Fatcicles and Channel 13

On Saturday nights I listen to the Prairie Home Companion radio program, but because our local National Public Radio station does not broadcast reliably – the transponders in our area frequently not functioning – I usually stream the broadcast from Minnesota Public Radio in Minneapolis, which is the link given on the PHC Web page. Periodically there will be breaks in the program for station identification and what not, and Minnesota Public Radio is good about giving weather reports during these breaks. Last Saturday night I found it very helpful to know that the forecast for overnight low was going to be “30 below.”

I am not being sarcastic. I am very grateful that –30° is not our temperature here. I feel a little less compelled to complain when it is in the “high teens.” It could be worse.

The fact that it has been colder outside overnight certainly -- and often during the day -- in recent weeks than it is in our refrigerator has been a big help.

Now, my husband does not go hunting for food with a weapon, but he does arm himself with grocery ads and fulfills that primitive instinct to “hunt and gather” in a less bloody way. Turkeys and chicken went on sale just before Christmas, and so within the last week or so he has come home with 4 turkeys and 9 packages of chicken legs and thighs.

Two turkeys spent two days in the car because there was no room for them in the refrigerator, and they were still frozen when we finally brought them in.

The house has been periodically filled with the smell of baking poultry and the stove top occupied with a large stock pot of boiling bones for broth. And with the refrigerator filled with plastic bags of meat ready to go into the freezer, it is a simple matter to put the 2-gallon pitcher of hot broth in a bucket with a tight lid (to keep the raccoons from getting it) and leave it out overnight for the fat to rise to the top. And indeed it is not only risen to the top but is semi-frozen, which makes it even easier to peel off the top of the broth.

And the fact that it is on the porch makes it is less likely that I will forget that I have the broth (things have a way of getting pushed to the back of the refrigerator, dontchaknow) and end up throwing it away because it has gone bad.

And we are still giggling at what my younger brother did at Christmas.

When we were in L.A. in October, both of my brothers made references several times to “Channel 13,” and Richard didn’t get what they were talking about. Back in the day, Channel 13 was an independent TV station in the metro Los Angeles area that ran a lot of commercials for gadgets that you could only buy on TV (But Wait! Order now and we'll double your order. Just pay extra shipping and handling...)

So, my younger brother sent Richard a “Channel 13” present.

A “Clever Cracker.”

It actually does work. It does crack the egg, but it also broke the yolk on all of the eggs I used it on. Perhaps that they were jumbo-sized eggs might have had something to do with it.

My brother assures me that we can look forward to a Channel 13 present every Christmas from now on.

Yippee!