Unique Serving Platter

My husband loves to hunt and fish. He trains hunting dogs, so he spends time hunting water fowl as well as upland game. He also likes hunting deer. When we had been married eight years he told me that he was going to apply for a permit to hunt black bear. The population of black bear is rising in our area so there were many permits that were available through lottery. My husbands name was drawn for a zone fairly close to our home. The day he received his license he said he was going to have to start target practicing. I did not think too much about his comment until I saw him take his bow and arrow set out of the closet. That is when he informed me that he had applied for an archery permit.

He has hunted with his bow and arrow for many years. I know that he is accurate and careful when hunting, but I did not like the odds of him sitting in a tree with a bow and arrow if there was a wounded bear on the ground. Assuring me that he would be safe hunting the bear with bow and arrow, he told me that he would need my help for two weeks prior to the season opening and also through the season. I needed to help him locate, purchase and distribute bear bait.

Bear hunting was a completely new concept to me. I had no idea that hunters carried food out into the woods for the bear to eat, in the hopes that the bear will come during the time you are sitting in a tree, close to the bait station. It made me even more nervous to find out that he was going to be sitting with a bow and arrow at a place that the bear is considering an easy meal location. My husband kept telling me that the bears were more afraid of him than he was of them. In mid-August we began supplying the bait station. We used day old bread and sweet rolls that we purchased from a bakery. We put out damaged fruit and vegetables from the produce department of a local grocery store. My husband also purchased a sweet molasses from the feed mill to pour on top of the bread.

It was fascinating to me to go to the bait station and see the amount of food that was being consumed. My husband still insisted that he was going to be safe using the bow and arrow. He had checked the regulations and found that you can have a firearm in your vehicle, in case you would need to kill a wounded bear. My concern was getting from the tree stand to the vehicle if there was a wounded bear.

The opening day of bear season my husband took his bow and arrow out to the tree stand he had put up. A friend of his went along and video taped the hunt from another tree stand. My husband did shoot a black bear with the bow and arrow and there was not a need for the firearm.

My favorite thing about summer is being able to fire up the barbecue and enjoy good food outdoors with family and friends. It’s the best way to have a party and the food always tastes great. For me, BBQ recipes should be cooked on charcoal barbecues. No gas fuel cookers for me. The charcoal should be good quality too, either lumpwood charcoal or briquettes. If you grow fruit trees, the dried cuttings also make an excellent fuel.

A barbecue feast should smell, look and taste good. Be careful not to undercook anything as that can be harmful, but there’s no need to set everything on fire either. Good cooking outside comes with practice. Just do the basics to begin with and then confidence will come with experience. Then you can experiment with different BBQ recipes.

Barbecues don’t have to be just sausages, chicken drumsticks and burgers, although there should always be some of those, as people expect them! Even these can be spiced up with marinades and sauces etc. There are traditional, classic sauces such as aioli sauce. This is the basis of mayonnaise and consists of garlic, egg yolks, olive oil, lemon and seasoning. A tasty barbecue sauce can be made with garlic, salt, paprika, clear honey, tomato puree, orange juice, white or red wine vinegar and soy sauce. You can also make Japanese marinades that use sake and Indian marinades that use cumin and coriander. The use of herbs and butters also adds to the flavor of BBQ recipes. You can have accompanying butters with foods such as lobster, shrimp or anchovy.

There are lots of BBQ ideas for meat dishes to satisfy the carnivores. One of my favorite BBQ recipes is fillet steak with blue cheese. I also like lamb chops with tarragon and pork chops with fennel. Poultry can include less common items such as pheasant, quail or guinea fowl. Fish lovers will also enjoy barbecues and there are certain types of fish that are suited to being grilled. Bass, mackerel, swordfish, cod, bream and sardines are just some examples of tasty BBQ recipes using fish. Vegetarians and lovers of vegetables generally should also enjoy going to barbecues. There’s nothing more full of flavor than grilled sweet corn or aubergines. Mushrooms are also very tasty, cooked in garlic butter.

People tend to forget pudding at barbecues. I have come across some imaginative BBQ recipes for fruit deserts, including caramelized bananas and apple kebabs. If you prefer cheese as a last course, there’s nothing finer than barbecued goat cheeses.