A little ticked off
I’m perplexed. Despite everything I’ve read, and despite dressing for the environment, this afternoon I felt something untoward on my calf. Sort of like a mosquito, but without the pain. And sure enough, when checked under a strong light, there was a tick busily burrowing in to a bit of cheap nourishment.
We did our best (this became a team effort) with thin tweezers, patience, good light… the bug is now in sections (which should count as dead in battle). However, after everything I read, I’m placed on watch for the tell-tale target around the wound. And as near as I can tell, this happened on the deck, beside the BBQ. No tall grass, or proximity to the forest. Sucks to be a blood donor.
While the others were beach bound, I received a request to put 2 kg of chicken breasts into a bath. A salty soak. Precise measures: 30g of salt/litre of cold water. I’ve done things like this, albeit several years ago after watching one of the cooking programs on PBS. I had the technique, without the specifics.
Turns out, the BBQ does a good job of turning cheap meat into something with value added. Flavour. We also had a huge pan of chopped vegetables that were put on the heat a half-hour ahead of the meat. By meal time, a perfect marriage. We’ll do this, again.
Tomorrow, back to beef (there are steaks in the fridge, to celebrate the holiday weekend). Next week, I’ll be back to my normal fare, but right now I’m profiting from the company.
