What did you do today

[TimC]

Hmm, I did not know there was meat camels. How is it, does it taste like beef?
Bruce

Or, chicken?

[MickinOz]

Accidental double post

[MickinOz]

Had dinner:
Medallions of dry aged yearling camel slow fried in butter, air fried herbed potatoes and carrots, steamed broccoli and cauliflower.
Left over chocolate mud cake for dessert.

Ewww! Broccoli?! The only Broccoli I like have something to do with producing James Bond flicks!

Tom

Gotta have some token greenery on the plate. I actually like it.

Hmm, I did not know there was meat camels. How is it, does it taste like beef?
Bruce

First time ever trying it.
Like really, really good beef.
Being the first time we've had it, we went for medium. That's our go to starting position for "alternative" meats.
It was a nice flavour I could not distinguish from beef, and incredibly tender.

A while ago, I was socialising with a retired meat inspector, and he showed me some amazing camel T-bones he'd bought from an outback abattoir.
The abattoir is processing wild harvested camels for export.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Australia has the largest population of wild camels in the world. Current estimate one million plus.
They were imported for desert work in the days before trucks and cars, and escaped and released animals thrived in our interior.

So now the bloody things are running amok in the Bush, wreaking havoc, competing for feed with the native animals and the cattle and sheep, and destroying watering points, etc. They are an environmental disaster.
So not long after the T-bone revelation, I was talking to a bloke who works as a stockman on a South Australian station.
He's "DIDO". Drive in, work a few weeks, drive out and spend a few weeks at home here in my home town.
I mentioned camels. Bloody camels, he said, we spend days trying to shoot 'em off the place.
He mentioned he likes the backstrap, easy to remove and tasty and tender.
It was a cool conversation that ended with a vague agreement that one day I'd get my act together and head north for a hunting trip.
But he beat me to it. Sunday I got word that he has some meat for me. A backstrap off a young camel.
It was more fat than meat, but the meat isn't marbled. Cut into one inch slices and trimmed of fat, you get nice lean portions.
I believe it has been dry aged for about 2 weeks.

Funny anecdote. My son collected it for me, I'm still a bit unsteady on my feet.
Turns out the guy's wife is an Aboriginal woman from the country the camel was shot on.
As my boy is collecting some sausages and the backstrap, she's going, "You really going to eat that?"

Back strap.JPG (93.34 KiB) Viewed 1007 times

trimmed.jpg (84.61 KiB) Viewed 1007 times

[Tom&Shelly]

We have wild horses here in New Mexico, and some claim they're bad for the environment. But, for some reason, Americans won't eat horse. I would, but I'd leave the brocolli on the plate!

Tom

[MickinOz]

We have wild horses here in New Mexico, and some claim they're bad for the environment. But, for some reason, Americans won't eat horse. I would, but I'd leave the brocolli on the plate!

Tom

My Dad tried horse. He didn't like it, said the meat was a bit soft and jelly like.
The Aussie equivalent of the mustang is the brumby. Saw a few on my last trip.
A work colleague worked in an abattoir doing horses for export. (Same one that is now doing camels).
He didn't like the meat either.

There is something about it. As much as I could probably get horse meat as well as camel, I've got some sort of psychological barrier, too.
If I knew it was horse, I doubt I could eat it.
I don't recall meeting an Ocker who would eat it, which is a pity because there is something like 400,000 of them ruining the land (and literally millions of donkeys).
It's all a shame - literally millions of big animals that would solve the world's protein needs for years, if only we could harvest them without wrecking the joint.

I did an internet search for the numbers of feral animals in Australia. It's absolutely mind boggling. Unfortunately, most are inaccessible:

Goats 2.3 million
Pigs lowest estimate 3.5 million
Donkeys 5 million
Horses 400,000
Camels 1 million
Deer 2 million
Buffalo 150,000
European Carp 200 million

How is there starvation anywhere in the world?

[Tom&Shelly]

So here's a weird one, at least to me: In the town I grew up (Endicott New York) there is a local marinade we call "spiedies." It's basically vinegar and oil, with some blend of Italian spices that varies depending on the makers. It's usually used these days with chicken, beef, pork, or venison. (Lots of deer and hunters back there.) But, I've been told, it was originally created for lamb, to hide a hint of gaminess. Sometimes you can find lamb spiedies at local fairs and such.

