Yet Again

Food Nazi's running amok, again.

A farmer from Loganville, Wis., sometime in the next few months will go to trial in Sauk County on four misdemeanors and Vernon Hershberger could face up to three years in jail for providing milk and other products to members of a dairy buying club.

You read that right, a farmer is looking at 3 years, because he sold, marijuana laced with PCP, cocaine, LSD, rat poisen milk.  Yes milk.  Not any kind of milk, but the especially evil raw milk.  He sold it not to, unsuspecting rubes who wanted government certified pasteurized milk, but to a food club who went out of their way to buy raw milk.

Is there any doubt that the federal government has too much money and too much free time on their collectively useless hands?  Monsanto, among others, gives millions of dollars to politicians election campaigns and they radical alter the American food supply with genetically modified products, without so much as a peep from the FDA.  Let a handful of folks buy some raw milk and the FEDs will go after the farmer faster than they will prosecute an illegal Mexican with a 75lb backpack full of illegal drugs crossing our border.  Oh wait, in that case the FEDs prosecuted the border patrol agent that arrested the illegal drug runner.  My bad, obviously their priorities were not out of whack in that instance either.

For the Childern

Mrs. Ipsa and I try to teach the kids manners, like saying please and thank you, picking up your plate after dinner, saying excuse me, etc.  Res Jr. discovered today that body noises are funny. At lunch he burped and instead of the half frightened, and contrite "excuse me" that his mother has been earnestly teaching him to parrot after one of these events, he laughed. Yes he laughed, our male child is turning into a boy. The horror. Fortunately his mother was at work and missed the whole sorted affair. Me, being male, and not under Mrs. Ipsa's immediate, and stern supervision; promptly corrected his behavior, remembered a skill mastered in my own childhood. I swallowed a gulp of air and let one rip. Both kids started laughing. I did it again, and again. The boy was belly laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. I'm not sure but I think Little Miss may have wet herself.

My wife will no doubt view this as the end of western civilization. I on the other hand see it as further evidence of the superiority of homeschooling. When I was a kid it wasn't until 7th grade that the fake burp at lunch was all the rage. My kids aren't even to kindergarten and already they are farther ahead than I was in my public schooling. I'm so proud. (Wipes tear from eye)  Now we have to work on saying the ABC's in one burp.

Cook Off (part deux)

The other day I  was having a typical conversation with Mrs Ipsa on the phone.  Its a talk we have frequently.  The theme of that talk was, "What are we fixing for supper that the kids will eat". Shortly after that I stumbled across a mouth watering post over at Mauser's and Muffins.  Since September I've been working the night shift at work, six days a week.  So Daddy gets leftovers for dinner.  On Saturday though, I have my one night a week to enjoy food that wasn't warmed in a microwave.  Thanks to Brigid, kids be darned, tonight I cooked.

The challenge was how to turn this:

Into something delicious.

The meat is antelope tenderloin that I shot last October.  Now I know that pronghorn isn't every bodies favorite.  In my opinion that because they don't know squat about harvesting and caring for meat.  The sins of hunters and meat handling is a post of its own.  My antelope is never gamey or sage brushy, it does have a slightly stronger flavor than a grain fed whitetail but not much.

The post below this has Brigids recipe.  I'm sure its a great recipe, but as I mentioned above Saturday is my day off, and instead of getting up checking the ingredients on hand and going to town to buy what I needed; I assumed everything was in the house.  Not so.  Let the substitutions begin. 

First thing I discovered was no mushrooms, well at least no porcini's.  So I substituted with something I had on hand (lower right in the top picture), extra credit if you guess what they are.   Then I substituted Tamari,  OK I knew I was going to use Tamari as soon as I saw her recipe, I like it better.  The real kicker, and the one I was most disappointed with was that I used the last of my panko and hadn't bought more.  I love panko and you should NEVER substitute regular bread crumbs for panko, but I did. Even though my crust came out fine, it would have been much crisper and looked more appealing with panko.  Other than some quantity adjustments, like not using 2 qts of chicken stock, I used one qt of homemade stock, and I added a tad of cayenne pepper to the rub, the recipe was basically the same.

The meat came out looking like this:

My final plate looked like this:

Not my neatest or most artistic but I was already running 1 1/2 hrs past the kids normal dinner time and a small riot would have broken out had I wasted more time taking pictures of food.  A final note on the sauce,  I think the 2qts stock had to be a misprint.  I reduced 1 qt stock and 1/2 pint cream to 2/3 cups of sauce and it was perfect.  I think the 2qts stock would have produced a very thin sauce.  Also if you follow my lead and use tamari, please remember it is more salty than other soy based sauces, reduce your salt according to taste.

Brigid, thanks for a great dinner.
If you get around to it, how about a post on how to take good pictures of food.  Yours always look great, and mine are disapointing.

Cook Off (part 1)

I've been reading Mausers and Muffins ever since Roci pointed out that there is a pro-gun red head that likes to hunt and cook.  Since I had a thing for red heads in highschool and I still love hunting, shooting and cooking, it seemed like a good fit.  Brigid is generaly a pretty good read and her photos are something I only aspire to.

The other day she posted "impressing dinner guests with venision".  I had to respond and I asked her what she would do with some pronghorn tenderloins that I had in my freezer.  Her suggestion:

1 1/2 lbs. boneless Antelope loin

Dry rub

3 c. panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 c. toasted pecans, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon onion salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. cracked black pepper

Porcini Cream Sauce

2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
2 qt. chicken stock
1/4 c. teriyaki sauce
3/4 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. dry mustard

Pulse dry rub ingredients in a foot processor.

