For all you big scouts headed off for a weekend of camping, I’ve been reposting some popular camping-related posts from last year. This week’s re-posts have included how to make a fire starter and build a box oven. Today, let’s bake something in that oven!
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Baking in a Box (a.k.a. Scotch) Oven
(reposted from June 2, 2011)
In the last post, I demonstrated how to make a box, or scotch, oven, and we’re picking it up now with a demo of how it actually bakes food.
Key lime squares, baked in the box oven, for real.
You’ll see that charcoal is an important (essential) part of the process, so I’m using this opportunity to use one of the fire-starters I recently made to get that charcoal going.
So how can a foil-lined box bake to temperature using charcoal? It turns out that one hot coal represents 40 degrees F. for about 30 minutes. So if your recipe calls for a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, you need to heat up a batch of 10 coals in order to ”preheat” your oven. If your recipe calls for you to bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes, you’ll need to preheat a second batch of 10 coals while the first batch is baking. You’ll swap the fresh coals out at the 30 minute mark.
Key lime squares are the recipe du jour. Watch to see how the oven works, along with the all-important taste test of the results:
So… to sum up, the thing really does work, but you want to be choosing recipes that won’t suffer from that mild charcoal flavor.
Heading into the Memorial Day weekend, I’m reposting some popular camping-related posts from last year. Today, learn how to make a box oven — great for baking outdoors. I still have the one I made in the video below, and I expect it’ll get tucked into the car for this week’s camping adventure!
We’re days away from Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer and camping season, so I thought I’d spend the week reposting a few popular posts on the subject from last year. I’ll be making the pilgrimage to the Kerrville Folk Festival myself, and am happy to see that last year’s drought is over and the burn ban has been lifted. With that in mind, let’s kick off this week of camping reposts with How to Make a Fire Starter. Pack a few of these in your camping supplies and you won’t have to worry about the wind blowing out a whole box of matches.
Top of the morning to you, scouts! I hope you slept well. In the last post, I shared a bit about the causes for a poor night’s sleep. I moaned a bit, too. I’ve missed my zzzzzzzz’s.
We all know how it feels to meet a new morning with no sleep. We’ve all suspected at some point or another that our brains have been eaten, we’ve been zombified, and we’ll only get through the day by awkwardly, wearily, thrusting one foot in front of the other. We’ve all fallen asleep at our desks, too. (We have, haven’t we? Please tell me I’m not the only one…)
The the Sleep Foundation set out to assess how much sleep adults need in their, well, aptly titled report, “How Much Sleep Do Adults Need?,” and it appears the answer is complex: sleep researchers are still trying to uncover exactly why we need to sleep. The report acknowledges that the commonly held wisdom that adults need 7-8 hours of restful sleep each night is generally–but not universally–true. This aside, the report also notes that, regardless of our needs, fewer adults are getting a good night’s rest than in years past.
So what happens when we’re deprived of sleep? According to Web M.D., we can expect to experience any of these significant side effects in the short-term:
Decreased Performance and Alertness. Even reducing one night’s sleep by as little as 90 minutes can reduce daytime alertness by as much as 32%.
Memory and Cognitive Impairment. Yep. You won’t be able to remember where you put your keys, and when your husband tells you to look on the dresser, you’ll have a hard time picturing where that is in your house.
Stressed Relationships: Disruption of a bed partner’s sleep due to a sleep disorder may cause significant problems for the relationship (for example, separate bedrooms, conflicts, moodiness, etc.).
Poorer Quality of Life. Life, in fact, requires some sustained attention, but it’s really hard to stay awake for your child’s play when you’re exhausted and can’t think straight.
Work-related Injury. Fatigue can double the likelihood of getting injured on the job. I guess I’m twice as likely to accidentally shut the laptop with my right hand while my left one is still typing.
Automobile Injury. ”The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates conservatively that each year drowsy driving is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities.”
The Sleep Foundation report included changes in physiology as a result of sleep deprivation–contributing factors to the side effects listed above:
Several research studies have shown that sleep restriction to about 4 hours per night on 1 – 2 nights has significant effects on normal individuals. Studies have shown an increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased inflammation… impaired glucose tolerance (which can be a prelude to the development of diabetes, and increased hunger/appetite (which could promote obesity). In addition, information obtained from questionnaires in large sample groups has also shown statistical associations between chronically reduced sleep duration and increased risk of hypertension (particularly in women); diabetes; and weight gain.
