The Story of Moose Nose Soup

Last night on the rv-dreams chat, I had asked for a recipe to feed Ellie & Jim who are arriving tomorrow. JB, another Canadian from Alberta, suggested Moose Nose Stew and so on the conversation went about not being able to buy moose nose down here and so on. Anyway, I thought it was a joke and was going along with it until I googled it today. Apparently it's a Cree dish. The recipe is below and there's also a recipe for Jellied Moose Nose, just in case anyone's interested. LOL

Don't worry Ellie and Jim, I'm not making it!

Moose Nose Soup

1 Moose Nose
Several Potatoes
Salt & Pepper
1 large Onion
Several Carrots
Garlic Salt & Celery Salt

Shoot a Moose. Skin it and save the nose. Discard the rest. Build a fire. In a large kettle, melt enough snow to give 6 to 8 quarts of water. Place the nose in the kettle with all other ingredients. Simmer for 2 or 3 hours or until tender. Serve hot. The number of servings depends on how long since your last meal!

Jellied Moose Nose

It seems the moose has a big nose which can be served up as an epicurean delight. Here’s a recipe from just game recipes.com.

1 Upper jawbone of a moose
1 Onion; sliced
1 Garlic clove
1 tbsp Mixed pickling spice
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4 cup Vinegar

Cut the upper jaw bone of the moose just below the eyes. Place in a large kettle of scalding water and boil for 45 minutes. Remove and chill in cold water. Pull out all the hairs - these will have been loosened by the boiling and should come out easily ( like plucking a duck). Wash thoroughly until no hairs remain.Place the nose in a kettle and cover with fresh water.Add onion, garlic, spices and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the meat is tender. Let cool overnight in the liquid.When cool, take the meat out of the broth, and remove and discard the bones and the cartilage. You will have two kinds of meat, white meat from the bulb of the nose, and thin strips of dark meat from along the bones and jowls.Slice the meat thinly and alternate layers of white and dark meat in a loaf pan.

Reheat the broth to boiling, then pour the broth over the meat in the loaf pan. Let cool until jelly has set. Slice and serve cold.

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On to my day

Today was bright and sunny. It was 43F (6C) when I got up just before 8 a.m. I got my exercise in and breakfast and then got my shopping list ready to go in to town. I left about 10:30 a.m. On my way in to town there was a family of sandhill cranes in the ditch beside the road. I saw them just as I was going past and I knew if I stopped, they'd be gone but they were really close and I could have gotten a fine photo of them, I'm sure.

I got my photocopying done to send my dentist bill in to my insurance in Ontario, looked around the dollar stores and Bealls but didn't see anything I liked better than my money. I got what I needed at HEB and then went to Walmart where I picked up the rest. It's really touch and go as to who has the better prices here in Port Lavaca. HEB has better prices on a lot of things than
Walmart does.

I was home around 2:30 p.m. and took this photo of the egret, ibis and roseate that were sitting just as I turned at the bridge to come back to the park.

We reached 70F (21C). The wind came up this afternoon but it wasn't bad and the whole day was sunny.

After unloading groceries and putting them away, I sat outside for a few minutes but the wind was cooler than I thought so came inside and retired to the couch. I finished my book and had a brief nap.

Laundry and A Birding Drive

This morning started off dull, drab and dreary with sprinkles of rain but that didn't stop me from my walk. It wasn't raining very hard. After breakfast, I changed the bed and got the laundry ready and then headed to the laundry room. Around 11 a.m. the sun came out and that warmed things up a bit so I opened the door to the laundry room. Mistake! I was folding clothes when all of a sudden I heard a 'Meow' and Pyro plopped himself on my clean sheets. I carefully removed him outside and back he came so this time I put him out and closed the door. His feet were all sandy, yuk, Pyro!

I finished the laundry somewhere around 1 p.m., and had some lunch. The sun kept going in and out of the clouds.

Yesterday I felt like I was getting a cold so I went to bed around 7:30 last night and slept pretty much for 12 hours. I felt better today but had a slight headache probably from taking cold medication.

It warmed up enough this afternoon and the sun stayed out long enough that I could sit out in my lawnchair and read for a while. Sure is nice to see the sun!

Around 4 p.m. we set out for a drive around the area. Here are some photos I took.


Man made sand dunes


Belted Kingfisher
Mockingbird

Osprey

White Morph Reddish Egret

View from the overlook across from Matagorda Bay

Our high today was only 63F (17C) but once the sun came out it was a lovely day.

I'm a Blonde Again and Dentist

Quite a difference today. It was only 46F (8C) and cloudy when I got up at about 7:45 a.m. It remained cloudy throughout the day and didn't gain much in temperature.

After my usual morning, I decided to colour my hair so I'm now sort of blonde again. I think it's ash blonde. Other than that I spent the morning on the internet and reading.

I had made an appointment to get my teeth cleaned when I was in town last week and today was the day. We went in early as I had a return to do at Walmart and you never know how long that will take. Today I walked right in, no waiting. I did however have to wait at the dentist. Apparently they were trying to contact my insurance company in Canada even though I had marked on the form that I would pay and submit myself. The girl didn't read it. Duh! Why did I fill out the form? Oh well, they did a good job and my periodontist will be happy that I got my teeth cleaned and it's not often a place like that goes out of their way to accommodate a patient.

Shrimp boat in Port Lavaca

Marina in Port Lavaca



These snow geese were all aflurry when we stopped to take photos



Our high today only reached 48F (9C). Sure hope it warms up tomorrow!

Getting Stuff Done and A Photo Jaunt

I awakened to pea soup fog. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife. But I went for my walk/run anyway, did my exercises, had breakfast, washed up and got onto today's project. The fog eventually went away.

