dial 3 for elk

so left hand rob catches me putting my leftover coffee in to the microwave and he tells me, "hey bastard, did you hear, there's gonna be a tasting?"

"why i didn't know this. what are we tasting?"

"i dunno, but there's gonna be a tasting"

you see that's the great thing about working for killing stuff monthly, there's always some kind of weird thing to eat here. today the velvet hammer brought out a plate of elk and a plate of pheasant. the velvet hammer tells us "i cooked it myself. i just put it in the microwave and pressed 3. hmm. press 3 for elk. you see, the velvet hammer is a tried and true new york city editor and she makes no bones about her very city centric lifestyle. i respect that. people should feel comfortable with who they are in environments like a hunting magazine or anywhere else for that matter. either way, this triggered my internal list of things i wanted to try eating. i've never had either pheasant or elk.

QUICK SIDEBAR: the bastard likes to try new things once in a while. it tends to run mostly in gastronomic circles but, i also tried rock climbing, kayaking and i'm still kicking myself in the ass for not trying hang gliding. anyway, i have a short list of creatures i would be interested in trying. the list goes as follows now in order of how interested i am in trying such creature.

caribou

squab (don't know if it's spelled that way)

grouse

moose

rattlesnake

i'm sure there's more but i can't think of them right now. but if you ask me nicely, i can tell you what i have tried over time.

turns out that the elk was very tender and had an almost tenderloin like consistency to it and a really good flavor. the sauce it cam in was very reminiscent of a beef stew or something to that effect. it was good. the pheasant was like a sweet tasting chicken, also with a nice consistency. i'd try either again. now i have a list of other things i have to get to. it's a busy life and we never get nearly enough time with it.

—the bastard