Saying Goodbye To November

I’ve shared many times that I enjoy planning the month for Cultural Courage by hitting the photos and seeing if I can perhaps sense a mood for the month with the memories I dislodge from my head. Today’s banner for this last CC for November 2024 was the first one that caught my eye when I laid this month out, but I didn’t select it at the beginning of the month because we weren't in cold conditions yet and I truly didn’t think we were going to get any snow. I took that photo last year on a hike out at Seven Lakes State Park, it’s my hiking go-to in fall and winter. And since we’re getting out first significant snow today, I'm including it. Think of the snow covered road as the journey into winter we are about to take.

Festivities

November doesn’t get a fair shake in my estimate, we are in a rush to get to Christmas. As a skier I’m super pumped to get to December, and the inevitable rain and gloom of November can be a downer too. It wasn’t until a few years ago when I decided to smoke turkey that I found my own renewed interest in Thanksgiving holiday. It had become a perfunctory holiday with the same old dishes. With me smoking the bird for everyone there was risk again! And a chance for variety.

Food is love, meat is truth. Thus spake The Mighty Humanzee. I love to party, I love running around getting ready to party, and I love feeding people when I celebrate. And while my wife Mrs H says I’m impractical with how long things take and how much energy they require, I love pulling it off. Or as my daughter said the other day “Dad you secretly like being told you’re wrong - it gives you energy.”

I promised festive Thanksgiving elements this month and yep, ran out of time. But since I’m still cozy from all of yesterday's food I’m going to talk turkey for a bit.

My smoking setup is pretty primitive. I see people with apps, pretty cool apparatus that just run on the grill, or expensive ceramic smokers, but I do it old schoool “steampunk” style with a cabinet and charcoal side box. It looks like a steam engine to me. The only tech on it is the thermometer.

You can thank me for exceeding all of our carbon credits in one day. Two 15 pound turkeys takes about 6 to 7 hours, and it’s a lot of back and forth checking, restocking the charcoal and hickory chips. I have a 3rd rack in the cabinet so that means appetizers and anything from the freezer that is small that can be smoked goes in with the main course. Pork loin etc. I usually keep something special for a surprise appetizer for everyone just expecting bird, like these babies a buddy gave to me. I have to say smoking those is the only way I would try cooking that - I’m afraid I would destroy those on the grill.

I like variety and the brine is where you really do some cool, funky things. It may mean you won’t want gravy with the turkey but it’s worth it. Particularly for turkey chili that my wife makes after my grand experiments, the smokey flavor with a little bit of heat is good during the first few weeks of December. In years past, I’ve done cherry wine with apples for the brine, another year I used brandy. This year I took a chance on a bourbon and maple syrup combo. After having the birds sit overnight I stuffed them with apple, lemon, oranges, rosemary and thyme.

Work in progress.

I still smell the aroma when I pulled them out of the cabinet. The smoke and hickory turn the meat pink, and the fruit flavor from the inside gives a hint of sweet surprise depending on the cut you get.

Thanksgiving Was A Theme On OZFest Morning Mission, Sort Of

Agriculture and the pressure for abandoning organic farming was the topic for this week’s OZFest Morning Mission. While Thanksgiving does have me feeling grateful for all that we have and the blessings of my family, it also makes me conscience of what I want to retain for future generations of grandkids. I thought it was appropriate to return to the need for government to crack on homesteaders, Amish farmers and others who want to provide food in a manner that they see fit that is healthy. The podcast started with Robert Barnes who defended Amos Miller.

We are blessed with great bounty, and it is important that we do yield our choices to centralized decision makers who will not have our interests at heart.

https://rumble.com/v5tag1t-ozfest-morning-mission-a-climate-change-thanksgiving.html

Severed Conscience Podcast Release - The Turkeys At COP 29

COP 29 is another one of those Climate Change Summit Meetings, I have to be honest and say I can’t really distinguish it from the WEF meetings, there goals seem to be the same. I just thought it was funny that it ended so close to Thanksgiving, and yes, the turkeys were there plotting regarding food security, food production, reclaiming land from we awful humans. That is the topic of the Severed Conscience podcast this week.

Audio is up on Apple Podcast, Spreaker and Spotify.

Starfire Codes Fiction Contest

More and more I’m getting the itch to write fiction, and

The Starfire Codes

supplies a good challenge Sentences I Never Thought I Would Say or Hear. There are some whacked phrases in there, and yet they seem jive with some of the stories I have up in head.

Writing Contest - Sentences I Never Thought I Would Say Or Hear: Volume Eleven

I am dating myself, but I remember Laugh In with the comedy bit they did in front the the wall with the panels. “Wall Jokes”. Demi has a modern version of that with The Scroll, where there are ton of topics, funny and serious, some even intersect with each other. You should check it out.

THE SCROLL: Where'd All The Serial Killers Go?

This is my entry, I’ll be posting these in a new fiction section that I’ll get up. No, I don’t have delusions of being a superhero, but perhaps in a parallel universe I am. Who knows?