It's freestyle week
at Picture Perfect so I'm taking that a step further and doing my entry
as a blog with lots of photos. Had this blog planned, it's just taking
a different turn with emphasis on this Picture Perfect theme. As said: The
one thing good friends and close families love to do together, is
share in a meal, to break bread, open a glass of wine..or not, a cup of
coffee...and talk..open their souls, fill their hearts with joy and
laughter by performing a very basic task, eating!
Watching someone prepare food evokes a connection on a simple yet very
real level and many of us can recall that person to memory just by the
smallest waft of a herb..the sizzle of bacon..or the soft sound of
wine slipping into a glass.
So I'm following these instructions: Share your meal memory with us and lets Break Bread together
So pull up a chair, pour a cup of cowboy coffee and come ride and eat with us.
Good Friends, Great Scenery, & Lots of Wonderful Food & Fellowship
This
blog about our friends, the scenery and good eats starts with working
up an appetite. Our good times started with the arrival of friends
Vance and his boys Hank and Tate to the Cimarron Campgrounds in the
Valle Vidal Unit of the Carson National Forest. Quickly we have horses
ready and loaded in Vance's trailer and off to the Clayton Corral
parking area we go. Vance lives at Bobcat Pass near Red River, New
Mexico and operates an outfitting service. Hunting trips, pack trips,
etc. He really knows this area. I'm riding Doc and Russ on Colt. I
have the camera case for my older Nikon D50 (18-70 mm lens) Russ made me
on the front of the saddle, a point and shoot in my shirt pocket, and
Russ has a point and shoot in his saddle bags. Prepared for lots of
picture taking. Beef jerky, honey oat bars, cheese & peanut butter crackers, and mints
in the saddle bags. Also plenty of water and of course a slicker in
case it rains. Just look at this view at the parking area but we are
going north towards Elk Meadows.
We
rode a variety of terrain and saw lots of beautiful scenery. We took
our time, had good conversation, interesting local history, and I took a
lot of photos. Here are just three:
We
came back a bit earlier than planned. Didn't make it all the way to
Elk Meadows. We could here some rumble of thunder and didn't want to
chance getting caught in a lightning storm. In the mountains it's hard
to see those storms until they are right on top of you. We loaded the
horses and back to camp we go. Horses taken care of then the cookin'
preparation begins. Vance tells us what he has brought and we add to
the menu. Cooking at our camp.
I
do my part in the trailer, getting some things ready including peeling
and slicing potatoes & onions to be fried in the wok. Vance is an
expert camp chef. He's also responsible for cooking the biscuits in
Dutch ovens at the Cowboy Evenings at Bobcat Wilderness Adventures near
Red River. Look for my blogs about day 1 & 2 of our vacation posted
a few days ago. I'll leave the links in the comment section if you want
to take a look. The oil is tested for heat by frying 1 onion ring.
Can learn a lot about cooking just watching Vance.
Russ has the Camp Chef stove heating and Vance is cooking the potatoes and onions.
Don't
those potatoes and onions look great? In this photo Vance is adding
salt towards the end of the cooking. They were great. Cooked perfectly
and not a bit greasy.
Vance
haf seen an article about weaving bacon and then grilling. He often
grills bacon but wanted to give this a try so he and Russ did the
weaving. I should have videoed that. Take my word for it, those two
can really make cooking fun.
More
bacon is grilled to be mixed with chopped green chilies. No following
any diets on this trip. Remember we just rode a lot of miles and we're
ready to enjoy this meal.
Snacks
of chips and dip. Tate is putting tortillas on the wok to be heated.
Using them as wraps for the hamburger patties, bacon, & chilies.
Russ has the patties about ready and the chilies are cooking with the grilled bacon.
We may not set a fancy table but we have everything needed. Good friends and good food.
Besides
good food and friends. There is beautiful scenery accented by the late
afternoon moon. I took moon shots each night. This is a hand held
shot, 200 mm lens and enlarged 67% and cropped. Another moon shot at
night was done the same way.
Here is our camp scenery. Perfect back drop for our cookout (moon is in this shot too).
Hank
and Tate chop wood and gather kindling for a camp fire. What was
missing was s'mores!! Vance and I both forgot the chocolate and
marshmallows, we had the gram crackers.
We feasted on all the wonderful food.
Part of the clean up is easy -- just toss in the camp fire.
Putting things away --- food in the tummy and supplies back in the trailer. Non burnable trash in sacks.
Hank
and Tate entertained themselves cutting wood and keeping the fire
blazing. Russ feed the horses. I take photos and then retreat to the
trailer for clean up in there.
Have
you ever wondered where the term putting on the feed bag came from?
Here's the answer. Colt and Doc have their meal in the bag hung around
their head.
The night time moon as seen from camp.
It
was a late night. Visiting, great conversation and the camp fire. I
stayed in the trailer after it got dark. Night air and camp fire smoke
really gets to my allergies so I missed out on parts of the
conversation. The next morning we take our time and enjoy another great
meal with our friends. Bacon is started in the wok.
And Russ makes his mountain man breakfast: Sausage, hash browns, green chilies, eggs, and cheese.
Our
wok was new and Vance showed us how to properly take care of it after
each cooking session. I'm not sure how I missed it but we also had
Russ' peach cobbler for breakfast. Tate informed us that he wanted
peach cobbler before they had to go home. So instead of peach preserves
we had peach cobbler made in a Dutch oven. It was sure good and only a
small bowl left to take to the camp host. We also took him a bowl of
the mountain man breakfast.
The horses munch on hay while we ate our breakfast and clean up camp.
Now time for another ride. Horses loaded in Vance's trailer and to the LaBelle parking area we go. More beautiful scenery.
Russ takes photos once in a while. He took this one of Vance, his boys and me.
Lots
of beautiful things to see, now sure what Russ is pointing at. I take a
lot of photos from the back of my horse and often there are horse ears
in the bottom of the photo.
With
Vance as a guide we head for Clayton Camp after leaving the LaBelle
area. The camp is an old lodge used for hunters, a line camp, and other
things before this ranch land was a national forest.
Hank
takes a look inside the cabin. One can picture in their head, the
cooking that went on inside the kitchen that is just inside the door.
Can you see the old stove?
Russ gets a photo of me taking a photo of the inside of the cabin. At
one time this was a rather fancy place out in the wilderness.
Vance
and his sons ride off a ways. What a quality father/son time this
was. I hope they like the photos that I took. They have not seen them
yet.
Clouds
are building as we approach the trailer. Might have timed this ride
just right. Load the horses, head for camp and more cooking.
It
is lightly raining so the meal is cooked under the awning of our
trailer. Main course: rib eye beef tips & onions & green
chilies simmered in a Llano Estacado sweet red wine from Lubbock,
Texas. The beef tips are the trimmings from the rib eyes served during
the Cowboy Evenings at Bobcat Pass Wilderness adventures. We do eat
good in camp. I hope you enjoyed a glance into our two days with
friends, wonderful conversation (and a few tall tales), horse back
riding and great food. Can't wait to do it again.
Happy Trails and Good Eating
to Everyone out there in Multiply Land
April's Frightful Dream
