The other night I made myself a lovely dinner, based off of this cauliflower “steak” recipe. Instead of harissa, I used a dollop of hummus and a spoonful of fresh salsa (that delicious kind from Trader Joe’s). It was a simple meal, but oh so satisfying and delicious, and all I wanted to do was tell everyone about it!

I made myself giggle, because really… I want to tell everyone about nearly every meal I eat. My first thought is to post it as a facebook status, or maybe let my email chain now…. This is the very behavior everyone mocks social media for!

“who cares what someone ate for breakfast” is almost always the refrain when putting down sites like twitter and facebook.

But the simple fact is, I do! and I love to share it, and judging by the likes I get, people like knowing when I make delicious things!

I’m not really sure what this post is about except for me stating the obvious fact… I love talking about food!

One other thing that’s burning a hole in my brain: I just got an almost lovely lunch form a halal food truck, chickpeas, ground lamb, chicken, perfect rice…. except they smothered everything in a white creamy sauce that was just awful, frustrating really. So dear halal food truck guy, lay off the sauce!

and that’s all folks!

Guys, guys, guys!!! I went camping! And I wasn’t miserable, or terrified or even unhappy. In fact, it was quite a pleasant experience. For those of you who know me in real life, you know this is quite a big deal, I am really not such a fan of nature. 

However, I make exceptions for water and mountains, and this weekend, after a busy week of work conferences in New York, I hightailed up to the Shenendoah mountains for 2 nights of outside camping. 

Now, if you take a look at the date, you’ll notice it’s mid- November, which means it was COLD, the first night was about 20 degrees. I do not recommend camping in such frigid weather, though this did mean all the gross bugs were dead!

Now, for the grand total of 3 times of my life that I’ve been camping, i’ve learned that a few kitchen comforts go a long way to ensuring you have a fun trip, and let me tell you, we ate well on this trip! 

So, without further ado, i give you my culinary recommendations for camping 

1. You’ll need a former boy scout that knows how to light a good fire

2. maybe it’s overly fancy but here are the pots we brought along: 

• stainless steel saucepan
• french coffee press
• cast iron skillet (single best thing EVER)
• tin foil 
• chefs knife, and plastic cutting board 
• fast food condiments like honey,ketchup, mustard, coffee creamers etc. 

The first night we cooked flank steak, baked potatoes and buttery brussel sprouts, all cooked over the fire. 

The second night we had brawtwursts sauteed with onions and peppers in the skillet, more potatoes and a smokey, spicy chili we’d cooked ahead of time and reheated over the fire. 

I even brought some coffee mugs along… ridiculous right? 

What do you take with you camping?