Vadouvan Curry, Fancy Hot Chocolate and Sespe Hot Springs

When you see the wide green meadow with 3 little bushes, you're almost there. You turn left after the next ridge on an offshoot trail that leads ~1 mile to the spring.

God, I almost don't want to write about Sespe Hot Springs. I almost just want to tell you to hike the 9 easy miles to Willett Hot Springs, where everyone else goes, and leave it at that.

White powders: reconstituting and taste testing powdered dairy products

I got a bunch of awesome stuff to play with recently! Some such items are pictured.

As a matter of personal preference, I try to use homemade, organic, ethically produced products and ingredients whenever possible. Dennis and I are preparing to do the JMT next September and fresh ingredients (fresh cheeses, butter, etc.) will be inaccessible for a good chunk of that time. Because I rely so heavily on a daily supplement of fresh cheese for calories and nutrition, I'm experimenting now with shelf-stable, processed ingredients to supplement our diet for the 3 weeks we'll be on the trail. The good thing about powdered dairy products is that they have a very high calorie:weight ratio, they are convenient, provide diverse flavor and texture, and are affordable. Most people are already familiar with powdered milk, but a variety of other dairy products are also available: heavy cream, sour cream, sweet cream buttermilk, cream cheese, butter, and cheese, among others.

First up: Heavy Cream Powder.

Food Reviews: Heather's Choice Buckwheat Breakfast, and Smoked Sockeye Salmon Chowder; Alpine Aire's Veggie Burrito Bowl

Enjoying the cool breeze rising from waves below in the section between Little Harbor and Two Harbors.

Over President's Day weekend, we decided to check out the Trans Catalina Trail on Los Angeles' own Catalina Island. I was particularly excited about this trip because I was planning to try my Heather's Choice meals and, well, because Catalina is a remote, warm island with beautiful turquoise beaches only two hours from home. We didn't have many opportunities to eat our own food during this trip because (for better or worse) the trail goes through several towns and eateries, so my review today is limited to two Heather's Choice meals: Apple Buckwheat Breakfast, and Smoked Sockeye Salmon Chowder, and Alpine Aire's Veggie Burrito Bowl.

Food Reviews: Good To-Go Thai Curry and Herbed Mushroom Risotto

File this under: photographs that are only exciting to Hawaiians and Californians that never see snow ever. Road to Salmon River trailhead, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, Oregon. 

Over winter break, Dennis and I borked our backpacking trip in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness. On all technical aspects, we were prepared for what would have been our first Winter trip, but we were absolutely not prepared for the degree of boredom we'd experience in a cold dark tent at 5PM, with nothing to do until sunrise at 8AM the next morning. I say "borked" because we made it to the site, set up the tent, had dinner, got in our bags at nightfall, and bailed only an hour later. The appeal of warm dinner and warmer toilets in downtown Portland was simply too great. Oh well.

Dennis laughing at my weakness

Before we left we made dinner, so I got a chance to try the Good To Go Thai Curry, as well as the Good To Go Mushroom Risotto, which are reviewed below. I could have sworn I took pictures, but I can't find them. Suffice to say, the mushroom risotto looked like grey slop, and the Thai curry looked like yellow slop. Exciting, I know.

Food Reviews: Good To-Go Smoked Three Bean Chili

I've been really, really excited about trying Good To-Go Meals, following them on twitter, keeping an eye on their webpage and keeping my ear to the ground for any and all new product reviews. It's such a promising brand because their products are all: 1) vegetarian or vegan, 2) painstakingly and truly handmade from the ground up, 3) the brainchild of  Jennifer Scism, whose professional culinary history is very impressive, and 4) clearly a labor of love.

I don't consider myself picky, but I am a little choosy when it comes to vegetarian chili. Chili is, after all, a terribly competitive and contentious dish, rife with impassioned and unsubstantiated personal opinion. As such, there are several schools of thought when it comes to vegetarian chili (just as there are schools of thought for oatmeal cookies, brownies, etc.) and Good To Go's definitely falls in the Hippie Chili category, more of a vegetable and bean stew than a true chili. In the Hippie Chili category you'll find quinoa chili, bulgur chili, sweet potato and corn chili, and so on.

