STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Special Treat ??“ Summer Garden

Aug 17, 2005? 

Pass The Beef

Carol Roach

I have been a red meat eater all of my life. My food choice" is beef, good Quebec beef. I know all of you Vegans out there will tell me that red meat is not healthy. It clogs the arteries and adds years to our lives ??“ not to mention adding extra pounds to our middle section as well. But can??™t help myself, I just love it.

I could eat beef seven days a week and not tire of it. There is something about the heavy texture that fills me like no other food in this world can. I love when the warm red meat touches my tongue. I love when the sweet salty taste of the blood from the meat mixed with the margarine in the pan tickle my taste buds. The heavenly juice descends my throat paving the way for the thick bulky meat to follow. The contrast is wonderful. It reminds me of the contrasts we face in life. I love the full feeling I get after I am satiated. It makes me feel secure, warm, and good inside.

My favourite beef is a good thick rib steak. I am a bone person, I love to gnaw on the bone and suck the marrow out of the interior. I could gnaw on the bone for hours, enjoying it and taking in the sweet flavour.

But I am not turned off by a steak done on the charcoal grill either, as long as it is not well done and tasting like shoe leather. My beef is to be savoured, enjoyed, and is very juicy. Steak on the grill, when cooked to the explicit instructions of my palate, is like entering a new country and experiencing the wonderment that is there. I love the bold overpowering mesquite charcoal taste. It is both inviting and consuming just like the beauty of the country I visit.

There is no doubt that a thick juicy steak is my favourite food. But I also eat my beef in a variety of ways. I love a wonderful home cooked roast of beef ??“ medium rare, again with just a little bit of blood still oozing. A pot roast and a meatloaf smothered in tomato sauce, or a flavourable blend of a tangy spaghetti sauce, also remind me of home.

How I long for just one more of my grandmother??™s home cooked meals. Her meals were not fancy, but they were made with more love and care than any high paid chef from the famous Cordon Bleu School could possible dream of preparing. Her meals were neither fancy nor boastful. They were simply made with love. My grandmother could take a little bit of nothing and make it into the best meal you ever tasted.

Unlike my grandmother, I am not the greatest cook in the world, but I am very fuzzy on the way I eat my beef. I prefer my own hamburgers to any restaurant version in the nation. I know how to cook them and I know what goes into them. I like 100 percent beef with no filler. My filler will be the ingredients I put on top of the burger such as tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese, but not found within the burger. Rarely have I eaten a juicy burger like I like it from a restaurant. With the scare from E Coli and other diseases, restaurants today are leery of uncooked meat. I just wonder how steak tartar is now prepared, or is that dish forever wiped out of our memories?

Yes I am particular about my beef and unless you are serving it boiled in a stew; my palate will be the judge of its merit. Fortunately my palate does not think. It is my brain which does. So you will never hear a word of complaint come out of my mouth when you invite me to your house for dinner. You will always hear, ???Thank you, it was very good,??? and probably, ???May I have seconds please!???

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Carol Roach

winterose@videotron.ca

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A Native of Montreal, Quebec, Carol is a graduate of Concordia, and McGill University.?  She holds a bachelor in psychology and a Masters in counselling psychology.?  Carol Roach is a published writer and newsletter editor.?  You can purchase her book: Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey at www.publishamerica.com, or www.amazon.com.?  You can also go to your local bookstore and order it there as well.?  Carol??™s second book: Angels Watching Over Me is soon to be released by White Schooner Books ??“ details to follow. ? 

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If you are interested in other stories feel free to join her newsletter: Storytime Tapestry at: http://subs.zinester.com/98907 , or email her directly at winterose@videotron.ca and she will be glad to accommodate you.?  Carol enjoys email and responds to every inquiry.

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