luzula

Today Egon was taken by a goshawk, which ate at his body for a while before we discovered it had happened. I hope he died quickly. We will mourn you, Egon: you will never again cuddle with Eva, nor mate with a flirty female. I have tears in my eyes as I write this.

E and I took what was left of his body and salvaged his heart, liver, kidneys, one half of his breast, and one leg for us to eat. Although afterwards we discovered this page and realized there was more we could have used. I also examined what I realized must be the gizzard, which was quite interesting--I totally see now how they can swallow whole oat and barley grains and have them be crushed by the gravel in that strong hollow piece of muscle. It's strange to look at the other ducks now and know what they look like inside.

I made a three-course meal tonight, containing four things I have never cooked before, marked by numbers:
Starter: Duck heart, liver, and kidneys (1), fried with soy sauce, sesame oil, Sichuan pepper, garlic, rice wine, and a little bean paste. Thank you, Egon, it was delicious.
Main course: Hamburgers with acorn patties (2) and homemade French fries (3), with carrot slaw, homemade mayonnaise, grated homemade cheese, and chili sauce. The acorns had been leached for a long time and made quite a good base for minced "meat".
Dessert: Crème brûlée (4) flavored with rum, seared with E's new gas burner. It is really for killing weeds that have just sprouted, but why not take advantage?