Recipe for Fried Cabbage and Lobster

Fried Cabbage and Lobster

 This recipe make enough for two, but I ate it all myself in one sitting!

1. Heat about three tablespoons of coconut oil in a large skillet over low heat.
2. Thinly slice one small head of cabbage. Put in pan and slowly fry until tender, stirring regularly.
3. Once tender, turn heat up to medium-high and fry cabbage until slightly brown, stirring constantly.
4. Stir in liberal amounts of garlic powder, curry, Worcestershire, and Asian fish powder.
5. Move cabbage to the perimeter of the pan, freeing up the center.
6. With heat still on medium-high, add four tablespoons of coconut oil to center of pan.
7. Add 8 oz of lobster chunks (imitation works well) to center of pan and quickly fry for just a minute or two, stirring constantly.
8. Remove from heat. Add Asian peanut sauce to lobster and stir.

Enjoy!

Cold Winter Winds

January is the most challenging Winter month in Virginia. Overnight temperatures can dip down into single-digits, and Winter storms bring in steady winds. That's a rough combination for a tent, where air infiltration is a big problem. Even though I've gone to great lengths to seal the gaps in my canvas, the material itself is so porous that the wind comes right through, causing my candles to flicker as they dance in the cold air. On nights like that I burn a hot stove, so wood consumption doubles and burn time is cut in half. And I have to wake up every few hours to stoke the fire.

As I snooze through such nights, I let the temperature on my face act as an alarm clock, the rest of me being cozy and warm beneath my blankets. I've found that when my face gets cold enough, say at around 30 degrees or so, I usually wake up. And just in time to add fuel to the stove, there being a nice, hot bed of coals still glowing. Of course, there have been times when I've slept through and have woken up to temperatures in the teens, and dying coals that needed kindling and care. I always knew when that had happened as soon as I awoke, and frowned and grumbled to myself for having slept through, knowing that I would be up a bit longer tending to the stove.

January's cold has also worked to acclimate my body. Forty degrees is now quite comfortable, so some evenings I'll heat with just propane, satisfied to wake up to a 30 degree morning.

I'm enjoying Winter now, having passed through the December doldrums. February is just weeks away, then Spring, then the heat of Summer when I'll wish for January.

Fire Safety

From a fire safety point-of-view, my home is a small, flammable space with open flames everywhere. The tent itself is only 12' x 14', and in it I have a double-bed, a kitchen area, a bathing area, a toilet, two chairs, some small shelves and tables, and at this time of year, a wood stove. It's packed pretty tight, and even though the canvas has been treated for fire resistance, I'm still surround by a lot of flammable material.

I light with oil lamps and candles, cook with propane, and heat with propane and wood, so there are always open flames about. And it being a small, crowded space, the likelihood for accidents increases. One false move, and an oil lamp falls to the floor or the propane heater gets knocked over. Or worse, a failure of the tent frame, a fallen limb, or an accidental bump could dislodge the stove pipe from the wood stove leading to thick smoke and open flames within the tent.

So here are my fire safety tips for tent living:

1. Don't live in a tent! It's dangerous!

Okay, if you ignore that rule (like I do), then at least:

1. Install a carbon monoxide detector. This is a must! Carbon monoxide accumulates quickly in a small space like a tent. My CO detector goes off routinely, so it has probably already saved my life.
2. Install a smoke detector. This is more for peace-of-mind, for example, when I leave my wood stove burning through the night. But my smoke detector has also alerted me to sooty wicks and slight obstructions in the stove pipe.
3. Keep a fire extinguisher handy. Fortunately, I haven't had to use mine yet, but I've had some pretty close calls when I've almost pulled it out.
4. Prevention. Arrange your space so as to minimize accidents. For example, place oil lamps on stable surfaces out of the main traffic flow, and avoid setups where you have to reach over an open flame to retrieve objects.
5. Have a fire plan. This is perhaps the most important. Imagine everything that could go wrong, and plan your response ahead of time. For example, what would you do if a tree limb ripped off the stove pipe and knocked over the wood stove? Or an oil lamp fell to the floor and broke? Or you smelled propane? Or your hair or clothes caught fire? And so on.

Please think about these things, be safe, and enjoy the thrill of tent living!