The bugs were still on the nose of the RV from our trip south. I had thought we'd be at Goose Island or somewhere where we could wash it but when we stayed here, they say you can't wash your rig.

So, this morning I got out our Phab that I bought this summer at our dealer's to give it a try and it works like a charm. Full strength out of the bottle, spray it on the bugs and wipe them off. Great stuff! I'd highly recommend it. Here's a photo of the bottle. It used to be pink, now it's purple. Don't know why they changed the colour.


After that I washed windows, then found I didn't do a very good job on them. Oh well! I was hot and sweaty by then so had a shower and sat outside and read my book. While I was outside I called my sister to see what's going on in her life. We talked for about 45 minutes, everyone there is fine - just cold and really sick of the bus strike.

Gordon came out and suggested we do a bit of driving around so we drove around the area and took some photos, then back to my lawn chair. When we got back he had gone to take photos of the sandhill cranes down the road as they were out close to the road when we came by and he ran into the owner, Delmer who offered to take him out in the boat. They weren't out long when the sky turned dark so they came back. Looks like we might be in for a storm tonight. We're going to have some cooler temperatures tomorrow.

Sandhill cranes seem closer with my new camera


As do the roseates


And the cormorants

This is such a pretty house

Sunshine on Matagorda Bay



Thunderhead over Matagorda Bay


Gordon and Delmer go out on the lake




We had a really nice day with temperatures around 75F (24C) and very little wind. The last couple of nights have been pretty warm for sleeping, of course, I haven't taken the electric blanket off the bed 'cause I'd just get it off and have to put it back on and it's a good thing I didn't take it off as the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees in the last hour or so.

The trials and tribulations of full time RVing!

End of December Expenses and Just Another Day in the Texas Coastal Bend!

Ok, so the total for December is not so good. I definitely overspent on the groceries category probably because we're so far out of town that I don't want to have to go back in to pick up a couple of things so I overbuy. That total also includes mostly everything I buy at Walmart and HEB so there are some things in there that should be in Misc. category but with all the calculations, I'm leavin' it as it is!

We also purchased the new lens and camera. This did not come out of our funds but out of Gordon's Paypal account from the sale of his photos. Taking off the 'toys' we came in at around $2300 Canadian for the month which isn't too bad.

We did get our December electric bill and ours was $76.57 so that needs to be added to the campground fees although I haven't paid it yet. We did have some cold days during December using the electric heater and I've been heating all our water on electric. I thought that was not bad for the month.

Enough said about that.

The wind started during the night. We had the windows open and it darn near blew me out of bed it was so strong at times! I thought it was supposed to rain this morning but I woke up to sunny skies and that's the way it continued through the day. The wind didn't let up either but we had nice 77F (25C) temperatures all day. It was already 70F (21C) when I got up shortly after 8 a.m.

Palm blowing in the wind



The only different thing I did this morning was to defrost the refrigerator. So, that's done for another couple of months. Other than that I parked myself outside in my lawnchair with my back to the wind and enjoyed about four hours reading and having the occasional bit of shut-eye.

The pull-thru site across from us is now filled. The people came in yesterday. They must be friends with the 2 RVs beside us because it has been wall to wall people there since they arrived. Not as quiet as it was! Hope some of these folks are just visiting for the weekend. I miss my peace and quiet!

Our RV from across the little bay



Other than a couple of jaunts over to the rec hall and around the campground, I stayed put today.

I had a question in my comments a day or so ago about whether this is a private or public park. It is a private RV park and marina and is family owned by Delmer and Bobbie Scott. Their granddaughter, Ginger is the manager.

Pyro came to visit near dinnertime



That about sums up my day here in the balmy Texas coastal bend!

A Short Drive

Today I woke up to fog again. It burned off mid morning and we had partly sunny skies for a lot of the day with a high of 75F (24C). It was a little windier than it has been but not too bad.

We didn't do much out of the ordinary today. We took a drive to the local bird sanctuary this afternoon for a while to see if any birds were out. Photos below were taken on the drive.

Our local sandhill cranes were out this afternoon


The road in the bird sanctuary


Ibis and Roseates

Cormorants



While I was sitting out reading I took some photos of our rose bush beside the neck which is now starting to bloom. Roses in January, gotta love it!



I read and had a nap this afternoon. I still haven't gotten around to completing our month end expenses. It's a chore with all the calculating. Even if I set up the spreadsheet to do the calculations automatically (if I remembered how to do it), I'd still have to input a different number every day. I know I've done some spreadsheets with formulas when I was working but that was a long time ago!

Our New Year's Day 2009

This morning went by as usual but instead of the forecast cloud we had sun! Because of that around noon we decided to go out and do some sightseeing. However on our way inland toward the town of Goliad we had cloud, a few drops of rain and after we arrived at the Presidio La Bahia (shown below), we got some sun. This Presidio is before you get to Goliad.

Gordon is very interested in old churches and Goliad therefore is right up his alley. There's this one as well as a Mission that we found so far.

Gordon took my photo at the amphitheater

From there we went toward town and found the Goliad State Park which houses the Mission Espiritu Santo shown below.

And here's the altar and the pulpit

There is a campground at the State Park which we just might return to. Gordon would like to take more photos in this area. It looks like a really nice campground with water and electric and a dump station.

On to the town of Cuero. It looks like they build their streets around the live oak trees.

Here's the courthouse

I thought this was an interesting name for a lawyer. Would you be a client of his?

On to Victoria where the plan had been to take some twilight photos downtown. We arrived a bit early so looked up a Taco Bell for dinner. It was still too early and we were tired so we came home but I saw this sign and thought it was an interesting concept.

It was a lovely day with a high of 75F (24C).