Fresh from Canadian, Texas, this burlap bag containing over 10 pounds (4.5kg) of ribeye steaks just arrived at our front door. Steak season is a short one only running from October 15th through December 31st. Our first order of six steaks arrived back in October and I grilled our first 21-ounce (0.6kg) slab of cow b during our road trip up to Oregon in November. Since then, two more steaks have joined their brethren in the afterlife. It must have been their ghosts talking to me because at the last minute on the 31st of December, while most people were considering what level of inebriation they’d attempt to forget 2020 with, I sprung into action, deftly pulling the trigger on my big steak purchase. Now our freezer glows brightly with the treasures of beef that are typically only enjoyed at the Cattle Exchange up in the Texas Panhandle.

So are these steaks really worth the expense? That’s hard to say as I’m inclined to romanticize things and these particular steaks are associated with one of the most spectacular 4th of July celebrations Caroline and I have ever enjoyed. Back in 2006, we booked ourselves into the Arrington Ranch BnB that was featured in the movie Castaway; dinner was had at the Cattle Exchange. This wasn’t my first time there; the year before, traveling cross country with my mother, she and I happened to stop in while passing through Canadian, Texas. Seeing a brochure about town, I decided after my amazing meal that Caroline and I would return, and that’s just what we did. It’s kind of sad to think we’ve not been back in the intervening 15 years, but at least we can order steaks from them for 10 weeks at the end of the year.

Tragically, I won’t be having a steak tonight as I’m in the middle of a 5-day fast. Come Tuesday though, I’m fantasizing about some chanterelles served up with a flame-broiled steak. By the way, I’m well aware of just how indulgently fortunate I am. Not a bite of one of these steaks is eaten without some profound gratitude that luxuries like these are able to be had. Rest assured, I feel the exact same way about the nearly dozen different dried Korean plants we’ve had delivered recently that will be accompanying our upcoming bibimbap.