Monday, June 28, 2010

OMG - we're on YouTube!

The 2010 Colestin Campout has made it to YouTube...well, at least 49 seconds of it... (click here)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Hogs











Hogs on the Hog courtesy of Hog Boy ... Shucking Mon ... Mr. Lowell

To The Fearless Colestin Blog-ster ... Mrs. Stephany,

The Lovill Family would like to give you a heads up that approximately a Gazillion Hogs will be arriving at The Colestin mid-afternoon this Friday.

Agreement has been reached with Hog Boy (aka...The Shucking Mon) that the BBQ will be prepared and the little bi-valves will be spitting so that all Colestin par-te folk will be able to suck down as many of the Marshall Island of Marin Hogs as they
so desire. But, beware ... "too much of anything is just enough".

The Hogs will be a Saturday afternoon, pre-dinner treat for the senses, prior to the Siskiyou Taco Feast.

God bless the Hogs! They're coming to a sizzle near you!

We be loving you,

Jim, Hope, Skys

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

My Worst Nightmare











I'm a woman of a certain age and I've been known to favor the cowgirl look on occasion, but if I ever walk out of the house looking like THIS, shoot me. Sweet jesus in a smoking birchbark canoe. Scary.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Oh my god campers, it's so freaking beautiful here I can hardly believe it. It was a late spring with a lot of rain and the season is a good 2-3 weeks behind where it usually is at this time of year. It's gloriously green here, the wildflowers are in bloom, the creek is high and the weather report calls for full sun and 80 degrees. Perfection.

Do watch the kids carefully in the creek this year. The swimming hole is full and Sequoia hasn't even put in the dam yet. It's colder than a well digger's ass in the Klondike and will rip the breath right out of your body. Take it easy.

Another good reason to set up the slip 'n slide no? Just call me incorrigible.

Here's a reasonably reliable local weather report:

http://kdrv.com/weather

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Message from the Food Criminal

Dear Campers,

Food crime boy here. Since this gathering is gathering tradition - 15 years now! - I am sponsoring the following favorites for this year's festivities. Yes, they are old favorites but this year the twists and additions to the event, as of this date - 18 June - they are as follows:

Friday night is pizza night. Steph and Sequoia are running the show. I believe Sequoia is making the dough. Steph asks that you bring the following:

Sauce and toppings for pizza.
Salad, fixed or fixin's
Fruit
Desert

The tradition of this meal: Come on. Friday night pizza? What could be better that? Bring on your favorite sauce, your favorite toppings! The vehicle for you favorites - the crust - awaits. And sharing is good...

Saturday night is Siskiyou Taco night. After 15 years I finally have three Weber kettles showing up for the event. I'm puttin' them to use. We also have a new friend who's puttin' a foot forward. To date, what is being served is:

I'm providing fry bread, vegetarian beans, and four pork butts worth of pulled pork.
Steph is makin' some slaw.
Our new friend Terry is bringing two BBQ competition sized beef briskets prepared BBQ competition style (i.e. smoked for 18 hours over a slow flame of Terry's choosing. Stuff like this is a labor of love for omnivores...)
Our long-time friend Jim Lovill is probably bringing a number of Marin bivalves, the exact number known only to him, to kick off the festivities.

What I dream of:

A 12 pound ling cod. For the fish taco folks. Don't have it yet.

What you can bring:

Taco Toppings: Salsa, Cheese, etc.
Your favorite BBQ side
Corn on the cob (Grill it all, we'll sort it out and serve it Kiwana's style ifin' you want butter on that)
Grillin' Veggies
Salad, fixin's or fixed
Fruit
Desert

The tradition of this meal: It is James Dean's favorite.

Weather notes: Bring something warm. Nights might get chilly.

Swimmin' Hole Report: It's there. It's cold. Verrrry cold...

The bottom line: No matter what happens we never go hungry, eat pretty well, and have a better time...

Love you all,

Lowell

Friday, June 18, 2010

The Weather is Hot on the Back of My Watch

Bukowski felt like an apt reference today. Doesn't seem right that I can have a hangover when I don't drink, but I'm foggy as hell. Late nights playing bars, even sweet little Tease, can take it out of a girl. OK, hangover may be stretching it; my hangovers back in the day were epic. That's why I quit drinking.

