Showing posts with label camp food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camp food. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Adventures in biking

I'm a summer girl at heart. I love the heat and Nick often finds me lounging on the front porch once the 90s roll into town. With work and life, sometimes I forget to enjoy the 2.5 months of summer in New England. Not so, this year! I've been outside soaking up the sunshine and we've lined up a host of summer travel plans hell bent on getting outdoors.

First up- Shawme Crowell State Forest in Sandwich, MA!

We left around 6:30 on Friday and stopped in Plymouth for fuel- human and car. I saw the Pizza Factory in a strip mall near the gas station.

One small veggie pizza to share- what can I say? I have a thing for veggie pizza. And this was delicious! Seriously yummy. Kudos Pizza Factory!

We got to the campground while it was still light outside- big ups to the 1.5 hour commute down to the cape. Set up was pretty easy- we got stuck in the sandy ground a few times but Nick hauled the T-blaze through it. Bedtime came early- we were pooped from the work week!


The next morning we got an early start and enjoy a quick breakfast. Instant oatmeal + Starbucks vanilla VIA coffee. Best.instant.coffee.ever. Srsly. Please note the Ove-Glove/wrench combo. We're pretty savvy campers.

Our plan was to debut the Houndabout to the monster. Gilligan tried it at home and seemed reasonably accepting...sure...uh huh. Everything was FINE at home.

See? He's happy, right? Not so, a mere 9 mile earlier. We decided to try out the Cape Cod Rail Trail which extends from Dennis to Wellfleet- a lovely 22 mile path that's paved a shaded.

What I don't have pictures of is his great escape. Somewhere around mile 1.5 Gilligan totally lost his marbles and jumped Free Willy style out of the top section. Somehow Nick didn't crash and Gill didn't run into traffic. Suffice it to say that we leashed his puppy butt to the trailer after that nonsense. But only after we lured him back into the trailer with bites of PBJ.

P.S. Best PBJ ever. I made peanut butter out of honey roasted peanuts (just threw them in the Cuisnart with a smidge of canola oil), white bread from 7-11, and low sugar organic raspberry jam. YUM.

On the road again, we continued on our merry way. Nick said towing Gilligan and the trailer (a total of 110+ pounds) was fine unless Gilligan was shifting position. He towed that silly dog over 20 miles that day- what a trooper! I was still fresh as a daisy by the end of our adventure...Nick- not so much.


Around mile 9, we finally figured out that Gilligan needed to burn off some energy, so Nick biked while Gilligan ran- that dog is fast! And kind of swerve-y. He chilled out after that.


And so did we! We stumbled upon the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans completely by accident.


Totally Turtle for Nick and Strawberry Cheesecake for me! Gill even got his own dish of vanilla soft serve. He slurped it up!





Views from the trail.

Bikes. I love them!




Found Gilligan some water to swim in- he's finally showing his lab side. Dude loves to swim.


After our 20 mile bike ride, we took the scenic route back to the campground. On our way, we spotted the infamous ZooQuarium! Weirdest place ever- Nick says there's a sad little seal and a fox in there. No thanks.

We also saw a truly impressive collection of ceramic animals on our drive that weren't at a mini-golf course. Elephants, rhinos, and marmots- oh my!


Dinner was a breakfast scramble of quinoa, eggs, pinto beans and Morningstar sausage. Plus some contraband white wine. Yum!

Dinner was enjoyed by a rip-roaring fire. I *heart* camping.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

What I did on my winter vacation

I went home in February for my winter vacation. I was one busy lady!

I cooked! Catered my mom's 50th birthday party. Happy birthday, mom! Steak quesadillas, chicken salad sandwiches, and veggie/hummus wraps! Sister supplied the baked brie....*drool*

I painted. Mom's birthday party was a painting party, where were got to create our own masterpiece.

Check out my mad skillz!

I squealed with delight! Hadn't seen my niece since she was fresh out! Boston needs to be WAY closer to Texas. Let's just scoot CT out of the way.

Saw family and friends- hi Allie and Melanie and Mom!

Hi Aunt Laura!

I smooched.

I fed.

Bottles, too!

I snuggled.
I strolled.

I shopped- cupcake shirt for the wee one! And a swimsuit with a built-in tutu. Practical, no?

We laughed.


We danced.

And sang.

Can't wait to see those sweet cheeks again. Love you, Bella.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Quickie Pies

I'm clearly in denial.

I refuse to acknowledge the cold, the endless snow, the jackets, the scarves, the runny noses, the sand-filled house, the shovel.

La la la la! I'm not looking!


I want the dog days of summer back. (Gilligan sleeps on a cot when we camp- the rocks hurt his sensitive skin.)

Ok, so maybe I have acknowledged all of those things. Heck, I've even been thankful for a few items on that list- runny nose excluded.

But as I sit in my kitchen, watching yet another Nor'easter brew outside my window, I want to forget it all and travel back in time to last summer.

Specifically the 4th of July. We spent it at Elmore State Park, outside of Stowe, Vermont. It's one of our very favorite camping spots and we go at least once a year. Celebrating the 4th at Stowe totally rocked- they had a wicked fireworks display, easily rivalling the Esplanade and Kaboom Town. They had a field full of food trucks- we ate pulled pork from the hood of a VW Bug (Car B Que- get it!?).




We ate hearth fired pizza.


We sampled samosas.


It was a great weekend.

The highlight, of course, was dessert. Friends, meet Quickie Pie. Quickie Pie, meet my internet friends.


Campfire Quickie Pies

4 slices bread
~1 cup pie filling
Cooking spray
Pie iron
Camp fire- hot

Grease your pie iron well.

Open your bread and pie filling.

Line the pie iron with bread. This is a double iron- pie for two!

Fill one side with pie filling. Don't overfill, but don't be stingy, either.

Close the iron securely.

Place into the fire into the flames. Stay with the iron the entire time- it burns quickly.



See? Toasty. Crispy and golden.

Quickie pies make everyone happy! Eat and enjoy.