The First Fire Pit Fire of the Season

The morning sun stretched its rays across the yard early this morning, welcoming a beautiful, glorious day.  By mid-day winds were whipping across the landscape, ushering in the coolest weather we've seen this fall.  After we picked up eggs, fed the animals and milked LuLu, I took the tarp off of the fire pit.  It seemed like the perfect evening to build a fire.

We have quite a few trees in the yard, mostly live oak, with some water oak and pecan thrown in there for good measure.  With each passing storm, the trees drop numerous branches, some small and some quite large that have to be cut into pieces.  Throughout the year, we gather up all the debris and pile it beside a big live oak next to the fire pit.  This pile serves as fuel for the fire pit as well as the barbecue pit.   

I started a roaring fire as I checked the temperature.  It was 54 degrees out, cool enough for a fire.  Overnight, the weather app we use said it'll get down to 39.  I tossed in a bunch of sticks and pulled the bench up close to the fire.  Tricia came and sat with me as we stared into the fire and talked.  The fire cracked and embers flew high up into the night sky.  Even Belle came up and visited us.  Her thick white coat keeps her warm on cold nights, and we thought fire scared her, but her desire for an ear rub outweighed her fear of fire.

The sticks and logs burned down and a nice bed of red hot coals glowed in the fire pit, reminding me that I should have picked up some sausage.  The fire pit has a grille that swings over the is perfect for cooking.  As I stared into the fire, I began to remember being a young boy in Boy Scouts.  We'd cook over campfires all the time.  As a side note, why does food cooked over a campfire always taste better?

In Scouts, one of the more popular meals we cooked was a dish called "Foil Meals."  Foil meals were simple to prepare and clean up.  You simply tore a square of foil and put a big patty of hamburger meat, heavily seasoned in the middle of the foil.  Then you'd slice onions, potatoes, carrots and anything else you wanted in there and you'd fold up the foil around the meat/vegetables in the middle and seal.

There were often arguments about whether to put the shiny side in or the shiny side of the foil facing out.  I think it cooks both ways.  You'd gently set the foil meal directly on the coals.  After about 10-15 minutes, a delicious aroma would waft across the campsite and it would beckon us to circle around the fire and pull our meals out.  We'd carefully unwrap them and eat the delicious meat and potatoes and vegetables directly out of the foil with a fork.  When you were finished, you balled up the foil and threw it away.  Good memories of meals eaten around a campfire!

After a while the fire burned down and we reluctantly went inside.  Before leaving, we vowed to enjoy many more evenings seated around the fire, weather permitting.  Next time we'll cook while we're sitting around it, though!