Liver Spa

Thanksgiving is over and we are careening toward Christmas at breakneck speed. Now that the season of overindulgence in all things is officially upon us and accepted as the best way to celebrate, I find myself looking over various recipes and discussing different ways to jazz up the standard foods. Long gone are the days when I would write letters to Santa for toys, beg family members shamelessly for money to purchase clothes that only a teenager could love, or make travel plans to some new exotic location that young adults and pre-grandchildren empty nesters are fond of taking during the "free" time off work to squeeze in an extra vacation. I am turning into a bit of a foodie.

Mind you, I am not CHOOSING to turn into one. It simply happens when one lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and begin to show an interest in food/cooking. If you don't gain a base level of understanding, you can't even have a conversation without knowing some basic buzzwords and have some formulated opinions about cuisine and food movements (TIP: keep your mouth shut about wine until you've at least attended one sommelier led class, just trust me on this). For the record my official stance is that local is always a better and more sustainable way to eat. I go to farmer's markets and small local grocery stores at least twice a month in my slow conversion to walking the talk.

Meat however is a different topic. I love meat. No I mean it, I LOVE MEAT. It is not unreasonable to assume that I could come home to an intervention based on my love of meat. While I believe that free range and grass fed are best, I simply cannot afford this diet on my non-profit salary. Thus the carnivore's burden. I believe that many people face the same problem and it has become the dirty little secret where we purchase most of our meat from large grocery stores that get their meats from factories while turning a blind eye to if there is any humanity for the animals who line our tummies. Of course we throw in some easy organic fixes like sausage or chicken but beef? BEEF? As long as it's USDA approved, we have a winner. The burden was most recently re-introduced when I came across this picture.

Now I know that I should be disgusted that a very large turkey that has clearly been given steroids to feed our overindulgent selves this holiday season has been wrapped with bacon but the love of meat have overridden that thought and all I can say is DELICOUSNESS!!!

So, I am opening the floor to people who may have tips to share on where one can purchase meats that are a step above just USDA approved. Of course, I am also opening the floor to anyone who is brave enough to admit if you have eaten something similar to this before as I am planning to make this for a Christmas Eve dinner party. If I have to carry the carnivore's burden, I may as well eat the yummy foods for strength :-)

Labels: beef, carnivore, Christmas, foodie, holidays, Thanksgiving, turkey