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Gear Up: Spring Edition

With the second installment of this quarterly feature we are going to talk about keeping it together. Working with digital tools means there are lots of bits and pieces that you need to have handy. That is not an easy task.

Peak Design out of San Francisco has become our go to supplier for camera bags and gear pouches. The center of this system is their Everyday Tote. The model we have has been updated and isn’t available anymore. However, these multi-pocket tote bags, regardless of the model, are extremely handy in keeping essential gear organized and at your finger tips.

The other piece of gear from Peak Design is their Anchor Link system. We started with a camera strap and clip from Peak Design. The anchor link system is a method of tethering a piece of gear to a strap or lanyard.

We’ve added links, a button like tether, to cameras, GPS, iPhones and knives. This makes it really simple to attach or detach a piece of gear to an anchor point. As an example we’ve put anchors on neck lanyards so our iPhones can be quickly clipped to the lanyard and you are hands free but the phone isn’t stuffed in a pocket.

The other item we wanted to include in this quarter’s Gear Up is a pocket knife.

This is an essential kit when you are camping. The problem JQ encountered with a folding knife is they were just too heavy to comfortably hang on the side of lightweight pants.

Benchmade Bugout solves that with a high quality folder that is extremely light. This knife can also comfortably hang on a neck lanyard which is very convenient.

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Scouting a cold blue ribbon

The Deschutes River north of Maupin was, for years, a go to fishing spot. There are BLM camp sites along the river from the bridge on Highway 197 to Mack’s Canyon.

When we moved to Central Oregon it was with a thought that we’d spend time on the lower Deschutes.

However, we’ve since discovered the Crooked, Fall and Upper Deschutes and haven’t been to Maupin in over a year.

This year, as we were planning camping excursions. I noticed there is an extension of the BLM land South of Maupin.

In all those years we never even looked that way!

This week we decided to take a day trip back to the old fishing spots and checkout this new area.

The scouting trip was interesting.

That stretch of the river flows through a much tighter canyon and while there are some nice stetches of water, for the most part steep banks and narrow roads make this a much less inviting area.

We headed North, downriver, to our favorite parking spot … Oak Springs. We enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back to home.

Lower Deschutes is on the camping list, but we’ll be back to old haunts rather than any of these newly scouted sites.

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If Not Cake?

When you start to write a post about cheesecake, the first thing to do is research this tasty dessert.

Further study reveals a startling fact … 

Cheesecake is NOT cake!

We’re crazy for that graham cracker crust.
So is it pie? Round, custard filling with crumb crust …
sounds like pie.

 

*”Despite the confusing terminology, cheesecake is by no means a cake. Also, since cheesecake isn’t topped with pastry, it cannot be a pie. Cheesecake is, and forever will be, a tart”*.

Our baking experiments continue with these little guys. We tried three sizes and found we liked this small cupcake shape. The ratio between graham cracker crumb to cheese filling was great!

An early form of cheesecake was served to Olympians in 776 B.C. But it didn’t resemble what we now think of as cheesecake. Romans took the “recipe’ from the Greeks, made some changes, but all of these early forms of the dessert used a Ricotta-style cheese.

Immigrants brought it to America.  In the late eighteen hundreds a Philadelphia Dairy man invented cream cheese which found its way into what is now commonly called the new york style cheesecake.  This is what most think of when we say cheesecake.

It may not be cake, or pie, or a tart, but we can agree . . . it is a great dessert.

Print Recipe

Mini Cheesecake

These little cheesecakes are baked in a muffin pan just like cupcakes.
Servings: 16

Ingredients

CRUST

  • 6 graham crackers, broken into pieces We used cinnamon graham crackers.
  • 2 tsps sugar
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 pinch salt

FILLING

  • Two 8 oz pkg cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tbsp flour

Instructions

Prep

  • Preheat oven to 325. Line 16 cups (of two muffin pans).

To make crust

  • In bowl of food processor process the graham crackers to fine crumbs. You should have 2/3 cup.
  • Pour crumbs into bowl and add sugar, melted butter, and salt.
  • Use a fork and stir until crumbs are evenly moistened.
  • Divide mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups (about 1 tablespoon per cup).
  • Press crumbs into bottom of cup.
  • Bake until lightly golden, about 4 minutes. Set on wire racks.

To make filling

  • In a clean food processor bowl, process the cream cheese until smooth, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the sugar until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl.
  • Add the sour cream and vanilla until combined.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, processing well after each addition.
  • Add the flour and process until combined. Scrape down the bowl and process one more time.
  • Divide the filling evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full.
  • Bake until the cheesecakes puff and are set, about 23 minutes. Let cool completely in the pans.
  • Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
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Staying away on the Crooked

The weather has been so nice we took advantage and put the new Euro rod through its paces.

We are back on the Crooked River … fishing … training Tip in the ways of the river …

and generally practicing our own form of social distancing.

This time I evaluated the new rod and in the process caught a couple. The biggest problem encountered is the cobble rock bottom that makes wading difficult and precarious.

At the Crooked we generally don’t cover a lot of river.  Instead we pick a spot and work up and down from there (maybe a quarter of a mile at most). While the river’s bottom is rock and moss, the bank is really easy to traverse.

As the weather keeps getting better, this will be a regular destination for us. It feels great to hear the river rush by and take the time to breathe in the good and exhale the bad.

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Roadside novelty

America developed a national highway system starting in the thirties with a boost after WWII. Paved roads improved commerce but also gave birth to the cross country road trip.

Along our web of highways enterprising business men constructed cement monuments to gophers, dinosaurs and mythical lumber jacks as enticement to the many new sojourners. Some offered food and beverage, but all were rest points so travelers could stretch their legs and spend some money.

The age of roadside attractions has passed or more to the point was bypassed when we upgraded to the Interstate.

However, the monuments remain and it’s amazing what you can find sitting just a mile or two off the freeway. As the weather warms we venture farther from our home base. These road trips, by design, avoid the freeway but any Historical Marker is always a reason to pull over.

Recently we came across a throw back to the time of blue highways, a tea pot shaped gas station in central Washington.

The Teapot Dome Service Station is a former gas station built in the shape of a teapot located in Zillah, Washington. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It is an example of novelty architecture and was intended as a reminder of the Teapot Dome Scandal that rocked the presidency of Warren Harding.