Hey, Bakers!

I think the rest of America is with me when I say that this time of year was meant for baking cookies. After all, it’s National Bake Cookies Day! Why not put your baking skills to good use on a day that has been dedicated solely to the baking of cookies? And what better way to warm yourself up from the inside out than enjoying a chewy, gooey cookie that came fresh out the oven?

From Gingerbread men to Peanut Butter Blossoms, Sugar Cookie Cutouts and classic Chocolate Chip Cookies, there’s definitely no shortage of how many different kinds of cookies you can make this time of year. Oatmeal Raisin, Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Covered Oreos, the list goes on and on. And each is a classic holiday treat!

I remember so many winters ago when the oven would keep the kitchen nice and toasty with batch after batch of cookie dough balls baking inside. My brothers and sisters would gather around the dining room table, eager for the Gingerbread men to cool. It was always so much fun to decorate these traditional cookies with frosting and Red Hots!

Kids love baking. Unfortunately, they may not always be very clean about it. However, with the proper supervision, baking is one of the best ways to spend a day of winter vacation. And with the approaching holidays, it’s always good to have some treats around the house.

This time of year, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp gets pretty serious about baking cookies just like everyone else. However, after the cookies are done, you want to show them off to people and let them see how good they turned out and how great they taste. Eager to share with one another, everyone brought their cookies in to work. Check out what we made this year and get inspired to do some baking of your own!

 Don't drool on your keyboard and thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans.

As we move into the fall and winter seasons, the weather starts getting cooler, we bundle up under more layers of clothing, and we usually want something hot for dinner. What’s one meal that’s always sure to please no matter how you choose to prepare it? You got that right. On a cold night, we want chili!

This incredibly popular meal is something of a stew. Typically made with chili peppers, meat, beans, and tomatoes, it’s unlike any other stew or soup dish you’ve had before. On a cool autumn day, nothing else will warm you up the same way that a piping-hot, big bowl of chili does. My mouth is watering just writing about it.

Perhaps one major cause to this unique stew’s popularity is that it’s so versatile. The cook is free to leave ingredients in and take them out as they choose. Virtually every variation on the recipe has been tried, tested, and (most-likely) approved.

Everyone has different tastes. Some people put noodles in their chili. Others swear by beans. Yet some people feel that chili needs an exotic meat like—brace yourself—kangaroo. There’s no shortage of possibilities to bend the recipe a little (or a lot) more.

Some chili has no beans. Some has no meat. Some isn’t even red! It’s white. So, with all these possibilities, variations, and beliefs, people always swear that their chili recipe is the best. Everyone at Everything Summer Camp is ready to roll up their sleeves and put on their chef hats.

We’re going to get to the bottom of this spicy, burning question: whose chili is best? It’s Everything Summer Camp’s Chili Cook Off! We’ll be cooking for competition against each other’s chili concoctions to see who makes the best.

- John

Hey, Costumed Creatures!

It’s fun to dress up like something you’re not, isn’t it? Especially when you go around showing your costume off to your neighbors around the block in exchange for some tasty treats! I hope you all scored big while Trick or Treating and gave all your neighbors something to scream about (I know I had a few good scares when I opened my door on Halloween night!)

It wasn’t just Trick or Treaters in my own neighborhood that I saw either. There were lots of great, creative costumes for the Everything Summer Camp SPOOKtacular Halloween Costume Contest as well! It was a great fright—er sight to see so many crafty costumes that you guys dressed in for Halloween!

Submitted by: Alice C.

Everything Summer Camp’s SPOOKtacular Halloween Costume Contest yielded two 1st Place Winners who will each receive a $100 Everything Summer Camp Gift Card as well as two 2nd Place Winners who will each receive a $50 Everything Summer Camp Gift Card. Our winners were randomly chosen.

Our first, first place winner dressed up as the valiant elf, Link from the popular video game–Zelda. She’s ready for battle holding Link’s shield for her protection and his sword as her weapon.