To make sauce, simmer dried mushrooms in stock in a large saucepan for 30 minutes.Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Cut tenderloin into 6 oz. portions and roll them in dry rub mixture. Bake at 400° for about 7 - 10 minutes, or until medium doneness. (you want no more than 130 F internal tempeature) Pour a little of the cream sauce on a plate, top with sliced antelope and a few crumbles of blue cheese if you wish.

I've picked up the gauntlet and taken the tenderloins out of the freezer.

More to come.

Friday

I just finished taking a series of on line aptitude and intelligence tests.  They were part of the hiring process for a job I applied to.  If you're looking for something to pray for today, I'd appreciate your prayers on my behalf.

It's been 3 1/2 years since I had anything that could pass for meaningful work.  I'm not complaining, a lot of guys are out of any kind of work.  We are in a depression that is on par, if not worse than the 30's.  I've been blessed by being able to get jobs that paid the bills and kept us afloat.  God has been good.   This new job has the potential for being very rewarding.  If it works out it might even mean that Mrs. Ipsa could be a stay at home mom.  This would be wonderful for us and is what we've wanted for 15 years.  It also means I might be able to make a weekend trip for some rafting again this year.

More Food Nazi's

Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”

State agent inspects sack lunches, forces preschoolers to purchase cafeteria food instead.

RAEFORD — A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because the school told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.

The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the person who was inspecting all lunch boxes in the More at Four classroom that day.

The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs - including in-home day care centers - to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.

When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones.

The girl's mother - who said she wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter from retaliation - said she received a note from the school stating that students who did not bring a "healthy lunch" would be offered the missing portions, which could result in a fee from the cafeteria, in her case $1.25.

First mistake: Children in public school.
Second Mistake: See First mistake.

First solution: Burn down every public school in the nation send every person who has ever had anything to do with the public education system to Gitmo like the terrorists they are. Sure I know a couple of nice public school employees who would never do anything like this too. No doubt there were nice young men in the Waffen SS, who never gassed any Jews. That fact didn't make them any less of a NAZI.

What Went Wrong?

I think that was a very thoughtful gift.  Somebody needs to get some game.

Valentines Day

A ninety-year-old man is sitting on a park bench, sobbing, when a young man walks by and asks him what's wrong.

Through his tears the old man answers, "I'm just so in love with my twenty-five-year-old wife."

"What's wrong with that?" asks the young man.

Between the sobs and sniffles, he answers, "You can't understand. Every morning before she goes to work, I get smoking hot wake up sex, then she cooks me breakfast and kisses me and tells me she loves me. At lunchtime she comes home and embraces me warmly, more steamy sex and then she makes me a sandwich. In the afternoon when she gets a break, she rushes home with some cold beer and we have more sex. At night after she makes me a gourmet supper, we get in the hot tub, more drinks more wild sex, and then she cuddles up with me all night."  At this point the old man breaks down weeping, no longer able to speak.

The young man puts his arm around him. "Oh, I think I see. I bet you just found out she's with you for your money?"

"No," the old man answers through his sobbing and tears, "I forgot where I live."

Valentines Day, its different for men.

Feds shut down Amish farm

File this under: "are you freaking kidding me".

Feds shut down Amish farm for selling fresh milk

The decision has enraged Mr. Allgyer’s supporters, some of whom have been buying from him for six years and who say the government is interfering with their parental rights to feed their children. But the Food and Drug Administration, which launched a full investigation complete with a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and a straw-purchase sting operation against Mr. Allgyer’s Rainbow Acres Farm, near Lancaster, said unpasteurized milk is unsafe and said it was exercising its due authority to stop its sale from one state to another.

First, I've drank raw milk.  It tastes different than pasteurized.  I'm not a big milk drinker anyway, and I don't particularly like the stuff.  Second, who gives a flying milk pail what kind of milk other people choose to drink?  A not too careful review of the story reveals two facts: #1 everyone involved in the illegal milk ring wanted to drink, and were going out of their way to get, unpasteurized milk.  They do this presumably for health benefits derived from the product and the bacteria in it. Presumably they have made this decision after considering the differences and risks, if any, of drinking unpasteurized milk.  #2 The FDA is out of control and has way too much time and money to spend if the best use of their resources is pestering people about buying and drinking milk from some Amish farmer.

Pasteurization of milk came about as a way to both preserve the product longer and as a way to prevent illness associated with drinking spoiled milk.  In a mass industrialized food market, it makes perfect sense.  I have nothing against pasteurized milk products.  However, if a handful of people want to specifically choose to drink raw milk, and they take responsibility for the quality controls, handling, transportation, storage etc, I can't see why anyone would make a federal case out of it.

I understand, don't agree with, but understand why alcoholic beverages were made illegal.  I understand why recreational drugs are illegal.  I get why we have speed limits.  In a country where you can drink your own piss, and other peoples as well, apparently there are porn sites dedicated to this sort of thing, having the federal government prosecuting Amish farmers for selling milk to people that come for miles around to buy it, seems like a giant waste of time.  Truly we live in a giant totalitarian mommy state.  The FDA probably choose to go after Mr. Allgyr because of the historic tie between the Amish and violent revolution against the state.

It Lives

I was on a blog yesterday and was getting ready to leave them a snappy message about not posting in along time and it hit me,  I've not posted in a month.  My first excuse is that I bought a new computer and lost all my bookmarks.  The second excuse is that I've been working nights and playing Mr. Mom during the day, so daddy doesn't get to play on the computer as much as I once did.

I guess I don't have any real great excuses.  I've composed several posts in my head but never got around to typing them up.  Hopefully I'll get back into it and get r done.