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"Cooking is great! It's burned meat!"

To Long Island's Wild Wood Park in Riverhead, New York for some real camping.


Let's meat the campers, shall we?

Fire Master Bennett


The librarian of your wildest dreams, Kate.


Park designer/Strong man Mr. Olmsted.


Tick Magnet, me.


The greatest thing about cooking in the wilderness, besides the smoke, char, and caramelizing scent of fire-roasted meat, is the creativity that comes with minimalism. Salami and cheese and peanut butter sandwiches for example; or adding trail mix to your PB & J. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.




This is a Charcoal Onion. A Charcoal Onion, which I learned about from a rotund Italian cook who never made it on the new Grill It! Show with Bobby Flay, is created by placing whole onions, peel and roots intact, on a fire or BBQ Grill. You let the onion burn and become completely blacked and two beers later you remember it and take the seemingly inedible mass out of the coals to squeeze out the sweetened goopy onion inside. Put it on a hot dog.


Down by the sea shore...


...there was that little kind of shack that you always hope is there, hawking cold sodas, ice pops, pretty decent burgers, and CHEEZE FRIES. Mmmm.


Ew, girls.


We found lots of wild blueberry bushes. A couple were ripe.


Hash in the morning. Potatoes, salami, onion, garlic, zucchini, and a sauce made out of ketchup, lime juice, salt, pepper, and tabasco.