Yesterday I experimented with some kebabs and barbecued chicken. I'd marinaded the chicken for 16 hours then used a spicy brush-on sauce that I applied frequently while the chicken was cooking. It kept everything moist. 
Paprika, cayenne, cumin, fresh oregano, fresh lime juice, pineapple and cilantro - all worked together to add punch and zing. While the fire simmered down and the last stages of my cooking remained, I prepared a few more kebabs to grill over the fire. Then, I placed all of the meal in my tagine, to simmer in chicken broth flavored with a small amount of coconut milk and roasted Panch Puran seeds seared in a little pan. This cracks the spices open, and activates the flavors at the end of cooking. Some east-Indian spices deteriorate quickly once activated, so are added at the end of the cooking, just as an enhancement to the flavors.
I set out a tray of garnishes - cilantro and limes. (My tagine is getting ready to be placed on the grill.)The coals in the grill were spread out so everything simmered gently, creating a wonderfully aromatic rich sauce.
I kept the meal warm until it could be served with black beans, a basmati rice-red spring wheat blend, and the rich coconut-pineapple tagine sauce. Earlier in the day I came across an article on 'Fire-Starters' that can be a fun project for children in the summertime. They can be made from anything combustible - sawdust, clothes-dryer lint, grease-soaked paper towels, and stuffed into empty toilet-paper tubes.
When on excursions out in the woods many things can be gathered. Rolled up into a ball, they can then be coated with parrafin wax. I have collected dried elk dung, seeds and cones, moss and lichen, finely shredded rattan and cat-tail silk on our canoe paddles, so I experimented with some these.
This is finely shredded rattan rolled into a tight ball, and drizzled with parrafin. 
Shredded material can be mixed with fresh seeds, like fennel, to create a fantastic aroma when the fire starter is burned. The collection of fibers is placed in an egg carton to hold the shapes before the wax is dripped onto them.
On the left is cat-tail silk, then elk dung and moss, shredded rattan, shredded paper, and a ball of tightly wound onion skins.
This is a little cast-iron pan that I use on my grill; it holds brush-on sauces. But here I'm using it to melt the parrafin wax over my stove.I cut 4 inch fern-leaf stems and placed them vertically into the fire starter ball before I poured the wax on.
This makes it easy to hold onto the fire-starters while arranging them on top of the charcoal.After the wax hardened, I cut the individual cups out of the egg carton using a pair of nail-trimming shears that I once used on my Pygmy goats. The egg carton is a tough fiber, so they worked great, and the result was 12 pretty little baskets.
I placed all of my home-made fire-starters into this oblong basket. I also use paper wands in the bottom of the grill to help spread the fire around. The paper slowly burns, sending spirals of fragrant smoke up into the air.Problem, though, is that these egg-carton fire-starters are just too cute to burn up. I'm tempted to put a few on my kitchen windowsill. The cattail silk, the elk dung, the wild seeds, the moss and lichen - I remember all the fun I had collecting these things. There is a wonderful memory in each one of them.
