Archive for July 2013
A fun-to-make, traditional camping delicacy is pouch pocket stew. Here’s the chicken version … you can do a beef version with frozen burger patties, tater tots and ketchup. Mmmmm.
Anyone can put these together … we have done this many times with Cub Scouts assembling their own pouch pockets (it’s true that an 8-year old boy requires a bit more supervision than most adults). And I’m hearing that MrsMowry is working on a gourmet recipe to make at home….
Next time you go camping, have Pouch Pocket Stew!
Ingredients
- Frozen chicken breasts, diced. 4 oz per person. Or, go crazy.
- Minute Rice (add equal parts water and Minute Rice if you use uncooked rice. Allow for rice expansion as it steams.)
- Frozen mixed vegetables
- Water
- Cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
- salt, pepper, and Magic Dust seasoning to taste
- Be creative. Butter can be a nice addition. Beer, too.
- Fresh onion, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower and pre-cooked rice can be used.
Instructions
Tear off a large piece of aluminum foil to make the pouch pocket.
Butter the aluminum foil so you don’t burn the chicken. It’s bad if you have anything in direct contact with the charcoal fire: don’t burn your dinner.
Add chicken, vegetables, rice, water, soup and seasoning to taste. Your stew really can’t be too wet. Using frozen ingredients is great … the ice-cold ingredients keep the rest of your camping supplies cool.
Fold the aluminum foil into a pouch pocket that doesn’t leak. Fold carefully.
Cook about 10 minutes directly on a bed of hot charcoal. Flip, cook for another 10 minutes.
Remove from the fire. Open the pouch. Enjoy.
You don’t want anything to be in direct contact to the aluminum foil and then the coals … so a little butter doesn’t hurt.
A handful of chicken nuggets … frozen is fine.
Add rice … dry, Minute Rice is fine. Uncooked. Go wild.
Onions help the flavor. Don’t they always?
You need lots of water in the pouch pocket. Moisture is good.
Add frozen mixed vegetables. We also added fresh cauliflower and broccoli florets.
You can’t add too much water. Don’t let your pouch dry out when it hits the fire.
Cream of mushroom soup for flavor. Cream of chicken works. If it’s wet, it’s good.
Fold the foil pouch so no moisture escapes.
Fold, but don’t tear the aluminum foil. If you have a hole, all of the moisture will escape and that will be bad.
Put your perfectly folded & sealed pouch pocket directly on the charcoal briquets.
Flip after about 10 minutes. And make sure you know which packet is yours.
Get the pouch pocket off of the coals and put it on a thick paper plate … don’t touch it, it’s very hot.
When you can, open the foil to see your dinner.
Mmmmmmmmmm.
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In the Kings Canyon National Park, above the Crystal Springs campsite, you’ll find Panoramic Point … drive there. Then, there’s a 3 mile out-and-back trail to a Ranger lookout tower which is a lovely hike. Do the whole trail … or hike until you’ve had your fill, and then return.
I did this hike on day 1 of my campout, and did not see a single soul on the trail.
Lovely.
My favorite image from this hike. A dead manzanita’s branches conform to the rocks that defined it’s growth.
Love bees!
Wasps are pollitors, too?
This snag lost its top … probably due to a lightning strike, that eventually killed it.
Action shot!
Don’t know what caused this odd burn pattern.
It’s tough out there … wing damage on this butterfly.
It’s really tough out there … the butterfly lost its lower left wing.
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Loved watching the US play Costa Rica in soccer yesterday.
This was the Men’s National Team playing in the CONCACAF championship tournament … the regional championship of North America, Central America and the Carribbean. It’s been held 11 times, and Mexico has won 6 times, USA 4 times, and Canada 1 time. The USA is favored to win the tournament this year.
The problem came at 54:33 of this pool-play match. The Costa Rican goal keeper, Pepperton, rushed out to the edge of the box, knocking one of his defenders down to head a ball away. The problem came on the rebound: he handled the ball outside of the goalkeeper’s area.
Handling the ball deliberately.