I read this and can’t help but think that as the country wages its latest war on obesity, we might need to be thinking about the sleep-weight connection. Hell, I know a lot of factors can contribute to weight gain, but I can’t help but notice that weight loss in middle age (read: I-haven’t-had-a-full-night’s-sleep-since-the-night-sweats-began), is a helluva lot harder than it used to be.
And, according to the Sleep Foundation, adults who experience sleep deprivation over time may begin to “…develop some tolerance to feelings of sleepiness over a few days, and this may make it more likely that sleep restricted people will be unaware of their continuing deterioration in alertness and performance. This can have profound personal and public safety consequences (e.g. safe motor vehicle operation, ability to make critical work and family decisions, etc).”
Nap time: I want to go to there…
Yikes and double yikes. I need to check in with my husband to see if I’ve been making any particularly poor choices recently.
Curiously–at least to me–this report makes absolutely no mention of the possible value of my favorite three-letter word: nap.
I love, love, love a little nap at the end of a work day. It clears the mental slate and preps me for the evening ahead. Even twenty minutes can work small miracles. And my body’s natural inclination is supported by none other than the National Institutes of Health:
Evidence is mounting that sleep — even a nap — appears to enhance information processing and learning. New experiments by NIMH grantee Alan Hobson, M.D., Robert Stickgold, Ph.D., and colleagues at Harvard University show that a midday snooze reverses information overload and that a 20 percent overnight improvement in learning a motor skill is largely traceable to a late stage of sleep that some early risers might be missing. Overall, their studies suggest that the brain uses a night’s sleep to consolidate the memories of habits, actions and skills learned during the day.
The bottom line: we should stop feeling guilty about taking that “power nap” at work or catching those extra winks the night before our piano recital.
Hear that U.S.? Is it possible we could improve our endurance and productivity if we adopted the siesta?? Honestly, if I could figure out how to quantify increased productivity and profit this way, I might make it a personal mission to get nap time in every workplace.
But nap or not, most of us could still use some help getting a peaceful night’s sleep. So allow me to close with a few key pointers, again from the Sleep Foundation:
Establish consistent sleep and wake schedules, even on weekend
Create a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath or listening to soothing music – begin an hour or more before the time you expect to fall asleep
Create a sleep-conducive environment that is dark, quiet, comfortable and cool
Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows
Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex (keep “sleep stealers” out of the bedroom – avoid watching TV, using a computer or reading in bed
Finish eating at least 2-3 hours before your regular bedtime
Exercise regularly during the day or at least a few hours before bedtime
Avoid caffeine and alcohol products close to bedtime and give up smoking
Do you agree with the Sleep Foundation’s tips? Do you follow them? What helps you fall–and stay–asleep? Post your wisdom!!!!
Hypnos and Thanatos, Sleep and His Half-Brother Death, an 1874 painting by John William Waterhouse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We all love ourselves a good night’s sleep, and they’re mighty important to our health. It’s been awhile since I had one, though.
Only hours ago I was staring at a clock reading 3:21 in the frigging morning, so I’m feeling mighty qualified to talk about the subject, having had a grand total of 3 hours and 42 minutes of shut eye last night.
Happily–and I mean this–this post scores me another badge task, ’cause every scout needs to understand the value of quality sleep. And since I’ve got a few extra hours this morning before work, I might as well get down to it.
BADGE WORK UPDATE: HIGHWAY TO HEALTH
This is how I felt at 3:22 a.m.:
Like an anvil had been placed between my eyes (no, not a result of alcohol).
Like I knew there’s this thing called language, but I had no recollection of how to use it.
Like I’d run a 10K, and I was drenched in the sweat to prove it (more on the pleasure of night sweats below)
Like my husband was lucky to be sleeping, because my default position in any conversation would’ve been hostile sarcasm.
In other words, if you put me next to Charlie Sheen, he’d be the nice one in the room.
Trust me, I looked as lovely as I felt, too. An inadvertent glance in the bathroom mirror was nothing short of horrifying. I looked like I had botched collagen injections in all the wrong places.
There are lots of reasons any of us might lose a good night’s sleep, occasionally or quite regularly. Here are three primo examples:
The Hyperactive Mind: You wake suddenly in the dark, body exhausted and mind racing. You try so hard to will yourself back to sleep but the sheep you should be counting have been replaced by little voices in your head, prattling on about the day before or the day to come. Frustrated and bored, you kick off those covers with pissy conviction and haul your carcass out of bed.
