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Posts from the ‘Travel’ Category

Aug 19

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Campsite rice and beans

July 2013 update – looking specifically for backpacking meal ideas? Check out this post for a few trail-appropriate recipes and meal plans. 

A few people have asked for more information about how we’re eating when we’re traveling, specifically when we’re camping. We just finished camping for seven nights in a row, and after one night in a hotel in Calgary are camping for the next four, which means quite a bit of campstove cooking and mobile kitchen setups. Cooking while camping can be a daunting task, but so far we’ve found great ways to nourish our hard-hiking, long-driving days.

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I actually like cooking outside quite a bit, and nothing tastes quite so good as a meal around a campfire. Some of the meals I list below may seem pretty ordinary or low-brow, but I can tell you that even the simplest of things tastes amazingly good after a long day of hiking or driving. Sometime soon I’m going to put together a longer, more detailed guide to camp cooking, but for now I just thought I’d share how we’ve been feeding ourselves lately, along with a super-simple, super-healthy, flavor-packed dinner that’s great for camping or at home. Read more

Jul 18

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Oregon Country Fair: The Food

We spent this last weekend at the Oregon Country Fair. The Fair is a beast which requires a full post of its own to even remotely begin to describe, and as such you should immediately head to the post I wrote about it on the site we’ve started to document this crazy year of travel and adventure.

Because here I just want to talk about the food for a bit. Ahhhhh, Country Fair food. As big a draw for me as the costumes, the music, and the general ridiculousness of the whole thing. As most festivals and fairs are, the Country Fair is packed with a huge variety of food booths and stands, the vast majority of which are full of things delicious and worth waiting for in the long lines that sneak through the Fair’s paths for most of the day.  Some booths are Eugene-area regulars that show up regularly at farmers’ markets, the Holiday Market, and other community events. Some are Fair-only setups, once each year. Some are outposts of classic Eugene-area restaurants and food companies, many of which serve special Fair-specific items. (For example: Springfield Creamery, maker of beloved Nancy’s yogurt and a veritable culinary institution in Eugene, sells at the Fair items like ice cream, frozen yogurt, and other products they otherwise don’t sell anywhere, in stores or anywhere else. Most notably, ice cream sandwiches. Delicious, delicious ice cream sandwiches. More on that later.)

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Food options range from simple salads and smoothies to extravagant sandwiches and from classic Northwest-style natural foods to ethnic cuisines of almost any sort.  As Brett and I are wont to do in almost any eating situation, we shared almost everything we ate, in this particular case to make sure we each were able to try as many things as possible.  Here’s a rundown of everything we ate at the Fair (plus our own cereal for breakfasts and other food for snacks), with notes on the most spectacular: Read more

Jun 25

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Austria and Germany: The food, in pictures.

I told you there’d be more. But there’s not much to this one – just the important stuff.

This accounts for about half of our meals, and definitely the more delicious ones. You’ll notice some patterns – meat, meat, potatoes, meat, meat, beer, bread, more beer, wine.  By the end of the trip I had literally written in my notes “my life for a vegetable,” and was ordering side salads at almost every meal – so don’t go thinking I’d normally choose this pattern of food. But there were so many things to try, and so many things to try again …

Have questions about what anything is or how it was likely one of the best things I’ve ever eaten? Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll let you know!

GA2 GA3 Read more

Jun 24

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Austria and Germany: Gemütlichkeit. And beer.

I have so much to say about our trip to Austria and Germany that I’m not really sure where to begin. Which is funny, considering I spent time on the flight home jotting down my thoughts and outlining an extensive series of posts, each focusing on a different concept, food item, or experience we had. I’m sure I’ll still get out at least a couple of posts after this one, but even a few days out of the trip my thoughts are less specific, less of the sort of pinpointed memories you frantically try to hold onto, and more the sort that melt together into a general recollection that brings a smile to my face and makes my “work stress shoulders” relax a little.

Heuriger

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