Adventure is not excluded from the home – some adventures take place in within a 5-foot radius of the kitchen. Several culinary rendezvous have been nothing but adventurous. It all started with the boisterous bellied Bullfrog, was aided by the country Chicken, and now has invert(ebrat)ed into cooking the resilient Rhinoceros Beetle. The heavily armored, 3-odd-inch beetle makes for a savory delight that rivals that of the finest French cuisine. Attracted to light and perhaps the hum of generators, these horned giants can be collected by the bucket for the enthusiastic bug-eater. At present they are one of the most prevalent players in town, whether as fashion accessories or as leashed lurkers. So long as the holder avoids the pinch of the horns and the pinch of contracting armor plates between the head and the abdomen, the Beetle cannot do significant harm. Its sharp hooked claws can scratch, but only in a therapeutic, unlikely-to-draw-blood way. And when transformed into a meal these Rhino's take up a most tepid character.
Notice the appropriate handling manner.
To prepare these horrifyingly delicious critters the legs are trimmed to the most proximal segment, the dorsal armor protecting the wings is pried off, and the horns took in. Some dainty eaters remove the innards containing post-consumption leaf product (yes... AKA poop), but this component is locally cited as a major source of grease and thus should remain. Once prepared, the hefty Beetles should be clunked down into a boiling soup with sufficient seasoning. Within minutes these delightful morsels can be taken off the fire to cool. When eating, you can chomp them shell and all (Dentist recommendation pending) or try to work around the thick armor. But if – better yet when – you have the opportunity to try this underutilized source of protein, focus your efforts on attaining the meat at the joining of the head and the abdomen. It puts pulled pork to shame.
Fear not vegetarians – I've eaten several vegetables in my new home. My good friend James Collins and I have been developing Collins Agricultural Project – a half acre cabbage farm atop one of the nearby hills.
Collins worked a lifetime of jobs to garner funds to attend university: He sold boiled eggs on the side of the road, was a traveling medicine man, fixed concrete tunnels, and felled trees as a lumberjack. To name a few. For the last half-dozen years, he and his wife Comfort have been running a provisions shop on the main street in my town. At university, he focused on the technical side of farming, diligently studying and practicing that which he learned. It shows – his daily work has yielded almost 1000 sturdy cabbage plants with no power-machine help.
He cleared the half acre of tropical vegetation with his trusty cutlass. I helped – but portions that took me an hour were 10-minute tidbits for him. We trimmed some of the outer leaves on the 2-month-old cabbages, carried them to the house on a Friday and tied them in 3's to sell at the Saturday market for 10LD. The market is a 5-mile walk – we wheelbarrowed the produce to the market early in the morning listening to Akon, a crowd-favorite. Cabbage is a notoriously work intensive crop, and we were the only people in the packed market selling it. Ma's rushed to the wheelbarrow to buy their Sunday greens in bulk. We crashed the market.
It's great to have you back with new post on Steem platform, @jhimmel and I'm glad to see @dhimmel did not miss on your latest story as he seems not to be as active here on Steem as before.
I have featured your post in my entry to week 47 of Pay It Forward curation contest: https://steemit.com/payitforward/@zorank/pay-it-forward-curation-contest-week-47
Silent in terms of posts perhaps, but active in terms of @steemmonsters blockchain transactions. I think @trang is currently working on a new @d.tube release and hopefully we'll get a @monstertalk out soon.
@Zorank your support is unwavering and I truly appreciate it. I know @dhimmel's mild inactivity is with reason - only time will prove what that reason may be!
Haha. Thanks @zorank for the encouragement to stay active. I've just released a rather unique performance that took over six months to create! It's titled 75 messages with Uber's outrageously obstructive customer service.
I'm feeling like you haven't had good pulled pork...just a thought...lol. I have tried a number of odd foods over the years, but will say bugs is one I've never had the opportunity to try. Not even sure where I'd go to try any type of bug...hmmm wonder if there is somewhere around here and I can bring my 2 girls there. Would be priceless watching them.
Oh, you'd be surprised.
Where is here? You could buy crickets at a pet store and fry em up. Maybe grind them into dust and use as pepper - tell them afterwards of course.
No I wouldn't...just messing with you if you are comparing a bug to pulled pork.
I'm outside of Chicago. I've actually had crickets...covered in chocolate. Really couldn't tell the flavor past the chocolate..
Yes! Himmelstein! Yes!
Amazing! The economic ripples will reverberate throughout the town.
I'm not a huge fan of bugs, especially not on plate. Bon appetit, @jhimmel. I came across this post thanks to feture by @zorank.
It certainly takes a bit of blind faith the first few tastes - but nothing is out of the realm of possibility! Maybe one day.
Im here thx to @pifc and @zonarak, i have to say that i love the last picture remind me my childhood. I use to help one week a year in to a little town in to agriculture matters and the last picture remind me a path where we use to walk to get in to the "Milpa" thats the name of the place we use to cultivate corn
Thank you!
Once again a very nice story from Liberia, Josh. This post has been upvoted by @steemcuration voting trail.
I came to your post because it was featured in an entry to @pifc's Curation Contest:Week 47
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Your post was featured in an entry into @pifc's Curation Contest:Week 47. Posts are selected because the entrant felt you are producing great content and deserve more attention (& rewards) on your post. As such your post has been upvoted and will be visited by other members of the PIFC Community.
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Not too sure about the beetle, I'll let others enjoy that delicacy. The story of your friend James is a good lesson for so many. It shows that if you make the sacrifice to obtain your goals or dreams it will work out. It may take you a little longer, but the satisfaction of having done the work to get there yourself and you value your education more.
You were featured in week 46 of @pifc's Pay It Forward Curation Contest by @zorank. @pifc is a Pay It Forward Community which believes in by helping others grow we build a stronger community. We run this contest each week, it is open to everyone. It's a great way to show off people you find that might need some more exposure or meet new people.
Absolutely. And if you are not uneasy or challenged along the way, you will not grow in the pursuit of the goal. To me that growth is more important than the goal itself.
Very interesting article. I would never dream about eating those things. They don't look that tasty to me. Ahahaha.
Congratulations on being featured by @zorank on the Pay It Forward Contest.
Thanks! Glad something grabbed ya, other than the pincers of course. Agreed, they do not look appealing. Yet.
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