Camping Food Part Deux- Did I Really Cook Salmon?!

I know that camping food is typically burgers and hot dogs, you're lucky to have a vegetable unless you count ketchup. But that is not really the way I operate, so while shopping at Raley's in Auburn, Ca, I decided to buy some salmon. I thought I could wrap it in aluminum soil, drizzle it with honey and soy sauce (my fave) and call it a day. And... it worked! Now, it was actually much prettier than the picture shows (and please notice the Budweiser box plate mat, high class all the way!)and the taste was phenomenal!
I also wrapped corn in foil and stuck those on the grill as well. The corn was ok, it could have benefited from some olive oil or butter, neither of which we had on hand. But I was pleased to be eating a vegetable and there is nothing like corn during a cookout!
There's me attempting to flip the corn using a handmade beer box/tin foil spatula
We also had begun wiht a lovely appetizer of sardines and cheddar cheese with some sourdough bread. No mustard? No problem! John and I found sardines that were actually packaged in mustard! Amazing. I know that this looks sort of gross, but it's actually one of my favorites!
Quite possibly one of the more interesting conversations I had during this trip was about what is a "barbecue" and what is not. Rafting and camping with us were two guys from Georgia, Brian and Jason. Somehow the conversation came up that all of us Californians are always "barbecuing" when in fact we are not. Brian said, "you can have a picnic or a cookout, but if you say you're having a barbecue I better see a damn pig when I walk up." This made me laugh and think about the fact that it is true. We Californians, or non-Southerners, do invite people over for barbecues all the time. These barbecues can consist of anything from a couple of beers sitting outside, to some burgers and dogs, etc. I have made pizza on a barbecue and said that we were having a barbecue, but according to our Southern experts, a barbecue is not a kind of party, it's a kind of food. You need to be roasting a pig pretty much in order to be able to call something a barbecue. Well, you learn something new every day!
Camping is STILL not my favorite thing in the world, but I am having a little more fun with it. Could be partly to do with the shower that I snuck in at the campsite (speaking of authenticity, many might say if there are SHOWERS then it is not really camping. But, for me sleeping in a tent, even if it is in the backyard, is roughing it.)

Camping Food

So, I went camping. Now, this statement may not sound shocking to those who do not know me, but this is a REALLY BIG DEAL. After a horrific camping experience at 19 (ok, there was a frog that freaked me out and the whole sleeping outside/no electricity/dirt combo is just not suitable to my needs)I swore I would never camp again. This rang true for almost 9 years, but alas, it was dashed on Memorial Day weekend. It all started with my new boyfriend. When you begin a relationship and you are all lovey dovey, somehow one may be convinced to things they might not ordinarily do. Like camping, for example. So, there I was stuck with the conundrum, if J loves camping and I love J, does that mean I love camping?! Does it work like that? (In case anyone is curious, NO, it doesn't. Love is not transitive like that). But I had to experience this for myself. So off I went with a (borrowed) backpack filled with such things as a headlamp, a mini stove, and wine (yes, I brought wine camping) and I was off. Off into the wild wilderness never to be seen again perhaps.

Living in the Bay Area, the wild is really only a 40 minute drive from the comfortable apartment in San Francisco. I refused to go to the Sierras (there was a chance of rain and snow, and I was RIGHT!) and I thought that knowing how close I was to civilization might help put me at ease on the trip. So J, his friend Brian, another experienced camper, and I set off on our expedition. In an Audi. Wearing my new white North Face Jacket, armed with artisan cheese and tabbouleh and wine. Or so we thought.

Now, the three of us arrived in Point Reyes and started unloading our gear. We were doing a 3 miles hike to Sky Camp and we had a site reserved. At my house before we left we had loaded a cooler with food for the trip. Sausages, cheese, wine, my homemade tabbouleh, fruit, etc. We were going to leave this in the car and refill on day two. So as J and I take out our backpacks both us say, hey Brian, where's the cooler? Well people, the cooler was on my kitchen counter in San Francisco. Brilliant! We forgot all the food. Except for some sardines, a package of freeze dried Chili Mac (needless to say I did not want nor did I have anything to do with this), mustard, salami, sausages, and buns. Are you noticing a theme here? (hint, processed meat). Oh, and two apples I had stashed in my backpack. So, we were going to starve. Well I was. For 15 years I did not touch red meat or pork products. This is changing a little bit. I like to say I am flirting with the stuff, a bite here and a bite there, but I don't really want to indulge of a meal of two different sausages and salami. But not really. We simply ran into Pt. Reyes station, picked up some cheese and crackers and called it a day, or a hike.

Well I have never actually hiked to camping. I have car camped, but this was the first time I had ever put literally everything I needed on my back and hauled it straight up a mountain. It's funny, men say that women are high maintenance, but camping, now THAT is high maintenance. You have to carry your bed, food, light, entertainment (this came in the form of a bottle of vodka), toilet, shower, etc all with you. Staying at a nice hotel, LOW maintenance. And I will give credit where credit is due, I had some help carrying things up the mountain. My pack was heavy, but J's was really heavy.

When we got to sky camp it was really pretty. I got to see things like this.


The trail was beautiful and we saw deer and yellow finches. It was quite nice. And for about 5 minutes I was really content sitting on a picnic table, while the boys put the tents up, and relaxing. Then I realized that I had to sleep there and got a little grumpy. But, I started making appetizers and I was really excited. I got into it! The top photo is of my appetizer, a triscuit with mustard, cheddar cheese, and a sardine one it, doctored up by J. He decided it would be nice to fit every food we had into said bite. So there are two types of cheese, salami, smoked salmon, and a sardine atop a pita. I lied, we had some more stuff than I claimed. This looks absolutely revolting if you ask me, but J said it was quite tasty, as evident below.

After a lovely meal of said appetizers and some sausages that the boys hungrily ingested, I thought, ok, I can eat in the wilderness. And I can sleep in the wilderness. It isn't so bad. Then J suggested I should write a cookbook of camping food and he offered to be my guinea pig. He said we can go every weekend and he will taste all the food. I said "don't push your luck buddy."