Martha-In-Training: Exotic Meats

Because I work til 8:45 pm Monday to Friday, John and I rarely get to sit down and eat dinner together.

I had the night off yesterday so I took that rare opportunity to make a nice dinner. Not wanting to go the familiar route of chicken or pasta, I wanted to try something different. I mentioned it yesterday. I was looking for exotic meats.

There's a store that I walk by on my way to work every morning called the Healthy Butcher. I went in and was greeted by very friendly staff. I browsed the counter selections and found elk sausage and ordered 2 immediately. I was also tempted to buy the $30 ostrich egg but decided I would come back to that if I couldn't find ostrich meat.

Lo and behold, ostrich burgers were prepackaged in the freezer behind me.

I grabbed 2 burgers and purchased them along with my elk sausages.

The ostrich wasn't too expensive (especially when you think about how much it would cost to buy a burger from a place like Harvey's or any of the places I listed in Toronto's top ten burgers) and cost roughly $9 for the two burgers. The elk sausage was similarly priced at a little under $8 for two.

I noticed the ingredients list 'local' ostrich ... where are they living?

I walked over to Metro to pick up burger buns and tried to think about what would go well with ostrich and elk. I mean, we're talking 2 different continents of origin here so a nice side salad seemed a little boring.

I grabbed a bunch of carrots and decided I would do an insalata caprese (sans basil though) as I purchased all the ingredients I'll need for the engagement party hors d's.

I didn't tell John what it was until he took a bite.

I think he was pleasantly surprised.

The ostrich is pretty tasty but I was kind of expecting more from it. The elk sausage is really good and I'm using the left over one for this morning's breakfast.

Then I'll clean up the kitchen, jump in the shower, and get started on my hors d'oeuvres.

I also went to Michael's with my mom yesterday and found some great sale items.

My aunt got me a gift card for my bithday so I bought a stamp, 2 fancy markers in my wedding colour, some fake grapes (for centerpiece ideas), card stock paper (too small, might return it), and the things I need to make the save the date cards.

I did one to see if it'll work properly and to see if I'll be painting a ton of hearts or if we''ll be going to plan B.