The Boys of Summer, the Final Trip: Toivola

 

      Summer is in the final swing now.  We try to get out to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan while we're home each summer, the Great White North.  We spent a week in St Ignace last month with the new RV.  Toivola is located on the western edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula, about 370 miles from home.  It is part of the last bastion in our state rich in the culture of Finns and Swedes.  We have been here several times camping and walking the beach in search of the elusive Lake Superior Agate.  Actually, there are many more minerals here such as Jasper, Unakite, Rhyolite, Thompsonite, Datolite, and Prehnite.  There is also a decent amount of 'Float Copper' on the beach if you take the time, metal detector, and a shovel.  We both wanted a getaway this trip with no casinos, no commercial campgrounds, and no major towns.  Just walking the beach and building campfires again. 

Picking on the rainy day.  It was still 60F, but she'd be cold in Florida 

Deep banding on the right side, a nice Lake Superior Agate

Example of Datolite

Example of Prehnite

Example of Thompsonite

Example of Rhyolite

Example of Unakite

Example of Jasper

Example of Float Copper w/Malachite

      It was a 7 1/2-hour drive averaging 12 mpg.  The new RV is shorter, but heavier.  We found plenty of room for camping and found a spot that provided plenty of sunlight (we thought).  There is a trick to finding a spot that provides plenty of sun for solar and yet doesn't heat up the RV.  I camped on the west side of the camping area which had plenty of mid-day sun, but it turned to shade about 4 p.m.  Camping on the east side would have been better as the sun shows a bit later but lasts longer.  Live and learn.  

      This campground is now completely primitive.  It used to have electricity and water, but funding has left the township flat on repairing anything.  There are hand pump water wells, but we watered up at Twin Lakes State Park 12 miles south before arrival.  360 lbs. of additional weight.  I do this as close as possible to the boondocking site so as to carry the extra weight as short a distance as possible.  We solely boondocked on solar and/or generator when needed while here.  This would be an adventure considering my CPAP would be provided by my new Jackery portable power station.  This lasts the night and recharges via solar in the daytime.  Of course, the Honda generator was available for A/C or to top off on days with less solar and we did use it.  

      

      Some of the samples we found rockhounding:  

Plenty of competition 

North along the Elm River

Unakite for the tumbler

We'll see how they polish up

      While here I cooked Chicken Fried Venison, Cold Hawaiian Salad, Sweet n Sour Pork/Rice, Ham Steak, Low Country Boil, and Pulled Pork Mac n Cheese OTR.

      We spent 7 days in God's Country.  We also delayed another day for a stop on the way home.  The weather was sunny and warm.  Barb found a couple small agates, unakite, and jasper and we enjoyed the time away to decompress after a busy summer.  The beach was crowded nearly every day so pickings were slim.  They installed a new cell tower just south of here a few years back, so we enjoyed 2-3 bars of the good stuff all week.  The solar worked well all, but one rainy day bringing back the battery within 3-4 hours.  The gennie was used 46.5 hrs., mostly for A/C.  The last two days were 90F.  Average mileage for this trip was 13.4 mpg.  The furbabies just can't deal with that heat being in the RV.  The Jackery Power Pak worked well, providing my 4+ hours per night for the CPAP.  Family, furbabies, and good food.  Does it get any better?  So far, we love the new Arctic Fox RV.  Campground rating?

"If there were no rocks in its bed the stream would have no song" 

Carl Perkins

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Yakamein: Old Sober

 

       Barb and I love a hearty soup or stew and have been quite comfortable with the Oriental versions.  Yakamein is a type of beef noodle soup found in many Creole restaurants in New Orleans.  It is also a type of Chinese wheat noodle.  

      Yakamein is sometimes referred to as "Old Sober" as it is commonly prescribed by locals as a cure for hangovers, another New Orleans specialty.  Vendors are common at New Orleans second lines, along with other settings including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, along many other Creole and Cajun specialties.

