vintage trailer rally, a potluck & dutch ovens?

Hi Sweet Hearts!!

I'm back on my final chapter of the Vintage Trailer Rally Saga & it's time for a 'POTLUCK'!

Now, we've established in an earlier post, '10 Little Things About Me', that I don't cook. So, when I heard about the Potluck long before we were at this event, I thought to myself...

Self...since you cook like crap & it's gonna be real hot & you won't have room in the trailer to make anything big enough for this size of a group...

{this was my absolute favorite!!! I had 2 helpings of it, it was like an enchilada casserole & it was delicious...thank you to whoever made this yummy dish!}
maybe you could just bring a big seedless watermelon & cut it up into nice little cubes. That would be refreshing & you wouldn't have to cook!
{my mind is always trying to come up with new ways to get out of cooking}

So it was thought & so it was done.
Now, walking over to the potluck with my refreshing watermelon cubes displayed in a cool vintage enamel frig container, I felt..."this is good, it's gonna work, this is probably the same kind of thing everybody else is bringing". Until I saw 35 of these!!!

Now, we've been to many different Vintage Trailer Rallies over the years. Maybe I was drunk, maybe I was a hermit & didn't go out, maybe I just wasn't looking, but I have never seen or even heard of a 'Dutch Oven' until this event & all I can say is WOW!

As I walked over to the tables & saw this vast array of cast iron pots filled with the most delectable smelling & looking dishes I had ever seen, I thought..."I must live under a rock or someone didn't send me the memo, cuz nobody told me to cook anything in one of these crazy pots". My watermelon looked ridiculous!!! ;(

Thus was my sad, but enlightening, introduction to the
Dutch Oven!

Now this is an art people! It goes something like this...

You add all of the ingredients of your fabulous dish into this huge cast iron, well seasoned pot. You heat up charcoal brickets & place them in a strategic way under & on top of the Magic Pot.

The general consensus is...4 or 5 brickets on the bottom & 14 brickets on the top lid.

This slowly cooks for about 1 1/2 hours in which you give the lid a quarter turn every 15 minutes or so. There is a special handle you use to turn the lid so your hands don't 'CATCH ON FIRE'!

The benefits...

You can cook a heck of a lot of food without getting your trailer hot.

You can cook everything for your meal in 1 pot.

You can even make dessert & biscuits in this same pot.

The downfalls...

I don't even think I could lift this pot. This is a 2 man show & when I say man, I do mean man. Do not attempt this alone. And I was wondering...do they make elbow length oven gloves???

Oh look, I took a 2nd picture of my favorite enchilada dish...sooooo goooood!

I have now shared with you my complete knowledge about dutch ovens, other then every single thing we tried out of one was delicious. Needless to say, this group knew what they were doing & now comes the monumental decision...do we get one?

OK, do you see how all the campers are serving themselves from this cute horseshoe bench that had all the dutch ovens on it??

My watermelon & the items brought by the other non-cookers, were sadly designated to the table where, as you can see above, not many people circled around.

Not even I circled around.

Why would you fill up on watermelon when there was so many astonishing meals to be had on the horseshoe? I didn't. So in conclusion of our Vintage Trailer Rally's Potluck I would have to say...WOW!

Loved it, stuffed myself, gorged myself, it was fantastic & fun too! We laughed, we ate, we looked at old trailers & spoke vintage trailer to each other.

The Best!

So friends, it looks like we will be looking into purchasing a Dutch Oven. I only said LOOKING. I have issues with the microwave, so this is really a huge decision for me.

Now, as you may remember the 1st night we didn't crank up the generator, but after the potluck we were fired up like the Space Shuttle getting ready to launch at Kennedy.

And just in case there are any Dutch Oven cookers out there, I will leave you with my friend Kristy's wonderful dessert recipe. {& you can even do this in a reg oven too!}

Berry Cobbler

Fresh or Frozen bag of any misc. berries

1/4 cup of berry jam to add for sweetening

1 box of yellow or white cake mix

1 cube of butter

Add the berries & jam together & place in the bottom of pan

Sprinkle the cake mix on top

Melt butter & drizzle on top

Cook for 1/2 hour or more, checking to make sure the top is brown

Soooo Yummy!!!!

Happy Trails Friends, until we meet again!

vintage trailer rally, day 2!

Greetings Friends...Welcome to Day 2 of our Vintage Trailer Rally in the mountains of beautiful Southern Cal!!!

{isn't this one fun??? a vw pulling a teardrop...love it}
For me, Day 2 is always the most fun! By now, everyone has arrived & set-up their adorable vintage trailers.

{love this painted Route 66 Tear}
You've had your morning coffee & with camera in hand, you head off to check out all the other trailers at the Rally, meet the owners, make friends & talk 'Vintage Trailer'! It's a language totally unto it's self!

Some trailers are in the process of restoration...

and some trailers are a 'Dream on Wheels'!

And there's always a Pink Flamingo somewhere to be found!!!

{my hubby is standing under the awning}
These were our next door neighbors & we adored them! They fed us berry cobbler & fresh morning biscuits cooked from a Dutch Oven...delicious!
{more to come on Dutch Ovens in the next post}

Look how they painted the truck to match their trailer...just toooo coooool!

Teardrop camper trailers evolved after World War II, and were originally constructed with surplus war materials. The exterior skins were usually made from the wings of World War II bombers.

Teardrop's are made to sleep two and have a raise-up deck lid for the rear kitchenette usually with an ice box, stove & storage.

At this Rally, I felt like I was at a 'Vintage Trailer Smorgasbord'! :)
Canned Hams...

awesome Old Pop-Ups...

full size trailers of all shapes & sizes.

Look at this Old Pop-Up, the metal slides are to die for!!

And who doesn't LOVE a Shasta???

Isn't this Woody Tear Cute?

And I thought this kitchenette had all the comforts of home.

{loved the rear tail lights}

The one thing about a Teardrop Trailer is...

you really do have to love the person your camping with cuz it is close quarters!

This Aljoa was adorable & totally vintaged out on the inside! I really loved the front window awning which works great for shade, but is also a rock guard while your driving. I think we NEED 1 of those...don't you?

And this was the smallest little Tear I've ever seen...so cute!

He had to add extensions on to the back in order to lay down. lol

Are you still hanging in there with me??

I had such a hard time editing my pictures to make this post short enough to enjoy & yet still really give you a taste of all the amazing eye candy that was there.

How cool is that? To pull your Tear with a Classic Ford Mustang!

Nice!

This was 1 of my favorites! A vintage Tear being pulled by a fully restored, 1955 Montclair.

This vintage car was sooooo SWEEEEET!

They had just gotten back from taking it to Las Vegas...

can you imagine driving up to the Bellagio in this jewel?

Vegas Baby, Vegas!

Just Yummmmy!!!

This gem was in complete original condition. They bought it with the Coke Cooler in the back just like it was left. For us vintage trailer people, these are things that dreams are made of.

If this cooler could only talk...how many little hands have reached in there to grab an ice cold soda during a family vacation?

Look at the shine on this Baby!! Somebody's got a sore arm after all this polishing...but OMG, it is well worth it! This is a DeVille, we have one in our yard that we use for storage, but it's body sure doesn't look like this.

Back home after a day of touring. It was hot & we were a little thirsty & tired, but we had big grins on our faces just like our Vintage Baby!

Stay tuned for my next addition to the Vintage Trailer Saga...it's time for a Potluck & what I learned about 'Dutch Ovens'. Who would have known?

XOXO