Outdoor cooking is a major part of the camping experience.  I prefer to cook over an open fire as opposed to camp stoves and such.

Matthew prepares to light a fire.

Success!

Preparing the meal.

The cooking begins. 

Inspecting for doneness.

Contemplation on the preparation experience.  Perhaps we should have cooked burgers?

Nah, this will do.

And of course, no camp dinner is complete without the s’more.

The ingredients are assembled (graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate).

Roasting the perfect marshmallow.

Enjoying the fruit of much labor.

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the warm fire in the cool, night air.

Ever since I was young I have loved to cook.   During my youth I focused on basics and some desserts.  15 years ago this month I baked my first loaf of bread.  It was a disaster.  Since then I have improved a bit and still love baking bread as much now as I did then.

This batch is ready for forming into loaves.

Notice the air pockets and holes in this batch.  The liquid was Kefir (too much of it) and the excess leavening put a lot of holes in the dough.

The dough has been divided into four pieces, ready for forming.

Formed and ready for rising.

The dough has risen and is ready for the oven.

The loaves are cooking and the smell is delicious.

The finished loaves. 

Remember the batch of dough with all the air pockets?  Here’s what happens…

I am blessed because my family continues to encourage me to improve my skills and strive to make that perfect loaf of bread.  An unfortunate result is that it often improves my waistline.  C’est la vie.

During a recent illness, I began to drink Kefir, in an attempt to improve my immune system.  I’ve acquired a taste for this interesting drink, and did quite a bit of research on it.

These days I have my own Kefir grains, and I make my own Kefir drinks each day.  This process has gotten so involved that my family calls this process ‘the recipe’.

Here are some Kefir grains.  This batch was obtained from some friends in Nebraska.  They look like little heads of cauliflower.

This batch of Kefir grains was ordered from someone in Australia.

The grains are placed in milk and fermented for 24 hours.  After that the grains are removed and the drink is ripened for another 24 hours. 

This batch has been fermenting for about 18 hours in raw milk.  You can see the milk coagulating.

The drink is similar to yogurt but much healthier, and has quite a zing to it.  It is similar to a combination of creamy vanilla yogurt and sparkling water.

I think I’m addicted.