Labor Day Camping Round-up

Labor Day! Camping! You’re camping, right? I went camping last weekend (because I have other very important plans this weekend). So here are some of my insta-photos from that camping trip, plus a lil’ camp-food round up for ya!

…Oh, what are my very important plans, you ask? Well…since you asked…OMG you guys. Deathcab is playing Transatlanticism in full at Bumbershoot!!! AAHH! I’ve actually never been to Bumbershoot… I’m not a big music-festival fan. I mean, I like music. I like festivals. But, the crowds and stuff. I don’t know. I just don’t know. Wait… I’m not even sure I like festivals.

Anyway, Transatlanticism!!! Are you dying yet!? I am. That album was the soundtrack of my freshman year in college (which was 10 years ago…I’m old now). The. Soundtrack. Aside from Get Low—which I’m embarrassed to admit was my dance-party JAM that year (to the windows, to the walls!)—the most defining moments of my first two years of college include Ben Gibbard.

I’m not even kidding. Evan and I broke up to a song from that album two days after we first started dating. Tiny Vessels. How emo, right? Is emo even a thing anymore? And the Transatlanticism tour is the first show we ever went to together. At the Showbox. My friend V and I wore matching outfits to that show, which is kind of weird, right? So anyway, I’m going with Evan and his twinsie Mark. It’s going to be epic. We might cry. All 3 of us. I can’t wait. I’m freaking out a little.

Ok. Camping. GO!

• This video and Camp Cobbler from Happy Yolks kills me (in a good way).
• There’s some serious gourmet action happening with these 16 camping dinners from Sunset Magazine.
• I wish I knew about these camp-fire burritos last weekend!
• Retro camping photos are the best, check out this retro-camp-coffee cake.
• Forget everything above, and just make foil-packet dinners (which I call Girl Scout Packets, from my days at Girl Scout Camp). Need ideas? Here are 50 of ‘em.
• Sweet Paul’s bread on a stick… bread on one stick, hot dog on the other. Ammiright?
• I assume that Portland chefs know a thing or two about camping. Also… paella.

PS. If you make s’mores, please put berries in them. Fresh picked huckleberries if you can.

Everything Tastes (and is) Better Camping

For Labor Day weekend, I went camping with a group of friends- Evan's guys plus their girlfriends (and a few stragglers). Prior to heading out for our weekend expedition to Fort Flagler, I was a little concerned about two things: the weather and the food. The forecast called for rain, rain, rain all weekend. And the food... not that I was dreading it or anything, but I've known these guys for a long time. BBQs at their house in college were always BYOF: Bring Your Own Food, and like Evan, they all think Chipotle and McDonalds are gourmet. Needless to say, I was slightly concerned.

The morning of our departure, I packed up all the food Evan and I prepared- everything we needed to survive if no one else brought supplies- secretly hoping to impress the group (and by impress, I mean bring the best food and get oohs and ahhs from everyone, of course). I brought LeAnn's Spinach Dip with crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and the fixin's for one of Evan's favorite meals (and a camping must-have) Girl Scout Packets. We grabbed the ice chest (also heavily laden with beer), and headed out into the rainiest day Seattle had seen in months.

I was expecting nothing but hot dogs and downpours. As usual, I was proven wrong. Other than a brief spurt of rain Sunday afternoon, we had blue skies and sunshine. And the food...not only did we have more than enough food, with everyone bringing loads and loads of supplies, but we also ate like we were in a five-star restaurant. Ok, not really (not at all), but everything tastes better when you're camping.

We started out Saturday with a lunch of campfire-steamed whole crab with garlic butter (courtesy of Dave and Nadia), which we ate standing over the picnic table, butter and juices running down our arms (camping brings out the heathen in all of us). We snacked on dip and chips, fresh veggies, two kinds of cookies, and of course, hot dogs. For night one's dinner, Mike and Mark took the helm at the cook stove, preparing a meal I would normally feed to the dog when no one was looking: Hamburger (and hot dog) Helper. I don't know what it is about camping, but I have to say it... that was some damn good Helper (I'm just happy it was dark so we couldn't see the neon orange colored sauce that we scraped off the pot the next morning). For breakfast Sunday, we made a sausage-egg scramble, with extra bacon and sausage on the side, washed down with French-press coffee and cream.

For lunch, we were treated to rain, and a surprise from Kyle. Little did I know, Kyle's mom used to own and operate her own Filipino restaurant in Port Orchard, and he worked in the kitchen for years. He had intended to make chicken skewers, but the brief rain shower put a stop to that, and instead we just had chicken cooked on the cook stove. Good enough for me!


Kyle's chicken was marinated in a soy/pineapple/garlic blend, and he cooked it up to gooey, crispy perfection on the Coleman. I think the whole campground was jealous of the delicious scents wafting out of our campsite!


After a long hike and exploration of the old (scary) barracks at Fort Flagler, I prepared the Girl Scout Packets. Girl Scout Packets are something I made years (and years and years) ago in Girl scouts, and have since made for Evan in our oven. The basic gist is to wrap meat and veggies in foil, and cook over the fire until everything is soft and almost stew-like in its juices. Our packets had ground beef, carrots, potatoes, onions, butter, and seasoning salt, double wrapped in foil. That simple.

The packets were delicious, with a smokiness you can only get cooking over an open campfire. We ate them straight out of the foil, with a side of fire-roasted garlic bread, followed by Chelsea's homemade apple pie. Such basic food, but for some reason, everything is always better camping.

LeAnn's Spinach Dip

This is a pretty basic, pretty delish dip! Mix together the following:

1 packet of dry ranch dressing mix
Equal parts mayo and sour cream (about 1 to 1.5 cups of each, can vary depending on your tastes)
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
1 box frozen spinach- thawed, drained, and chopped (be sure to wring out and get rid of excess liquid)