All sorts of firsts for me tonight. 
I got to start a fire in my new fire pit, so its not shiney new anymore.
I used my little 2 qt. Dutch oven to cook a cornish hen (first) and carrots underneath it.
I used wood coals and not charcoal briquettes , wich I was nervous about, being a beginner.
I got to learn how a lid lifter works. And I didnt get ashes on anything. whew.
Another first is using the camera's resizer.. so I have no idea on how big the pix will be in here.
Oh ya.. got beaned in the head by a bat too. hah.
I took the chicken out , cleaned up the oven and then made the peach cobbler mentioned in the food forum. DIdnt burn that either. whew.
Lessons learned.. I need a new type of tongs.. mine want to twist when grabbing coals. I need to find myself a pair of leather gloves. And I need to quit peeking......
It was a fun experience!!! And sitting there listening to the geese, loons, frogs, robins, turkeys and sand cranes making their noises I enjoyed my evening out there.
WW.
The next time you make Cornish hens, try this.
Rinse your birds and pat dry, put them in a large zip lock freezer bag and add one can of frozen apple juice concentrate and put them in the fridge over night to marinate, the next day------
Cut up a few Granny Smith apples, leave the skins on but take out the seeds, cut them into wedges (eight to each apple), put a few wedges and a couple of tablespoons full of Golden raisins in the birds cavities after salting a little, place the birds in your Dutch Oven along with the rest of the apple wedges and a cup of rasins, the marinade liquid, a med. onion (chopped), one stalk of cellery (chopped), and two cloves of garlic (smashed).
Drizzle a little light olive oil over the birds, add a pinch of seasoned salt and pepper, cover and cook at about 350 for about one hour, when the birds are cooked take them out and set aside (tent them with Foil).
Now get the pan juices simmering and mash what ever is left of the apples, raisins, onion, and cellery while the sauce is reducing, you want it to end up at about the same consistency of maple syrup, when it's reduced strain out the remaining bits, drizzle the sauce over the birds, reserve some sauce for adding more at the table, return the birds to the oven for another 10 minutes to glaze the birds, then serve.
Warning, if you have guests, they will try to drink the sauce right out of the serving dish, it's that good, you may end up having to restrain them so that there's enough to go around.
