Wednesday, September 16, 2009

On the Trail

Today is another slow news Wednesday. The 1-2-3 Fund is doing well - it's up about 12% in total asset value since I purchased the call options positions about ten days ago. The options themselves are up around 36%, but I deployed only 1/3 of the fund's assets into them. I'm just holding as the moves so far don't seem to have blow-off characteristics. The stocks are just big, "boring" companies with substantial overseas revenues: UTX, PG, CAT, MT, RIMM, MMM, BA, ITW, GOOG and HBC. If no "blow-off" actions occurs sooner, I'll consider paring back the positions around S&P 1100.

Trail Food

In the canoe or on the trail in the wilderness, one needs good backup food supplies if the fishing and hunting is not productive or if you are just enjoying the scenery and fresh air. On my recent canoe trip I experimented with three traditional sources. Also, I tasted some of the supplemental food of the Epicurean Campers and will comment on it today. My trail food experiments come from three centuries: 18th, 19th and late 20th centuries.

18th Century - The very early pioneers in the wilderness of North America - trappers and mountain men - carried pemmican as a staple food. The food traditionally was a combination of dried meat, crushed berries and nuts, and rendered fat. It was made into chunks or strips that could be eaten on the move or in camp and would last forever on the trail.

My pemmican was made this way: (1) take equal parts good quality beef jerky, dried fruits and nuts; (2) process each individually until the bits are small; (3) put all in a bowl, mix & add some honey, then add peanut butter (not an oily "all-natural variety - I used Jif reduced fat) until the mixture holds its shape well when you grab a handfull and squeeze. Then form it into little rolls like a Chinese spring roll and wrap individually in wax paper. I put about a dozen pemmican rolls into a plastic zip lock bag. The pemmican easily kept for a month, tasted great, and very filling and nutritious in camp.

19th Century - My 19th century food was hardtack. hardtack was a staple in the Civil war in the Union Army. It's just a large 3 inch square cracker about 1/2 inch thick. The ingredients are wheat flour & water. I bought mine made from this site - it made hardtack in the Civil war and its product is very authentic: http://www.bentscookiefactory.com/Hardtack.html

My hardtack for the canoe trip had been part of my survival stores for years and was about 20 years old. I had it for breakfast every day, making a few experiments to find the best way to eat it. The Union Army soldiers used to fry it in bacon fat or just smash the hardtack with their pistol butts to add to coffee, plus sugar. Alone, hardtack is very, very flat tasting - like baked paste.

But, putting peanut butter on it made the hardtack quite good with coffee. And even better was adding BOTH peanut butter AND jelly. Woody of the Epicureans gave me some jelly on the last couple days and that combination made the hardtack sit up & cheer. It's very filling, too - I usually just had 1.5 crackers each breakfast.

20th century - that was MREs - Meals, Ready to Eat. I have quite a large stockpile for the risk of Armageddon or civil strife, and decided to use some of it on the canoe trip. The MREs were simply superb. Excellent taste, good variety, complete with heaters. The only drawback is they are a bit heavy. But as we were traveling mostly by canoe, the weight was less important.

I bought mine about seven years ago from Long Life Foods here: http://www.longlifefood.com/

They seem identical to the military versions, except the name on the package.

GORP

The snack food of the Epicurean Campers was designated GORP - "good, old raisins & peanuts" as Grand Jean said. I'd didn't take any, but sampled the fare of the Epicureans. In my humble opinion, that of JR (borrowing the signature nickname of oilman JR Ewing of the old TV show, Dallas) was the best. It had plenty of tasty nuts, raisins, other dried fruits and just enough M&Ms, from memory. Other campers' GORP was good, too, except for one: Big Al might be one of Les Grandes Pêcheurs, but putting coconut into GORP got an F in my opinion, and others, too. He came in last in the GORP contest. My pemmican was deemed not an entry.

Word of the Day

"Lief" - adverb[$10] archaic, from Shakespeare
Lief means gladly, willingly
Sentence: I would lief eat the GORP of any of the Epicurean Campers except that of Big Al. He might make a superb pancake, but putting coconut into GORP was downright wierd. Yuck.

66 comments:

Bud said...

beef jerky ?? yuck !!!!!


i don't care how 'good' the quality was...............beef jerky is disgustingly nasty



PS........beef jerky is frosty's favorite hobby

Bud said...

enough with this epicurean nonsense..........in fact.........a true common man doesn't know what that even means......and would never even use a word like that


you just a bunch of rich guys with rich tastes

Bud said...