You can see in the picture that he handled the ball. Let’s go to the rule book:
A foul occurs when a player in the field of play “handles the ball deliberately.” In this case, the player is the keeper, who has left his special area – meaning he is the same as a field player – and then he, clearly, handled the ball deliberately.
Cobi Jones, the color commentator, exploded with “It’s gotta be a red card.”
He continued, “It was an intentional handball.” (Cobi, that was spoken like the great player that you were. It must be intentional to “handle the ball deliberately.” But thanks for trying!)
JP Dellacamera, the play-by-play announcer, was entirely supportive of Cobi’s slanted perspective. American viewers watching the telecast knew that a red card was the right call – and they were about to believe that America had been robbed.
A red card, you see, would have resulted in the keeper being sent from the field of play. Costa Rica would have been forced to bring on another keeper for the rest of the match, and to play with only ten men on the field. The USA would have had a major advantage.
The referee, Courtney Campbell, issued a yellow card, which was “only” a warning to the keeper. That was the proper call, in my opinion. A red card would have been appropriate if the keeper committed the foul to end an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. Did the handling keep a goal from happening? Perhaps, but it was not obvious. That’s what the referee thought, and I agree. I’m hardly a FIFA referee, but I do have a bit of referee training and experience. Yellow card, as called.
Fox Sports however, played the role of the homer. They stated the red card was the right call. Their expert on the laws of soccer, Dr. Joe Machnik, agreed that a red card was the right call. In no case did they explain why a yellow card might be the right call.
And that’s why they were wrong. I hope their coverage improves … they should listen to Vin Scully call the Dodgers sometime; perhaps they would then understand how a sports announcer should handle controversial calls by the referee. Until then, viewers better bone up on the laws of the game, because Fox isn’t helping them.
USA won their group outright by defeating Costa Rica. Now, it’s on to the CONCACAF quarter finals … watch the USA take on El Salvador in Baltimore this Sunday at 3:30p ET. Fox Sports, of course. Just don’t take the commentary too seriously.
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Little Girl had been after me for years to go camping again. It used to be our annual tradition to go to the Sequoia National Park every Memorial Day weekend. We lost the tradition as the kids got older & busier … and now, we hadn’t been camping as a family in far too many years.
A plan was born.
MrsMowry fell out because of her fabulous new job. That was sad because she had never been camping with the family, but work has to come first at least occasionally, right? MrsMowry & her husband will go camping next time.
The rest of the family – including Payton – would go camping over the July 4th weekend. I would go to the Sequoia National Park early to secure a good spot to camp during this holiday weekend. That meant I would get 2 days of solitude with the big trees before the family showed up.
Perhaps you missed that: 2 days of solitude.
What a fabulous thing. I. Could. Not. Wait.
I drove up on Monday and found the campsite in Crystal Springs, right next to Grant’s Grove. Elevation: 6,500′. Distance to the nearest sequoia: 120′. Distance to the nearest human that first night: unknown, as I couldn’t see their tent from my campsite.
Heaven.
I set up my tent, bedding and Velda’s kitchen with 3-burner stove. I stowed all of the food in the bear box quickly … the boys & I had learned how important that was when we visited Philmont a few years ago. There, you learn that bears WILL eat any smellable thing they can find that’s not in a proper bear-proof container. We also learned that mini-bears (AKA ground squirrels) were actually far more common and not at all cute after they got into your food stash. Beware the mini-bears.
No problem; everything went into the bear box.
Critters without fine motor skills and no ability to use a tool can’t open this box of goodies.
Dinner turned out to be a bit of a challenge, because I made a huge mistake. I’ve trained Scouts. I’ve trained my family. And I failed … to pack my own gear. We had a busy weekend leading up to my Monday morning departure, and Velda packed my food and the kitchen supplies. When we packed my car, I grabbed the containers with everything that I “needed” for my 2 days alone, and then grabbed more of the group’s supplies so they wouldn’t have as much to bring north.
Monday night’s dinner, I decided would be soup. I had a nice can of chowder to open … and no pot to cook it in. I made do, and heated the soup in the can on the stove. It didn’t work very well, as you might have guessed, but I had warm soup and I did not starve. And, oh my, the stars that night in my cold camp. Lovely.
