THE LAND NORTH OF SUPERIOR

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We go out camping a lot in the spring, summer and fall.  The fishing is good, the dogs love the freedom and food just tastes so good in the fresh air.  I have thought on doing a show FOOD IN THE WILD, but once you hear about cooking in the land north of Superior you be the judge.

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The Wednesday before when we had come out the weather had been beautiful.  Missy and Major true to form had marked out their territory, though in truth we had been there so often over the years that they really didn’t need to.  With a wait on our hands they had lots of time to check out the spot.  A truck was parked in the only possible location for our hard top tent trailer; some one was out for a day trip.  We waited�?.and we waited……and we waited�?.we talked about the possibility of going somewhere else, there were a dozen lakes within a twenty mile circle.  We decided to get everything ready that we could.<o:p></o:p>

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I unhooked the boat trailer on the main road.  With the hard top backed up to the side of the offending truck we waited some more.   All I needed to do was back the trailer straight back about 15 feet and we could start to set up.  We waited until 9:30, the sun was already well down in the sky when we heard the boat coming from around one of the main islands.  A fella I knew well was out with 2 of his kids for a day’s worth of pickeral fishing.  They soon had their truck moved and I had the tent trailer set up and levelled with only a couple scoops of dirt from where the driver’s side wheel would sit.  As we rushed to set up before dark I apologized for not taking time for chitchat.  We did find out however that fishing had been rather spotty.  As they pulled away we waved from the outside cooking table we were just setting up.  Our camp, our home, for the next while was ready.<o:p></o:p>

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Before we realized it Sunday was on us.  My dear wife had to go to work, that four letter word that interferes so often with the good times.  It was decided that she would take the four walleye we had in our live trap home and pass them on to Mom and Dad.  I would come into town on Tuesday and get supplies and go back out on Wednesday with Missy and Major.  She would be out on Friday for the August long weekend.<o:p></o:p>

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Well the plan went pretty much as written.  A day earlier into town, but also a day earlier into the bush.  The evening fish was great and soon I had pickeral cooking the old country way, the fish were scaled, with head and fins removed, cooking in butter after being dipped in egg and flour. I use only a pinch of salt and pepper with just a trace of oregano and garlic.  Never overpower a delicate white-fleshed fish like a walleye.  We will not get into details how much fish I can eat or how good fish is, lets just say that there were no leftovers.<o:p></o:p>

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The following day turned into a white cap day, the lake frothed up and waved crashed onto the shallow shoreline.  There was no hope of getting off shore without the help of at least one strong paddler.  Since neither Missy nor Major qualified we decided to make a ground pork burger.  I had however left one of the main ingredients, rice, at home.  When out camping by myself I only make one burger.  The burger almost covers the bottom of the fry pan I will use.  The burger’s thickness depends on the amount of ground meat.  I started like always by breaking up the pound of ground pork, adding 2 eggs, some garlic, oregano, some fresh ground pepper and some chives.  At this point I should have added some onion boiled rice, a cup of it.  But being the master of innovation I instead took a large family size bag of potatoe chips, opened the end on it, and proceeded to crush the chips.  This went into the mixture.  I next got one of my favourite foods�?a large white onion and peeled it.<o:p></o:p>

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An old Frontier folding blade knife now serves as the camp knife for most cooking chores.  This knife is well used and has been with me since the early 70s.  In the late 70s I gave it to me dear wife…I needed an excuse to buy another sharp pointy thing that had caught me eye.  With the knife I was dicing ½ of this onion and something went wrong.  Immediately there was that  'OH OH I’ve done it well' feeling and the blood spreading red on the white onion testified to that fact.  A look confirmed that a rather large chunk of meat had been cut almost clean off from the end of my left thumb.  Looking at the hanging slab I used the very sharp knife to remove the offending and rather painful meat and carried on with the super preparations.  I made the burger and flattened it out in the fry pan.  The fire was lite under it and soon the smell of cooking pork filled the camper.<o:p></o:p>

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When it comes time to flip this burger I just use the spat to quarter it fist then flip the quarters, this works well and saves time making patties which are supposed to be all the same size.  The inch thick burger took care of hunger for the night, and the dogs didn’t mind their portion of it, though they were a tad slow eating the onion slab I put on it.  As I finished super and wrapped up the leftovers for the morning I looked for that piece of me that I had cut off.   I couldn’t find it!<o:p></o:p>

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This brought up some interesting things to consider.  The dogs had long since licked up the blood I had squirted from the end of my thumb onto the floor of the camper.  Had the dogs now become accustomed to human blood?  Had I eaten my own flesh and was now counted in the community of cannibals?  Had one of the dogs eaten this slab of unfound thumb and was now a wild carnivore on the hunt for human flesh?  Was my dear wife in real serious trouble when she came out on Friday?<o:p></o:p>

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There seems to be no definitive answers to this point, though the dogs do pay a lot of attention to the still healing thumb.  So far both dogs and myself have held our new cravings in check, but there is still a full moon to come!<o:p></o:p>

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If you care to come visit us here please feel welcome.  Do be prepared for some measured looks from Missy, Major or myself if the moon is full.  If you want we can arrange for a camping weekend with us all.  Just be prepared for anything that may happen in the land north of Superior.<o:p></o:p>