Karen L

Here's a recipe in Gourmet that I found. I haven't tested it. Perhaps some brave soul might? http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/231482

I just finished a weekend camping in the middle of nowhere, completed devoid of civilization, at least a half hour drive (only if you're a speed demon like me!) outside a city edge. This is roughing it, ladies and gents. No running water, and no 6 burner stove, or even a chef's knife in sight. I had a few, small alpine single burner stoves, and a multi-tool knife. Now you have to understand the situation I was in. I am a fearless(ha!) leader of an army cadet corps, and we do these weekend trips, two, maybe three times a year. We normally have military ration packs, which is just heat and serve, but being the state of the military it is now, our ration pack allotment has been replaced by fresh food. This makes it difficult for us, as maintaining food safety is paramount, and so is feeding the cadets (read: teenagers that eat like they've been starved for days!). Yet we soldier on. And now, on to food! Breakfast We made pancakes, scrambled eggs, european wieners, and hashbrowns. A variety, mainly to fill their hollow legs, and to meet their nutritional requirements. Making pancakes is hard work! especially with small burners. The cadets ate everything, no complaints. Lunch Saturday: burgers, smokies, Caesar salad When in Rome...We broke out the propane tanks, and barbeque. Smokies and burgers were extremely popular all around. Once again, they ate everything! Sunday: Soup, and Grilled Cheese sandwich We were in a real time crunch with this one. The cooks dropped the grilled cheese earlier in the day, because they thought they didn't have enough time to make it, but proving them wrong, a few of us grabbed the skillets from earlier in the morning, slapped some cheese and bread together, melted some butter over the fire, and grilled the sandwiches. The grilled cheese came out with a hint of smoky-ness, like an ash ripen cheese, which added another depth to it. It was also very amusing to the cadets to see us hopping around the fire, trying to keep the sandwiches from going up in flames. Dinner It was KD mac and cheese, chilli, and buns Everything was easy, hot and delicious. The best mac and cheese I've had in a very long time (I don't eat it often). The cheese sauce (made by your truly) was browning and lumping on the bottom, but extremely creamy, because we used half and half instead of milk. I am one of those strange people that has to have ketchup with their mac and cheese, especially KD. Camping out in the middle of nowhere in late October sure makes everyone hungry and chilled. The only real criticism I had cooking in the field is that everything takes a long time to make, and transporting the food is an issue, as we didn't have the luxury of going shopping every day, or having full refridgeration on site. The questions I have are: What kinds of meals can I make that will be hot, plentiful, and nutritious, and yet be quick to prepare? and, Does anyone have campfire cooking stories they'd like to share? I'd like to know that I'm not the only crazy one that cooks their meals over the fire they made, and have it taste really good. Thanks in advance!

Ranch dressing Salsa Poutine style: squeeky cheese, hot gravy.

I'm glad you guys have so much chemistry in and out of the kitchen. Your blog should turn out awesome. I vote seaweed. Wait...that's not on the list is it?...then, bacon it is. Anything fatty is worth serving in every dish. Have fun!

I'm loving this blog! You have me coming back every evening to read more. *Deborah*, I look forward to hearing more from you, and showing egullet more of our little corner of the world.

If anyone's looking for a good carb fix, Pasta Lupino Gourmet in Village North has good deals on pasta (obviously!), and Italian fare. The space is a bit small, but the food is delish.

This being my first post, and a few years of lurking, I am a grom at this...but... I went to Savory Coast last night for an 8pm reservation, and was seated promptly. The dining room was large and expansive, and was accommodating a large party at the time, so it was fairly noisy. If you are looking for somewhere to dine quietly after 8, it'll be a roll of the dice for you. The menu is a scaled down menu from the original and technically, their entire menu (being offered at the time) is on sale for $35. My dining companions and I had no problems with the menu, as it had more items to choose from than the standard 3-4 per course at most DOV places. The first thing that arrived was the bread. It was a little charred on the top, but I'm assuming that it gets a bit of time in the wood burning oven, so the charring is part of the charm of the bread... .For the first course, I ordered the crispy deep fried calamari with spicy tomato caper sauce. My two dining companions had the warm goat cheese salad and salt spring island mussels, respectively. The calamari was very well done. It wasn't rubbery and overfried. It was well seasoned, and the spring salad garnish was the perfect accent to the spicyness of the calamari and the sauce. The mussels was also perfectly done and the white wine sauce was expertly seasoned. The salad, well, was a salad. I've never had goat cheese before, but I quite enjoyed the salad (whatever little I was allowed to taste.. ). For our main course, I had the veal osso buco with risotto à la milanese, gremolata, and natural jus. The veal was beautifully tender and the risotto, I would have liked to have spent a bit more time on the stove, as it was a tad crunchy. More al dente than I would have liked, but it was delicious, nonetheless. My friends had the NY striploin, and grilled salmon. Both mains were quite enjoyable. And last but not least, the dessert. Again, the dessert menu was scaled down from the original and did not include the tiramisu. I ordered the campari poached pear with brandy snap tuile, and my friends ordered a vanilla pannacotta and a apple tarte tatin. All three desserts were not too overwhelmingly sweet, which suited us very well. Savory Coast is running their DOV menu until the end of February, so most of us can still get in on the deal. Executive Chef Romy Prasad was in the kitchen that night, and looking like he was running a tight ship. The wait staff was curteous and the ambiance was very festive. My friends and I quite enjoyed our dinner. Unfortunately, no wines involved here, because most of us are tea-tottlers.