So we are having a BEATUIFUL day in WDC today...currently 66 degrees with a bit of a breeze, with the possibility of hitting 74! This type of weather makes me crave any and all outdoor activities...especially camping! Now I don't want to portray myself as the straight up backpacker wandering 'round the mountains with nothing but dried food and a cantene of water...I am a car camper...I don't need to have a flushing toilet or a microwave set up in the trunk of a car or anything...but I do have ample supplies that I prefer to tote along. Most importantly a good camping chair with two drink holders preferably...one for my beer and the other for a pack of smokes.
And as much as I love cooking indoors, I love cooking outdoors as well. There is just something about a campfire that makes a hot dog taste a million times better...and I don't touch marshmallows unless it is on the end of the stick roasted until it gets slightly aflame..just enough to barely char the outside. I also love love love using dutch ovens...when done properly the meals you can create are more satisfying than any top notch restaurant...I'm talkin' breakfast casseroles made with a dozen eggs, a pound of bacon, a bag of hashbrowns, onions, green peppers, cheese cheese cheese and more cheese all topped off with a salsa verde....or a beef stew that simmers for hours so the meat falls apart when picked with a fork or an apple cobbler browned to a crisp with tender, spiced caramelized apples.
Last season I even delved into fondue making in the great outdoors...I've actually decided it is a perfect camping meal...but then again...if I have a pot of melted cheese in front of me with crusty bread, grilled meat and blanched veggies to dip into it...that's perfection anywhere! The key to great fondue in the outdoors though is what you heat the cheese over...I dug up my old girl scout skills and turned an old coffee can upside down and nailed some holes into it for ventilation and stuck a sterno under it...provides the much needed low even heat to keep the cheese melty and not scorched.
So as I day dream my work day away of sleeping under the stars and eating campfire meals...share your outdoor adventures with food...past campfire cooking experiences...the first time you made the perfect s'more, a pan fried trout that you caught at the break of dawn in a nearby stream...and of course WFL!!
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Ooops...and excuse my spelling errors...good god...I should really use spell check next time...I feel like a first grader today!
Well done unicorn! As some of you know I am not an avid outdoorsman, but I really dig outdoor food. The extent of my outdoor cooking takes place at the annual family BBQ in Philly, where the menu spans from the traditional franks and burgers to bbq chicken, ribs and crabs from one of my older second cousins. You HAVE to eat a little of everything or you will cause a family feud. I love it. And at the end of the day I drive home and sleep in my bed.
Of course I could bring up Bonnaroo eats, but then we'd be here for days.
This is one area where my inner princess comes out, because I do not camp. I don't shit in the woods, I sleep on matresses with feather beds and clean white sheets and I shower or bathe at least twice a day. I think of the Holiday Inn as roughing it as far as vacation accomodations go. So, I really don't have anything to add to camping food stories.
I need to lay down a good base for lunch and dinner today. Tonight will be the first night of a weekend long bender with the OWFL in Chicago. I don't want to throw up in the bathroom of Goldstar like I did the last time they came to visit. I'm not sure what I should be eating though.
Oh and I sit stuck in Chicago's O'Hare airport so I will be having an early lunch of a Chicago style dog with all the fixin's.
Just one, Jo? You can limit yourself to just one tasty Chicago dog? Are you getting weak in your old age?
I've had the pleasure of eating some of Unicorn's wonderful outdoor food creations. But nothing beats Sunshine throwing a piece of meat right into the hot ashy coals to cook it up. Cooked yes, with extra ash for fiber!
Perhaps the best outdoor food i've had was bacon wrapped shrimp cooked over the open fire on a folding grill thing. That shit was good.
As for today, I need to go outside and enjoy this ridiculously beautiful day. So lunch will be outside either way
YAY!!!!! There she is! Everyone please welcome my bestest most favorite friend in the world, The Biz! This place just got so much better and you don't even know it yet.
Ms. Rosie-que we do need to get on some serious camping plans! You and e-que did inspire me to finally get one of those coffee presses from REI...you just can't beat the fresh stuff in the mornings!
And watchdog...I think many of us could go on and on and on about camping with you...and your gallon jug of martinis... and almost dying in 6 inches of water on an inner tube....all I have to say is "To the window...To the Wall"!!
Oh and peep backwards...I've never had rocky mountains on my menu...and I'm not sure if I ever could!! I give you my undying respect though!!
Pig roasts...I love pig roasts. There is nothing like a north carolina pig pickin'!
holy crap, i want to go camping with unicorn. i haven't been camping since girl scouts in 6th grade. aside from the usual dogs over the fire, i think we made pasta in a big pot. we had a rack or something, so the pot wasn't sitting in the fire. we weren't complete savages. My favorite thing we made was: take a banana, peel one strip down on the upside of it (not all the way off, though!), slice out the top wedge & set aside. Put lemon juice & sugar on, put the wedge back in & the strip back on, wrap in foil, throw in the fire for a few minutes. Mmmmmm. Nanners were always my fave.
