foggy little bonfire night

Around 4:00 yesterday the wind shifted and we experienced a rapid drop in temperature. When this happens around here so close to the lake, a thick fog usually rolls in, and that's exactly what happened last night. Although it prevented my moon gazing, it did offer an opportunity to make a cozy bonfire - the day before the thought of a fire would have been ridiculous, it was so sweltering. It was the first time we used our new bonfire ring made from stacked lannon stones. My husband retrieved them from a recently razed farmhouse down the road - they originally encircled a little pond. We replaced our little ring of fieldstones with the stacked lannons, and besides looking nicer I feel the height is a little safer when kids (or imbibing adults) are around.

It was dinner time when we started the fire, and laziness rolled over me like the fog, and I sure as heck didn't feel like leaving my chair to cook. We considered ordering a pizza, but I was worried about the limited visibility and didn't want some poor kid driving it out to us or my husband on the roads. The kids were whining for smores, which I really didn't want to serve as supper and didn't have the makings for anyway. Then I remembered I had a couple cans of biscuit dough in the fridge and some apples in the crisper, so we got some roasting sticks and made....

Brown Bears
Stretch biscuit dough and wrap around your stick. Roast over fire until brown. Carefully remove biscuit from stick, spray with spray butter or margarine, and roll in a cinnamon/sugar mixture.

AND

Singing Apples
Spear an apple (we used Macintosh) on your stick. Cook over hot coals until skin is burned and the apple "sings." Remove from fire and carefully peel off the cooked skin. Roll apple in cinnamon sugar and eat - careful, it stays quite hot.

The kids loved both of these recipes, but I'm the one who's really wishing we could have the same exact thing tonight!