Post by tuketu on Apr 2, 2022 15:11:35 GMT -4
Kaye's Delight
As a teen growing up I always had an internal struggle, that for some reason I didn't fit into our family mold and always feeling the black sheep. My older brother and sister were high academic achievers With Highest Average awards - Me - Most improved player for the softball team and a younger brother (the Baby) who could do no wrong. During those teen years I spent a lot of time with the Lundrigan family, and it wouldn't be exaggerating to say, that I lived there 80% of the time. Clyde and Kaye were salt of the earth folks with 4 boys in tow. Darrel the oldest had moved away and was working in Halifax, Scott was my age with younger brothers Danny and Randy; I was much closer to Danny because of our shared interests, one of which was hunting.
It's 1976, Castro becomes President of Cuba, Apple Computer is founded and the movie Rocky premieres, but it doesn't mean diddly squat to me! It's November and I'm 17 years old, with one year of prowess under my belt, I considered myself a well seasoned small game hunter. Ahhh …we were so cocky back then. We'd already had several snows that had melted away and I had a fresh box of #6 shot Canucks itchin' to take flight. It didn't take much to convince Danny that a rabbit hunt would be in order. A quick call to our buddy Ross and it was game on.
None of us owned a vehicle so we'd made a plan that we'd make our way up through the thicket behind Loomer's Greenhouse and see what we could flush out. We had no dogs so it was all flush and bust, beating our way through the brush. The 30 minute stomp yielded not even a sighting so we decided to trudge on . After reaching the midway road (Pleasant Street) we decided to press on further north to the #221 and after an hour of bushwhacking our way we had only two shots which yielded us a healthy spruce sapling and a bulrush , neither of which we decided to keep.
As far as we'd gone and not a thing to show for our efforts, we agreed we might as well press on and hit the old alder patch up across from the old piggery on Bishop Mtn Rd. Well it didn't take long before the lead was flying. With brown ground and mottled fur we made short order of picking out a rabbit it flight. By the time we struggled thru the jungle daylight was waning, but we managed to harvest a pair of rabbits each, leaving us with a 5 mile trudge home. I don't remember much of the walk home other than us being all puffed up with pride and discussing the high and low lights of the day. But the best was yet to come.
Once we arrived home and displayed our bounty it was time for the dirty work of dressing out our harvest. In the shed, an old nail on the wall served as an anchor that we poked thru the leg tendons. We peeled off the hide and made quick of the ugly task of evisceration. Mom (Kaye) make sure to remind us to save the heart and kidneys, which at the time seemed a gross request.
Once cleaned, Mom said "I'm going to make up some rabbit pies for supper". Rabbit pie I thought? I had a hard time putting the two concepts together. She cut up the veggies in perfect proportions and lined the plate with her special bed of dough. Once the plates were filled with her medley of bunny and veggies she sprinkled some magic potion into the mix then covered them in a soft floury blanket of Robin Hood, powder and water.
As the oven enveloped the pies in a warming embrace, we sat in the living room and regaled Clyde of our day's adventure. I can still remember the smell that wafted thru the house. Twice I caught Kaye with her little brush and bowl of melted butter basting the umbrella that shrouded the contents simmering below. It quickly became unbearable, our patience thin …"Is it ready yet?, Is it ready yet?" Finally the "DING" of the oven timer went off and we bolted into the Kitchen like Pavlov's Dog ! Oh ! Now we have to let it cool a bit before serving … this was tantamount to torture. I don't think we ever respected the cooling time required, because as soon as Kaye stepped out of the kitchen the knife was amerced in gravy. OMG … Ambrosia ! The crust a kindred spirit of cloud, spicy gravy of bisque, a plethora of veggies , and rabbit akin to butter ball tender turkey. And then to bite into a chuck of heart or kidney, what I wouldn't give for one of Kaye's rabbit pies today !!!
tuk
As a teen growing up I always had an internal struggle, that for some reason I didn't fit into our family mold and always feeling the black sheep. My older brother and sister were high academic achievers With Highest Average awards - Me - Most improved player for the softball team and a younger brother (the Baby) who could do no wrong. During those teen years I spent a lot of time with the Lundrigan family, and it wouldn't be exaggerating to say, that I lived there 80% of the time. Clyde and Kaye were salt of the earth folks with 4 boys in tow. Darrel the oldest had moved away and was working in Halifax, Scott was my age with younger brothers Danny and Randy; I was much closer to Danny because of our shared interests, one of which was hunting.
It's 1976, Castro becomes President of Cuba, Apple Computer is founded and the movie Rocky premieres, but it doesn't mean diddly squat to me! It's November and I'm 17 years old, with one year of prowess under my belt, I considered myself a well seasoned small game hunter. Ahhh …we were so cocky back then. We'd already had several snows that had melted away and I had a fresh box of #6 shot Canucks itchin' to take flight. It didn't take much to convince Danny that a rabbit hunt would be in order. A quick call to our buddy Ross and it was game on.
None of us owned a vehicle so we'd made a plan that we'd make our way up through the thicket behind Loomer's Greenhouse and see what we could flush out. We had no dogs so it was all flush and bust, beating our way through the brush. The 30 minute stomp yielded not even a sighting so we decided to trudge on . After reaching the midway road (Pleasant Street) we decided to press on further north to the #221 and after an hour of bushwhacking our way we had only two shots which yielded us a healthy spruce sapling and a bulrush , neither of which we decided to keep.
As far as we'd gone and not a thing to show for our efforts, we agreed we might as well press on and hit the old alder patch up across from the old piggery on Bishop Mtn Rd. Well it didn't take long before the lead was flying. With brown ground and mottled fur we made short order of picking out a rabbit it flight. By the time we struggled thru the jungle daylight was waning, but we managed to harvest a pair of rabbits each, leaving us with a 5 mile trudge home. I don't remember much of the walk home other than us being all puffed up with pride and discussing the high and low lights of the day. But the best was yet to come.
Once we arrived home and displayed our bounty it was time for the dirty work of dressing out our harvest. In the shed, an old nail on the wall served as an anchor that we poked thru the leg tendons. We peeled off the hide and made quick of the ugly task of evisceration. Mom (Kaye) make sure to remind us to save the heart and kidneys, which at the time seemed a gross request.
Once cleaned, Mom said "I'm going to make up some rabbit pies for supper". Rabbit pie I thought? I had a hard time putting the two concepts together. She cut up the veggies in perfect proportions and lined the plate with her special bed of dough. Once the plates were filled with her medley of bunny and veggies she sprinkled some magic potion into the mix then covered them in a soft floury blanket of Robin Hood, powder and water.
As the oven enveloped the pies in a warming embrace, we sat in the living room and regaled Clyde of our day's adventure. I can still remember the smell that wafted thru the house. Twice I caught Kaye with her little brush and bowl of melted butter basting the umbrella that shrouded the contents simmering below. It quickly became unbearable, our patience thin …"Is it ready yet?, Is it ready yet?" Finally the "DING" of the oven timer went off and we bolted into the Kitchen like Pavlov's Dog ! Oh ! Now we have to let it cool a bit before serving … this was tantamount to torture. I don't think we ever respected the cooling time required, because as soon as Kaye stepped out of the kitchen the knife was amerced in gravy. OMG … Ambrosia ! The crust a kindred spirit of cloud, spicy gravy of bisque, a plethora of veggies , and rabbit akin to butter ball tender turkey. And then to bite into a chuck of heart or kidney, what I wouldn't give for one of Kaye's rabbit pies today !!!
tuk
