I'm off to Norht Wales for a few days at the end of the week, my first "more than one night" trip for months. Its camp site camping so the stove choice is no problem, 210, 221 and Trangia Army Kit; food is no problem also, home made lamb curry for the first night and following mornings breakfast with lashings of lager(not at breakfast though),,, so is anyone else in the group setting off their first spring break this weekend? Any equipment problems?

Rik

PS, I must be getting a little strange in old age, saw an american site selling Canned cheese,,,,dam,,,I almost sent off for a case!

It should go well with canned cheese. I didn't know we made the stuff over here. Next there'll be Yank chip butties...with canned cheese!

canned cheese and butter at

http://www.internet-grocer.net/cheese.htm


The sad part is that one night,,,,after one tooooo many glasses of vino deadbraino, I will order a case or two

Rik

(memory jogger,,,,add to list one jar of marmite)

Actually it's autumn down here, except for Albert, who misses out on the seasons. All the better, too hot here in summer for walking trips, total fire bans no cooking. Bring on the rain.

Okay, I'll bite!!! What is Marmite??

Gordon

the same place sells "red feather" brand canned butter. and check out the "vegemite"..did i spell that right albert?? out mates from "down under" have
all the neat stuff..in the midwest of the USA its all
oatmeal,rice,and bisquick for canoe trips..and yes i'm
still fooling around on which stove to take. one of my canoe buddys had a look at my latest kero-burner-roarer- and when he saw in action he declared it a WMD....albert-- i bought a bunch of "golden rough"
candy because i was told it woun't melt in your pack.
is that true???

Marmite is a yeast based spread, a little beefy in flavour, similay to Boveril or Vegemite,,,,you either love it, or hate it,,,I love the stuff

Rik

And I drove 35 km in about 1 hr.

Dag S

35 km in an hr ? was you driving or pushing the car?
At that rate I would have to take a trailer full of food to find the end of Queensland. I will stick to the sun.
Dave vegemite The spelling looks good to me. Vegemite yes this is something that you have to be brought up with to acquire a tast for. I gave some to 2 japanise students years ago. I couldn't perswade them to take a 2nd mouth full. I think it is mainly made from yeast after brewing spirits. I put a 1/2 teaspoon full in stews and spegetti just to give it that tang.But melt it in water first.
Albert

Hello,
It is still a bit frosty here in NJ. More like January weather then Spring but, I will take what little bit of warmth we get during the day. Seems as though age and old man winter have caused a few pounds to stay on. I better hit the treadmill before the trail !

Here is a photo of a jar of vegemite. Never had it but, it does look like an aquired taste at least the web page describes it as such.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/VegemiteHistory.htm




Chuck

Thanks for the education Rik. I will have to find some to give a try!

Gordon

To brew beer, of course! To the Yanks who don't know, Burton-on-Trent is famous for its breweries. And one of the byproducts is of course spent yeast sludge, which is made into Marmite, a commodity that is indeed an acquired taste and which has not yet made the journey to the American supermarket.
There was a recent ironic advertising campaign in the UK which traded on the peculiarities of the taste for marmite. Example (if I remember right): lad and lass are necking on the couch. Lass takes a bite of Marmite on toast. Another kiss. Lad is next heard in the bathroom upchucking.

A snog is only a snog, but a slice of toast and Marmite is something special!

http://www.simplyoz.com/products/aussie_food/groceries/vegemite/promite
Simply Australian: Vegemite

From what I have been able to find out Vegimite (Aussie) taste a whole lot better than Marmite (Brit). I am going to order some and give it a shot.
The site above is an oredreing site for Aussie stuff. There are a couple of outlets in Seattle. I'll report back when I have had a chance to, 1. Feed it to my 10 year old, 2. Feed it to my wife, 3. Feed it to my Yellow Lab, 4. In desperation, taste it myself!!!

Gordon

The taste will laster longer than a snog, unless the lass smokes 20 a day and does'nt clean her teeth. However, I can reccomend:

a thick slice of crusty bread, spread with butter and Marmite, and topped with curry and grated cheese; eat as is or if a grill is available, grill until the cheese is browned.

Rik

Grills, in the UK sense of the word i.e. heat radiated from a source directly above the food thus heating it from the top but not from below. The very thing for toasting cheese to a bubbly browned finish, grilling kippers etc. Is there some overwhelming reason which has passed me by as to why there seems to be a dearth of paraffin fuelled grills about. Cyril posted, several-and-a-half-moons ago, that he was going to try and convert a Tilley lamp into a device for grilling kippers. Any success, Cyril?
Has anyone else tried building one, successfully or otherwise. I've given it a little thought and given more time to play with might even try out one or two ideas. I understand that Taylors - the marine paraffin stove makers do a model with a grill, but I have never seen one close-up let alone had the opportunity to use one. There numerous gas (LPG) stoves about which incorporate a grill and it seems reasonable that what you can do with gas you might, up to a point, do with paraffin so long as you keep the vapourisation up to scratch.
Any ideas?

Ian

Spring in Minnesota is late this year. I rode my bicycle last Sunday to prep for a 60 mile ride next month. The wind chill had to be close to 0ºF. After 35 minutes my fingers were screaming in pain from the cold. I should have worn winter gloves. Hopefully the weather improves soon as I am not nearly ready for the ride.

The canned cheese appears more appetizing than valveeta, or it may just be a different color. I may have to try some as I'm a sucker for things in a tin.

I once took a sniff of marmite from the jar and that was all I needed. It cleared my sinuses and that I believe is its intended use.

sounds like you could use a kero burner on these rides.
the "terry clip" would be just the thing and you
would be a big hit on the 60 mile'er if you could brew
up coffee on the road...

1 large spoonfull of marmite, add to mug of boiling water and stir, a great hot drink in cold weather,,,,but I diverse

do you have dollar shops in the states (everything for a dollar?), we have pound shops in the UK, two in my local town and from time to time you get some great buys, today I got tins of German herring fillets in various sauces (3 tins for a pound), tinned thick cream, (3 for a pound), packet noodles (5 for a pound),tinned sponge puddings (2 for a pound) and tinned irish stew (2 for a pound). So there are some recipie ideas for my trip. Herrings for breakfast, noodles for lunch and irish stew followed by sponge pud and cream for supper,,,,,who needs MRE's

Rik

Dave, I had not thought of terry clips. That would be a hit in the midst of all the lycra-clad riders. I'm too lazy to bother taking off my rear bike rack so why not throw on a pannier and a pot? The ride is called the ironman and last year there were 5000 participants.

Rik, we do have dollar stores, but they are not very common. They are run to rummage through.