A Few Of My Favorite Things - Fresh From The Farm

Fresh Beef - Cheese and Eggs
This is one of the best meals I ever ate...

Beef - from a cow raised and slaughtered on my wife's family farm

Eggs - Laid that morning on the very same farm

Cheese - Made on the very same farm

Cream - You guessed it

Tortilla - Made from masa produced most likely not far away from said farm

I will say this, in spite of the fact that I am quite proud of the butcher cuts and dry aged steaks we carry at our butcher shop, there is nothing quite like fresh from the farm produce. Unpasteurized, gamey and flavorful, each bite is like teleporting to a simpler life.

I Miss It Bad

So for the next 4 months, I will be writing with a hungry heart. Dedicated to a diet challenge (influenced by a wake up call from my doctor) I will be abstaining from pretty much everything I love to eat. Now, I am not complaining, but I have experienced a phenomenon. I cook at the shop two nights a week. This is in addition to the other responsibilities I hold there. During those nights in the kitchen, I had developed a tolerance to the wonderful smoked BBQ that we pump out, it was not as appealing as it had been in the past.

But absence makes the heart grow fonder. Just as a blind person's other senses become heightened, I began to notice each cut of meat as it cam out of the smoker. The pork, the brisket, the shanks...the bacon! Oh the bacon! Double smoked, thick cut bacon that I never really paid attention to. It emerged from the smoker with a waft of sweet, glazed ham essence, calling me to grab a taste. I held firm, knowing that if I broke just a little, it would be all over. So now I count the days, the weeks, the months, until I can experience what I had taken for granted for so long.