[hash and eggs, smoked salmon with dill cream cheese on whole wheat bagels, calzones with turkey pepperoni, peppers, 3 cheeses and homemade marinara, Moroccan grilled chicken and couscous, maple glazed salmon, salad and green beans]
I then chopped and seasoned and bagged and froze (almost) everything so that I would have minimal prep to do on-site, and things would stay cold. I was being smart. Or so I thought.
The entire weekend felt like a movie: opulent surroundings, surfing montages, laughing at stories around a campfire. The weekend even had a sound track thanks to the acoustic strumming of Mr. Bradley Jones. The only thing that left a bitter taste in my mouth? My food.
Okay, so it didn't actually taste that bad. But after paddling in cold water for hours and using your last bit of strength to peel off a wetsuit (OH my GOODNESS is it hard!), the very last thing you want to do is spend an hour cooking....or -- worse -- waiting to eat.
If you've ever camped you know this: my menu was the most impractical idea in the whole wide world. Even with the giant Tupperware box of pots, pans, knives and yes, a pepper grinder. Oh, and a giant propane grill top i dubbed "the coleman 3000". Between the temperature fluctuations of the Coleman 3000, balancing bowls and pots on tree stumps and using drift wood as a cutting board...we waited. And waited.
And ate other things in the meantime that were good ideas: granola bars. hummus, tzaziki and pita bread, tortilla chips and salsa, turkey pepperoni, nuts, fruit, veggies, chocolate, and marshmallows.
The three BEST meals I had?
Soup: Knorr butternut squash (from a box). Fresh ground pepper.
A jalapeno cheddar sausage roasted on a stick over a fire, on the beach in a white hot dog bun with some cheddar cheese crumbled on top.
And the chicken and couscous.
Why? It was simple, quick and filling. And generally only involved one pot. The secret is bringing food that's versatile, resealable, and won't spoil if it's not in a fridge.
Some things I brought did actually come in handy, though.
My knives - complete life saver, cutlery, travel mugs (because you actually can't go without coffee), stovetop kettle (for boiling water), a pot, plastic (reusable) dishes
a lighter, dish towels (to wipe everything clean), tin foil (wrapped the calzones in it, cooked them in the fire. they actually tasted really good, but still took too long…), duct tape (i used this to fix my sandal..not to cook with), a cast iron pan (we didn't cook with it, but it came in handy as a tent-peg hammer.)...and my pepper grinder -- because some comforts are worth it!
Of course, absolutely none of this put a kink in my weekend. Tofino is by FAR one of the most beautiful places I've visited. And nothing will ever beat the complete high I got from catching my first wave. Not even the gorgeous sunset we saw as we sailed…er, ferried home
Love,
The girl who used to pour your coffee
