I like a bypass. I like a change of scenery. I'm a great one for hiking new terrain or just taking a Sunday joyride down some unfamiliar road. I think I will do both today.
One side of my heritage is descended from ancient nomads. (Well, I'm sure if we go back far enough, all of us came from nomads.) I still remember, during my first grade school year, watching with fascination a children's documentary about the Laplanders. They follow the reindeer hither and yon across the tundra wearing braids and brightly-colored woolens. I thought they were the coolest.
Now I'm just too comfortable with my picket-fence suburban Shangri-La to ever be called a rover...but seeing as how my Hungarian ancestors rode half-wild galloping horses around the steppes and rolling hills and cooked in iron vessels over open fires, I'm at least part nomad, I'm sure...an out-and-back kind of nomad.
As mentioned, nomads are great ones for cooking over an open fire. My people liked to stew everything in little cast-iron cauldrons hung over the flames, but their neighbors, the Turks, just speared whatever they could find and held it right in the fire, and the shish kebab was born.
Shish Kebabs are probably the most efficient meal under the sun. Kebabs requires no cooking vessel, they often includes vegetables skewered with the meat (so you have a nearly-complete meal right there), and they cook very quickly.
I love lamb or beef kebabs drowned in strong marinades, but chicken, turkey, and seafood can be skewered and offer equally tasty variations. There's not much you can't turn into a kebab. In fact, every child's campfire favorite, the toasted marshmallow, is really just a marshmallow kebab.
The kebab makes a great weekend dinner when you are feeling lazy, because you can put it together in a flash. Marinate some protein and fire up the grill. While the grill is getting hot and the meat is soaking up flavor, chop a couple veggies, maybe have a beverage. Stick everything onto a skewer, and it's done in 10 minutes or less. You could add a starch (rice, potatoes, couscous)... or not. You could add a salad...or not. The point is, it is an ancient version of fast food for people who were REALLY on the go, nomad-style. You just can't beat the shish kebab for healthy, tasty, substantial, whole food that's ready to serve in mere minutes. If you think you are too busy to cook, you really cannot be too busy to throw a shish kebab over the coals...Honestly, you'd spend a lot more time waiting around in a restaurant and just as much time nuking a processed TV dinner that's not really very good for you.
So, I'm off to enjoy this weekend sun. I'm going to hike and wander and probably not get home until I'm feeling half-starved. And I'm not going to worry about it, because an awesome dinner for suburban neo-nomads like me will be plated before I've fully caught my breath from my daily wanderings. And then, with no pots and pans to scrub...I'll have time to be off and onto my next adventure!
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Addendum to the Laplanders...have been reading about them: Laplanders are nomadic Finns. Finns were originally from the same tribe as the Hungarians, the Finno-Ugric people. No wonder I loved those Laplanders so much as a kid. It was a recognition. I'm practically their cousin.
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