Monday, December 17, 2018

Soup's On

The day before the ride I chopped up some turkey, carrots, celery and various other soup-making ingredients with the idea that I'd ride out into the National Forest, make myself a campfire and cook the soup.  To that end I brought a knife, folding saw, chunks of rope (for making a tripod to hang the soup pot, as well to suspend said pot), extra clothes to keep warm while not exercising.  I rode out a ways until I saw a good spot - out of the wind and two oak trees down nearby, hauled my bike through the trees and snow to a good spot.  Only then did I realize that I had forgotten matches or a lighter.

Happily in the handle of my knife is a ferrocerium rod (which is a rod that when you scrape it gives off sparks).  I gathered everything I needed to coax a spark into an actual fire.  Birchbark, small twigs, finger-sized twigs, and finally some larger fuel.

I even split down some dead/standing maple to get to some nice, dry wood in the middle.


I had lashed a simple tripod but needed a fire to cook.  After a bit (OK, a lot) of scraping and swearing (that little ferro rod in my knife handle isn't really meant to be the go-to method for starting fire and as such is kinda tricky to use) I finally managed to get a spark to land just right on some birch bark and it caught.  I quickly threw on the fire-building materials that I had collected and it took off - and I breathed a sigh of relief. 





They say (and I agree) that everything tastes better when cooked over the campfire and eaten outside, and the soup was delicious but I think it would have held it's own in most kitchens - it's delicious-ness wasn't only because of the campfire setting (hell, even ramen noodles taste good cooked over a fire and eaten in a beautiful setting)...it was just good soup.  I think.  Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me.  I'm sorry to toot my own horn I'm just sayin' that I enjoyed my soup.  

It was kind of a huge serving of soup and when I first saw it I didn't know if I could finish it - maybe I'd have to leave some for the forest critters, but as the contents of the pot got lower my belly didn't get as stuffed as I thought it might.  

Soup eaten and hot cocoa drunk and dishes "washed" it was time to pack up and head home, but not before watching the sunset through the trees.  

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