Blather
Cooking for Guys
Live to Camp
Camp to Live
Poetry
and Other Lies
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Stew is one of the easiest, most comforting foods to make. With slightly more attention this slow cooker recipe would work just as well in a Dutch oven or even in a kettle on the stove-top or over a fire. You hardly need a recipe, but the dredging the meat in flour...
Dutch Oven Shepherd’s Pie
I love Shepherd's Pie. The thick filling of meat and vegetables, topped with mounds of mashed potatoes, makes the perfect comfort food. The sound of it bubbling, the tantalizing aroma, mixing with the smoke from the coals as it leaks out from under the heavy lid of a...
Mashed Potatoes
There’s not much to making mashed potatoes. They are tasty, filling and inexpensive. If you don’t finish them at dinner, you can fry them in butter for breakfast. Ingredients 1/3rd cup of buttermilk, more or less 4-6 baking potatoes, peeled and cut up 2 cloves...
Sparassis Lasagna
Essentially, I just substituted the Sparassis for lasagna noodles. I actually did half cauliflower mushroom and half noodles in the same casserole-my wife doesn't like mushrooms. I had some of each, and the Sparrasis half compared favorably in texture and presentation...
Borscht
When my wife and I were first going out, I had her over for dinner. I made this recipe. Almost everything in it came from my garden. Amy was so impressed. I hardly garden at all anymore, and I haven't made this more than once or twice since. I don't know why. It's...
Camp Tittihahaha 2025 Day 2
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Camp Tittihahaha 2025 Day 1
Amy organized the family, reserved some campsites at Beverly Beach and put together another Camp Tittihahaha. We got packed, hopped in the truck with Walter the Wonder Dog and all headed to the coast Thursday, July 24th. ...
A Good Afternoon on Pistol Creek
The weather forecast was for hotter than blazes. It met or exceeded expectations, touching near 100f (38.7c) according to the thermometer app on Mike's phone. Anticipating the heat, Mike, Walter and I headed up to Pistol Creek to stick our feet in the water. ...
Walter Gets His Sea Legs
The weather forecast this afternoon was for hot to unbearable. Amy and I loaded up the kayaks, Walter jumped in the truck, and we all headed north to Goose Lake in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. ...
Good Afternoon
7/5/2025 4:00 79f (26.1c) Tuckered out after a late night last night. Amy and I ran up to Trout Creek Ridge and bought a stack of books at a garage sale, including Jack London, Earl Stanley Gardner, and Robert Service, for a...
Good Morning
6/18/26 6:45 55F (12.7C) Calm and still with the sun rising in a clear blue sky. Humming birds dart about in search of nectar. Birds sing. Amy is sleeping. Walter is on patrol. It is a peaceful, sunny morning in the neighborhood. My tea is hot. Good morning....
Good Morning
6/17/26 5:30 53F (11.6C) Calm. The sky is still dull blue, waiting for the spark of sunlight to appear. With luck, the rabbits should begin nesting. I have been working on the hutch, pulling the arbor back upright and bracing it in place, but I need to build...
Good Morning
6/16/26 6:45 66F (18.8C) The sun is up, the sky is blue, the birds are singing. Amy is sleeping. The dog is barking, cherry cannons boom at irregular intervals. My tea is strong and piping hot. Good morning. ...
Good Morning
6/15/26 6:00 53F (11.6C) Blue sky, still air. Sprayers are whining, birds are singing. Walter is up at the fence, barking. The chickens are still cooped up. I can hear the rooster chasing the hens around inside the henhouse, insisting on his due. Good morning....
Good Morning
6/14/26 5:30 53F (11.6C) A faint breeze ripples the leaves of a birch then fades away. A jet cracks the morning quiet, rumbling through a filigree of clouds stretched across blue sky. It disappears to the west, leaving no trace of its passage, not even a...
