically don't get to the cabin until fairly late in the day so we try to stick with something simple. In other words, meat. As in years past, this evening's meal consisted of a side of beef and a gallon of lamb, all carefully passed briefly over a fire and washed down with several flagons of liquor. There may have been some asparagus and a potato somewhere in the kitchen during this time period. I don't really recall.

Friday Night

Friday night was devoted to a celebration of our skills as hunter-gatherers. A substantial amount of fish, culled from the lake on the basis of an algorithm incorporating deliciousness and catchability, was placed in a pile, coated with a batter made of malt-based beverages and milled grains, then fried until no longer repulsive. It was served with a cherry tomato and liquor.

Saturday Night

To celebrate our communion with nature, we started with an appetizer of seared lamprey over a salad of milfoil and buckthorn. Our main course was a freshly snared and roasted osprey, stuffed with zebra mussels and native morels and glazed with a reduction of bear juice. Dessert was candied squirrel face. Flights of whiskey accompanied each course.

7 comments:

Righteous Bubba said...

All this and the man can hit a three-pointer too. My hats are all off to you.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you need a meat intervention, Snag...

Chuckles said...

Lampreys are freaky. They gross me the hell out and I have never seen one live. I wonder if they taste good.

Fish like the zebra mussels though. I smashed a bunch of them with a rock and the minnows cleaned the mess.

Kathleen said...

Nice. Even Paula Dean manages to squeeze a vegetable in there somewhere. I admire your restraint.

fish said...

Mmmmmm, squirrel face...

Anonymous said...

Did anyone ever tell you you look just like Barack Obama?

Snag said...

Blue Girl, I wish I looked like Senator Obama (a sentiment my Lovely Bride probably shares). That, however, was merely one of my fishing partners - I was on the other side of the camera lens.