{"id":238,"date":"2009-03-17T04:34:05","date_gmt":"2009-03-17T04:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2009\/03\/17\/ontology_2\/"},"modified":"2009-03-17T04:34:05","modified_gmt":"2009-03-17T04:34:05","slug":"ontology_2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2009\/03\/17\/ontology_2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontology #2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mount Tapi looked down on us as Mike guided the Toyota down the track and around rain-scarred switchbacks that are to even unsealed roads what three waterbaths are to a programmable thermal cycler. On such a journey you need complete faith in your driver. Hanging on to the door grip is optional, but recommended. Scree on one side and a sheer drop on the other, we kept an eye out for freshly turned soil. Wild pigs love to get at the roots of ferns, and there was plenty of sign that they’d been here recently, but none of us could see rustling in the gorse nor the black shapes against green grass we were looking for. A row of cream-tufted toetoe followed a stream down the side of the hill, and we watched for a fruitless few minutes before driving on. <\/p>\n

\nThrough the gate where we’d had to chase away the bullocks, and the valley widened; lush green grass and native scrub lay below us to our left — and the occasional rabbit loping for cover. Then Mike spotted a feral cat — yet another pest — and stopped, telling Andy to pull down the back seat and get out the .22. While he loaded the short magazine I watched the cat nonchalantly walk around the bluff and out of sight — probably after a rabbit. We drove on a little while, and I got out to open the next gate — and saw the cat sitting thirty yards away. <\/p>\n

\nAfter the cat (whose day was probably completely<\/em> spoiled by a round of hollow point up its arse) we saw that the hill below us was covered in rabbits. We drove through the gate and sat in the truck, the engine ticking over so that the sudden quiet wouldn’t disturb them. Andy tried shooting a few rabbits; but although we saw the earth kick up the rounds were falling short. He used to shoot competitively but there must be a world of difference between taking your time at a rounded target, concentrating on technique and breathing; and shooting down a hill with the wind gusting at an unranged target no more than a foot across.<\/p>\n

\nWe drove on a little further, to the next paddock. I took the rifle from Andy but while I was steadying my aim on the open door of the truck the two rabbits I had sighted decided they’d be better off in the scrub. I was about to give up when Mike pointed out another one, sat in the shade of a small tree, about 150 yards down the hill. Through the sights I could make its head and ears. I dropped the bolt; aimed about a foot above its head. Squeeze not pull — and the rabbit went down. Andy whooped and even Mike grinned approval. I half-ran down the hill, through a clump of manuka, and brought back Monday’s tea.<\/p>\n

\nMike #2 hadn’t been idle: while retrieving the dogs he’d managed to kill another pig and had brought it down off the hill. It had been a good haul for us: three eating pigs, one left on the hill; and a rabbit. Eventually we got back to the house, and I gutted the rabbit, feeding the innards to the outlaws’ dog. I had to remember how to skin a rabbit, not having done it in 20 years, but managed quite well:<\/p>\n

\n\"Rabbit\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThat evening I dived in the pool, and then had a spa with a rather disappointingly average beer.<\/p>\n

\n\"Richard<\/p>\n

Rabbit casserole<\/h3>\n

\nI left the carcass in the fridge overnight, but Monday morning I chopped the backbone and the legs, and rubbed salt into it. For full flavour I should have left it hanging in the tackle shed but I wanted to see if it was any good. I quartered<\/del> eighthed a red onion and got a few sprigs of rosemary from the garden. I put these, with some black pepper, with the rabbit<\/p>\n

\n\"Dressed<\/a><\/p>\n

\nand poured on, ooh, about that<\/em> much cheap chardonnay.<\/p>\n

\n\"casserole\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nIn the afternoon I poured over a pint of chicken stock and four or five cloves of garlic, and stuck it in the oven to casserole slowly. Because there were four of us to be fed I also seared four chicken legs and put them in the pot with the rabbit. I served it with crunchy roast potatoes and runner beans fresh from my mother-in-law’s garden.<\/p>\n

\nThe rabbit tasted a bit like chicken, but was denser and had a subtle, not at all gamey, flavour. We all enjoyed it, and with any luck I’ll be taking Rachel out one evening this week to get some more.<\/p>\n

\nAnd the pigs? There is 3 kg diced pork in the freezer ready to be made into vindaloo at the end of the week, along with a rack of ribs; and 5 kg random pork that my brother in law wants to make into salami. The two Mikes have the rest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mount Tapi looked down on us as Mike guided the Toyota down the track and around rain-scarred switchbacks that are to even unsealed roads what three waterbaths are to a programmable thermal cycler. On such a journey you need complete … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}