Okie Stories
January 12, 2012
I haven’t been blogging very much lately, but I have been writing and busy in other ways. Recently, This Land Press published a story I wrote about the time me and 2 of my friends killed, dressed, skinned, and butchered a goat. Check it out HERE! It’s a reworking of the story I related here on Progress on the Prairie a while back. Also, a very talented journalist named Abby interviewed my friends and me about the killing experience and our personal views on eating meat. She made a nice audio piece — like a mini This American Life episode — out of our interview, and you can listen to it here.
Here’s to Okie stories!
Spring
Squausage Soup
September 6, 2011
The 50 degree nights and 80 degree days we’ve been having here in Tulsa inspired the cook in me. And, yes, I did invent a soup. Guess what’s in it? If you said SQUASH and SAUSAGE, you’re not as good at word play as you think you are. ‘Cuz, SURRRPRISE, it’s also got SAGE in it! At first, I was going to call it “Squausage Stew” but then I learned that stew is much thicker than soup. Soup = brothy. Stew = gravy-ish. Whatdyaknow?
But doesn’t it look delicious with the bubbles of pork fat floating on top?!
I used sausage that I bought at the Cherry Street Farmer’s Market from the lovely folks at Greenwood Farms (which is, sadly, downsizing considerably after this summer). The squash is from my boyfriend’s family, and the sage is from my garden. I browned all of these ingredients with a bit of olive oil to the point where the meat and squash were nearly blackened on one side. Then added the water. Also, I added plenty of mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, cayenne, fresh basil and hatch chilies. And salt and pepper – it almost goes without saying.
Don’t forget the fresh sage on the top for pretties!
Happy end of summer,
Spring
Blueberry Arugula Salad
June 5, 2011
This may be the most delicious salad I have ever tasted:
Salad ingredients: arugula, blueberries, mozzarella, pine nuts.
Dressing ingredients: red wine vinegar, mustard, honey, coriander, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
First, whisk the vinegar, mustard, honey, coriander, salt and pepper together. Then mix in the oil. Then toast the nuts in a small pan on a medium heat until lightly browned. Rinse the lettuce and berries. Place the arugula on a plate, or plates if you are sharing. I grew the arugula in my garden, and it has a hearty – almost nutty – flavor. AMAZING!
Okay, then slice the mozzarella and arrange it on the bed of lettuce. Then grab a handful of blueberries and the nuts (with care if HOT!) and sprinkle them on the growing salad.
Drizzle the dressing on as you like. You’re going to be getting tangy and sweet and salty flavors that are perfect with the berries and mild cheese and nuts. All of those tastes held up by a bunch of fresh arugula might make you want to kiss Mother Nature’s butthole. No hyperbole.
Summery, delicious happiness,
Spring
Apple Dandelion Fritters!
April 10, 2011
Don’t kill your dandelions, fry them! If you have sprayed chemicals all over your dandelions because you were brainwashed into thinking they are bad, bad weeds then you will have to miss out on these delicious Springtime delicacies. Ha! However, if your yard is wild and pollutant-free and ugly like mine, then you are in luck!
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Ingredients:
diced apples, 1 handful
dandelions, 1 handful freshly foraged
egg, 1
flour, 1 cup
milk, 1/2 cup
applesauce, 1/2 cup
cinnamon, 1 dash
oil for frying
syrup or honey for dipping
powdered sugar for sprinkling
Step 1: Send kid to pick the flower parts off the dandelions while you cut up apples and measure out ingredients. Pull the yellow petals out of the rest of the green part of the flower for this recipe. The green can be kinda bitter, which I think is great for more savory recipes, but not so much for this sweeter one.
Step 2: Mix everything together. Batter should be thicker than pancake batter, but not as thick as biscuit dough. Ya hear me? Then drop it by the spoonful into hot oil. I use a medium-low heat.
Step 3: Fry for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until beautiful and golden.
Step 4: Sprinkle with powdered sugar, dip in syrup or drizzle with honey.
Step 5: Now EAT!
Num num,
Spring
How ‘Bout a Little Homophobia With Your Groceries?
January 26, 2011
So, maybe you heard that a regional chain of grocers (in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas) called Harps recently censored a magazine because it has a picture of Elton John and his partner holding their adorable baby. Because gay parents are anti-family? Dangerouse to children? Not parents? Bluck. I suggest you write the rude douchebags at Harps a little note. Contact them here. I did. Here’s what I sent them:
Dear Harps,
I just read an article that one of your stores censored a cover of an Us Weekly magazine because it had a picture of Elton John and his partner holding their baby on it. Because they are gay. Here’s the article if you want to check out the press your store is getting:
http://jezebel.com/5743835/grocery-store-censors-elton-johns-icky-gay-parentingI’m not sure if all of your stores did this, or just the one. Anyway, this one store put up a piece of plastic in front of the magazine which reads: “Family shield. To protect young Harps shoppers.” Something like this will immediately, of course, make anyone with an ounce of curiosity move the piece of plastic and take a peek at what is so potentially disturbing to young Harps shoppers. Would they find a dead mangled victim of war? Would they find sadistic and degrading sexual acts depicted? Would they find sensational and exploitative headlines about toddlers competing in beauty pageants? Nope. Just a loving family. A family that happens to have two parents. A family that happens to have only one child. Maybe if they irresponsibly and thoughtlessly had 18 kids, your store wouldn’t find it necessary to censor the picture?
