More PopCorn

Hey, guys, thanks for the support.  With your efforts and mine, we have raised enough money (and sold enough popcorn) for my grandson to throw a pie at his Scoutmaster. 

We ain't there yet, but we can be.  The link to the page is here.

This isn't for me, this supports Scouting, particularly the kids at Pack 12 in Baton Rouge.

I didn't realize until I ordered it, but the product is shipped directly to you and the kids get the money.  Shipping and handling on my order was only $1.05, which isn't bad at all.

Let's push him over the top.  You'll love the popcorn, I promise.

Popcorn Time

It's Boy Scout popcorn time, and if you don't have a scout to support, support mine.  He's linked here.

The Boy Scouts have been selling popcorn for years, and it's pretty good popcorn.  I personally like the Premium Caramel Corn with Almonds, Cashews, and Peanuts.  But, they have just about anything to please any palate, including just regular microwave popcorn.

This is the first time I've bought popcorn long-distance.  It's a great way to support Scouting.

Doing Science

We got out the chronograph this morning to obtain data.  The data is weirdly inconsistent, but it's data nonetheless.  It's time to re-set and make some changes.

The brass is tumbling right now.  If we get time, we'll try again later this week.

The Wild Rag

There's this thing that you've all seen in the westerns, but you've probably never thought much about.  The Wild Rag.  A kerchief,, basically, that a cowboy could use for a variety of things.  To keep the dust out of his face, if necessary, and to hide his face if necessary, and to wipe sweat, and to use as a sling if he broke his arm.  It can also be stylish, to add color and texture to an outfit.

A Wild Rag may not be necessary to a cowboy's outfit, but they certainly provide a finishing touch.  Here's a picture of my buddy, Part-Time, sporting a stylish wild rag.

Just as a counterpoint, here's another friend, Little Kazzy, with a similar wild rag.

A wild rag adds a certain je ne sais quais to a cowboy's outfit.

I was telling my mother about wild rags, and I sent her to a website, Smith and Edwards, to try to explain to her what I was thinking about.  I had made a couple, but was explaining what they were all about.

Today, I get home and look in the mailbox, and Momma has closed the loop on wild rags.  There is a huge supply, of many colors and styles.

I am blown away.  Lots of colors, styles, prints and solids.  That's probably a lifetime supply of wild rags.  Fourteen by my count, plus the couple I made by myself.

Thanks, Momma.  That was a very generous gesture.  Very generous indeed.

**Note** There is nothing new under the sun.  These day, wild rags are used by many warriors.  I used then when I was in the Army, a tactical bandage, or a piece of cotton cloth, and we called them Tactical Bandanas, or Hoo-Rags.  What worked in the 1870s also worked in the 1970s and beyond.  I'm sure that warriors today are still wearing some form of the Wild Rag.  Mine are a lot prettier.

Of course, the Boy Scouts have been using them for years.  On my Honor, I will do my best.....

Mulligan Stew

Probably the first recipe I ever learned was Mulligan Stew, a staple of old Troop 11 when it was scout-mastered by my Uncle Eddie, with my Dad and their cousin Reggie.  It's a simple stew that even a boy can make, and it's easily done over a campfire.  I taught it to all my boys when I was a Scoutmaster of Troop 60.

Or, of course it can be cooked on your home stove.  One of the kids was asking when I was going to cook another Mulligan, and today seems as good a time as any.

It's a great camp food because it requires very few ingredients, and they don't require much refrigeration.  If you're not worried about camp scavengers (bears, dogs, coyotes), you can leave bacon out on the camp table for several days.  It's a cured meat and really doesn't require much refrigeration, especially if you're camping in cool temps.  Plus, bacon carries it's own grease, and really, who doesn't like bacon?  This is a bacon stew.

Be advised.  There is nothing about this stew that is low-cal, vegetarian, vegan, or heart-healthy.  This is bacon, taters, gravy.  It's stick-to-your-ribs, keep you warm, feel-good food.

Mulligan Stew.

Ingrredients:

Bacon
Flour
Potatoes
Salt, pepper.
Water

Prep.

Peel and dice several large potatoes.  I normally just go ahead and peel a 5 lb bag.
Cook some bacon.  Normally one pack.  Drain and crumble, but save the bacon grease.
In a large pot, make a roux.
Add water to make a gravy.  Add your potatoes, and add water as necessary to cover the potatoes.
Add your crumbled bacon.
Simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Serve over rice, or stale bread.  Some like rice, but my eldest son swears by stale bread.

My Flag

Milady noticed today that our flag is tattered, splitting along the seams, much the worse for wear.  Luckily, I had a spare, so I spent a half-hour retiring the old and installing the new.  The old flag is folded properly and stored on a shelf in the garage.  Before long, I'll have to build a fire and dispose of it properly.

I spent too many years in the Boy Scouts and the Army to let me simply discard it like so much trash.  It's our flag, after all, and deserves respect even after it has passed its useful life.

Veterans and Scouts will understand.  That is all.

More Beans!

plblark asked, in Comments

That Boy scout story and recipe / method would be of great help to me this summer ... (I'm not quite the from scratch and improvise cook that you are)

Heh!  Back in 1980 I was part of an Order of the Arrow lodge, Ouxouiga Lodge, based in the old Attakapas Council of central Louisiana.  Both the lodge and the council are now defunct, being absorbed in other Scouting organizations, but at the time Ouxouiga (Ox-wee-ga) Lodge was a going concern, with several hundred active members.  In March of that year we hosted the annual section conclave at Camp Attakapas, and we expected upwards of 500 members to descend on us on Friday night and stay with us until Sunday morning.

