On Slaughtering Goats and Eating Lots of Meat

I feel like my life lately has been revolving around food. Between working at Seeley Farm, and working part-time at a grocery store, it's pretty much all I think about. A little while ago we headed over to Green Things Farm to watch them slaughter a few young goats. Being a meat eater, I decided long ago to never forgo a chance to see where my meat comes from and how it is killed. Last year I went to the same farm to help slaughter chickens. Killing goats is a little more intense, but not as bad as I thought it would be. There is just a lot of blood.

Ben after slaughtering the first goat.

The spectators.

You're next!

After the goats were good and dead, they cut the heads and feet off (which I heard were buried by the dogs and then dug up later to be carried around like a secret treasure they had forgotten about). I had to leave before the skinning and processing, but later that night they gave me one of the goat hides to tan! I wouldn't call the experience awesome, but it was an experience. 

 

After all the slaughter, it was time for some meat eating! Last weekend was the camp bacon festival put on by Zingerman's. They had free samples of bacon, bacon goody bags that had things like bacon mints and bacon toothpicks in them, and of course, bacon face paint!

 The bacon was so delicious that Dana and I went back for seconds, and the came back right before it ended for thirds. So much bacon, so little time.

   

Then a few nights ago Sarah and I went to a house warming party at her food professor's house. Needless to say the food was amazing.. the house was beautiful too, but oh my god the food!!

 

The next day Erica took me too Biercamp. It's down on south State by the Produce Station, and I don't get down to that area a lot so I had never been there before. Boy, was that a mistake! I can't believe that I hadn't gone to this place earlier. The food is amazing, and the atmosphere is rustic with a touch of hipster class. They also sell raw meat in the form of brats, burgers, ground meat, and bacon. They had me at the jerky and sauerkraut but the picture of the cat playing a banjo is what really stole my heart. They also started brewing beer recently. I think I'm in love.

Driftwood

You know that period of time after a break up when you are done being sad and you feel free and unrestricted and all you want to do is concentrate on you and rediscover yourself and your passions? You are trying to redefine yourself without this other person who was a part of you for so long that it seemed like you were really just one person with 4 eyes and 2 heads and 20 fingers. You want to explore, you want adventure, but you aren’t quite ready yet to be with someone new. That’s when the wave hits you, The wave of possibilities that washes over you threatening to drown you when all you want is a moment of peace on dry land. You start to notice the way people look at you, their desire and their passion, but you don’t want any of it. You are a free woman and you aren’t ready to trust someone new. So you wade to the shore and dry out and build sandcastles and decorate them with shells and rocks. You retreat into yourself and explore what’s been hiding there for so long. You make art and go to yoga and ride your bike and make whatever you want for dinner and then eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. You read all the books that have been collecting dust on your bookshelf. You hang out with your friends more, and you make new friends, and you are having so much fun.

Then, after some time passes, you grow bored with your new passions, and you fall into a new routine, and then the wanting starts. You want another person to think about other than yourself. You want someone to care about. You want someone to touch. You miss staying up late just talking, you miss holding hands, and you miss sex. So you go back to the beach and down to the shore only to find that the tide is out and the wave has receded. You are left alone on the sand, still moist with possibility. You take off all your clothes and lay down in the sand, wanting to feel closer to the water. You cover yourself in it, rubbing it on your arms, your chest, your thighs. Scrubbing it into your scalp. You braid stray pieces of seaweed into you hair and you dance around like a wild woman, trying to lure the wave back into shore. But it doesn’t come. You think about trying to go find it. You think about how you want to settle down and start a family and about how you aren't getting any younger. You think about starting up your okcupid profile again. But you don’t. Because sometimes the sea and the sand are just enough. The driftwood feels so smooth and soft under your fingertips, after years of being worn down by rough waves and rocks, and the sun is so warm on your chest. And love isn't about need anyway. Because if you aren't enough for yourself, then you'll never be enough for someone else.

Waterhill and Cinco de Mayo

This past Sunday was the Waterhill Music Festival, where residents of the Waterhill neighborhood in Ann Arbor play music on their porches while everyone else walks around and enjoys the music of their talented neighbors. Before the festival we headed over to a friend's house for an amazing breakfast of crepes with cream, fresh fruit and bacon. It was probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten.

