looking for something

In beginning to document my food, I've learned I do things in seasons. When it is cold, wet, blustery outside, I make the indoors cozy with the scent of cookies or soup. I can spend an evening on a cake or cooking food for a party. I'll labor in the kitchen because there is no other place I'd rather be. That is, unless the sun is shining and my time is open and my head is aching from the city. Then I'll take green green green as far as the eye can see. I will point to this weekend as a perfect example. Best friends with their backpacks stuffed into a small car driving into the woods is better than pie. Hiking miles into the wilderness on a dusty trail is better than cupcakes. And just about anything you can cook on a whisperlite stove tastes better by the campfire.

Red Onion, Green Pepper, Avocado, & Tomato

I'll take the woods over concrete buildings any day you ask. And if I'm living in the woods (even just for a night) out of the back of a car, I won't complain. Backpacking, though, has a special charm. It makes one feel resourceful and tough. You have to think more, make lists, pack sparingly because you must carry it all on your back, on your own two legs. This is true especially of the food you take. Whereas packing in a car, you can add bags of chips, boxes of cookies, and bottles (and bottles) of wine, the food you take in your backpack must be more closely calculated. On this trip, a one-night stay near Greenwater, Washington, on the Pacific Crest Trail, we took a small supply of trail mix, Primal Strips, apples, crackers, hummus, and the fixings for burritos.

We "roasted" a green pepper and red onion. In this, I mean we laid them on the rocks around our campfire until we could stand our growling stomachs no longer. They were just beginning to blacken at the edges. We warmed our tortillas in a similar fashion and boiled water to add to instant black beans. With a small can of salsa to round out the burritos, it was some of the best damn camping food I've had. Everyone ate their fill and it was a perfect meal to top off a three-mile hike.

Just because we were backpacking, does not mean we should go without a sweet trifle after dinner. One chocolate bar split four ways and a few sips of coffee went well with the trance of flames.

Cream & Peebs, sans backpacks

The next day, after eating the last bits of our food and packing our bags, we trekked the three miles back to the car and drove East for some sightseeing. We hiked a few more trails in search of a view of the mountain and, though it felt especially nice to walk without thirty pound packs, our short jaunt yielded little, but more trees and a beautiful blue sky. So back in the car and, after a minute or so of driving, we hit the jackpot:

Mt. Rainier

We couldn't have asked for better weather and it was all around a perfect trip. After the first full week at a brand new job that can, at times, make my head spin, this was a badly needed detour from Seattle. And hopefully illustrates to you an agreeable alternative to things like baking and blogging.