Maine Revisited

Anytime you see hot air balloons, it's a good omen. At least that is what I tell myself.

On Day 1 of our camping trip we headed out of Canada and towards the American border. We were fed, rested, and ready for adventure. Then suddenly out of the sky, we spot 4 hot air balloons, just hanging out like nobody's business. Who owns a hot air balloon?! I don't think I had seen one since the late 70's. I pointed them out to my children, who had surely never seen one before. As I watched them float in the sky, it stirred up a lot of nostalgic feelings for me...memories of being a kid in the 70's, summertime with my family, and lying out in the backyard imagining shapes in the clouds. It's funny how a smell or an object can transport you back to a place that you thought was forgotten.

Lalala...back to reality. I do that sometimes. After losing lots of time en route to Maine, we checked in at Recompense for our second stay with them. Knowing that the previous stay had us camped too far from flush toilets, I booked a spot in the new part of the campground. AND...it did not disappoint dear campers! "The facilities" were large and clean and just around the bend from our site.

Once we settled in and had all of our gear unpacked, I decided that I would try and make a pizza over the campfire. I had stopped at the local Wal-Mart and picked up some pre-made dough (thank you Kof-K). See what I mean about food in America? Who in Maine needs pizza dough with certification!? Let's just say that I gave renewed meaning to the term "happy camper".

I had never made pizza over a campfire or even a stove top, but really, how hard could it be? When I went to get the dough I realized that it had been sitting in my overly warm car for THREE hours. Oh yeah. It was big...really big, and it smelled like beer. Since my only back up option was Tradition Soup or baked beans, I decided to give it a go anyway. I sprayed my pan, punched out a pizza dough, and slathered it up with sauce and cheese. After about 12 minutes I was beginning to smell the pizza, but none of the cheese had melted yet. You guessed it...black on the bottom. And so it was with my first campfire pizza. Next time I would come better prepared knowing that kosher pizza dough could be found in Wal-Mart!

After some sitting by the fire and having s'mores, we walked over to the ocean to see if the tide had come in yet. Suddenly a bridal party arrived with the bride and groom in tow still in their bridal clothing. Was I in some weird Fellini film? Did I just see a bride and groom come to camp on their wedding night? My innner JAP asked, "what kind of people celebrate their wedding night at a campground?" Perhaps they were two people who met while working at the campground. Surely that could be the only answer. My mind couldn't comprehend a second option.

What was really cool about this wedding party is that they took out a large rectangular red fabric covered object and lit a candle inside of it. Then quietly and gracefully they pushed it up into the air, and it floated so gently up and up and up, high above our campground, high above the ocean, and then drifted away in the night sky. They then lit another fabric box candle, and it too floated away. And then a third, fourth and fifth. My whole family stood there in silence staring into the night sky, watching the fabric balloons disappear into the darkness. 

Don't forget to visit L.L. Bean!

Campfire Cookware

People often seem overwhelmed when trying to figure out what kind of cookware to buy for camping. I would like to break this down very simply...are you experimenting with camping, or will you be returning to the great outdoors for many seasons?


NEWBIES:  If you are new to camping, then don't invest in much. Keep it very simple folks! Two or three pieces of cookware should do it. Since I have a vegetarian husband, and meat can sometimes be hard to find, almost all of my camping batterie de cuisine is dairy. I keep some long wooden sticks on hand for the occasional weenie roast.  



The first pieces of camping cookware that I purchased were from Winners (TJ Maxx for you Americans). I did have some hot spots from uneven heating and some slight warping, but it wasn't a big investment for experimentation. I bought a BBQ grill pan (like the one pictured here), a BBQ flat pan (that looks like a cookie sheet), and two small pots made for cooking on a BBQ. I also brought along a roll of aluminum foil and disposable aluminum pans. 


Let me just emphasize that each of these pieces was made to be used on a barbeque and could therefore withstand high heat. Pots with plastic parts or non-stick coatings might melt or warp when placed directly onto a fire.




CAMPERS: If you have camped before and know that you would like to invest in good cookware for camping, I suggest cast iron. I know, it's heavy...I mean really heavy. BUT...it distributes heat evenly, is very durable, retains heat, and doesn't require a big cleaning (water only). The great thing about cast iron is that it builds up a "crust" (sounds gross; right?) which helps it do a great job of being a non-stick pot/pan.


Here is the kosher dilemma when buying cast iron; it's seasoned. What does that mean? It means that it has been pre-treated with oil. They take the cast iron, put a bunch of oil on it, and bake it at a high heat until it absorbs the oil. That is what what makes it non-stick. 


Hmmm...sounds possibly treyf to me! Well, Mr. Framper called Lodge to find out how the seasoning process works. He also found out that the oil that they use does not have kosher certification (somewhere in Google land it says that it is...but it isn't). He found out that you can "unseason" a piece of cast iron by putting it into your self cleaning oven.  


Now that you have kashered it, how do you season it back up? I shmeared mine with a bunch of oil (they said solid oil, but I don't have that), put it in the oven at 450 degrees F for one hour. Et viola! It's now seasoned and kosher.


If you like to cook, you can really get carried away while looking at the cast iron vessels. Do I need every piece? Probably....big pause...not. Darn! I felt the way my kids feel when staring down a candy aisle, and then how they feel when they hear me say "only one piece of junk". 


Here are a few basic pieces to get you started. Of course, it depends on your family size, but here are some suggestions for a family of 5-7 people.


You can use the flat side for pancakes, OR you can use the one with grill lines for meat. If you make pareve pancakes, you get double use out of this baby! For us, we'd probably just use the lined side for veggie kebabs and the smooth side for milchig pancakes or flatbread pizza.

Grill pans

10" Fryer

This fryer is great for chili, stews, soups, beans, a huge pot of  morning oatmeal, boiling eggs or corn, frying chicken, and just about anything else you can dream up. You can even make cornbread and cobblers in some of these, but hold up...now you're getting fancy!