The best part of ending a “bloggers” day is sitting down to actually eat the dish. The pheasant groundnut stew smelled amazing. The kitchen had a slight hint of almond butter and coriander in the air. I had taste tested the stew all day, and was really excited to share a bowl with my family. And then the phone rang.

My dad had shot a cow elk and needed help getting it to the truck. Dinner plans were changed, and I was a bit disappointed. I put away the bowls and spoons, found my boots and gloves, and went to the truck. In a last minute decision, I decided to pour some of the stew into a thermos and grabbed a few plastic spoons

The Cow elk

Two hours later we reached my dad. The ground was covered in several inches of snow, it was dark, and the temperature was quickly dropping to zero. I stepped out of the truck and gasped at how quickly the cold air hit my face and filled my lungs. This was definitely a new, and not necessarily good, experience in my books.

We hiked the relatively short distance up a snow covered hill to where my dad was cleaning the cow. I laughed out loud as he turned to greet us and his lengthy grey beard was dripping with long, dangling icicles.

“Oh my gosh! You must be freezing!” I said.

“Nope. I am not even cold, it’s crazy,” he replied.

He already had the elk quartered, so I grabbed a hind quarter, threw it over my shoulder, and headed back down the snowy slope to the truck. Usually hauling animals builds so much heat that I am wishing I could take my coat off, but packing out animals during January nights is a much different story. I could feel my feet and hands getting colder as I walked. This might have been a much shorter pack than I had done in the past, but it was definitely one of the harder ones.

A few trips later, and the cow was loaded in the truck bed. I let out a big sigh, stretched my arms above my head to create a little relief for my back, and looked upward. The sky was amazing. Standing out there in the pitch black night, no sounds or lights around, and just looking up was breathtaking. The stars were huge. And so bright.

“Soup! Let’s have soup,” I said.

And so we stood in the cold snow, under that beautiful sky, eating pheasant groundnut stew from a thermos. Now that was a good bowl of soup.