A tale of a tail for sale

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I was surprised to see something new in our local supermarket's meat department.
I was then somehow shocked to read the label; it said (and I translate literally from the Hebrew)  "TAIL OF A CALF."
I was really curious by then because never have I seen a whole long tail for sale!
After sneaking a photo for the blog, I came home and started googling. 

OK, so I did already know there is something called oxtail, but oxen are not used for that anymore; and if you do see it for sale, the tail bone is chopped into smaller pieces.

Apparently there is a new approach to eating meat based on a 2004 foodie classic, The Whole Beast, Nose to Tail Eating by chef Fergus Henderson.
As one kosher butcher explains it,
"Nose to tail eating is a philosophy in which one eats the entire animal thereby honoring the animal's sacrifice and reducing food waste." 

Here is how an Australian organic food blog talks about it.

I am not qualified to explain about the historic complications of kosher tail requirements. 
There is something about having to remove the sciatic nerve and having this nikkur done by specially trained menakrim.
In fact many Jews believe/d -- mistakenly -- that eating beef hindquarters is forbidden.
But if you are interested please see "Cow butts are kosher" in the blog The Kosher Omnivore's Quest.

Your input is welcome, dear readers. 
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P.S. Speaking of beef, here is a favorite photo of mine from Jerusalem's shuk:
http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/a-heavy-yoke.html
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Almost That Time

As mentioned, it's time to go archives diving. Lots to shoot this weekend but it's only Thursday. It is, however, mid-March and baseball season is only a couple of weeks away. The advertising sign above sums up the local attitude well. Our family is going to the second game of the season on a Saturday afternoon. Much safer than a night game at this time of year.       

Madeleine Monday

Our little escape artist at the City Museum before the trouble started. She likes the ball pit and loves all the slides. After this first trip down she of course wanted another. We watched her climb the one flight of stairs. Instead of turning right to the top of the chute, she turned left and headed to the outdoor area, resulting in a twenty minute search. So these are all the usable pictures I got. Pretty much out of material and need to do some hunting.     

Seeing eye dogs, eyes, and balloons

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It's not every day that you see a guide dog; but today I saw TWO.
This beautiful mature one stayed quietly at its master's feet in the Wilhelmina Auditorium from 9:00  to 2:30.

Beer Sheva's Soroka Hospital gave a study day about various eye problems and treatments.
How the dog sat through all those lectures I don't know.
Poor thing was too low to even see the slides on the screen.

One of the talks included videos of eye surgery, including sticking needles into the eye.
Oi, not for the faint of heart!  But amazing what the surgeons can do to save vision.

Comic relief came unintentionally, haha! 
At the end of the day the Eye Department balloon decorations had somehow gravitated to the EXIT stairwell and the old folks were trying to climb through them.

Then at my bus stop a sweet younger dog was waiting for the bus.
Her jacket says she is a guide dog for the blind puppy in training.

The bus stop is right outside Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Many students there volunteer to take such puppies into their homes for a year and go everywhere with them in order to socialize them.

You can see how the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind works in my earlier post.
And this post shows some playful puppies at the President's open house.
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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Tough Day At The City Museum

Here and there I've had posts about  St. Louis' City Museum. There is nothing like it in the world and it's hard to describe. (The Wikipedia article gives it a good try.) Mrs. C and I took Ellie there yesterday. She gave us a hard time and I got little shooting done.

The child is four and a half. She has complete social confidence and little sense of fear. The building is a maze of tunnels and big climbing things, and on three occasions she ran off from us to explore on her own. Each time we had to get museum staff to help find her. Each time we gave her a stern lecture but to no avail. She needs to learn some limits.

The bottom two pictures are from a new area that has a large net suspended over giant Legos. Ellie spent twenty minutes bouncing around the net (that's her, just up and to the right of center, in the sweater with horizontal, brightly colored stripes). I walked under the edge to get some video but some kid kicked me in the head. Time to go home.