Summer days are here ...

"In the summertime and the weather is high, you can stretch right up and touch the sky" - Mungo Jerry

Aren’t those pretty?

So it’s June now. The year is half over. A lot of things happen in June. There are birthdays, School is out (unless you’re a glutton for punishment and sign yourself up for summer school), The summer solstice will happen soon, and for those of you filing quarterly, better get ready to write that check. Uncle Sammy needs a new pair ‘o shoes!

But yeah, birthdays are this week. My lovely daughter is 15 now.

This one is now being allowed to drive a vehicle at school. Scary huh?

My birthday is this week too. I still can’t get Whitesnake to play my party - something about being in the “middle of nowhere”. Their loss. It would be pretty damn cool to have David Coverdale screaming his heart out to a full blown pyro show in my back yard. I guarantee I could get Trans Ams and crappy old muscle cars lined up and down the street if word got out. Rock and roll!

That chick went to my high school. So did Frank Zappa. Before I went there…I mean its not like we partied together or anything. That would have been pretty cool though. My brother Nathan had a Heineken with Vince Neil when he was like 10. But that’s another story.

maybe I can get these guys next year instead.

So anyway…

We tested the house for lead this last week. One of the quirks about rehabbing an old house with a “history” like ours is that you get to rule out all kinds of chemicals and substances. Like lead. And methamphetamine. Seriously. The house tests negative for both. Yay.

Pics or it didn’t happen right?

So we started a new thing. We go to the river / lake on Wednesday evenings and frolic like a bunch of Bohemian hippies whilst cooking dinner over the fire. Ok maybe not exactly like that, but kinda. We do hang out outside and enjoy the sun & water while cooking over a fire. And music. No ‘Dead this week though. It was Biggie Smalls and Ugly Kid Joe. Maybe the Dead will drop by next time. We’re planning on cooking Cornish hens on the rotisserie next week. This week was hobo stew.

Ok. So for those of you who don’t know, this is hobo stew.

Hobo Stew

• Meat - Whatever you can get. It’s better if it has a little fat on it.

• Potatoes

• Carrots

• Onion

• Peppers - if you are into that sort of thing

• Veggies if you have any

• Garlic cloves

• Oil, butter, tallow, lard ….whatever you got

• Herbs & spices - fresh is best. This is usually what I but whatever floats your boat.

  • Kosher salt

  • Cracked pepper

  • Thyme

  • Rosemary

  • Oregano

Ok. So cut it all up into chunks. We want the same size chunks so it all cooks at the same speed. Throw your cut up stuff into a bowl or a plastic bag with some oil and your spices & mix it up. Take that stuff & put it onto a big piece of aluminum foil and add a little more oil (I suppose you could use a Billy pot or a Dutch oven if you wanted). Wrap it up like a bowl with the seam on top. You can double wrap if you want to.

Place it on the fire - kinda off to the side so it doesn’t cook too fast. It should take about an hour to cook fully. The meat will cook down into the rest while the veggies and potatoes steam with the juice. It’s good.

I learned this recipe from my Brother Nathan.

Hey Nate:

Oh yeah…

back to the Wednesday night thingy

Bring. Silverware. Or you can totally make your own. Chopsticks are basically two sticks right? It is “hobo stew”. I was being all hobo and shit, right?

It was a pretty awesome night though. Great sunset, perfect temperature on the way home, and plenty of fireflies out that evening.

Well its late and I’m tired. I think that’s quite enough for this week. You kids go outside and play. That screentime will melt your brain!

See you next week.