salton sea
We stole away to the Salton Sea this weekend. Inspired by a trip years ago, we found out just the day before that a group of people we knew were also heading out to the desert for the weekend. We camped nearby and watched some of the antics from afar. It was a little bit Mad Max meets Bellflower (yes there was a flame thrower).
Mostly it was just nice to get away from Los Angeles, even for a little while, turn off our phones and just be. We explored Niland by bike and hiked up to Slab City at night. My car got stuck in sand and a kind fellow with 4 wheel drive had to pull us out. Shawn made the best tofu scramble on our camp stove. I tried to take some medium format photos so hopefully I’ll have those to share soon.
All around fun. More camping adventures in the future.
desert
Long weekend means it’s time to get away for a little bit. Which means I should probably get off the internet and get on the road. Excited for some adventures. What are your plans for the weekend?
camping
Sometimes, when you can’t get out of town, you can still go camping..and bring the cats along.
Hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend.
New Zealand
Every time I start to write something about our honeymoon I get stuck on what to say. I get stuck on what photos to share.* So I’m just going to jump in, somewhere in the middle, and see where it takes us.
Did I mention we went to New Zealand? I’m not sure anymore what made us choose to go to New Zealand other than the fact that it sounded crazy and wonderful so we just went for it.
You know, it’s hard to plan a vacation and a wedding at the same time. I’m not sure if you knew this, so I thought I’d mention it. So we didn’t plan entirely too much (despite the fact that I’m a compulsive planner). Then as we were preparing to depart, the terrible earthquake hit Christchurch. It wasn’t until we arrived in New Zealand that we became aware of the extent of damage to the city. Our trip became even less planned than it was before.
Luckily, we brought our tent and sleeping bags with us so we could camp just about anywhere. One night we ended up with the most amazing spot, right next to the beach.
On this particular evening, it started to rain not long after we set up our tent. We snuggled up with some ginger ales, books and games and just enjoyed the night in our little orange pod. It was wonderful.
Along with camping, comes camp meals. I became obsessed with hummus and avocado sandwiches. As we were on the road for most of the trip, we ate quite a few of these.
One morning we woke up to these little birds squawking outside out tent. We kindly shared some of our breakfast with them, although they were not too fond of the avocado.
So here’s a start, there is much more, including volcanoes, magic mushrooms, sulfur lakes, fancy hotels and a lot of Lord of the Rings awesomeness. Stay tuned!
*at some point on this trip I developed some sort of photo fatigue and took hardly any photos, even though I wanted to. Luckily Shawn took a great deal and is kind enough to share.
February roundup
Okay I have to admit I’ve been a bad blogger this month. I have been distracted by a number of things and have not devoted the time to this blog that I would like. In an attempt to find some redemption, I have a few things to report on.
One of the first points made is that in a troubled economy, many people turn to comfort foods. This fact on it’s own, isn’t what irked me. What got under my skin was the equation of Kraft brand foods with comfort foods. Who doesn’t love a grilled cheese sandwich and bowl of tomato soup when they’re having a bad day? That’s why it’s called comfort food. It certainly does not mean it needs to be junk. “Pasteurized prepared cheese product” is not food. The tomato soup and grilled soy cheese you see above has all the appetizing qualities and simplicity of any good comfort food and it’s vegan.
Without going on a diatribe about how bad certain processed foods are, I just want to point out that if you want something simple and inexpensive there are vegan alternatives that cover these bases as well. Not every meal you make has to be gourmet. If you want a box of mac and chreese that is better than that blue box you had when you were a kid Roads End Organics makes some amazing vegan versions that are not only insanely delicious but under $2 a box. I recommend the Shells and Chreese especially.
I suppose I’m just upset by the fact that something like this interview even made it onto the air. I can’t believe that someone can go on and say that Velveeta mixed with salsa is a healthier direction. How about just salsa? How about delicious fresh tomatoes, chopped and seasoned with herbs and spices? Doesn’t that sound more appetizing? I realize I’m ranting a little, but I’m just a bit shocked still that on the same station I hear reviews of local farmers markets that I also heard this garbage about processed junk and how to market it to people when they economy is down.
And moving on…
For Valentine’s day breakfast he cooked up some tofu scramble, camp style of course. Tofu and mushrooms mixed with nutritional yeast, ketchup, mustard and cooked over flame in vegetable broth. It was seriously delicious. We also enjoyed the typical camping fare: veggie dogs, veggie burgers and oatmeal. You can check out some more of our misadventures and Shawn’s beautiful photos of the trip over at studiodrome‘s blog We even made it in the local paper!
