A Moveable Feast

When we meet people in our travels, and they ask what we do, Michael usually tells people he’s a “chef by trade.” And a lot of them then turn to me and say, “oooh, you must eat so well!”

Sure I do. Now.

When Michael was a working chef, he usually worked a minimum of 50 hours a week. Towards the end, right before we left, his hours were even longer. So I didn’t get to see him all that often, and nights that we did get to spend together, well, he sure as hell didn’t want to cook.

I’m happy to say that living the travel life has helped Michael get back in touch with his passion for food. And I’m the lucky recipient. Case in point: Strange Weather Beef Stew.

Let me back up a step. After leaving the Gilas of New Mexico, we headed for the Arizona border, where we expected it to be warmer and drier. Coronado National Forest sits just across the border and south of I-10. Tucked in to Coronado National Forest is an amazing place called Chiricahua National Monument.

I love discovering “new” places, only to discover that they’re actually quite old. Chiricahua (it’s pronounced cheery-COW-ah) National Monument has been around since 1924. While I think their slogan (A Wonderland Of Rocks) could use a little work, I have to admit that it’s absolutely true. Chiricahua is awesome.

We went for a run on the Echo Canyon loop. We chose to do the loop counter-clockwise, which was pretty lucky – we got to see all those fabulous rock formations early on, and the climb out was almost gentle. It was a warm day but we managed to find a shady spot to park.

Believe it or not, dogs are allowed on some trails here. But not the Echo Canyon loop. So Bailey and Elvis hung out under the topper while we went out on the run. Those rock formations, well, they are pretty cool.

This was taken in an area called The Grotto, and the trail goes right next to some huge pillars.

Trails like this are why I trail run. It was such a blast!

After spending a day at Chiricahua, we camped along a forest road in Coronado National Forest, and decided to stay put for a couple of days, already. This moving-every-day thing gets tiresome after about 4 days. We found a pretty sweet spot, right on a little creek and surrounded by trees.

It was a great spot to just hang out for a couple of days. We had a big fire ring and there was firewood galore. We’d picked up all the ingredients for beef stew on our last grocery run, so this was perfect.

I started the fire in the morning – right after breakfast – so by lunchtime the coals were ready.

Michael started with roasting potatoes. He made a little packet for our baby Yukon golds…

Then covered them with coals and let them sit for about a half hour.

They turned out great.

The thing that’s not showing in any of these pictures so far is the “Strange Weather” part of our Strange Weather Beef Stew. See, the reason I started a fire so early in the morning is because I was cold. The day started off a little overcast, a little breezy, and kinda chilly. I thought it was oddly hilarious to be wearing my wool base layer, a hat, and my down coat in the middle of southern Arizona. I just wanted to warm up until the sun came out. Then the strangest thing happened. I think it was the remnants of a dust storm (we were about five miles into the woods, but the area to our west was about 35 miles of desert), because the sky turned this funny shade of gray. It wasn’t super windy but we couldn’t see the mountains to our west or north anymore. Plus, the air just felt… gritty.

After about two hours the air started to clear. Then it did get a little windy. The sky turned partly sunny, partly cloudy, and – I swear I am not making this up – occasional rain. So every time a dark cloud came up, I’d put stuff away, or at least hide it under the awning of the tent, and put my coat on. Five minutes later the sun would come back out and I’d get too hot and take off my coat. Then the cycle would repeat.

It was one of the strangest weather days I’ve ever sat through. Good thing I had that fire to occupy me. I had to keep the coals coming.

I’ve mentioned our Camp-Maid setup before, but it’s been a while. Michael loves this thing and would probably cook on it more often if he could. It works with our cast iron dutch oven. The bottom portion holds coals and the top portion is actually a lid lifter (although it has other uses). See, with the lid lifter, you can take the lid off the pot without burning yourself or tipping coals/ashes into your food. You can even set the whole thing aside without setting the lid down in the dirt.

Pretty cool! I’d call the Camp-Maid a very worthy investment. And the stew, well…

Yeah, I’m a lucky woman. I’ll probably never eat this well again. I’d better show that picture one more time: