I’m hungry for a great steak!

Don’t get me wrong I can enjoy a good pizza or a juicy, baked range-fed chicken or some locally caught fried catfish, but I do like a good steak! My favorite is a nice Wagyu ribeye barely grilled. A great steak is never cooked, just seared with all those wonderful juices retained by getting it hot and then allowing it to “rest” for about 8 minutes – granted wagyu isn’t cheap! You may have heard of wagyu beef by any of these other names: Matsusaka beef, Kobe beef, or Yonezawa beef. Waygu is any of four Japanese breeds of beef shipped around the world. Black Angus is raised right here in southeast Texas! Yahoo!

Don’t want to sell your soul to the devil to get a great steak though? Black Angus! Especially, if you got local ranchers and farmers raising "most of the stars", excellent quality, grass-fed beef! Fortunately, living here in southeast Texas “we’ve got the beef!” You know Black Angus – you’ve bought it before! Black Angus is what we look for and buy!

Yesterday, Sally and I were getting a little stir-crazy here at the house. We have some dreary, wet weather upon us for a while, so we wanted to get out for a couple hours. We headed over to Livingston to check out, a kind-of-new, family-owned meat market (Ruby Cattle Co. Market) located in downtown Livingston on Washington Avenue. Looks interesting! We bought a tenderloin, a chuck roast and some ground beef to put in our freezer. We’re anxious to cook some of our great finds soon!

I also found we have a local farmer who raises and sells top-quality range-fed chickens and healthy pork too! So, I am looking forward to stocking up some meat with him later. Okay, enough said, I’m starting to drool talking about all these wonderful, local meat sources.

As our large supermarkets start charging more and stocking-
less this might be a good time to think about supporting your local farmers and ranchers. They care and they are trying hard to provide good meat and vegetables for you and your family.

Comments

It’s winter – where are all the “gators?”

A bowl of chili, a warm blanket, and maybe a good movie. That’s how we humans handle our cold weather, but what about alligators? How do they deal with the cold in winter? Alligators must have sunlight to warm them up and increase their metabolism. So, when winter temperatures drop below 40 degrees they slow way down, then go into a hibernation-like state. They “brumate” - go into brumation it is called, where their metabolism slows way down. They become lethargic and drop down to the bottom of the river, lake, or pond. Alligators can hold their breath for up to 24 hours! When it’s that cold they surface just long enough to grab a few deep breaths of air and then settle back on the bottom! That’s crazy! Some alligators dig themselves a nice musty smelling hole just above the water table out of the cold. I’ll bet they doze with one eye open just in case a curious critter or human hand pokes around their winter home’s sleeping quarters! I have seen gators 12-14 feet long on our Lake Livi...

The day I almost died

The day I almost died -- there have been others. I’m not a daredevil, but I have lived dangerously many times in my life. On this one morning, I was going about my business. I was on my way to Lowes in Livingston (Texas) to buy some lumber for a deck I was building at the back of our house. This was the day the railroad commission decided to install crossing bars and warning lights at this dangerous railroad crossing. A very smart move! There had been several tragic accidents in the past at this same crossing. Driving along, I was thinking about my shopping list for our deck. Traffic was moderate, it was early in the morning, but ahead cars were slowing down. There were several orange traffic cones placed alongside the road, just before coming to the crossing. The workmen there had on their bright yellow safety vests and were directing the oncoming cars and trucks. Traffic slowed for the construction. I want to add that one of the reasons this crossing was so dangerous was both sid...

Little bird trapped on our porch!

"Melton, come quick, a little bird is trapped on our porch, and she's trying to get out!" My wife yells. This happens a lot when we leave the screen door open. You've probably had this happen at your house too. Most of the time, these trapped, little birds are what are known as: Troglodytes Aedon's or Texas House Wrens - A familiar backyard bird that tends to want to nest around human homes. They are very inquisitive, like to bounce around a lot and chirp consistently, like little cheerleaders. House wrens prefer the open woods, gardens and thickets of underbrush. In the winter, they can be found in dense wooded areas; sometimes they nest alongside stream beds. Male birds defend their nesting territories by loud, quick chirping. Both parents take on the chore of hunting for food and for feeding their little ones. Their favorite foods include millipedes, grasshoppers, snails, spiders and crickets. Thank goodness, I can use all the help I can get eradicating these...

What's Up Melton?

Search This Blog