Linear Cowboy: 2014

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

To South America I Go! January-February 2015

Today is the day I leave for a journey over an entire continent. Very ambitious and important sounding, I know. After graduating from Western in June, hiking across Washington along the Pacific Crest Trail in August, then spending four months with friends and family in Bellevue, it's time to go to South America!

The Plan

I'm thrilled to spend the next two months with two incredible women, Kate and Meghan! Kate and I are pre-school playmates and adult evironmentalist super friends. Meghan is my water activist companion and beloved Bellingham housemate.

The adventure includes trips in Colombia, Peru, and Patagonia, Chile. All my flights are round trip: southbound then northbound.

-Dec 30: The first stop will be Bogota, Colombia to spend New Years with Kate - Kate lives in Bogota since graduating from American Unicersity in the spring. So cool!

-Jan 4: Next I'll fly to Cusco, Peru to meet Meghan for a few days before we fly together to...

-Jan 9: PATAGONIA!! Where we'll meet Kate and go on a backpacking trek around glorious mountains!

-Jan 25: Meghan and I will go back north to Peru to volunteer at a women's weaving organization, Awamaki. Meghan is staying for a couple of months here using her talent in industrial design to assist in textile design. She's amazing!

-Feb 11: I'll leave Meghan in Peru to fly back to Bogota and spend my last three weeks with Kate.

-March 4: Return to Washington and begin working & saving money for next adventure

Here I am in the Seatac airport carrying bags and anticipation.

Update Edit

Due to a 2 hour delay leaving Seatac my flights changed and I'm now enduring my 13th (and final) hour at the Houston airport. Just a quick 6 hour flight left to arrive in Bogota!

Here's me sleeping under the airport bench about 3am. I met a nice family and hung out with them in the wee hours of the morn'.

Drinking a shot of wheat grass to maintain maximum airport health. Cheers and happy New Years!

Monday, December 8, 2014

Sustenance in the Backcountry

Hike Your Own Hike

Pacific Crest Trail motto

The one consistent feature among thru-hikers is the diversity of gear and food. Katie and I embarked on a vegan diet for the month of August as we hiked the PCT through Washington state. With pack weight in mind we tried to maximize nutrition and calories per ounce of food. The second priority was variety. You can't anticipate how terrible or amazing something will be after you've eaten it for days on end. We found that vegan food on the trail absolutely met our needs to keep us fueled for 20+ mile days.

Here's a taste of what a typical night looked like on the trail.

Alpine Vegan Kitchen: Episode 1

Let's dive into the details.

Here is one typical day of food: Breakfast (granola bag), three packaged bars, one bag of trail mix, and a dinner (shared between the two of us). It doesn't look like much, but this combo was enough to keep two 5' 3" (ish) ladies sustained for much of the trail!

The Breakdown

Breakfast:

We made a massive amount of homemade granola (oatmeal, raisins, ground flaxseed, brown sugar, cinnamon, etc. baked), then made some dehydrated fruit variations with blueberries + bananas and strawberries + mangoes.
Although delicious in small quantities, it was difficult to eat an entire dry bag of this in one sitting.

Breakfast favorite. Chocolate covered coffee beans with almond butter and trail mix variations! Tortillas are on the heavy end so we would try to nom those down early on.

Snacks:

Grocery Outlet Bargain Market. The best granola bar value I've ever experienced. Thank you for existing.

Winco provides an expansive bulk selection for trail mixes at a low low price.

After a couple of weeks on the trail we got a little sick of sweet snacks and definitely preferred the savory options. We also overestimated our enthusiasm for wasabi peas on the trail.

Dinner:

For the most substantial meal of the day it was important for us to pack that nutritional calorie loaded punch into every bite. Another priority was to prepare meals that would be "instant:" just add boiling water! Two of the major winners on the trail were: instant quinoa and nutritional yeast! Both of which have an awesome amount of protein.

