Eating Out in Montana

My cousin Christy took a well earned vacation to Montana with a friend and she brought back photographic evidence. After Christy married my cousin Tim, they head out to Glacier National Park for their honeymoon and fell in love with the beauty of that part of the world. I can't blame her for wanting to go back. There is some great eating in the big sky state and I know Christy enjoyed her trip. She also enjoyed coming home to her beautiful baby daughter, Jane. The Jane-ster deftly looked after her dad all week while mom was away. Pretty impressive for an 18 month old.
The first pic is a chokecherry bush. Apparently chokecherries are a wild berry with a large pit (that you remove carefully...let you...choke) that are mostly eaten by the local wildlife. Bears, raccoons and the like. The locals are smart enough to also enjoy the wild berries and they make all kinds of fun things like jams and jellies from these little beauties. Gmom would be so proud.
Another very good idea...fried cheese curds. Like mozzarella sticks, but so much better. Real, fresh cheese curds that are fried to a beautiful golden brown and are oooey on the inside and crispy on the outside. They sound heavenly.
"Then this thing called fleischkuechle (pronounced flesh-keek-luh) which is ground pork and beef encased in batter and deep fried... and yes, it's good." What more could you want in a meal after you've been out on the ranch, working up a big appetite doing ranch things all day? I don't know. I want it after a long hard day in my cubicle. You know...to keep up my strength.
Last, and most important, Christy gives us a glimpse at the homemade beef jerky making process that they use at the ranch. Thinly slice the beautiful, fresh beef and toss very liberally with the seasoning and salt.
Give it a turn in the dehydrator...
And presto-chango, you have some seriously fantastic jerky.
Apparently my cousin, my own flesh and blood, Tim, ate ALL of the jerky she brought back in record time. This leaves none for Mark and I when we come visit!! Selfish! I can't wait to give making homemade jerky a try in my own kitchen (I found a recipe that doesn't require a dehydrator) so that I too can enjoy the wonders of homemade jerky.

Thanks for the pictures, Christy! Montana is now next on my list.

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