Foil & Flames: Tasty Treats Over The Campfi re

StOry and phOtOS by:JOHNZAKTANSKy

Cooking over a campfire does not mean sacrificing variety or flavor — in fact, the smoky essence of a wood-fueled flame greatly can enhance dishes you typically enjoy at home.

With the right tools, there really isn’t a meal you can’t transfer to a campfire. Cast-iron pans, Dutch ovens and mountain pie makers can cover the gourmet gamut of options — but perhaps the most fundamental tool in the campfire cook’s arsenal is a roll of aluminum foil.

Foil pack meals are extremely easy to personalize. The old Scouting standby involves ground beef, sliced or cubed potatoes, onions, carrots and ketchup or barbecue sauce.

On a fresh sheet of foil, simply scatter the ingredients evenly in the center of the rectangle. Ground beef should be kept flatter, with other ingredients scattered on top. Sliced peppers, mushrooms and other toppings are welcome as preferred.

The key comes in sealing the packet. I use a second sheet of foil over top of the first (with ingredients hidden inside). Then, slowly fold the edges evenly toward the middle, ultimately creating an air-tight cooking chamber that can be placed directly over a hot bed of campfire coals.

Depending on how well prepared your campfire is — and how close you have the packet to the heat source — you should flip the packet often to avoid burning. Slowly, as the meal cooks through, you’ll notice the foil pack puff up internally. This is a good time to carefully remove it from the flame, cut a slice through the center of the packet, and check the contents to make sure the meat is cooked through and potatoes are tender. If not, simply fry the meal in the foil packet until it is done to satisfaction.

The foil packs offer a mini oven-like atmosphere … in fact, most items you typically cook in a microwave can be prepared over a campfire in a well-sealed foil pack. As you experiment with these dishes, share your stories to zaktansky@gmail.com.

Éclairs o er tasty campfire alternative

Campfires typically usher in the S'mores season, and there are numerous variations of the standard toasted marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate concoction that can keep S'mores from becoming a stale idea.

However, if you’d like to spice up your campfire dessert options, consider creating campfire éclairs. YoU’ll NEED:

a whittled/smoothed stick about one inch in diameter a can of prepared crescent rolls a pack of vanilla pudding pre-made chocolate frosting WHAT To Do:

• The stick should be shaved down on the end, smoothed as well as you can and then greased with cooking spray, butter or even leftover bacon drippings from breakfast.

Then, wrap a crescent roll around the stick, smoothing the edges, and toast it to golden perfection over a fire much like you would a marshmallow. Lots of turning and moving the stick through different heat zones will provide the best results.

Once the shell is cooked, it should easily slide off the stick.

Spoon vanilla pudding into the center, spread some frosting on the top and enjoy.

As with S'mores, there are many potential variations for a campfire éclair. As you experiment, share your favorites to zaktansky@gmail.com.

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StOry: CINDy O. HERMAN As KJ Reimensnyder-Wagner sang to patients in a hospital, a man emerged from a closed door and asked if she’d stop in later to sing for his dying wife.

“When I went in the room and closed the door behind me, he requested I sing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings,’” behind me, he requested I sing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings,’” Reimensnyder-Wagner said. “As I stood just inside to give Reimensnyder-Wagner said. “As I stood just inside to give them some space, I began singing. I soon realized that as them some space, I began singing. I soon realized that as he was cradling his wife, she was looking up to him while he was cradling his wife, she was looking up to him while singing and he was looking into her eyes, singing these singing and he was looking into her eyes, singing these special lyrics to her. I softened my voice and was privileged special lyrics to her. I softened my voice and was privileged to listen to what may have been the last song they shared to listen to what may have been the last song they shared with one another before she soon-after transitioned to with one another before she soon-after transitioned to the next world. It was one of the most sad and yet most the next world. It was one of the most sad and yet most meaningful times of my life.” meaningful times of my life.”

k.J. reimenSnyder-waGner

The Mifflinburg-based musician (www.kjsmile.com) has now sung for that family’s weddings and life parties.

“Music not only can keep people alive, it can help in calming our lives as we’re ‘leaving,’” she said.

Like Reimensnyder-Wagner, several regional musicians have found special joy in sharing their music with people in vulnerable situations. With the added uncertainty of the COVID-19 virus, musicians have stepped forward to offer rays of light in the gloominess of quarantine.

From hospitals to at-home gigs

Woody Wolfe, of Danville, has been singing to children in hospitals around the world since 1981 and eventually formed Through Heart to Hand Ministries, Inc., www. hearttohandministries.com.

During the shutdown, he has been recording live Facebook sessions daily at 4 p.m.

Initially he wanted to reach out to the families he’s sung to, but he realized it was becoming something bigger when they shared the music with others.

“I just wanted to let everyone know it’s all right to be afraid,” he said. “I’ve heard from so many people that I have sung to over the years that have found their way to this daily session.”

One woman messaged him saying, “I don’t know if you remember me.” Wolfe had sung to her at Phoenix Hospital in Arizona when she was 10. Today she is a NICU nurse in Dayton, Ohio. He took a picture of her snapshot on his wall and sent it to her.

Another girl had battled a disease that took her brother’s life. She contacted him recently and told him she was now listening to his music with her four daughters, and how much that meant to her.

“I’ve said so many times, I’ve made my absolute best friends in the most horrible situations that I would gladly give up, but yet it’s the way life is,” Wolfe said. “I feel incredibly grateful and incredibly blessed that I’ve been able to have so many best friends.” escape For the elderly

When Jay Vonada, of Aaronsburg, was laid off from his “day job” in 2009, he decided to pursue music fulltime.