Doesn't look like Jesse the Human Jukebox will make the camp out this year; work calls. Jon can't come on Friday and Saturday will be a game day decision. So, y'all will have to make do with fewer slices of Ham and whatever music you can muster on your own. Danny Pearson gave me a freaking Harmonium when he was here last weekend, an odd and lovely little instrument, kind of a miniature pump organ. I have yet to figure out how to manipulate the bellows with one hand while playing with the other, but I'll bring it down to the meadow and let y'all take a crack at it. He also gave me an ancient button accordion that evokes nothing so much as the Handsome Cabin Boy playing a hornpipe on the deck of a steamship. The bellows are cracked and some of the reeds sound warped, but it will wheeze out a few sounds.

Campfire tunes; just saying.

The weather report from my back porch is pretty near perfect. Upper 70s, lots of sun, a stiff breeze. No telling what next weekend will be like, but if it's anything like today I think we'll be just fine. Nights have been very cold my friends; bring your woolies.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Food Crimes!

I'll post pictures of Hamfist's performance at Britt when they become available, but meantime, let's talk camp out food crimes, shall we?

As always, Sequoia and I will buy a keg. Here's the short version of the menu:
Friday night pizza. We'll fire the oven, Sequoia's making a ton of dough, y'all bring sauces, cheeses & toppings of all varieties plus salads, sides, drinks, desserts.

Saturday night Siskiyou tacos. Dogboy's overseeing the fry bread, pulled pork and coleslaw. Rumor has it that a couple of competitive barbecue champeens may attend the camp out this year and oversee the meat. Regardless of who's doing the cooking we're going to shill for donations because those pork butts ain't cheap. (Lowell suggested putting out a "pork barrel" as a cash receptacle.) We also need side dishes, drinks, desserts.

Here's an excerpt of an email Lowell sent to Dutch & Cat's friends Karen & Terry:

"Over time the campout menu has evolved into indulging camper's favorites: Friday night is pizza night (a few years ago a wood fired adobe oven was built in the hoohaw area for this purpose. After some tweaking it works pretty good...); Saturday night is Siskiyou Taco night. A Siskiyou Taco is a piece of fry bread topped with pulled pork and a southwestern style coleslaw with a sweet/sour dressing. Last year, on two Webber Kettles, 38 pounds of pork butt (before cooking weight) was slow cooked. The event was not particularly well attended (I plan for 50 and have, off those plans and on occasion, fed about a hundred. Last year, there was less than 50 in attendance for Saturday dinner.) The pulled pork was gone in 20 minutes. Imagine that...

"From what I gather from your email you all plan to bring down your competition BBQ. Is this correct? If so, can we do at least 50 pounds of pork on it at a shot? Knowing this, do you even want to mess with the endeavor? If not, no worries. It will happen anyway one way or another...

"Ooops! Silly me. There are some ground rules: The food cost for the BBQ fodder is, in the worst case, reimbursed to you in full before you leave the campout. Just let me know what you spent. If you want me to pick up the meat down here I can do that too. I'm not sure what your customary prep is and how that works into the time we will share together. Second, if your BBQ needs fuel, there is Oak and Red Alder available on the property. If you give me an idea of what you might need I'll see what is seasoned and available so you don't have to haul wood and let you know."


Please feel free to send me any questions you have after reading the above. I'm happy to answer them all.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Guantlet is Thrown

Message from Cat Sullivan:

Hi Stephany,
This is a message from our friend who will be attending. he wanted me to pass on this info.Can't wait to see all of you and enjoy your music.
Cat

Message from Cat & Dutch's Friend Karen:

Thanks again,

I will bring my award winning BBQ sauce that just won 4 out of 5 stars from the biggest sauce review judges in the country. Please tell Dutch and I'll bring a special bottle for you. www.bbqsaucereviews.com I should be the second one down so look for Timber Folks BBQ. I will bring my competition BBQ which is my brisket and Boston Butt fresh off my smoker so tell your friends and send them the site if you wish. So that's what I'll bring for everyone and a couple of baskets..LOL. I have some of your artwork in my office on the wall very nice and my fav's for sure!!!!...did you do the Budda sitting with his legs crossed on a glow mini??...Hummm

See ya soon
"Big" Ter