They shoot horses don't they?

Yesterday we experienced something neither of us had ever experienced before.  My husband choose a nice piece of meat for our supper.  It was lovely, dark, fine grained and lean looking.  When I looked to see what kind of cut it was and how much per kilo, I noticed the word "equino", my first clue as to what kind of meat it is/was - horse.  I have to admit that I was a bit squeamish about eating it, but "when in Rome" - this is part of the reason I like to travel - experiencing new and different things.

I had known that horse meat was not uncommon to be found in Europe.  It can even be found in Canada.  I don't know if it is still there, but in Vancouver there used to be a butcher shop on Hastings street that I used to pass that advertised horse meat.  One of my brother in laws says he thinks they ate it on the East coast during World War II.

Anyways, we cooked it and had it for last night's supper.  It was very delicious.  We cooked it to a medium temperature.  It was soft, fine grained, somewhat sweet tasting, not unsimilar to bison, which we frequently buy in Campbell River.  The squeamish feeling never did leave me though - I guess I just can't get over Daisy and Dixie our work horses when I was a kid, being served up for supper.  Don't know why, because I don't have the same issues with the cows or chickens that we also raised.  The mind is a strange and powerful thing!

We have been pretty quiet lately, not doing much but just wandering around the neighbourhoods around us, soaking up what we will soon be leaving.  Bill did get energetic a couple of days ago, and went on a walk-about on his own.  He was gone for about 4 hours and tracking his various stops it looks like he did about 15kms.  Wish I could do that much.  I find the hills here really get to me, I start huffing and puffing with even a steady incline, requiring all too frequent rest stops, that make it not so enjoyable.

Our trip is quickly coming to an end.  One week left in Rome, four days in Frankfurt and then we will be back in BC.

Another potential porch light candidate