For No Apparent Reason, I Went Camping: Part 7: Cooking

[Update: A commenter asked about my camp knife. I attached photos at the bottom of the post.]

Mrs. Curmudgeon has declared that she no longer camps. She once did. She doesn’t now. End of story. If I want to sleep on the dirt like a Neandertal that’s my business.

I accept that. I love her and she doesn’t drag me to events I don’t like.

However, I wasn’t far from home. So she dropped by for a picnic! She found me sound asleep in my tent… snoozing the afternoon away. I jokingly called her visit a “wellness check for wandering husband”.

She brought our dog. Actually the dog is her dog. It’s only my dog when it’s time to walk in a snowstorm. The dog is a happy sweet creampuff that charms everyone. It’s the size of a freight train but so damn fluffy you can’t help but hug it. The dog absolutely loves picnics but worries me in that it has the forest skills of a kitten. It might get lost halfway to the outhouse and it would probably die of fright if it camped in a tent with me. When the wolves howl near our house the dog hides near Mrs. Curmudgeon. (Maybe it’s protective of Mrs. Curmudgeon? All I know is that I don’t mind nighttime walks when wolves are about but our giant guardian dog will have none of that.)

I like that Mrs. Curmudgeon has a wonderful dog. I had a dog that was the best dog ever. I appreciated every moment. It died and this was to be the replacement but the dog and my wife bonded within seconds. I like that. The dog knew it was her turn.

The dog also likes it when I start a fire. That means food will happen soon. Have you ever seen a happier dog?

I skewered bits of onion, pepper, tomato, and marinated beef and cooked it over pallet wood in my Redcamp Wood Burning Folding Camp Stove. (I’ve used that little stove for years and it’s quite battered now. Well worth it!)

(Note: Amazon requires I specifically mention that I get a kickback if you shop from any links I post. Which is true, so I heartily encourage you to follow a link and buy anything. I never link to stuff I don’t like but in case you were unaware of the biases of the modern world, now you know.)

Yes, we had a firepit, but the folding campstove is a much more controllable fire. It also heats up faster and uses less fuel.

For skewers I used bamboo. Disposable and cheap. Why not?

Dinner was delicious, the dog begged shamelessly and got a ton of treats from both of us, and a good time was had by all. Then a single mosquito showed up. Mrs. Curmudgeon packed her folding chair in her car and vamoosed. The visit was nice though.

I packed up the leftover food, poured myself a drink, and settled in for a long productive session of doing nothing while sitting by the fire. Such relaxation!

After sunset I used my little shortwave to fish the airwaves. I own and highly recommend my TecSun PL-880. You can find it here on Amazon. I mentioned the search for it back on my blog back in 2014. I don’t use it much but I enjoy it every time I use it. It’s a good little radio.

In the massive ecosystem that is shortwave, you never know what you’ll catch. I was hoping for blues. I wound up finding something with acoustic guitars in Spanish. (Sadly not flamenco.) I don’t know what it was but it was delightful.

The next day, like every day, began with coffee. Here’s a hint, prepare in advance for soot. Nothing burns as clean as butane or propane and lately I’ve used everything but that. I coat my percolator and frying pan bottoms with bar soap. The carbon from whatever you’re using for heat builds on the soap and not the metal. It’s much easier to wash off later.

Note: I use both white gas and unleaded in the Dual Fuel stove. Unleaded does make more soot but it’s available everywhere. Wood is of course the sootiest.

In case you’re wondering, a well cleaned maple syrup bottle is a good way to carry a half gallon of water.

Breakfast had been planned as bacon and eggs. Since I had leftovers from last night’s kebabs it became; “put everything in the skillet and then put an egg on it”. Here’s some of my “leftovers”:

Dump it in a big mess and you’ve got an outstanding meal!

All chuckboxes should have salt and pepper. Don’t overthink it. Anything will do. You don’t need to spend a fortune on a “spice wheel”. I use these:

All too soon I had to pack up. I still had a few pages left of my book. I read them while happily sitting in an empty campground, next to a packed truck. I enjoyed the book so much I wrote about it in earlier posts.

Was it a big adventure? Heck no. Not every campout has to summit Everest. All you need is a chance to unwind in nature.

Happy camping y’all!

Update: The camp knife I’m using is a Gerber. It’s a fairly stout knife. I meant to use it for hunting but it turns out to be just right for cutting up veggies & cooking.