Maybe you decide you might as well put some precious to-do lists on paper (since that’s what was speeding through your grey matter when you woke up anyway), except now that you’re upright at your desk, staring at your keyboard or pen to paper, you can’t for the life of you remember what it is you were supposed to do anymore.
So you make a pot of coffee.
The Young Parent: While I wasn’t blessed with children of my own, I’ve heard the stories, and they aren’t pretty. It’s not bad enough that expectant moms have to sleep with a bowling ball inside them; after that little bundle of joy emerges, s/he insists on eating in the middle of the night, usually from a breast.
I know young dads have their sleep interrupted, too, but let’s face it: moms are doing some heavy lifting out there, on very little sleep. Be glad your mother doesn’t resent you for the lost shut eye and, while we’re at it, don’t forget that this Sunday is Mother’s Day.
The Perimenopausal Woman (hey, that’s me!): Welcome to “night sweats,” which are really just hot flashes that come on with such intensity you wake up drenched. Not every woman gets them, but I do.
All my life I was the one who needed extra blankets, who slept with socks on even in summer. But not anymore. The one that woke me at 3:21 was the second one tonight. It’s been months since I slept a solid six hours. I have a whole set of ice packs in rotation to help me cool down and get back to sleep.
[Brief aside: You know, you'd think that since suffers like me have this bizarre and regular rise in our internal thermometers, it would at least provide some kind of thermogenic boost that would make it easier to lose weight, but no such luck. Another one of nature's crueler jokes.]
Anyway…
These three sleep disruptors are just the tip of the iceberg. Poor sleep can also be caused by:
Medical conditions (such as diabetes, hypertension, or thyroid malfunction), and the medications that treat ‘em
Psychiatric disorders
Alcohol consumption
Too much caffeine
Exercise right before bed
Questionable diet choices (think: meat lover’s pizza at 11:30 pm)
Too much light or noise in the bedroom
Your partner’s snoring *
Any one of these can be an underlying cause ongoing sleep deprivation (what we typically call insomnia), but there are three other “official” sleep disorders:
Sleep Apnea. Beyond snores and snorts, sleep apnea is often characterized by gasping, as if the sleeper has been holding his/her breath then must gasp for air.
Narcolepsy. Milder cases may manifest in excessive daytime sleepiness, but when coupled with a loss of muscle control (cataplexy) brought on by heightened emotion or excitement, the narcoleptic will drop on the spot.
Restless Leg Syndrome. Think creepy crawlers in the leg, complete with kicking and twitching.
The next post will dive into some of the concrete health problems that come from sleep deprivation or disorders, and I’ll also share some key tips for a more restful night’s sleep.
I’m off to fill the coffee mug and start the day, but let me leave you today with a video of Skeeter, the narcoleptic dog. Don’t worry — no one’s making fun of him.
* For the record, my husband’s very loud snoring would probably sound to most people like an enormous pig giving a speech to all the other littler pigs in the pen. But I’m cool with it–actually comforted by it–and I’d like to tell you why. It might make you feel a little better about the snores coming from your partner at night.
I read Ann Landers religiously as a kid. One day, a woman asked Ann to help her deal with her husband’s loud snoring. The gal was ready to leave her marriage just to get a decent night’s sleep. Ann gave her two cents, then wisely opened it up for readers to share their own solutions. A few months later, she devoted a column to these responses. The strategies varied: separate bedrooms, earplugs, dietary changes, etc.
But the last letter from a reader broke my heart, and I’ve never forgotten it. Let me paraphrase it for you here: “My husband used to snore so loudly I thought a truck was in the room. I complained about it nonstop to anyone who’d listen. My husband died a year ago, and today I would give anything in the world to hear him snore again. It would be the most beautiful sound in the world, and I’d never ever complain about it again.”
In that moment — swear to God — I knew that if I could find music in a partner’s snores, I knew I’d have found my mate. Yes, Charles snores very, very loudly, but it’s wonderfully rhythmic, not unlike the ocean. It’s incredibly comforting, and when I hear it, I’m reminded that someone I love is near me.
The Big Scout Project is a D.I.Y. adventure in lifelong learning. By working her way through the badges in the Jr. Girl Scout handbook, our middle-aged "big scout," Jean Synodinos, hopes to live a wider life, or at least be consistently surprised in small ways. What could possibly go wrong?