MRE's were superb...... huh ???


lmaoooooooooooooooooooo

Bud said...

excellent post today Bman...........one of your best efforts in a long time

Bud said...

mr G speakin at deutche bank confereence


very worried about inflation and deficit..........and also wether washington will allow ben to implement his exit strategy...............surely you have the same concerns Bman........especially the politicians part

Bud said...

Bman i haven't heard you opine on kanye west ??

Bunkerman said...

This blog tries to elevate the common man, too. To increase the aggregate, cumulative amount of human knowledge.

Hence I use ideas like epicureanism and have the Word of the Day.

And I avoid the usual clichés and sound bites.

Bunkerman said...

The beef jerky in the usual supermarket here is quite good. That's what I used for teh pemmican.

mfl59 said...

is it fair to say you consider yourself a polymath ($10) Bunkerman?

Bunkerman said...

hey, don't mock MREs unless you've tried them. I was skeptical at first, too.

But of course, I like Spam, Valveeta cheese adn McDonald's, too.

LOLOL JR was roaring with laughter and disdain when he found out that I and Grand jean knew the # of our favorite McD breakfast meal.

Mine is the #3.

Bunkerman said...

who / what is kayne west ?

Never heard of him/her/it

Spin-em said...

HIP HIP!!!....HORHEEEEEY!!!!!

nobody......and I mean nobody....comes into our house.. and pushes us around.

Bunkerman said...

Mr. G is long past time to hit the dog track. I don't listen to him at all.

I don't worry about inflation yet, but the deficit might be trouble as Obama messed up the stimulus plan.

Ben knows what to do. I don't think Congress will interfere with the withdrawal, as I think Ben will be patient until the jobs are increasing fast.

Spin-em said...

bunk those the new MRE's they make...just add water and they heat up??

ps...please more pemmican stories

Bunkerman said...

well, I think it would smack of hubris to consider oneself a polymath.


If others do, fine.

Bunkerman said...

right re the MREs, spin. Just add water to the heating pouch. They worked fine - got the food nice & warm. Not too hot.

Spin-em said...

hit the dog track....lmaooooooo

bunk hasnt been niggardly($10) with the good jokes these days

Bunkerman said...

I'm going to make a new batch of pemmican soon. More peanut butter.

And I'm even going to eat my MREs occasionally for breakfast or lunch.

As I finsih them, I'll buy more.

I've got some over 20 years old I'm going to try, too.

Spin-em said...

ohh..ok.....20 yr old MRE's had the heating pouch too...thought that was new

Bunkerman said...

ah yes, spin, a fine $10 word derived from Middle English and Scandanavian: 1325–75; ME nyggard, equiv. to nig niggard (< Scand; cf. dial. Sw nygg; akin to OE hnēaw stingy

Bunkerman said...

I think the old MREs had the heating pouches separate, but it's the same thing.

The modern MRE full meal pouch has its own heater pounch.

Spin-em said...

do they have such a thing like coffee or tea MRE's for the field?

Bunkerman said...

the standard meal pouches have instant coffee - it was OK (Maxwell House), iced tea mix, and a grape beverage mix with extra electrolytes.

All were OK.

Bunkerman said...

they also had sugar packets, salt, small bottle of tabasco sauce, a towlette, a large tasty pair of butter crackers, and a squeeze tube of peanut butter or cheese or jam.

They had one main course meal & one side dish. Plus a good quality large plastic spoon to use. Very self-contained. Just needed your canteen cup for the beverages.

Bunkerman said...

the plastic container for the complete meals was very durable - quite thick.

1200 calories. Soldiers were expected to eat 3 ro 4 a day, depending on activity in the field.

Spin-em said...

I think the newer MRE's have 3500 calories...

Bunkerman said...

nope, spin.

As you can see on the Civilian MRE Comparison page, the calorie count of most civilian MREs is fairly close to the 1,250 calories in military MREs. For the most part, civilian MREs use the exact same components (food, spoons, heaters, etc.) as the military MREs. And even though most civilian MREs do not quite offer the same variety of 12 different meals per case, the variety and rate at which the manufacturers change their menus has improved.

This is the new ones made since 2000.

see http://www.mreinfo.com/civilian/mre/civilian-mres.html

maverick said...

Bman can MRE's withstand varied temperatures? Will they stay good during many days of high temps?

mfl59 said...

Bunkerman are you concerned with the high sodium content in MRE's?

Bunkerman said...

