It was a wet fall and winter in South Texas and now spring has brought some amazing things to cooking. Nature is exploding. Not just wildflowers like rainbow carpets covering the world, not just verdant greens in the grasses and trees, but more bugs than you might imagine and think about best cooking for all time.
In addition to thousands of caterpillars crawling all over everything, there are scorpions, water bugs (roll polis we used to call them) so thick they cover anything with moisture in it, moths and butterflies and Palmetto bugs, June bugs, beetles of all colors, dragonflies of about 100 species, mosquitos, gnats, ants, and did I mention caterpillars?
It’s a cornucopia of the smallest….well, except some of the spiders aren’t so small….and although annoying at times, it is amazing. All these critters make things a little more difficult when you want to cook, for sure, and being screened in bits of help. The caterpillars, though, just go through in droves. They seem to be drawn to dark things, like my shoes, the cooler, and the tent. We keep putting them on the trees, but they come right back down for the sheer pleasure of crawling on us.
It’s so hot, also, that sometimes just the thought of cooking is daunting. Lately, there have been dinner salads, smoked turkey thighs, brats, and, of course, the necessary and ever delicious visit to Dairy Queen. We do the best we can to eat healthily, with bananas always on hand for the phosphorous we sweat out, melons and oranges for the vitamins, apples for the fiber, plenty of water and when we can get them, fresh fish.
Being outdoors often means you just have to go with the flow. Cooking at home can be like that too. Not every meal can be a feast or a gourmet delight, but there are always healthy and fresh ways to have a little fun with eating. What’s wrong, for instance, with cutting up some fruit and vegetables and serving them for dinner with a couple of dipping sauces? It’s a surprise for everyone, easy for you, and something you will love doing. Not every meal has to be meat, starch, and vegetable.
Right now I’m watching a pair of Be wick’s wrens build a nest in the camp chair we left folded up last night. It’s too bad we have to move them out: they are beautiful little birds. There is a male cardinal protecting his mate from an encroacher and I can hear two owls chattering loudly, fighting over territory. A group of butterflies is playing in the sun like a children’s fairy tale and the smell of potatoes and onions cooking, buried in the coals, and accents the very welcome breeze.
