Cooking
Today raspberry jam and raspberry coulis for Pavlova.
Yesterday baking
backpacking food
Homemade cookies
The recipe for these biscuits, which we love at home and I use when out hiking or backpacking, is here:
Out for a walk
I went from the village on loop out towards the airfield.
I was wrong – I did take a few more snow photos.
Click on the images for larger versions
To save time on the walk, I made the coffee at the office and took it with me in a thermos mug. For a snack dry wheaties in a small pot from my bento box – with the view below.
It was starting to get windy and cold.
Thank you Alpkit – great customer service
A couple of weeks ago, on a trip, I had a problem with my Aplkit Kraku ultra-light stove. When I got home I tested the stove again with a different gas bottle but the join was still leaking. It turned out that over time and use the seal washer had compressed and so was leaking. When I emailed Alpkit and explained the problem they quickly supplied a replacement and a spare washer. I have had the stove a couple of years and use it a lot – Alpkit’s customer service cannot be beaten.
Alpkit ultra-light titanium, pot/mug, stove and folding spoon – the recycled Coke bottle holds enough water for a mug of tea.
Out walking and geocaching on a sunny, late autumn Sunday morning.
Here are details of my lightweight cooking gear and the pouch of supplies in the photo.
Thank you Alpkit – great customer service Read More »
Nalgene containers – Camping and Backpacking
I am off to Scotland next weekend for two weeks and today I have been filling my Nalgene bottles and pots with spices, herbs, ground coffee, milk powder, corn flour, instant chai tea, olive oil, soy sauce and whisky – enough for one. Doing this saves weight and space in my packing. It is too easy to just fill the boot of my car when going off on my own to time share.
Nalgene containers – Camping and Backpacking Read More »
Spice box for camping
I bought this Light My Fire spice box in the summer in Scotland, but I only found it again this morning when I went to sort out my camping food tin.
The spice pot was in in a sale box for a pound as the packaging had been lost. There are markings on two of the sections – “S” and “P” but as I use salt and pepper packets from cafes I have put sumac, in the “S”, smoked paprika in the “P” and garam masala in the third. All of these spices are very useful when I am camping or backpacking as they are “shake over” rather than “cook in” spices so I can easily jazz up my food.
Spice box for camping Read More »
Notes from my Woodhall Spa weekend
First thing at Woodhall Spa – I had early morning coffee at this camp instead of tea
Menu for the weekend
Weight 750g
Lunch
Tinned Mackerel in Teriyaki sauce
Crackers
Cereal bar
Tea
Arrival at Woodhall Spa Camping and Caravan Club site
Milicano coffee stick and cakes (the warden gave me some milk as they had sold out of 1 pints – otherwise I would have bought some)
Dinner
Sesame flavoured Japanese noodles
I let the noodles cool down then I added a small packet of mixed pitted olives in herb oil and a salad dressing sachet that Mum had left over from her dinner on Friday
Chinese sesame dessert
Peach tea (cold)
Milicano coffee
Tea
Early morning
Tea and breakfast biscuits
Breakfast
Apple Pop Tarts
Dried fruit
Fresh coffee and more tea
Elevenses
Nescafe 2 in 1 coffee
Nutrigrain breakfast bar
Extras
2x decaf coffee sticks
Nutrigrain bar
Hot chocolate drink
I also had my Backpacking Brew Kit, packet of glucose tablet and some SiS Go Hydro tablets.
lunch in the pouring rain – getting a little shelter under the trees
Chinese sesame dessert
I got this from a local Asian supermarket – there is no other way to describe it, it is black custard. It is very sweet and tastes strongly of sesame. I like it as an alternative to instant custard.
Water
It was a warm humid weekend so I carried 2.5l of water and used nearly all of it. I carried a pack of SiS Go Hydro tablets, which I made up in my 500ml bottle, which I refilled as required from one of my other bottle – I had three bottles of the electrolyte drink. I made tea at lunch and drank nearly all the rest of the water – and it was probably just enough for the conditions.
Once I was at the camp site I was aware how much fluid I had lost during the day so I made sure I had plenty to drink – stoping to make a drink before I even put my tent up.
I walked until about 1pm on Sunday I carried 1.5l of water. I used one of my electrolyte drinks, made hot chocolate whilst I waited for Diana to arrive and drank most of the rest.
Read about my water choices here.
HTC Wildfire – MP3 player and ePub reader
This is the first full weekend away using this “retired” mobile phone as an MP3 player to replace my iPod Nano. It worked really well. I listened to an audio book all day Saturday and Sunday morning whilst I was walking and at the campsite I read for an estimated four to five hours. The 2.5Ah battery gave out about 20 minutes before Diana picked me up on Sunday, so it lasted the weekend. I had the original 1.2Ah battery with me so I swapped them and carried on reading. If I am away for any longer I will need to take my 20Ah Power Pack with me to charge the HTC. (Read my Backpacking Geek.)
I still used my iphone for my photos, photo editing, blogging, navigation etc, but not using it to read my books on meant that I only used one of my 2Ah emergency iphone batteries. I have used both of them on previous weekend trips.
Notes from my Woodhall Spa weekend Read More »