Brer Rabbit, he lay low.

So according to recent learnings, animal meat contains every nutrient people need to survive. But not all animals. Sarah and I, in the copious free time we used to have before assuming the twin responsibilities of parenthood and home-ownership, used to read to one another quite a bit, and one of the books we read aloud was the SAS Survival Guide, a volume full of interesting and quite useful tidbits of information.

"If you kill a caribou," it advises, "be sure to eat the fermented lichens in its stomach."

and, more to the point: "It is not possible to survive on rabbit alone, no matter how many you eat. The body needs minerals and vitamins which rabbit does not provide; make sure to balance your diet with vegetation."

So man cannot live by rabbit alone. But we can sure try!

Today we found this little fellow for sale in the Ste-Foy Saturday market.

Isn't he sweet? But terrified looking. Wide-eyed. Scared right out of his skin, he is. Poor guy. There's something about the whites of his eyes, and the big tubular earholes devoid of those famously tall ears, that's so endearing, n'est-ce pas? But there's a fine line between endearing and creepy, so off his head had to come:

Don't chop until you see the whites of his eyes. But in fact, if took several hacks to get through. I must remember to get a guillotine. And then, after it was done he still stared at me. Had to bag 'im and bin 'im. Only then could I get down to the serious business of jointing his corpse. First his forelegs. They came off easily enough. Then the hind legs. Strong things, muscley. No wonder they're so good at hopping. After which, I cut across his spine below the ribcage. Hack! And then, I had to dig out his organs. Liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, all still attached, and needing removal. I felt a little bit like a Chinese prison doctor, except that the patient in question was not still clinging to life.

Anyway, all the useful meat went into a ziplock with a bunch of sweet white wine. We'll let him soak like that for a while, reflecting on his situation, and cook him tomorrow.

On a slightly related topic, look what else I made:

Look familiar Eric? Probably not. Sadly. If you're not going to heed your friends' advice, then at least I will. This is Kristi's recipe, commented to you the other day. The parsely is fresh from our garden. The lemons unwaxed and sweet. The oil is pure lucque, which is the species of olive we ate gallons of last year in the Herault, where we were living. Good recipe, Sti. Easy, delicious and healthy.

I hear Eric's incredulity even from here: His Majesty the BeefKing made a vegan dish?! But we now know: man cannot live by rabbit alone.