Sunday, April 22, 2012

Supper Recipe for a Greener Planet

Tonight I made supper for my sister and I. I'm a "green" person by nature, loving our planet, recyling always, using my one mug for water or a old soda bottle for water.

I cook like that, too, using leftovers, dabs of this and that, staying away from red meat and large carbon footprint animals like beef. My sister loves cheese. I use it for her. Here's what we had tonight:

Glorified Potatoes and Cheese

Heat a large frying pan with 2 tablespoons of your preferred oil or margarine, butter, or spray coating. I used margarine, for the flavor, what we had in the fridge.

Chop two green onions and several hand fulls of fresh spinach and add to the pan. Saute lightly.
Slice 4 small, washed potatoes into the pan. Salt and pepper the potatoes. Once you have all the potatoes sliced, turn the heat down, flip the potatoes, and cover with a nice tight fitting lid.

You'll be flipping the potatoes every so often, watching the heat so they don't burn. The lid helps them cook faster, with less heat. Save the planet.

After the potatoes are fork tender, if you want a one dish meal, you can push the potatoes to the edge, forming a nice open center. I used two eggs, breaking them into the center, stirring with my spatula. Once the eggs begin to set up, stir into the potatoes.  Cover and let cook until the eggs are firm.

We had a whole wheat roll. I sliced it in half, microwaved that, called her for supper.

While that was going, I opened the lid of the frying pan, sprinkled cheese on her half and recovered it.


All the ingredients to this one pot supper could be produced on a small one acre plot of land. A person could raise chickens and goats, have a nice garden and produce food without creating a huge carbon footprint.

I know there are many ways of solving the same problems. Not everyone can do the farming thing.  Some say with Yellowstone sitting on top a huge volcano, who cares about the green house effect anyway?

All good questions. I leave for Yellowstone Thursday morning. I'll be there until October. Guess I still want to be nice to the earth, no matter what.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Tree Vs. Truck




I'm hanging out near Reno Nevada, waiting for my Yellowstone Job to begin. Walking around the neighborhood, I passed this truck. I paused. My first reaction was someone went off trail and must have had a hellva time until they hit the tree. Branches still are embedded in the grill, under the wiper blade, in the truck bed.
I looked closer and saw the cracked windshield, the long scratch on the side. A sobering thought: I hope the driver survived.

Maybe the person left it out of gear at the top of a hill and it ran away? I doubt it made it home without a tow truck.

If I was bolder, I would walk up to the door, knock and ask. No one bothered me while I was taking the photos, carefully editing out the driver's licence.

Tree versus truck: tree 1, truck -0....but of course, I haven't seen the tree, but from the front grill, I figure it was big.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Preseason Work at Snowlodge, Yellowstone

Snow  Lodge is located right next to the Old Faithful gyeser complex, one of the most visited places in our National Park System. I have accepted a preseason position from April 28- May 31, and then will be heading to Lake Lodge in Yellowstone.

The absolute beauty of this opportunity is I will get to enjoy this early spring in the very popular place, before it gets very busy, able to hike on days off, meet new people and then transfer to my favorite location in the park.

Don't get me wrong. Grant and Roosevelt are marvelous too. If you ever get a chance to hang out in Yellowstone, all the locations have much to offer.

Now, bison will be enjoying the warmth of Old Faithful. There are so many hot sulfur ponds and geysers in the Snow lodge location, bison can be seen there year round. The walk to work is about a tenth of a mile. I look forward to sharing those experiences here with you.

Of course, I'll be cooking. Me and the kitchen, we get along. The other night I made supper for my sister's family. We still have leftovers! Guess I'm geared for hungry crowds who love dessert.