Halloween at South Carlsbad State Beach

We love the luxury of car camping, and it is even better when you only have a half-hour drive up the coast to get there. Located right on the coast on cliffs overlooking the ocean, South Carlsbad State Beach made a perfect spot for a Halloween weekend camping trip.

We arrived early on Friday so that we could spend the afternoon relaxing while slow-smoking a bunch of pork ribs. Liberally rubbed with spices (the rub recipe is at the end of the post), here they are going on the smoker:



They came out great - maybe the best ribs we've done so far.



Dinner on Saturday was a pot of spicy chili cooked over the campfire.



And, of course, there was some pumpkin carving. Make sure you get out tomorrow and do what the middle one says.

Spicy Rub for Pork Ribs

Makes a little more than one cup of rub.

6 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 1/2 tablespoons ground ancho chile
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1-2 teaspoons white peppercorns, coarsely ground
1 teaspoon green peppercorns, coarsely ground
3/4 teaspoons dried basil
1/8 teaspoons ground allspice

Measure all ingrediants into a pint-sized jar. Cap with a lid and shake to combine.

Use a quarter to a third cup of rub to generously coat each slab of pork spare ribs (whole 4 1/2 pounds; trimmed and squared to ~3 pounds). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 24-48 hours before cooking.

Dogger's Tri-Tip

Several years ago, an issue of Trader Joe's "Fearless Flyer" published the secret recipe for Dogger's Tri-Tip Marinade. Dogger was apparently a surfer from Santa Barbara who would barbecue some fantastic tri-tip at the beach using a cheap little hibachi. The recipe has found frequent use on our grill at home, so it was an easy choice for a campout dinner in Yosemite.

All you need is a cup of soy sauce, a bottle of lager (we usually use a Mexican beer like Pacifico), and a handful of whole garlic cloves. Put it in a ziplock bag along with a hunk of beef tri-tip and let it chill - in our case we left it on ice in the cooler while we went hiking for the day.



Back at camp, tired and hungry, the dish was easy to finish. We fired up some coals in our chimney:



The tri-tip just needed a quick pat with some paper towels and it was ready to go.



Tri-tip is really an amazing cut of meat. It looks like a big roast that'll take forever, but in reality, it only takes about 25 minutes on the fire. The marinade helps give it a nice, caramelized crust.



Normally we'd cook this more rare, but I admit I'm a little out of practice with fire pit cooking. Nonetheless, it was still tender and juicy - with a flavor slightly sweet from the malt in the beer and perfectly seasoned by the soy.



Wrapped in a warm tortilla with some fresh, chunky salsa, it made for a mighty successful - and easy - campfire cookout.



Here is the original story and recipe from the Fearless Flyer:

Campfire Cooking - Breakfast

We just got back from a brief camping trip up in Yosemite. Sure, we enjoyed the sights to be seen in one of our nation's most impressive national parks, but we were most excited about doing some outdoor cooking!

When camping in the past, we have usually cooked over a propane stove. On this trip we were inspired by posts over at Cowgirl's Country Life and decided to do all of our cooking in the fire pit.

The most important camping meal is breakfast. Thick slices of homemade applewood-smoked bacon, eggs cooked sunny-side-up in the drippings (of course), and tin-pan-oven baked biscuits - all hot off the fire. What's not to like?

Road Trip - Bryce Canyon

After two nights in Zion National Park, we had a nice easy drive over to Bryce Canyon, trading in shear cliff faces for hoodoos.



We were feeling lazy so we just did a hike along the canyon rim, enjoying the views below. Erosion is pretty cool.



Early that evening we got a short thunderstorm. We took shelter under a tree at the edge of the canyon (something we realized later wasn't the smartest idea...) and enjoyed the nice light as the clouds cleared.



After that it was dinner time. We have an easy version of Cassoulet that we make, and it adapted well for camping. Sherry whipped up a little mis en place, picnic table style.





Fires had been prohibited in Zion, so this was our first chance to have a campfire. We took full advantage, and had a nice meal by firelight.

Road Trip - Zion National Park

Our three week road trip is underway. We got an early (well, early for us) start and sped up the I15 toward Las Vegas. Thank god for air conditioning, as the "World's Largest" thermometer in Baker was reading 103 as we blew past on our way to Zion National Park.

It has been a while (more like a decade) since either one of us had been to Zion. Since then, the park service has added a shuttle system that goes up and down the valley. You can't drive in the upper part of the park unless you have a special permit. That was fine with us, as the shuttles were very convenient, ran every 6 minutes, and stopped near our campsite. And they provide photography opportunities for the lazy, this one taken through one of the sun roof openings.



We arrived with enough time to do a quick jaunt up to
Weeping Rock, so named for the constant runoff down the rock face.



Dinner was a curry that we have been making for years. It is a reverse-engineered version of the Chicken Pathia we used to get from Indian take-aways in Edinburgh when we lived there. It worked well for camping, as we had the curry base sauce (some of which we almost always have in our freezer) pre-made.



We just needed to heat up the sauce, add the Pathia-specific seasonings, cook up some rice (without a rice cooker, no less - bringing long lost skills into play), and serve.



Post-dinner, it was time for drinks. On this occasion, we chose to go comfort style, and broke out a bottle of Jameson by candle lantern light.



Which in turn, resulted in smiles by candle lantern light.



That night we had a beautiful full moon. The moon was bright enough that we were able to do a night hike without any other source of light. When we got up for a middle of the night pitstop, however, the scene was very different. It was pitch black, and the stars were amazing. Then we saw the moon. It turns out that the complete darkness was courtesy of a full lunar eclipse. We weren't able to get a picture, but we found this one later in the Grand Junction Free Press.



The next morning, we got a leisurely start, and made a stove top frittata.



We brought a par-cooked potato along with us to make this easier. Swiss chard and goat cheese round out the dish.



After breakfast, we did a nice, but hot hike up the Watchman trail, ending up at top of the rock outcrop below (the bottom outcrop, not the top - we weren't being *that* motivated...)



Dinner that night was Beef Fajitas. We had some steak in the cooler that we had started marinating before the trip. We cooked up some peppers and onions:



and finished it off with black beans and guacamole.



Next stop, Bryce Canyon...