Submitted by: Claire B.

Our other 1st Place Winner, on the other hand, traveled not nearly so far back in time to a decade called the 60’s. In her Hippie costume, she looks like she would fit right in at Woodstock.

Submitted by: Caroline E.

As for our 2nd Place Winners, first we have a favorite witch, Hermione. Watch what you say while she’s dressed in Hermione’s black robes, scarf, and crooked wand. She may turn you into something unnatural.

Submitted by: Addison K.

And lastly, we have Mr. Jack Sparrow! A convincing Jack Sparrow at that! This costume has the hat, the hair, the eye makeup—everything!

Nice costumes, Kids! And congratulations to all of our winners! Happy Halloween! Thanks for participating and thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Cupcake!

If you didn’t already know, I’m happy to be the one to tell you about one of the nation’s best holidays! No, I’m not talking about Christmas or Halloween—I’m not even talking about Easter or Valentine’s Day. No, the holiday I’m thinking of is Chocolate Cupcake Day. And it just so happens to be tomorrow!

Why CHOCOLATE Cupcake Day? Because chocolate is the very best flavor cupcake you can make! We here at Everything Summer Camp feel like one day to celebrate this chocolaty holiday really just isn’t enough. And that’s why we’ve been celebrating Chocolate Cupcake Day all week long.

We’ll be sampling each other’s cupcakes and sharing our tasty recipes with all of you. I can almost taste them now! What a great sensation it is sinking your teeth into that unapologetically moist bite of explosively chocolate intensity. Is it any wonder that we have a national holiday to celebrate this dessert?

While the debate exists about how this dessert got its name—because they were originally baked in cups or because the recipe is measured out in cups—the most curious part about the name is that the dessert wasn’t always called a cupcake.

No, they were first called number cakes since the measurement of the ingredients weren’t hard to remember. That was back some time in the 1800’s, when people first started making them. They’ve really come a long way since then—haven’t they?

Nowadays, you’ll find delicious cupcakes in bakeries, coffee shops, or even on TV when you turn on the FoodNetwork! Cupcakes aren’t just tasty, cup-sized cakes with frosting anymore. They’ve become a sweet tasting treat that you can top with your own creativity. Decorate them to fit the theme for a party or simply for your own delight!

So enjoy baking, frosting, and then decorating your own masterpieces like we are this week. And happy Chocolate Cupcake Day, Everybody! Thanks for reading!

- John

Hello, Fall Friends!

Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the Fall season (or Autumn if you prefer it’s more formal name) as the climate varies rather dramatically across our lovely country. Everything Summer Camp, the home of C&N Footlockers and all other camping gear, is located in Boyd, WI where the Fall season is very beautiful. As it happens every year, we grow accustomed to it, but never forget what a beautiful part of the cycle this season is! 

We’re starting to see the first signs of fall!

Most people who live in northern Wisconsin revere the Fall season as their favorite of the four. It’s mine. The temperature’s typically in the Goldilock’s Zone of being just right and the trees start putting on their own fireworks shows! Fall means raking enormous leaf piles and jumping into them.

As the temperature continues to drop, the leaves on the trees are no longer getting the sunlight they need to perform processes essential to their life such as photosynthesis. Through this process, they obtain that lively green color. But when they stop getting the amount of sunlight they need, they lose their rich, green hue and fade into beautiful, vibrant shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown.

Unfortunately, these amazing colors indicate that the leaves are dying, as Mother Nature continues to show us the two sides of itself and the beauty that comes from them. They fall off the trees (which is where the Autumn season gets its alternative name) and carpet the ground.

Along with today’s Everything Summer Camp Blog post, we’ll be sharing your pictures and our own of the beautiful, changing environment that surrounds us here in northern Wisconsin. We hope they fill you with as much awe and inspiration as they do us. We truly do live in a beautiful world.

That’s all for today, Readers. Till next time.