I was tasked with helping the kitchen staff, and we got to the camp early and set up big dining flys outside the back of the kitchen where we could prep and serve food.  The chief cook, a fellow named Gary, decided that in addition to the normal standard meals, that Red Beans and Rice would be available at all times in case someone got hungry.  So, we commenced to soaking beans in two pound lots.

We're talking about those big steel industrial soup pots  We'd generally have three of those going at all times.  One soaking, one simmering, and one that folks could serve themselves from.  All of the meat trimmings from the various beef entrees went into the bean pots.  As I recall, the old Cudahy packing company had donated some beef halves, so we cut those up and cooked them on big pits. Great hunks of bloody beef, cooked on hardwood fires to be served to hungry Boy Scouts, with the fixings, it was quite an operation.

And the entire time, on a small propane camp stove out back, red beans were bubbling, ready at a moments notice to serve hungry boys.  Even at 3:00 a.m., those pots bubbled, kids or adults would come through and get a bowl of beans.  Each pot was different, because the cooks rotated through and seasoned them differently, and whatever portion of meat was being sliced, the trimmings found their way into the bean pot.  Nobody went home hungry, and when it was over, the conclave was considered a huge success.

I think we wound up serving 50 lbs of dried beans that weekend, done up in two pound batches.

Thanks for the memories.

Cobbler

Eaton Rapids Joe asked about cobbler recipes, and I admit a fondness for easy, filling, tasty sweetness.  Cobbler fits the bill exactly.

Years ago, when I was scoutmaster for a troop of hungry Scouts, several of my brethren scoutmasters started a little competition during camporees.  Each scoutmaster would make one cobbler, in a large dutch oven on Saturday night, and we'd submit our efforts to the boys who would decide the winner.  I won a few, but my friend Billy Netherland won more than his share.   The basic recipe went like this:

Ingredients.

1 stick butter or margarine
2 cans fruit filling.  Peaches, apples, blueberries, it didn't matter
1 box cake mix.  Cheaper is better.  We're talking Dollar Store, True Value cake mix.

Prep.
Line a large Dutch Oven with aluminum foil.  Melt your butter in a saucepan.  Add the two cans of filling to the dutch oven, then sprinkle that whole box of cake mix on top.  Drizzle that melted butter atop the cake mix, then give it one stir with a wooden spoon.  One stir.  You've not mixing, you're simply giving it one stir.

Cooking.

Put that Dutch oven in the fire and put some coals atop it.  You're going to need the equivalent of about 18 charcoal briquettes on the bottom and about six on top.  Let it bake for about a half-hour, or until the bubbling mixture passes the toothpick test.  You'll know when it's done.

Caveat.  For proper cooking on a campfire, you're going to need a proper Dutch Oven.  One with legs, and a lid that will hold coals.

This one is from Camp Chef, but several manufacturers make them.  I've used Lodge, and other makes, but for proper campfire cooking you'll need the legs and the lid.  One of the cool things about a proper camp dutch oven is that the lid can be flipped over to use as a skillet.

I have my inside dutch ovens, and I have my campfire dutch ovens, and never the twain shall meet.  You can't use a legged oven on the house stove, and you can't really cook on a campfire without legs.

One winning cobbler secret.  Add a tablespoon of vanilla extract into the fruit topping.  (Don't tell Billy I told you.)

Ouxouiga Lodge

Back in my mis-spent youth, I was a Boy Scout and during my later years, became part of a society known as the Order of the Arrow. I was inducted into the Order as a youth and became very active in the lodge during my late teens and early 20s. After moving away, growing up, and having children of my own, I got involved in Scouting again and was a Scoutmaster for a troop of boys in Natchitoches, LA. I'm very proud to say that during my tenure, we made 12 Eagle Scouts in the course of four years.

My first Lodge, my home Lodge, was Ouxouiga Lodge, #264 and when I came back to central Louisiana I found that it had been absorbed into another lodge during a Scouting re-organization. Old Ouxouiga Lodge no longer exists, but a number of us old Scouters have memorabilia.

Earlier this week, a fellow that I remember as a kid called me. He's doing research on old Ouxouiga and is picking the brains of old Scouters. He wanted to come by the house and interview me, and I told him I'd drag some stuff from the attic and we'd talk.

I've gone into the attic and found the box with the memorabilia. Cups, patches, pins, old stuff I'd forgotten I had. The kid will be here at noon and we'll spend an hour or so walking through memory lane.

Bass Tournament

Today, under leaden skies, rain-soaked skies, I helped the Boy Scouts conduct a bass tournament at Woodson's Landing on the Saline-Larto complex. It was a small tournament as such things go, but there were four others in the area and we attracted twenty boats and raised some money for Scouting.



Above, a view of the landing and the tournament stage. We had a fair number of sponsors and were able to give some good prizes, to include a small boat, motor and trailer as a door prize.



The fellow in the Scout shirt weighing the bass is Phillip Kubes. He and I were Scouts together as boys. His dad and mine were best friends.

We had a good time, cooked a bunch of food to share and give away, and told lies to each other. Laughter and fellowship with dear old friends. And we made some money for the Boy Scouts. It was a good day.

The guys that shared my Scouting experience as a youth are all life-long friends. There are so many shared experience, both enjoyable and uncomfortable that shape who we are, what we've done, and how we live our lives today. I like spending time with guys who know that On My Honor is the first oath we shared.

I've taken other oaths during my life, but the one I learned at age 11 has done more to shape my life than any of the others. That first one taught me how to live by an oath.