Military says they last 22 months at 100F, 5 months at 110F adn one month at 120F

I'm going to test my 20 year old ones soon. That's 2-3 times the recommended shelf life, depending on temperature..

Bunkerman said...

well, Mfl, I'd eat them every day or every meal.

Yes, the sodium was on the high side in the main courses.

Of course, soldiers (& those doing vigorous outdoor acticities) need electrolytes to work in the heat & sweat like mad..

Bunkerman said...

error - I don't eat tehm every day for every meal.

Just outdoor trips, etc.

Bunkerman said...

left out the "don't"

Spin-em said...

I thought hard tack was just a candy ya drop in coffee..didnt know it was a stick....pasty tho huh??

Spin-em said...

Obama calls Kanye a jackazz..lol...

mfl59 said...

4 more years!!! 4 more years!!!!

Bunkerman said...

see how your mind is expanded reading this blog, spin.

;)

Bunkerman said...

ohh ... kanye west is a rapper.

uh ... that's all one has to say.

Spin-em said...

yes indeed Bunk.....lol

Frosty said...

20 year old MRE sounds good to me, gesh...Bunky, need to borrow couple of bucks to buy some fresh sausages let me know...time to knock heads in the in the skim sucking stable pperhaps, dalton where are you (rip).

Spin-em said...

yes dalton rip...that blows

mfl59 said...

"You don't look like much to me"

"Well, opinions do vary"



"Noone puts Sal in the corner"

Spin-em said...

whenever we see a jagoff in a convertible......we sing...when Ben gazzar(whatever his name.. Brad in movie)...Life is but a dream.....rollin down the road takin up both lanes...looool

the worst singer eva

Spin-em said...

to all lush hair convertible owners....sorry...handshake.....

mfl59 said...

Brad Wesley....

"what a douche"

Bunkerman said...

I'm a naturally thrifty man, frosty ... didn't your parents lecture about all the staving children in China India etc. ?

Survival is about making choices ...

Are you weak ? And unprepared ? Hmmm ...

maybe a bunker raid ...

Bunkerman said...

oh ... just bought six fine sausages for a few breakfasts - baurenwurst - very tasty.

Maybe I should re-post about how to cook the perfect fried egg ...

Frosty said...

"Are you weak ? And unprepared ? Hmmm ..."...LOL...good index card Bunky...oh man...back to back MVP...I think so.

Bud said...

good morning frosty !!!


please email me your 'ops expo open interest' spreadsheet...............i'd like to use now that i trading eminis


thanks man

Frosty said...

Sal lil late for that...RIMM 80 pop GE 15 pop IBM 120 pop AAPL 170 pop JWN 30 pop...if you were here I would pop you...nonono sucker punch...straight up mop the floor with you.

Spin-em said...

is brad wesley..jackie treehorn??loool

Bud said...

5 for 5 !!!!............holy smokes bob.........you are the f'ng best!.........you're alsoa f'ng doucebag



PS......still wanna be friends??

Bud said...

i thought i f'ng told you not to call me by my real name !!!!!!!!!!


we ain't friends........we ain't never gonna be friends


PS......still wanna be friends ???

Bud said...

LVS darkside


nailed it !!!.......looks like about 80cents profit in a couple hours........is that a bloop hit Bman ???



danke vielmals jim !!!!!!

Spin-em said...

aint never??? correct me if im wrong bman...but isnt he saying he secretly wants to be friends???

Bunkerman said...

hmmm a very small blooper.

Bunkerman said...

that's true, spin, as is well known, a violent negative is usualy a freudian positive.

Bunkerman said...

ooops, misunderstood.

nope, that's schoolmarm talk, spin.

double negatives are standard the world over and in the oral diglossia of American.

Bunkerman said...

I wonder ... is this a rip ?

Bud said...

not a word frosty ? nuthin? did i hurt your feelings? are your panties wet ?? oh well..........sounds like a surrender to me.........ok........i

'call off the dogs'

mfl59 said...

Sal please list your official handicap...Thank you...

Bunkerman said...

doesn't look like one ...

return of 1200 beckons next Q, like the return of the Great White Whale ...

Bud said...

which handicap you want ??


pre-releasing the club or post-releasing the club ??

pre-weight transfer or post-weight transfer ??

pre on plane swing or post on plane swing ?

Bunkerman said...

sheesh, Bud is becoming a sophist ...

Bunkerman said...

uh ... isn't it the handicap on putting it in the hole ?

Bunkerman said...

;)