I can’t think of anything I like better than sitting around a campfire with people I love. So I was thrilled to pieces last night as Bear and I braved stormy skies and cool temps to have our very first campfire of Autumn.
We gathered fallen branches and curly bits of gum tree bark (brilliant fire starters!) and Bear built a cracking good fire while I collected food stuffs, roasting fork, and torch.
I love that campfires welcome you just the way you are, clad in grubby farm clothes, hair wild from the wind, no make-up to be seen, exhausted after a return of the dreaded flu. None of that matters. Just pull up a log, sit yourself down, and be enveloped in the coziness of wood-smoke, crackling flames, and good company.
Sheets of rain fell in the distance as we huddled close to the fire pit, but nary a drop fell on us while we feasted simply but lavishly on good ol’ campfire food.
I stepped things up a bit from traditional campfire fare with gourmet wagyu beef sausages encased in grilled crusty rolls smeared with strong Dijon mustard. It was exquisitely wonderful to cuddle close on a fallen log as the darkness deepened, hearing only wind in the gum trees, the occasional boom of thunder, and sausages sizzling over the fire.
I couldn’t find graham crackers, Kraft marshmallows, or Hershey bars here in Queensland, so I made an Aussie version of s’mores with slabs of dark chocolate, pint-sized pink marshmallows, and homemade vanilla shortbread cookies. I fell into a sugar coma after just one, but it sure was good!
After dinner I hauled chairs closer to the warmth of the fire while Bear made us steaming cuppas of coffee to wrap our hands around.
Then we just sat in companionable silence, dreamily mesmerized by the dancing flames, feeling like the luckiest people on the planet.
It was a beautiful start to Bear’s birthday weekend.
What are you looking forward to most about this weekend?
It does sound like a cozy way to start the season and the weekend. I loved having a campfire out on our property, but it would always be inevitable as the season drew on that there would be a fire ban, but certainly thought provoking while it lasted. This weekend is the beginning of the Spring wine festival. A cooking class and some star gazing while enjoying some new releases.
It was so lovely, @d58b26e263bfdbd99d844b965c5cbbfb:disqus 🙂 We usually have fire bans later in the year, so we have to squeeze in our campfires when the land is still wet enough. 🙂
My weekend will be spent in a new restaurant kitchen getting a handle on the menu and taking it all in. Change!?! Here I come …. Eeek! Campfires are a favourite way to just be with folks you love … drifting away. Love the way you rock that plaid! Brings out the CanEHdian in you. 🙂
Way to go, you brave thing you!! 🙂 You’re going to rock that new kitchen. 🙂 Yeah, red plaid makes me feel very Canadian. 🙂
Sounds like perfection! I love few things in this world as much as eating and snuggling around a campfire. True, I usually have to be content with a grill instead of a campfire these days as most campgrounds we go to frown on open flame, but I dream of one day having a house with land and sky and space to enjoy the evening the way you did.
I’m the same way, @BethanyBassett:disqus 🙂 Campfires seem to make everything feel OK again. 🙂
Happy birthday to Bear! Funny enough, there was recently a holiday in Israel called Lag BaOmer, in which people have campfires. Marshmallows in campfires are the best.
What a delightful-sounding evening! There’s something soothing and mesmerizing about a fire–even better to have those delicious foodstuffs while enjoying it. Hope the rest of the birthday weekend was as memorable.
that sounds absolutely delightful. Happy birthday to Bear and enjoy your weekend.
Oh! That looks delicious – both the food and the ambience. Happy birthday to Bear. I hope you both have a lovely weekend. xx
Oh how lovely I can smell the fire from here! You and your man are gorgeous!!!
How wonderful. I’d have traded graham crackers for your s’mores!
It looks like you two had a wonderful afternoon and evening. A fire can be a wonderful thing on a cool night, shared with the people we love the most. Nice little feast too…………………………Happy Birthday Bear
Campfires are so much fun and what a great way to kick off autumn! Such a lovely night I’m sure.
Sounds wonderful. We are listening to waves, eating mexican and feeding rock wallabies.
Oh, I can smell the campfire through your pictures and I long for summer evenings spent around the fire. I love your campfire food and I love how you described it’s welcoming presence. Plaid looks great on you. 😉 Happy Birthday to Bear!! XO
I love camp fires, both for the relaxing atmosphere as for the food 🙂 Great photos
What a beautiful weekend! I love that campfire 🙂
mmmm s’mores! my favorite!
Wow, beautiful photos. The food looks so yummy too!
Sigh… want to be at that fire!