Much of our dinner bulk came from the bulk section at Winco: instant mashed potatoes, instant hasbrowns (think texture variety), split pea soup, black bean soup

The rest was prepared with dehydrators - sourcing from vegetable gardens and pre-packaged/canned foods: Kale, chives, canned tomatoes, canned black beans & chickpeas, salsa, etc. (add creativity and methodical raiding of your parent's pantry)

Instant Quinoa! First cook as normal, allow to cool, then dehydrate!
SUCH EXCELLENCE IN BACKPACKING FOOD!

Dehydrated kale from garden

Dehydrated chives

A bag of prepared, thawed veggies from a huge bag at Cash and Carry

Black beans from a can

Next, create your combinations! We switched it up as much as possible and filled a sandwich size ziplock bag to share for two people. It was always enough to satisfy the hunger.

Most of our meals for the month of August with combinations of the above ingredients.

Salsa - black beans - hashbrown - quinoa!
(Dehydrated avocado proved to be disappointing)

Chick peas - Nutritional yeast - mashed potatoes - split pea soup

Food Love

People who love to eat are always the best people.

Julia Child

I often make experimental food. Making a soup means jabbing my hands into drawers for unrelated spices and refrigerator shelves to grab condiments, then tossing what may appear to be unpalatable combinations into a blossoming, vulnerable broth. Guy nervously watches me work but has learned to trust me over the years. The stock pot is a blank pallet for my imaginative masterpiece. There have been failures, but they are greatly outnumbered by winners! When it comes to cooking, my deepest gratification comes from making the healthiest version of a delicious treat.

Food Competitions

Yes. I competitively create food and win. I'm on fire and in the midst of a winning streak, having won four out of four competitions I've entered. The secret to my success: dedicated chef assistants and entering low-risk/low-expectation events.

Thoughts for Food

Eating is the most intimate thing we do, every day, multiple times a day. We take an object from our external environment and ingest it so that bodies can integrate its nutrition to grow and function. Food makes up your body; you are your food. I try my best to apply a critical lens to what I put in my mouth and consider the ethics, environmental impact, and nutrition within. Let's face it, a cheeto is a synthetic, chemically derived substrate designed to imitate a food-like experience. Ofcourse, these delightful pre-packaged foods surround us almost always. Ultimately what matters is a person's lifestyle and the decisions they make most days - exceptions and treats are awesome & food is at its best when it can be shared.

Photo Time

Just a few yummy things made with & for friends and family.

Fried tofu on a bed of massaged kale salad with maple syrup Thai-ish peanut sauce.
First place in maple syrup cooking competition!!

Flying dinosaur xmas cookies

Lemon Lavender cookies with Katie G!

Classic homemade sushi

Dill pickle canning party with Jennifer Goodhart!

A gloriously thick, gelatinous mother scoby for Kombucha brewing.

Dehydrated apple slices

Jello pranking: not for consumption...

Peach blueberry cobbler with phyllo dough and toasted walnuts,
and a side of coconut whipped cream. YESS!

No cooking required: summer bliss.

Lavender shortbread cookies with cream cheese frosting
and farmer's market strawberries

Carrot cake jam. Award winning at the Crossroads farmers market Jam competition!
(Made with pineapple, pears, cinnamon & spice, and carrots)

Herby bread

Friendsgiving Vegan pumpkin pie! nice.

White Russians with homemade Kahlua!

Bite sized phyllo dough cups with homemade marzcapone cheese, carrot cake jam, and a slice of fresh basil.
First place at the Bellevue Utilities dessert competition!

Hobby Time

Some crafted things over the years.

Here's something you may not know about me: For three consecutive summers I went to Bead Camp, beading for around six hours per day for a week. I was around 11 years old and loved it. Before Bead Camp, I went to an art camp, "Go-go Van Gogh," and before that subscribed to crafting magazines for children. I enjoy dabbling in a variety of crafts and mediums and consider myself an enthusiastic novice in many things. If left unoccupied I shall begin a project.