Thank God for Neighbors

So after a very pleasant weekend of Macbeth, Crocodile Lounge, Odea, and the Fort Green Flea Market, and a new couch (!), it was 6 pm on Sunday and I realized I had no food in my apartment. The Coop closes at 7:30, so I had just enough time to get there, get my groceries, stand in line for 30 minutes before it closed. So I get on the subway, go a few stops, walk the 10 minutes. I open my purse as I'm getting there, and I realize that I left my wallet on my kitchen table. Shit. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Luckily, one of my neighbors was smoking his very tasty jerk chicken in his very own homemade grill, and he was nice enough to give me half of a chicken (he makes like 30 chickens all in one go), a huge plate of rice, potato salad, and regular salad (actually, just lettuce and tomato because it doesn't have any dressing, but thats another post).

I know I'm lucky to have one neighbor who is very welcoming and so generous and I hope that when I finally settle down in a house, I live in a neighborhood full of people like my neighbor Kevin.

Raw Meat and Books

I just finished Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy and it was wonderful. But, one thing in the stories stuck out at me in terms of food. At one point, the main character is rescued by polar bears, and they give her the kidney of a freshly killed walrus to eat. The narrator talks about how delicious the meat was, that it was still warm and all of the flavor that it had. The experience described was unlike anything I've ever had or have ever read about anyone else having. What is it like to have meat so fresh it is still warm? And taking a step further - can you really tell that level of freshness when it has been cooked? Do you need to have it raw to really appreciate it? Should you?

Blake tells a story of going from live animal to turduken, but I'm skeptical about his source; I wouldn't want to eat raw meat from an animal that has been living in a cage in a warehouse in Brooklyn, if I were ever inclined to satisfy this curiosity I'm feeling. (Though it turns out that I have a live animal warehouse less than 5 blocks from my place! I may have to try some fresh meat at some point, but cooked, of course.)

Vegetables and fruits also have a very different taste freshly picked from when they've been sitting, and that is the result from sugars converting to starches. But meat seems like it would be in a different category entirely.

Have you had meat that fresh? What is it like?