I don't expect this post to make much sense to anyone but me really. So continue if you want a peek inside my head.
This last weekend was my first 'camping on my own' experience since the divorce. I had One event where I borrowed a pavilion that was put up and taken down for me. Owning no modern or medieval equipment I have avoided camping events. This is now changing. I have inherited a tent that I need to become more familiar with, maybe if we get a nice weekend I will hold a grill and set up the tent party. Though I need tent stakes first :). Second thing I need is a proper tarp for the ground. I have a cheap make do one for now but I will invest in something round and nicer in the future. I will also invest in a camp cot! I am too old to be snuggling rocks on the ground, lol. I do own a cooler But it is quite large, so I made a 'hacked' cooler with a wooden box by cutting up store cooler bags and hot gluing them into place, It actually worked! I put the ice in at 630 am and on Sunday there was still a cup of ice in the bag. I will note also that it was crushed ice and sitting in its own water as it melted.
In July I bought a grill, it was 10€ and it folds down. It was big enough to grill for 4 of us, 5 could have happened too. But loving it so much and knowing that I like to do more cooking I bought a second for the event and am glad I did. I am even thinking of getting a third as 2 of my period pots fit on one and the meat was on the other, so a third is on my mind. Also on my mind is talking to a smith and having a spit built that will work with my grills. With how small they pack up even three of them would take less space that the traditional 'fire bowl' and at some point I could build a wooden facade to hide them.
Cooking notes, So glad my pots have lids, that helped with getting things to boil faster. I did a lot of pre prep for the weekend having made lunch completely in advance. I also stuffed the lamb before the event to. Oh to add to the list of things I need, a table and chairs. Something light and packs small. Knowing we wouldn't likely have a table we made do with what we could borrow and that was a bench. I got 2 of the Roman stools from the ex and my feast gear box made a nice table as well at times. We worked it out. I will definitely buy lamb again from my Turkish store but when I want just a leg I will go to the normal store, lol. At the Turkish store I ended up with a whole 1/4 lamb! Lol. I didn't need that much but I have leftovers now for stew and pies. I didn't use any ground lamb in my recipe, I simply minced it fine and it was great. The whole thing came together well. The only problem I had was a bit of over stuffing it and not being able to close one side well enough so we lost some stuffing. Less stuffing next time, or use aluminum foil under it (which was suggested to me and I happened to have a piece with me!) I invested in rouladen nadeln, metal pins used for keeping the rolled beef rolls you find in Germany together while they cook. Not very expensive and worked like a charm on the areas I needed them. Everything else I cooked was good to. The garlic soup was great! I brought it home along with the leftover chicken. I boiled the chicken most of the day, strained it out and added the garlic soup. I tossed in carrot, parsnip and some herbs. Stripped the paste off of one of the leftover Icelandic chicken and chopped that up too. I added barley and cooked it a few hours... so much yum!!!
Getting used to camping 'on my own' is going to be strange and have a learning curve, but I can do it!!
* On my own is in quotes because I am usually camping with/ near other people. There is always help for set up and take down. I am never really 'on my own'. I always have people to be with and cook for.
