Date: August 2, 2010
Location: Plattekill, NY
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Each day when you rise from a sleeping rest to attack the world you have little realization as to just what it is you might encounter. Our “drive by” excursion into New York City is just one example of how life will, and does, offer adventure at almost any turn. It is a major help if you and your visitors are open minded enough to allow the adventure to unfold and to enjoy the making of new memories.
Our visitors were both the recipients and providers of memories and new adventures. Connie and I hopefully opened some western New York eyes to the wonder and possibilities of the large eastern New York City that brags of being the center of the universe. Maybe an opinion that could seem a little close minded was broadened and enhanced by personal experience. And maybe they will even want to return for another taste of the chaos, crowed streets and excitement that is New York. Maybe New York City is a little better than its reputation might lead a person to believe.
Our family was not just the recipient of new experiences and adventure laden memories they were also the providers of the same. Connie and I were not just the travel agents of enlightenment, but we were also taken on a trip of culinary adventure that we might not have chosen to partake if we had not been guided by our family. Adventure is as adventure does and Bob cooked dinner for us yesterday.
Bob is, I am sure and have experienced, a good cook and a typical male family dinner provider. Mom cooks every day, every week, and at most special occasions, but it is dad that gets the credit and praise at those special times when he ventures into the cooking realm of food presentation. Having traveled that path I understand that we men do not search out the special treatment every time we approach the stove, oven or charcoal grill, but since it is so rare we do seem to get a lot of attention. Maybe the women of our lives feel if they praise us enough we might make that culinary trip more often.
Sunday it was Bob’s turn to venture forth and provide family meal. It was in this moment that a path to adventure was offered to Connie and me. Bob was cooking a roast with vegetables and potatoes that was seasoned with his own secret spices. This was not the adventure, all though it sure did fill our home with some wonderful aromas. The adventure was in his choice of meat to be the basis for his crock-pot dinner. Bob had just recently returned form a hunting trip in Canada. While in Canada he managed to get a rather large bear. Yesterday, Connie and I, were exposed to our very first experience of eating bear meat. It was not nearly as adventurous as you might think.
The crock-pot New England style stew was a cacophony of tantalizing aromas that filled our motor home as the meat and veggies cooked over night. Most of the enticing smells, I am sure, came from the secret packet of personally concocted spices that Bob sprinkled over the stew as he prepared it for the overnight slow process of cooking. The meat look lean and delicious as he placed it in the crock-pot, but this city boy is not used to contemplating the wild animal reality of meat. I know that meat comes from live animals, but I usually pick up a piece of meat that is neatly wrapped and labeled in a display case not form the floor of a wooden denizen of a forest. My store purchased raw meat is wrapped in plastic this bear meat had been wrapped in fur. We are ready for an adventure.
The meat came from the cooker looking like any other very good piece of beef that had been used for the basis of a wonderful stew. The juices were flowing and the aromas were nearly sinful. As we cut the roast it almost seemed to fall apart and portend a tender tasty experience and yet the fact it was wild bear was still rambling around in my mind. And then I tasted the very tender meat. The scents were not the only wonder that we were to experience. The meat was truly tender, tasty and fantastic culinary success. If I had been told that the stew had been made with a very expensive cut of special beef I would not have been able to argue. It was tender; It was tasty; It was awesome. It was to disappear all too quickly off of every ones plate. Bob had been a culinary success.
Our relaxing weekend had been a treasure trove of adventures. Our small town family had experienced and maybe even enjoyed a taste of big city life, and we had enjoyed and experienced a true taste of there accomplishments. We still have some of Bob’s bear stew for our enjoyment and future memories and maybe they have a little fonder opinion of what a big city can offer for their memory. Life is an adventure and full of enjoyment if only you can keep an open mind and a willingness to at least try a new experience, be it at the dinner table or at the subway turnstile.
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