After many hours of bushstalking, Mac lands his first deer, a four-point stag. Mac shot through both legs, both lungs, and the heart with his .308. The venison steak from this guy is superb...tastes like Kobe beef, and if I didn't tell you it was wild game there is no way you would know!
Maybe this is how it is in New Zealand...or maybe it's just Palmy...but we called the butcher on Sunday night, and he offered to pick up our meat on Monday morning--from our house--and "yeah, it's no problem if you need to leave for work by 7:30, how about I drop by around 6:30?" The butcher pulls up and he's got two deer carcasses in the back of his truck from other stops that morning. It must have been a good weekend for deer!
So how about that--have you ever known a butcher to pick up your meat right from your door? We decided to try his "blue cheese sausage" as other deerstalkers swear by this specialty--we'll let you know how we like it after this awesome butcher dude DROPS OFF our meat at our house in about a week! I'm not feeling too lazy about us getting red carpet service because at least we deboned and trimmed everything....but I'm still feeling pretty lazy because we aren't spending days grinding meat and making different sausages and salamis. We don't have any of our meat processing equipment in NZ. I'm starting to see the appeal of keeping it that way!
Maybe this is how it is in New Zealand...or maybe it's just Palmy...but we called the butcher on Sunday night, and he offered to pick up our meat on Monday morning--from our house--and "yeah, it's no problem if you need to leave for work by 7:30, how about I drop by around 6:30?" The butcher pulls up and he's got two deer carcasses in the back of his truck from other stops that morning. It must have been a good weekend for deer!
So how about that--have you ever known a butcher to pick up your meat right from your door? We decided to try his "blue cheese sausage" as other deerstalkers swear by this specialty--we'll let you know how we like it after this awesome butcher dude DROPS OFF our meat at our house in about a week! I'm not feeling too lazy about us getting red carpet service because at least we deboned and trimmed everything....but I'm still feeling pretty lazy because we aren't spending days grinding meat and making different sausages and salamis. We don't have any of our meat processing equipment in NZ. I'm starting to see the appeal of keeping it that way!
Here's the surf part! Besides spearing some nice butterfish and getting a few fresh paua for us, Mac shot this huge octopus!
We did a bit of research on the best way to prepare and cook octopus. To make sure that it had the best prep this time (other times we've eaten octopus it's been super rubbery), we froze it for a day, then slow-cooked it in salted water, then Mac sauteed it and served it with Korean chili sauce. Oh my!! Oh oh my!!! Do you see how big those tentacles are? We ate about three before we could stop ourselves. Best octopus I've ever had, hands down.
Creepy fact: The big suckers on the arms will sometimes attach themselves to the inside of your cheek when you're gobbling it down.
We did a bit of research on the best way to prepare and cook octopus. To make sure that it had the best prep this time (other times we've eaten octopus it's been super rubbery), we froze it for a day, then slow-cooked it in salted water, then Mac sauteed it and served it with Korean chili sauce. Oh my!! Oh oh my!!! Do you see how big those tentacles are? We ate about three before we could stop ourselves. Best octopus I've ever had, hands down.
Creepy fact: The big suckers on the arms will sometimes attach themselves to the inside of your cheek when you're gobbling it down.
Next blog entry: This one I've been meaning to do for a while. I'll call it "10 Foods You Need to Try in New Zealand." New Zealand does have its own food culture, and yes, most of the dishes here originate from traditional English food, but many have a Kiwi twist.