My mom bbqs outside a lot during the summer. She's a fantastic cook inside & a fantastic one out. (My dad doesn't do the bbqing, despite the stereotypes.) She makes fish, beer-can chicken, steaks, kebabs, along with your standard burgers & dogs (& wursts, oh my!). Mmmm. That's the best part of summer. Just sitting outside with a glass of wine while the sun goes down. Lately, that's about the only time I eat at my parent's without the tv being on. We talk & stuff over the tv, but it's like background noise now. Oooh, I can't wait for the warm weekend! I plan to put the Mini top down & a heavy coat on (too cold at those speeds). And my fancy scarf to keep the hair fuzzies at bay.
Not sure WFL. Hm. Depending on how little I want to come back to work, I may walk a lot further than usual.
LT you're totally coming camping with me this season...and from what you wrote...I totally want your mom there also!! Those nanas sound so goood! Have you ever done the cored apple thing when you fill it up with peanut butter, wrap it in foil and throw it in the fire? Mighty tasty as well.
I was in Alaska back in, shit, 1994. Oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. I’m OLD. Old old old. Sorry for the freakout. Like I was sayin’, up in AK doin’ a little fly fishin’ for steelhead on some river near Soldotna with Jake T. Snake (the T stands for “The) and Justin J.J. Flyer Jackson. We got skunked, but Danny Aiello was pullin’ ‘em out one after another just a couple hundred yards upstream. Asshat had the spot. Ooo, I’m Danny Aiello! Ooo. My guide will take the hook out for me! Fuck off, man. You almost ALMOST ruined Hudson Hawk. I love it when Bruce Willis is flying down the highway on the stretcher and someone ahead tosses a cig out the window and he catches it, takes a drag, and then throws it away with disgust: “Menthol!”
Danny had the fishing spot, but we freaking had the scenery. There was a little island in the middle of the river and we had to wade across to it. I was wearing waders up to my armpits and the cold cold water was about a centimeter from the top of them. That would have sucked if it poured in. Anyway, we get out the island and we’re fishin’ there. It was my first time fly fishing, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I could drop my fly on a dime -- there just weren’t any fish under that particular dime. Fortunately, we did not totally rely on our ability to catch anything, and brought cans of franks and beans, and a couple cases of Keystone beer. Remember Keystone? (Shitty) [b]ottled beer taste in a can! Night fell and we built a fire, opened the cans and set them in the fire. We played a little stickball – well, I guess it was more like stickstick, because we threw sticks and hit them with other, bigger sticks – while the f&bs got hot. I can’t really say enough about the beans…ashy and delicious. I got up in the middle of the night and left the tent to pee…walked about 10 steps from the fire and almost ran into a fucking moose. Literally. I mean, I got up to about four feet from this thing. Talk about stagefright. It just stood there. So I went back to the tent and grabbed my camera. I went back to where it was and it was still there. So I took a picture. It didn’t come out at all. It looks like dark nothing, but I know it’s my moose. After that we continued down the road toward Homer and stopped for a day and night at Deep Creek. Trolling for salmon proved much more successful, and we also had a little luck deep sea for halibut. (My halibut fixation exposed!) Right out of the ocean halibut filets, you guessed it Watchdog, wrapped in bacon and cooked on the end of stick over a campfire, with Keystone!
Ahh…thanks, Uni. That was a nice trip down memory lane. You know what, Danny Aiello wasn’t that bad in HH. I was just pissed about the fish. Oh, and we were SO unbelievably stupid. Like ridiculously, put me down dumb. I would rather drive with my eyes closed and a BAL of .5 than do what we did again. We risked a mauling BIG TIME. Some kids got mauled at one of the places we were at the day after. Dead. Eaten. Grizzly. Still freaks me out to think about it.
Oh, and I’m barricaded in my office with gyros.
Welcome, Biz!
Ha, barricaded in your office.
Yes - I said my mom does beer can chicken sometimes. My little bro introduced it to her.
Yay, Uni! I can't wait! Where do you go usually? That pbna thing sounds awesome. Oooh - a little brown sugar or honey in there, too, would make it heavenly . . . .
Hey there kids. I come to you live from the Philadelphia airport, waiting to board my flight to meet the Chicago crew. I have not eaten in approximately 48 hours, which is what happens when I get on a sugar free red bull kick. Be Warned.
I'm totally going camping with Uni - great first post! Tittiecakes AND camping food - you're fast becoming my hero.
You'll all be surprised to hear that I have camped. Really and truly camped; like off-trail, sleeping rough in the desert, having to bury your "evacuant" when you leave, camping, dehydrated food, don't pack it if you don't want to carry it for 3 days, camped. While this is not ideal - at all - it's nice to know I could if I had to. Thank God, I most likely don't.
Car camping is the greatest. We need to plan a trip! Oooohh... even better would be cabin rental with an outdoor firepit and jacuzzi... okay, perhaps I'm dreaming there.
Update, if any Chicagoans are reading: my flight is currently delayed 5-10 minutes on the departure side, but is still expected to land on time. I'll let you know if that changes.
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