Food Reviews, Trinity Alps Trip: Cheddar Jack Cheese Spread from Packit Gourmet, Organic Garlic Pesto Frybread from MaryJane's Farm

A few weekends ago, my husband went on a weekend trip to the Trinity Alps with his friend Duncan, and puppy compatriot Guinness. He was hoping to reach Foster Lake on a ~17 mile loop over the course of 3 days. I'd packed him some homemade pasta with ratatouille, boxed macaroni and cheese for breakfast, homemade korean tofu soup (soondubu jjigae) for breakfast 2, homemade Thai curry soup, and other ready-made food to fill the gaps. I was excited to hear how the trip (and food) went on his return and asked him to take photos.

Food Reviews, Desolation Wilderness trip: Organic Chilimac from MaryJane's Farm

Looks better than it tastes, unfortunately

Macaroni and Cheese for breakfast. Why not? Calorie-rich, full of carbs and easy to prepare.

MaryJane's Farm Chilimac has tons of positive reviews all over the net. Our feeling: not bad, but not great either. For how delicious Annie's Organic Macaroni and Cheese boxes are, MJF is surprisingly lackluster. This could be done so well, so easily- why is the cheese so flavorless and the texture so floury?

It's not bad, but not worth the price, either, when such a simple dish is so easy to put together with a base of Annie's Mac.

Food Reviews, Desolation Wilderness trip: Organic Spuds w/Spinach & Cheese from MaryJane's Farm, Southwest Black Bean and Corn Salad from Packit Gourmet

A vivid blue gradient and a paintbrush-swipe of clouds just before the top of the Crystal Range. At this point, the terrain on the other side is a mystery. Just like the mystery that is dinner.

I was raised on mashed potato flakes. In fact, I think I preferred them to real mashed potatoes for a while. I'd have mashed potatoes with ketchup and fantasize about the french fries I was almost never allowed to have. I remember my grandfather, a self-proclaimed "gourmand" bitching to my parents at the Thanksgiving dinner table about me putting ketchup on his homemade mashed potatoes, shaking his head. I also remember buying the cup-o-mashed potato cups all throughout middle school. I'd rehydrate them with less water than recommended and somehow I really enjoyed the kinda crusty, kinda dense, concentrated flavor, not fully rehydrated quality of the whole thing. Anyway...given all this backstory, it's no surprise I really liked the MJF potatoes. And Dennis, who I didn't expect to like them, was enthusiastic too. "Getting back to my Scottish roots," he said.

Food Reviews, Desolation Wilderness trip: Copper Canyon Mudslide from Packit Gourmet

Horchata 'n' Vodka

So when I think mudslide, I think of a creamy, kahlua-flavored, chocolatey, boozey, milkshake concoction, the kind of drink a 10 year old would come up with.

As such, it was with the slightest disappointment and some curiosity that I opened the packet for Copper Canyon Mudslides and smelled cinnamon and rice. This is no mudslide, it's horchata. Organic horchata actually, which is pretty cool, kudos to Packit Gourmet for making this one organic.

Food Reviews, Desolation Wilderness trip: Potato Samosas with Mango Chutney from Packit Gourmet

Really, really good. SO worth the extra prep time to wrap/fry.

I had low expectations because I'd read a lot of negative reviews about the samosas when prepared cold. But holy shit...prepared hot, these were an easy 10. They needed a little salt and I could easily have eaten twice as much chutney as provided, but that's not really a criticism, is it?

Food Reviews, Desolation Wilderness trip: Jump-Start Smoothies from Packit Gourmet

It's a pain in the ass to get vegetarian protein on the trail without making some serious concessions on *ahem* abdominal comfort. I'm pretty sensitive to beans/TVP, and if I end up bloated, I'll sleep poorly and be generally uncomfortable and grumpy the entire week. I do whatever I can to minimize that by planning my meals accordingly and keeping the legumes to a minimum. A huge bummer, because if I had my way I'd eat legumes at every meal.

Food Reviews, Desolation Wilderness trip: Happy Hour Snack Pack from Packit Gourmet

Last Tuesday, Dennis and I were babbling on Facebook when I realized we were coming up on a 3 day weekend without plans. While the Diablo patch just hit and I was looking forward to playing games, neither Dennis nor I liked the idea of fermenting all weekend on the computer. There would be plenty of time to play games during the week, but only one 3 day weekend before Fall weather hit.