What a twisted sense of what is dangerous you have. I will never buy my bananas from any of your stores.
Unless you issue a formal apology. Then, and only then, I will visit your store , and if you have a certain copy of Us Weekly, I will buy it proudly. I will also buy a bunch of bananas, and I will put my items in my reusable, non-homophobic grocery sack and be on my merry way.
Entirely sincerely,
Spring M. Houghton
Tulsa, Oklahoma
*Note, 1-25-11: Harps issued an apology and took down the Family Shield, so good for them. (Thanks, D, for the update!)
Deeds 15 – 17
December 17, 2010
15. Took organic bananas to work and shared. Organic bananas taste better, they are just as inexpensive as conventional, and they don’t look like they come from the freakishly large section of Priscilla’s.
16. My daughter told me at 7:30 AM that she needed a headband with flowers on it for her 4th-grade production of the Nutcracker by NOON. I used my lunch break to run home, grab a headband, go to the grocery store, buy fresh flowers (purple to match the tutu), cut the flowers and fix them beautifully to said headband, and run it to daughter’s school. Super-mom, FTW!
17. I tipped the Chick-fil-A worker. She looked at me like I had broken the law but took the money anyway. It was awkward, so I just went to sit down and eat. Uncool, but good nonetheless.
Can’t wait for the Holidays to be over,
Spring
deed 14
December 14, 2010
what: when i was late for work today, i brought my boss a sausage roll.
why: he would have gotten a donut, but he’s diabetic. him + happy belly = me, forgiven.
we all win when spring’s in the giving mood,
spring
Do Good, Deeds 9 & 10
December 11, 2010
What:
- Took a friend to lunch at Elmer’s BBQ, where the motto is “It Be Bad.”
- Left the waitress a larger tip than my usual 18%-ish.
Why: Good food, good company, friendly staff, good music, Robert Johnson posters. This event was as much for me as for anyone else. It’s BBQ! It’s the reason, besides bacon, that I will never be vegetarian. It’s also the reason I feel sorry for vegetarians. I mean, look at this plate of heaven:
And the sauces? Mild, hot, or mixed, you can’t go wrong!
It Be Bad,
Spring
Do Good Day 6 & 7
December 7, 2010
Day 6
What: I baked chocolate chip, walnut, cranberry cookies for all my co-workers. I used a pretty basic chocolate chip cookie recipe and threw in some walnuts and dried cranberries, adding just a pinch of freshly ground clove and black pepper. Yes, m’am!
Why: Because I haven’t met anyone at the office that I really dislike. I even genuinely like some of them.
Day 7
What: Took the cookies to work.
Why: I’m running out of ideas/ time-outside-of-work for good deeds. Ugh. Oh, wait! I brought my own, personal french press and creamer and made special, yummy coffee for the other coffee addict in the office. That totally counts.
Hi ho,
Spring
Women Who Kill Goats
November 9, 2010
I spent this weekend in the woods with about 200 women, and 4 friends: Miz H, A, L, and K. And now I want to live in the woods permanently.
Friday night, we set up our tents in the face of a freeze warning. Black night with stars clear and perfectly spaced, like tiny polka-dots on fabric. Built a fire, sat in folding chairs, and talked. About jobs, about personal philosophy, about food, eating meat, about parenting, about boys, about girls. We drank Corona and ate sunflower seeds.
Not one of us slept a whole hour that night, mostly because we were so, so cold. I tried curling up in a fetal ball to conserve heat. I wrapped things around my head and ducked into my sleeping bag. Then my toes got cold, so I covered them with my quilt and a small pile of clothes I couldn’t identify in the dark. Then my butt got cold, so I wrapped a scarf around my pelvic area like a bandage. Dozed off. Then wild dogs barking.
And in the morning, I drank shitty coffee and ate a bite and went to a workshop called Field Dressing. I imagined in my head when I signed up for this class 2 months prior that there would be a dead deer hung up in a warehouse of some sort, and the instructor would have a knife that s/he would pass around and give each of us a turn cutting something. But when I got to the designated meeting spot, there was a trailer full of 10 live, quite cute goats.
So we went to kill them. Me and Miz H and A.
We cut 10 jugular veins and 10 carotid arteries. Then we carried them by their feet to a pile of wood so they could bleed all of their blood out. Miz H and I had one goat. A had a goat all to herself. We cut them open delicately so as not to puncture their stomachs, and then we took their bowels out. We set the heart and liver aside. We cut the hyde off, then quartered it. Leg meat, neck, back, ribs. Sawed off feet and heads. Done.
And now I want to live in the woods in a cabin and raise and kill my own meat and cook it in delicious ways for my meat-eating friends. And for those of my friends who don’t eat meat, I will cook well-spiced and generously seasoned sweet potatoes and greens and corn and rice and beans from my garden behind my cabin. And we shall feast on ceramic plates with silver spoons. And I will be tired and happy.
Does that not sound lovely?
Spring
(The event was sponsored by Women in the Outdoors. To find out about WITO events in your area, go here.)
