Volleyball

This next weekend my club is hosting the first of two tournaments this year. These tournaments are held at four different sites and eight different courts. I've been helping move equipment, food stuffs, tables, scorers tables, etc. to these different locals. All except one. The one location that my team is supposed to work at. This morning I had 16 emails asking for directions to this site. That's one email from every player and one of their parents. Now I can understand a mass inundation if I had said, "I'll get you the information in a timely manner." I have not said that. I didn't even know where we were going to be working until three days ago.

But, I calmly called and asked the director to help a poor-lost-navigationally-challenged-newcomer- find his way to the site. To which she said that all directions are posted on our club's website. I meekly said, "Well, don't I look like an idiot?" She laughed and then got very serious and a little scary, "It means a lot to me, to Curt, and the rest of the board that you help out so much." The only reply I could think of was one that Lutheran modesty has beaten into me, "I don't do anymore than anyone else would." She laughed and said I was full of crap. Hung up the phone and went on about my morning, running errands and what not. Gave me warm fuzzies though to know that some one appreciates effort.

I went out to the store today to get some groceries and refill some empty spots in my pantry. Great sale on juice, concentrate cans for 39 cents a pop. Very happy with that. Then I got to the milk and cried a little. But, I'm brining some venison that one of the hunters donated to the blauhaus. He dropped off a good 60 pounds of mixed meets, which made Sam and I very happy. Naturally I started scouring my new cookbook for all sorts of backwoods deliciousness. I'm bring 6 pounds of the chuck that has been cut into 1/4-2-4 inch segments, I have to wait another couple of hours to make sure the cure takes, rinse them off. Douse them in black pepper, then I have two options.

Option 1. Bake at low low low heat (~120 degrees) for 4-8 hours with oven door open.

Option 2. Get some furnace filters lay the meet on the furnace filters, lay the furnace filters on a box fan. Fan until jerky.

Option 1. iss something that makes a lot of sense to me. Kind of like the smoking that we do at the farm, just a much shorter time due to the difference in mass.

Option 2. is something that I really want to try. Alton Brown who is a food science guru advises that any type of heat application will actually cook the jerky leaving you with leather. Whereas the cold application with air movement leaves you with meat that still has tenderness.

Who knows.

Buck