(Side note: I found that Velda had snuck in a can of barley soup, which must be an attempt at humor on her part. I haven’t eaten barley without comment since the great barley soup pot of ’97 became a legend in her kitchen. But she still tries to sneak that stuff into my diet. You’ve got to watch her every minute, apparently.)
Tuesday morning dawned, and I took a wonderful hike. Didn’t see a human on the trek. Lovely pictures to follow.
I got back to camp and found that I had some international neighbors across the road (it fascinates me what an international experience it is when visiting our national parks). A German family with 2 teenaged boys were my new neighbors. I didn’t bother them and they didn’t bother me … and we had a quiet afternoon in camp. All good.
Dinner time, I decided, would be a peanut butter sandwich (when I’m cooking in camp, it is a decidedly gourmet selection, you see). I got the bread and peanut butter out of the bear box, and then returned to get the cooler out and pour myself a Diet Coke. Life was good. I was about 15′ away from my picnic table, pouring my soda.
The next thing I knew, there was a smiling AGY (Annoying German Youth) pointing his cellphone behind the bear box … where a raccoon was eating my bread. The AGY apparently thought it more important to capture the moment for posterity than it was to yell, “Hey, Stupid Guy! That Mini-Bear is eating your food!”
Once I figured out that I was being burgled, I yelled at the ‘coon and ran to get my bread.
At which point I learned that a raccoon carries a package of bread in his mouth and runs faster than I do.
And then my shorts fell down.
Chase over.
My dinner became peanut butter bagels. See, I didn’t starve.
AGY followed the critter at a leisurely pace about 100’ up the hill, watched him eat the bread and scurry away. The AGY then returned the torn, empty bread wrapper to me.
Thoughtful AGY, that one. I’m sure he put my mini-bear adventure on YouTube. Let me know if you find it, and I’ll send the AGY my, uh, regards.
The mini-bear got 4 pieces of bread. I got outsmarted by a quadriped.
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Lavatera
Salvia
Buddleja davidii
Plumbago
Butterfly Bush
Lavender … after the bloom is gone
Ficus tree in bloom
Crepe Myrtle
Society Garlic
Butterfly Bush
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Scarlet Columbine is one of many flowers in the Aquilegia genus. This species is native to Southern California, and is at home under our live oak tree.
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Leaflets three, let it be!
Poison oak is often seen in shady patches along California trails, with the vine growing into the sunlight to catch unwary hikers. The leaves, stems and branches all carry the oil that is poisonous. Hypersensitive people can develop rashes just by being near the plant, though most have to touch it to develop the rash.
These photographs were taken at the Pinnacles National Park, near Paicines, CA. Note the “real” oak leaves on the ground providing mulch for these poison oak plants.
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These social woodpeckers spend their days jamming acorns into the holes they drill. As acorns dry and shrink, they’ll move them into smaller holes. The maintenance of their stores takes a lot of their time … so they generally work cooperatively. They live in groups, and always keep a guard around their acorn horde to ensure no interlopers, such as a stellar jay, steals the nuts they have stored. Acorn woodpeckers have been found living in groups with as many as 7 breeding males, 3 breeding females and 10 non-breeding helpers. The group makes a single nest, and young are raised by the community.
These photographs were taken at the Pinnacles National Park, near Paicines, CA.
The male has a full red crown, as you see here. The female has a smaller red crown.
Some holes have acorns, some don’t. When the bird feeds on the stored acorns, they’ll also eat the insects that have been attracted to the acorn.
Holes will be drilled in anything wooden: fenceposts, wooden buildings, and the bark of oak tree snags, as you see here.
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I know that I get loopy after 10 days on the road.
I also know that when Velda and I saw this sign near Orick, CA, we thought it was the funniest thing ever. Well, not the part about people dying, certainly, but who has ever heard of a sneaker wave???
Beware the deadly sneaker waves!
Beware the Sneaker Waves!
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I don’t know why we have a hundred daylilies that are yellow … and 2 that are rust. But we do.
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Daylilies
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