      Some versions of Yakamein consist of thick wheat noodles in a ketchup-based sauce or brown gravy, accompanied by thickly sliced onions, a hardboiled egg, and fried noodles.  Roast pork, chicken, and seafood can be added, with some restaurants including the option of pigs' feet.  I kept mine fairly simple, using Ramen and finely chopped beef stew meat.  I try and use the freshest vegetables and ingredients as it really enhances the flavor.  

1 lb. beef pot roast chopped small (or stew meat)

½ pound cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails off

1 box beef broth

½ white onion finely chopped

1 bell pepper finely chopped

Half a clove of garlic finely chopped

1 Tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire 

1 tsp hot sauce

1 Tbsp Soy sauce 

3 eggs boiled

1 cup green onions chopped

1 pack Ramen 

1 tsp Tony’s creole seasoning

mushrooms (optional) I used rehydrated morels 

      Boil noodles set aside.  Boil eggs, peel/half set aside.  Chop green onions for garnish set aside.  Chop onion, bell pepper, and garlic.  

      Brown seasoning blend (onion, bell pepper, and garlic) with a teaspoon of butter along with beef.  Season all with about 2 teaspoons Tony’s Creole seasoning.  It calls for a deep dish skillet, but I used my wok which worked just fine.  

      Cook down for about 25 mins over medium heat.  Add in beef broth, and beef.  Cover and let cook for 1 hour.  Check back for taste.  

      Reduce heat to low.  Add about 2 teaspoons hot sauce, 1/4 cup Worcestershire, and 1/4 cup soy sauce.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes; cook for 30 minutes more.  

      Serve on top of noodles with green onions, shrimp, and eggs.  Add mushrooms if you wish. 

      

This recipe will easily feed 4.  Rich beefy flavor blending well with the Ramen, shrimp, and eggs......delicious, and I'm not even hungover.......lol

"What in the world is a hangover cure?"

Brian Wilson

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Back to the Yellowstone River

 

      We have been 'Rockhounds' for years.  It is a great activity for walking, relaxing, and just plain taking in all nature has to offer.  Initially we had them polished for us, but after a year or two we invested in our own equipment.  We now have a double barrel 4-pound outfit as well as a much larger 12-pound model.  We have displayed some of our work on here before, but I recently came across a great deal on about 25 pounds of some very good 'rough stock'. 

      This project will certainly test the limits of my setup due to sheer weight.  In fact, I had to delay start for 10 days as I had to order new barrels as these old rubber barrels would no longer hold a seal.

      This entire process takes 8 weeks with stages of rough grit, medium fine grit, pre-polish, and final polish.  Each cycle runs 24/7 for 2 weeks.  Additionally, I had some large pieces that I want to cab and polish while still on the 'rough'.  This may take some additional equipment, but I'm retired, right.  What the hell.  

Day 1:  Rough into the tumblers

After 2 weeks, Stage 3 coming

After 8 weeks and 4 stages, final product

Polished, sliced, and repolished cabochon

Another sliced polished cabochon

3 beautiful uncut agates cabs approx. 1 lb. each

Cut, unpolished

Faced and polished

The dendrites are very 3D in this one 

       If just tumbling for polished stones this is an 8-week process.  Cutting rough and hand polishing as is can be a different timetable.  This is the process of slicing rough cut rocks exposing what's inside and then not polishing the entire stone, but just the sliced face. I like these as it shows all faces of the original rock, sliced face in polished display still intact yet part of the original 60-million-year pieces.  

      What are the uses for this?  I keep most of them displayed on an entire wall in my home on shelves or in jars.  Some I give away and I always have a favorite I keep in my pocket; a touchstone that feels good to hold it, sooths me, and provides me good luck.  Upon completion of this I am in the midst of another bucket 8-week cycle to go before our fall departure.    

