Jerry’s Spicy “Thai” Peanut Chicken

2 cups peanut butter. (great use for the rest of the old jar. Chunky works too.)
2/3 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 limes worth fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tbsp honey (or brown sugar if you have no honey)
2 tbsp sriracha (adjust to your heat level)
1 tsp ginger

1 cup green onions, red or yellow or green bell peppers (any mix ok)
1-5 thai long hot peppers (or long cayenne) SKIP THESE if you don’t need hot and spicy.

2 lbs boneless chicken. (breast is great, a little dark meat is also great)

(If you are skittish about uncooked chicken, feel free to saute the chicken on the stovetop first.)

Assemble the sauce together in the crockpot. place the chicken on top of the mix. turn on and cover. cook for 4-8 hours. fork split the chicken to make it serve-able.

I pair it with my mom’s coconut rice, but any rice will do.

Ray’s Champagne Powder

My friend/boss, Ray Champagne, shared this great powder/rub for steaks. I’ve named it Champagne Powder.

I’ve been using it for everything, substituting it for chili powder in all grilling or baking.

Ray’s Champagne Powder

• 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chile pepper (the one in a jar in the spice aisle)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

If you are adding it to a steak, (like his recommended 18 ounces trimmed top round steak, preferably grass fed), first rub the steak with a teaspoon of olive oil, and then sprinkle on the powder.

The smell of desert sage and juniper after a rain

One of my absolute favorite memories.

Lying awake under a tarp in the desert at about 3 am, looking up at the stars, savoring the smell of sage and juniper after a fast-moving summer thunderstorm, listening to a herd of wild horses about a half mile away.

I was camping just off the road somewhere northwest of Pyramid Lake in northwestern Nevada. I simply pulled off the dirt road I was on and set up camp just before dark. The thunderstorm started about 2 a.m. and lasted about an hour, but I could see it moving in for hours. I was a little worried that my tarp strung over a piece of rope between two poles wouldn’t stand up to the storm, or that the lightning would be an issue, but I was fine. I have used that setup dozens of times, and had pitched it on a slight rise, so flash floods were never an issue.

I could hear the horses forever as they moved closer and away all evening. They seemed to know just where I was.

Once the storm had cleared, I was amazed at the brightness of the stars, and how much I could see even in the dark. From my bed, I could see a dozen rabbits hopping in every direction.

Capturing this experience would be the country song I wish I could write.

Mirror Lake, Oregon

One of my favorite weekends ever was an overnight campout on Mirror Lake on the road up to Mt Hood from Portland.

The hike up to the lake was great, through pine forests dripping with a light rain, and crossing raging streams. By the time I got to the lake, the rain had stopped, and I was able to set up camp just above the lake.

There was a Boy Scout group also camping at the lake, and at the far end some conservation crunchy-types.

Over the course of the evening, we all met and ended up eating dinner together. The Scout leader was a gourmet chef, and after we caught dozens of crawfish in the lake, he cooked them up in a creole stew, adding in contributions from all of the campers.

We stayed up well after dark, singing campfire songs, and retired to our tents in the cool of the late evening.

The next morning, I was invited to hike towards Tom Dick and Harry mountain, and help the conservation group release juvenile Peregrine falcons into the wild.

What a wonderful experience.