Campfire Cafe -- introductions & campfire stories

Camping? Oh darlin', do you mean when I put on my vinyl dress and sing torch songs, songs about love and loss. Do you mean when I shave my legs and dance the tarantella? Oh, not that type of camping. Well nevah-mind, but I do have such the recipe for you, and only you, so let us keep this, you and I. on the down low. Mwah....

I've done this before. And I will do this again. It 's a good recipe.

My pal Tommy is getting married so me, him and a dozen of his pals, our gang, are gonna go up to Tahoe to bachelor party down. Drum sets and amps are in the off-season ski rental pad. Video games and 4 hour dvd's are in stock, Beer, wine, spirits and the good Green are groaning the larders.

Well my pal Tommy's good pal Bry is a vegan. No dairy, no meat.... NO PROB! I looked at this like a challenge. Sleeves rolled up, I set the ket a fire!

Oil up a big ol' wok (or dutch oven) with a 1/4 half cup of already hot olive oil. Slice and dice onions, and red peppers, a whole lot of 'em. Carrots. Celery and fennel bulb. Salt. Pepper.Bay leaf if you make it "saucy". Cayenne ( a pinch of "African Bird of Paradise" if you are do lucky to have some on hand... ) Sweat, saute, brown, carmelize, fry it up for 8 minutes or so. Put all this aside and KEEP THAT POT HOT!

If you are that kind of cook, deglaze the pan with white wine. If you are not that kind of cook, use water or veggie stock. Re-oil up and get about a half cup of oil. Then two blocks frozen tofu, firm (i love the texture of thawed tofu...), soaked in soy sauce and garlic mash and ginger mash and chili sauce are added It should end up brown and hot and you oughta smell the browning garlic.

Add the caramelized veggies to the fried tofu.

Here is a fork on the plate. Tomato or no tomato? You make the call. I like to add slow baked oven tomato, a baking sheet of sliced romas, olive oiled, salt and peppered. are cooked for 2 hours at 275 degrees. One can of mashed tomatoes is good too. Or just leave it as it is; tomato free.

Drop this atop quinoa or spaghetti or rice or toasted loaves. Hhhhmmm, hmmm, good eating...

Hiya Mish!

Ah, a backpacker, huh (guessing from the camp stove link)? Dutch oven cooking is a bit off the course for you. *grin* Lugging around 20-30 lbs for just one cooking container? It's more a car-camping kinda thingy. It is a wonderful addition to your quiver of camp cooking skills, though. Let us know how you do.

Love the mulled wine recipe.

Hiya UF!

Welcome to the campfire!

An "ambient camper," huh? Hmm. *grin* Not too close to my campsite, thank-you-very-much! *grin*

I waited -- very intentionally -- to respond. Not because of any fear/dislike of the every-camping-opportunity-is-a-24-hour-rave mindset that "ambient camper" suggests, not because of the MOOP-generating potential of non-flammable disposables, and not because of the advertising plug.

I simply did not know how to respond to your "Ummm.... I wish I was alone and nowhere."

But I do not want to fail to offer a rock to you, to sit and join us at the campfire. Enjoy the cameraderie that we offer (even if it is only virtual company). Forget the Jeremiah Johnson/mountain man/hermit crap. Enjoy the friends that a campfire can provide.

UF, you are welcome here!

Johnny

Hi MeShell!

What the heck, indeed! How many camping trips have you begun while the snow is falling? Not camping in "a snow dream." Not enjoying the view (and your hot cocoa) from the warm side of a picture window. Real stuff?

I have done a lot of winter camping -- even on permafrost, and far enough north of your location that the locals still have "injun trouble." For every memory of camping on a sub-tropical beach -- awakened by a coconut crab crawling over me, I have one of snow on the ground outside my tent or RV (and on the tent/RV, and in the air falling around us). I liked it, and will do it again (I hope). I recommend it to many of the members of our campfire circle. I offer that all camping is wunnerful -- in reality, not just in memory or imaginings.

The rest of your text is, well, borderline insulting. Ah, heck, scratch the borderline part. "But I'll look at your ingredient lists... which you title recipe... lol"

This is not a recipe exchange.(we got a buncha them already). The recipes I have included -- so far -- exemplify technique more than ingredients, and have already been used by forum members as starting points, not gospel or with verbatim compliance in mind. They were chosen as something more than just ingredient lists -- for newcomers to Dutch oven cooking.

But your intent may not have been to insult me or other folks sharing our campfire. It may have been sloppy writing or ignorance. Or something else. You may be unaware of the physical differences between our real, face-to-face communications and our "chats" by Tribe postings. We have to try harder to convey feelings as well as the text.

*grin*

You are welcome here. Drag up a rock. Relax. Enjoy.

Johnny