"Leave no stone unturned" 

Mother Nature

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Barb's Ricotta Cookies

 

      I have done all the cooking since I retired from the USAF 31 years ago.  Barb is an excellent cook, but willingly gave up the chore cause my school hours were pretty flexible.  Today was a treat to work with her in the kitchen.  This is a recipe Barb saw on The Food Channel and appealed to her.  This recipe is courtesy of Lidia Bastianich and her Italian Cooking Show.   Barb is the baker in our family.......I'm just the kitchen clean up guy.  For this chapter I am the biographer, following her on this journey.  It's a rare treat for me to see her in action.  

 

 2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

8 oz. Ricotta

1/2 tsp vanilla

zest of 1 lemon

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

 

       Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.  Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

       Cream the sugar and butter in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce the speed to medium and crack in the eggs one at a time, beating well in between additions.  Plop in the ricotta, vanilla and lemon zest, and beat to combine. 

      Add the flour mix, beat on low until just combined, but do not overmix.  Drop the dough in heaping tablespoons onto the sheet pans.       

      Place in oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through the baking time, until the cookies are puffed, golden and cooked all the way through, about 20 to 22 minutes. Remove and cool on wire racks.

      When the cookies are completely cool, make the glaze.  In a bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice to make a smooth glaze. Adjust the consistency with a little water or more confectioner’s sugar to make a glaze thick enough to stick to the cookies when dipped.  Dip the tops of the cookies in the glaze and let dry on racks. Place on serving plate when dry.  

      I wasn't sure how Ricotta cheese would taste baked in a cookie, but the cheese itself is a sweeter variety and in this recipe give it a light fluffy feel.  The lemon glaze tops it with a sweet, lemony flavor.  Delicious.  Baking is definitely my wife's forte'.  

"Baking cookies is comforting, and cookies are the sweetest little bit of comfort food.  They are very bite size and personal"

Sandra Lee

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Mongolian Venison

 

      Much like Ted Nugent, Jase Robertson, and many Americans I love to hunt.  I prefer to eat meat I have harvested from organic source to pan, when possible, rather than buying off the shelf in the grocery store.  Axis is so lean it lends itself very well to this recipe.   It's another example of 'fusion cooking' so that wild game isn't prepared the 'same old way'.  Another twist of taste for venison meat. We both love venison and Asian cuisine.  Where there's a wok, there's a way.  Where this recipe calls for rice, I substituted orzo for my wife as she can't digest rice.  I did, however made this with fried brown rice for me.

      I have a smaller wok for the RV, but here at home (believe it or not) I have a large Lodge Cast Iron Wok that works very well.  Wooden tools, olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, and high heat.....YEEHAAW.  

1 lb. of venison, in ¼” slices cut across the grain

½ cup soy sauce

½ water

2/3 cup brown sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

1 Tbsp of minced ginger

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 green onions/scallions, diced

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

      Heat a little oil in a small saucepan on medium-low.  Add the garlic and ginger and sauté for several minutes.  Stir in the soy sauce and water.  Add the brown sugar and increase the heat to medium.  Bring to a boil for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat and set to the side. 

      In a bowl, dredge the venison slices in the cornstarch, shake off any extra, and place them on a plate.  Let them set for about 10 minutes.

      Heat some oil in a wok on medium high.   Add the venison slices and cook just till they are seared on both sides.  Remove the venison to a plate and remove any excess oil from the wok.  Put the wok back on the stove on medium high heat and add the sauce – it should boil right away.  Add the venison and cook at a boil for no more than 1 minute.  Stir in the green onions and serve over rice.  A delicious meal.  The sauce is magnificent, and the addition of the Axis venison is the cherry on the cake.  I must admit that it does not take this long for Axis to reach a 'done temperature'.   

        This turned out deliciously.  Barb can't eat rice, so I boiled up some orzo to serve with hers.  Mine was over brown rice.  Savory, authentic flavor; it's a keeper.    

"A dish should have flavor, texture, appearance and smell, but I'm doing it differently. We take Chinese food, play with your sentiments, memories of it, and then take you to the border; you won't fall over the edge, but you get excitement."

Alvin Leung

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