So when I was stationed in England, where lamb is an inexpensive meat sold in grocery stores, I had my folks send over a few bottles of marinade, and I brought the dish to a party. My American colleges loved it, until, in some cases, they found out what the meat was. In one case the person who had come over to ask me the recipe stopped eating in mid-bite when she found out it was lamb. Never occurred to me that some Americans feel that way! Oh well, more for me! Except the British guests loved it and ate it all up without so much as a shrug when they found out it was lamb. I'd never heard of this particular food prejudice among my fellow Yanks!

Tom

[MickinOz]

My American colleges loved it, until, in some cases, they found out what the meat was. In one case the person who had come over to ask me the recipe stopped eating in mid-bite when she found out it was lamb. Never occurred to me that some Americans feel that way! Oh well, more for me! Except the British guests loved it and ate it all up without so much as a shrug when they found out it was lamb. I'd never heard of this particular food prejudice among my fellow Yanks!

Tom

I've heard of it. To be honest, I actually thought it was the norm.
I've always had this mental image of Americans liking steers and hogs, in that order, with lamb way down the list.
Of course, I'm much informed by Louis L'Amour western novels.

[Tom&Shelly]

When I first moved into the cabin, a few years before I'd met Shelly, I made some furniture appropriate for a cabin. Mail ordered the cushions though, and they were never right. This Summer, Shelly did what she threatened to do for years--bought some nice fabric and made new cushions. We took it to a professional who stuffed them full of the right weight of foam. Very comfortable!

Then Shelly, re-stuffed them so the lines come out straight



Should be nice and comfortable this Winter when we have a fire going in the wood stove (off camera to the right) and read in the evenings.

Tom

[pchast]

They look good!

[pchast]

duplicate ... don't know how.

[edgeau]

Camping in the garage . I picked up the latest round of Covid so keeping it out of the house. The better half is recovering from ankle surgery so she needs the main bedroom and ensuite. I have banished myself to the teardrop and set up the porta potty in the corner of the garage. Thankfully it is warmish weather here so I'll take a midday dip in the pool each day.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

Camping in the garage . I picked up the latest round of Covid so keeping it out of the house. The better half is recovering from ankle surgery so she needs the main bedroom and ensuite. I have banished myself to the teardrop and set up the porta potty in the corner of the garage. Thankfully it is warmish weather here so I'll take a midday dip in the pool each day.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

What is the latest version like?
I had it last year and thought everything was cool, until I was pulled up by the RBT earlier this year and struggled to supply a full breath sample for the machine.
I dunno about isolating in the garage, I've been recovering from surgery and I spend my days trying to get the missus to come snuggle up.

[MickinOz]

Today, I investigated why my Rich Solar folding 120W panels were not charging the battery in the catamaran.
Indicated voltage on the battery box just would not go past 12.5, despite the clear sunny day.
Its an AGM battery, 12.9v at rest would be nice.
The panels are "as new" and have an MPPT controller, there is literally no excuse for such delinquent behaviour.
But I figured there had to be something going on.
Eventually, I turned my attention to the cable. Its 10 metres long and has genuine Anderson plugs, not generic copies.
So I'm wriggling the cable where it goes into the plugs and realise I can pull the individual wires in and out maybe 1/8 inch.
That's when I found that the contacts had been crimped, loosely, to the ends of the wires.
3 out of the four contacts could be slipped off the ends of the wires. I normally advocate for crimped connections, but action was required.
They are soldered now, and when I plugged it all back together, battery voltage while charging miraculously jumped to 13.4 volts even in the late afternoon.
Tomorrow should see a decent float charge happening, I reckon.
Still work to do, I can't figure if the controller is set to the correct mode (I have no user manual), but promising progress.

[edgeau]

What is the latest version like?
I had it last year and thought everything was cool, until I was pulled up by the RBT earlier this year and struggled to supply a full breath sample for the machine.
I dunno about isolating in the garage, I've been recovering from surgery and I spend my days trying to get the missus to come snuggle up.

The first day was like I slept on too soft a mattress and ended up with a backache. Then the running nose and cough came in and the ache cleared up. On the mend now.

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[noseoil]

Found a good pork butt for the smoker. Tastes pretty good, low & slow for about 7 hours...