For the rest of the afternoon we wandered from house to house trying to listen to as many musicians as possible. We got to hear sets from some great bands like Appleseed Collective, Charlie Slick, Wire in the Woods and Floodlights with guests from Lindsey Lou and the Flatbellies, and Los Gatos. Afterwords we all headed over to Nick's house for a cinco de mayo party.

Wire in the Woods and Floodlights with guests from Lindsey Lou and the Flatbellies

 Sunday was also cinco de mayo and that means salsa! I took this oppertunity to use up some of my tomatoes from Green Things Farm that I canned last August.

Usually I roast all of the ingredients before mixing them but this time I decided to saute them instead and see if it made much of a difference. It didn't taste that much different to me, and it was faster to saute them so I think I'll stick with this method. The salsa didn't actually end up getting eaten on cinco de mayo so we ate it last night with some mojitos that we made with mint from our garden. yummy.

Everything is blooming and growing including my little projects. I've been re-growing some green onions from some old bulbs in the kitchen window. It's nice to add a touch of greenery and life to the house.

Outside I planted a ton of basil seeds in a container about a week ago. They are just starting to sprout and there are so many of them! When they get a little bigger I'm going to thin them out, but for now its nice to see them all poking up out of the soil. Growing things is so satisfying. Amelia likes to help me water them in the morning while she plays among the mint. She hasn't found the catnip yet, but that will probably change soon.

The Best Birthday I've Had in a Long TIme

Yesterday was an amazing day. I turned 23 and Sarah turned 21. We went out for breakfast at Northside Grill with some friends, after which I decided to get in some hammock relaxation time before the storm rolled in. Dillon, being the amazing coffee maker that he is, made delicious affogados (an espresso shot over vanilla ice cream) for Sarah and I to sip on while we relaxed.

Later on I decided to try a 4 ingredient cake recipe that I found online. The only ingredients were chocolate, butter, sugar, and eggs. (You know a recipe is going to be good when the first 2 ingredients are chocolate and butter).

 

folding in the whipped egg whites

 To finish it off, we topped it with fresh whipped cream and fruit with powdered sugar. It looked and tasted amazing! I will definitely make this one again.

For Sarah's birthday present I made her a leather bound journal with a button closure. It was really fun to make and I was so excited to finally give it to her. It has been a long time since I made a book so I made a few mistakes while sewing it together but I think it turned out pretty well. For my birthday, Sarah and Eric got me a climbing harness and a belay device. I was so excited when they gave it to me that I put it on over my dress, which looked ridiculous. I'm so pumped to start climbing!

That evening we went out to the bar with a bunch of our friends and got super drunk and sang karaoke. It's an LV tradition that you have to go in the river on your birthday so when we got home we all stripped down to our underoos and jumped off the dock at argo. It was freezing cold but also really fun. Best birthday ever.

Beautiful Earth Day and Birthday!

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!! WOO!! It is also my roommate Sarah's birthday! I turned 23 and she turned 21. It is kinda rainy today so we are just chilling at home until it is time to go to the bar.

Yesterday was Earth Day and it was beautiful. It was warm and sunny and full of good friends and good food. My roommate Dillon was so inspired that he decided to brew some iced coffee out on the porch. If you don't know Dillon, he is a coffee freak. Obsessed doesn't begin to describe it. It's more like a lifestyle. Needless to say, he makes some kick-ass coffee. 

 

I was also feeling inspired by the beauty of the day so I decided to do some crafting outside. My roommate and I have the same birthday so I made her a present. I haven't given her the present yet so I can't post the finished pics here but I will post them tomorrow!

For about the past 2 weeks I have been leaving mini watercolor paintings around the house for Sarah to find as we count down to our birthday. It's been fun trying to think of different things to paint each day and it has motivated me to make more art.

On day 9 Sarah made me a bouquet of greens that she got from our friends at Green Things Farm in Ann Arbor. On day 8 she gave me a cute little pocket binocular thing for bird watching. She is the best.