fruits of forest

yesterday certain someone took the dog back to shack, i'm sure he'll be cruising around on his harley by now... provided it's not raining. i'm still at the cottage, oldest niece / my goddaughter had her birthday few days back, it's only tomorrow that we get to eat the cake


this was our lunch yesterday, or part of it, "empty the freezer" was on again. we brought this frozen chunk of meat from shack to cottage. the chunk was a nice piece of deer that certain someone took home one dark winter evening (=he hunts). i marinated the meat overnight in red wine (crianza, i think), and tied to a neat package, salt & peppered and placed it on onions and carrots in an oven bag. cooked in the oven for approx 70 mins in 200C, inside temp was 75C. game meats really benefit from cooking in oven bags since they keep the juices in, even if you leave meat in oven for a tad too long







i removed the meat from bag and covered it with foil for 15 mins. this is how my plate looked like, that's pickled chanterelles in the front. i had a fair amount of tiny chanterelles last autumn and wanted to try and see how they'd pickle. i was pleasantly surprised, i happened to get a perfect ratio of sweetness fighting the tartness of vinegar, not overpowering the wonderfull taste of chanterelles. i would love to pickle some this autumn as well... i've been trying to remember the recipe, or if i actually used one (maybe it was something i just cooked up?), no luck so far! carrots, onions and boiled new potatoes to go along







since i ate way too much at lunch (which has happened a lot on this leave), i only had blueberries and wild strawberries in the evening. dear mom picked them in the afternoon. i had mine with just milk, mom and dad like to have theirs with talkkuna. my maternal granmother used to make (mom tells me) her own talkkuna way back when using oats and peas. mom says that in the olden days talkkuna was mixed with just water into a thin drink that would quickly quench thirst and keep hunger away. the taste of talkkuna, however, is an aquired taste, i've noticed. i like mine with blueberries and some sugar mixed into a purple colored mush, yam!