First Camping Trip of the Season

Memorial Day weekend found us enjoying the first family camping trip of the season.  We checked out the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and State Park...and we determined we don't need to go back.  Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful coastline and so close to home, but it's sandwiched between the steel mills outside of Gary to the west and the NIPSCO coal-fired power plant to the east--not your most picturesque beach scene.  But this trip had been on our bucket list so we've finally crossed it off.  We took a side trip to Three Floyds Brewery in nearby Munster the day we arrived and enjoyed an outstanding tour and some delicious microbrews. But back at our campsite, it was another story.  I ranted about it in my original post, but wasn't feeling good about the negativity threaded so I'll just say that while we were looking forward to a long weekend powered down, eating and sleeping outside, most everyone else was "glamping" and very plugged in.  Needless to say, we managed to have a good time and Vera fared well, but we're excited for our Labor Day camping trip to one of our outstanding Wisconsin parks, which are--from my experience--quieter, more wooded, and hopefully generator-free.
This is our favorite camping recipehan ded down from the Sheaffer family of Glen Ellyn, IL.  We call it Foil Dinner and it's so simple and delicious.  You could even cook this in an outdoor firepit at home.  Also, I like to be conservative with the aluminum foil; if we use a piece that hasn't gotten gooey we just rinse and let it dry.  You could reuse foil for this recipe.

Foil Dinner

Aluminum foil
Green Cabbage, torn into leaves
Carrots, washed and chopped
Potatoes, washed and chopped
Onions, peeled and sliced
Ground Meat
Butter
Salt and Pepper

Spread out a large piece of aluminum foil and build your dinner: a layer of cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions, raw ground meat in the middle, pat of butter, salt and pepper then keep building it in reverse.  Keep in mind that it builds up quickly so don't add too much to start.  Wrap it tightly in foil making sure there are no holes where the butter can seep out.  Toss it onto a campfire that has burned down to coals and let it cook for about 30 minutes.  Unwrap (be careful of the steam) and enjoy!

Stuffed!

We rounded out our Portland trip with more eating and drinking on Friday. Didn't get to tour Widmer's Brewery as we'd originally hoped so we spent some time walking the downtown area and enjoying more local fare: coffee and delicious breakfast pastries at Stumptown Coffee, a bacon/maple long john at Voodoo Doughnut, artisan roasted espresso at Spella Caffe (owned by my former Sanford co-worker Andrea Spella), street food (everything you could want from German and Polish to Thai, Korean, and Mexican and beyond all on one block), and a beer sampler at Deschutes Brew Pub. Once again, Vera was a trooper!

We're all glad to be home and in our own beds. I like traveling because not only are they inspiring foodwise (and in Portland's case fashionwise), but they give me a fresh start when I get back. I feel like, "okay, I did that, I relaxed, now I'm ready to start a new week here." It won't take me long to get back to my usual running around. In fact, tomorrow I'm planning to get the supplies for my custom soilless mix and start seeding.

Back to the homestead.

A Break from Wisconsin Weather

This doesn't exactly relate to the LeFort Urban Homestead, but a vacation, especially one that allows me to eat and drink adventurously, always inspires cooking on the homestead. It's not been terribly warm and sunny on our trip to Portland, OR, but it's certainly better than in Milwaukee. The 44-hour Amtrak trip was a good experience. We had a private sleeper car and although the first night with Vera was a little challenging, we did well overall. Spent a couple of nights in the Willamette Valley southwest of Portland eating and tasting wine. The hillsides of vineyards were beautiful as were the miles of hazelnut groves. We stayed at a supercool hotel in McMinnville, Hotel Oregon, part of the McMenamin's independent hotel group. Drove out to the Pacific coast on Wednesday and stopped in Tillamook to tour the well-known Tillamook cheese factory. We've been in Portland since then and are staying at the Ace Hotel very hip hotel near the Pearl District. We met up with Ben's friend Anna today. I didn't get to meet her chickens afterall, but I got the rundown on her poultry setup. Today we visited Chinatown and the Chinese Gardens and couldn't miss the famous Powell's City of Books--if any of you know about my "bookstore (and antique store) syndrome," you can imagine how this visit went. It was quite overwhelming, but I managed to narrow my search to one food preservation book with 400 new recipes. Very exciting! We've eaten at some amazing restaurants on our trip! Some of the most interesting and delicious things I've had: fried cornmeal with scallions and a poached egg, potato buttermilk toast and blood orange juice; fried chickpeas; crostini with candied Seville oranges, Nutella, and toasted hazelnuts; flourless chocolate cake with sweetened beet chips, beet ganache, and pistachio sauce; yuzu drinking vinegar; and Cynar Artichoke (a bitter aperitif distilled from artichokes). Tomorrow we're planning to visit Voodoo Doughnut and possibly track down an old Sanford coworker who has a coffee roasting business here. And of course, we're planning to enjoy more local food and beverages and most likely a brewery tour. One more day to savor! As of Saturday I'll get back to the LeFort homestead and start my first seeds of the season next week.