One of Vonada’s most compelling gigs turned out to be performing for elderly populations.

“I say music is medicine because I enjoy playing those venues probably the most,” Vonada said. “When I started trying to figure out what I was going to do, I wasn’t really thinking about that. I was thinking, how can I do this for a living? But it’s given me so much back playing for those folks.”

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Jim McClincy

During the quarantine, Vonada has been making videos and putting them out on Facebook.

“Out of those I put together a halfhour DVD of original songs, and I have been sending those out to the nursing homes where I have performed and some where I have not,” Vonada said.

Jim McClincy became known as “the Singing Mailman” when he sang as he delivered mail on his postal route in Sunbury.

“People would tell me that they knew when I was coming, and they knew when I was leaving,” he joked during a Keeping the Beat music podcast interview at www.dailyitem.com.

Like Vonada, McClincy has found unexpected joy in performing at elder care residences.

“What I consider is the most rewarding aspect of playing in nursing facilities is, I can bring back to a lot of those folks songs that they used to dance to or that their dad used to play. I hear a lot of that,” McClincy said.

He’s found it especially fulfilling to perform for people struggling with dementia.

“Until you start playing the song, a lot of folks with Alzheimer’s seem to be in their own world,” he said. “you play a song they know, and from my aspect, I’m looking at them, I can see their whole complexion change. The light comes on and they’ll sing with me nearly all the words in the song, and they know it all, and for that instant you have them back. And when the song’s over, it’s just that quick again, they’re gone.

“I do enjoy that. I like bringing those folks back to something that they once had. It’s very rewarding for me to look at it and see it.”

mind over matter

Reimensnyder-Wagner noted that life is always uncertain, though it seems more so when our routines are interrupted.

She is grateful that during the shutdown she has participated in “Friend videos” with fellow musicians regionally and as far away as England. She tries to deal with anxiety by putting life into perspective.

“I’ve always been a firm believer that so much of life is ‘mind over matter,’” she said. “As people say, so often the things we worry about are the things that never happen anyway.”

She breaks things down into enduring week by week, second by second, extending it slightly more as needed, but she acknowledged sometimes even sunny personalities like her own need a lift.

“I’m also human and don’t always take my own advice,” she said. “But I’m learning! I’m always inspired by those around me. Our world is one big wonderful community, in my eyes.”

She is learning new computer skills during the shutdown and encourages others to be more open to what’s offered than what’s lost.

“As my friend, Daily Item photographer Rob Inglis said best, ‘Sometimes even wildfires offer something good on the other side. The re-freshening of the land. New insight,’” she said. “It’s all how we choose to see it.”

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Wolfe recalled a young man at a cancer camp who said Wolfe’s song had helped him figure out why he had to have cancer: without it, he wouldn’t have met Wolfe and all his friends at camp and the hospital. The young man taught Wolfe that even in the midst of troubling times like the coronavirus, there are reasons to be thankful.

“I think it’s that way in this situation. If we look around there are blessings to be found,” Wolfe said. “Even if it’s just assisting a neighbor. Making a phone call. FaceTiming with the people we care about. Use our presence to encourage and uplift. We need to love our neighbor and be kind. It’s pretty simple.”

wOOdy wOlfe

1430631862 Woody Wolfe

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StOry: CINDy O. HERMAN

Perhaps no one understands the power of music better than the musicians who see how it transforms people in their darkest of times.

Mifflinburg-based musician KJ Reimensnyder-Wagner talked about music being the universal language.

“We can ‘get lost in the notes,’ feel symbiotic with the lyrics,” she said. “It ‘brings us energy’ and ‘gets us motivated’ as we wake up with upbeat sounds. It can ‘cry for us’ through the sound of strings when we need to release the tears. It can ‘fight for us’ through discord in notes as we need to vent anger. It can put a ‘smile in us’ as we hear light and lively tunes. And it can ‘give us calm’ when we need to return to the end of the day.”

She shared a story about standing in line to purchase flowers when she heard “lovely humming” by a woman standing behind her.

“It helped all of us there enduring the wearing of the masks, and also gave privacy to the voice,” ReimensnyderWagner said. “She was making the best of the situation and, in her own way, was leading by beautiful example.”

“I believe all music is therapeutic. It’s what I go to all the time,” said Woody Wolfe, a Danville musician who sings to children in hospitals.

He talked about how a good, silly song can transport sick kids out of their crisis and just let them be kids again. He has also sung to comatose patients, hoping the music reached them.

“I just trusted in the power of the music,” he said. “I’m trying to just support them whatever way I can. For some people, they support another just simply by coming alongside and holding a hand. For me I come alongside, and I play a song.”

Trombonist Jay Vonada, of Aaronsburg, and guitar player Jim McClincy, of Sunbury, both perform at senior living centers and have seen music lift people’s spirits.

In senior care facilities, Vonada plays songs from the ’20s through the ’60s that seniors recall from their younger days.

“If not them then at least their parents, they really enjoy those popular songs of that day,” he said. “I enjoy playing it because as a jazz musician that’s what we do, play the song, do our improvisation, and that’s the way it goes, and they really love it.”

McClincy sang all his life even while delivering mail, earning him the title of the “Singing Mailman.”

“I think music is a vehicle by which people can time travel,” he said. “you can listen to music and go wherever the song takes you.”

Creedence Clearwater Revival takes him back to his days in the United States Air Force. Old-time country music takes him home with his family, singing around the piano.

“That’s possibly what might help lift people’s spirits,” he said, “that it transports them to where they’d like to be.”

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