Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Eating Well While Camping


Did I mention that Giz is an anxious mother?

Evidence #1: I thought Giz wouldn't have any nervousness about our upcoming trip to Australia and New Zealand (leaving mid-April - SO EXCITED). We finally booked our tickets and I sent the itinerary to Giz. Her response: "...it sounds pretty intense to me. Wouldn't you rather spend the night in LA and then continue on after a good sleep?

Am I crazy or does that make no sense at all? Why would I want to be well-rested in preparation for a 14 hour flight? You'd think it would be the opposite. My current plan is to take some night time cold medicine and sleep for as much of it as possible. Any other recommendations are welcome!

Evidence #2 of Giz's being an anxious mother - here's a recent telephone conversation:

PG : We're going on an overnight xc ski trip this weekend.

Giz: Oh yeah? Where will you stay?

PG: In a yurt, like usual.

Giz: Won't it be cold?

PG: No, it's fine. It's actually really warm in the yurt with the wood oven.

Giz: Are you going to take food?

PG: No. I'd figure we'd just rough it.

Giz: WHAT!?! No. You need to take food.

PG: I'm sure there will be wild animals out there. We can just hunt for our food.

Giz: Are you serious? I really think you should take some food with you.

PG: Seriously mom? Do you think I'm going to go on an overnight trip without food? Have we even met?

Giz: Well... I just wanted to make sure.

Rest assured mom. No one went hungry.


It started with picking up a sandwich from DiRienzo's, a xc ski tradition.


I know I've talked about DiRienzo's on here before. It's an Ottawa institution. You go into this corner store that looks pretty run down on the outside. Quite often the line wraps around the aisle of the store. But, the staff working behind the counter are so fast, you'd think they were moving in fast forward. As you work your way closer to the front counter, you pick up a bun (not my favourite aspect to have to select a bun from a bin that hundreds of people root through). You then select a sandwich number, based on the option posted (I always get #6 -- proscuitto, turkey and havarti cheese). The meat is sliced fresh and you tell the staff your preferred toppings (e.g., lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, pickled eggplant). All of that for $4 (prices increased from $3.50 this year, but it's still well worth it).

Dirienzo's on Urbanspoon

After making our way to Gatineau Park, we set off for the yurt (our home for the evening).


This year, we decided to switch it up from the usual hot dogs and salad and make chicken fajitas.

Having everything cut up ahead of time makes this a really quick, convenient and tasty meal to make on a wood stove. Sorry, not a great picture, but it was dark out by the time we ate.

Breakfast was also delicious -- home made hasbrowns and omlettes stuffed with sausage and veggies.



By splitting up the meals between 6 of us, it was really easy to ski in carrying a good variety of food that was more interesting than the usual camping fare.

You can read about a previous ski trip here.
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5 comments:

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

No one starved that's for sure. I always loved camping for the challenge of making gourmet food on a camp stove or fire.Enjoy your vacation to Australia!!!!

FOODalogue said...

Love the mother-daughter dialogue. I bet there was a lot of laughter after each question/answer.

giz said...

You forgot to add paranoia and neurosis to my list of finer attributes.

That Girl said...

1) so jealous for your trip
2) I Highly recommend Tylenol PM for your flight. We take it on all our red eyes.
3) your convo with Giz sounds more like something R would say
4) we tend to go all out with our cooking food too

kat said...

Jealous of both your trips! For my trip to Stockholm later this year I plan on taking a supply of Sleepytime tea with valerian in it.

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