Laurie Ann March

You have probably noticed that it has been somewhat quiet on the blog. With September comes a bit of change. School started and the long summer camping trips came to a halt. This year my darling husband, Bryan, was called away on business for a few weeks which gave me a taste of single motherhood. I’ve also been working on a second book and trying to define the final list of recipes and such.  

Over the next few days things around the office and in our household will return to normal, allowing me much more time to create recipes, research companies, test products and post about the things that inspire me.

P.S. If there is a subject you are interested in hearing about please feel free to let me know.

One thing that is really quite important is camp kitchen hygiene and I am constantly washing my hands to the point of it almost being a fetish. Yesterday, while at Hiker’s Haven in Oakville, Ontario, I discovered a great solution from Sea to Summit.

Sea to Summit’s Pocket Soap is a little, trail friendly container of soap leaves that are pure and fragrance free. According to the package they can be used for dishes, shampoo, laundry or as a bodywash. What I like most is that the leaves are compact and light. The entire package comes in under 15 grams (1/2 ounce).

Please note that, like all soaps and campsuds, this product should be used away from wilderness lakes and streams. Of course you need water to activate the soap but it is wise to do this well away from any water sources.

This morning I got a note from a lady named Karla. She writes for the Louisiana Hiking Club’s quarterly newsletter, The Louisiana TrailBlazer, is an avid hiker, and a great cook. Some of you may remember her recipe for Mom’s Carlsbad Dip which she kindly contributed to our wilderness cooking website.

The note was to tell me about a review she did of my trail cookbook, A Fork in the Trail. It was a great review and I appreciate that she took the time to try several recipes and go into some detail. I love the way she drew people into the article about the book.

You will find the review in the 2008 Third Quarter Newsletter but you should take a few moments and explore the Louisiana Hiking Club’s website. The site has some great information about hiking in the state and also a good section with links to other information.

This week I have decided to take what our family refers to as a “stay-cation”. Of course, I would rather be on a wilderness trip somewhere but we’ve bought a 130 year old Victorian house and we need to do some work on it. Perhaps I should say my husband needs to do some work on it—there is no way I am getting up on scaffolding. Anyway while I am trying to stay out of his way I’ll be in the kitchen testing new recipes for my various projects including wildernesscooking.com. My presence on the blog may be somewhat sporadic.

In the meantime I will leave you with this…

Over the weekend I tried my hand at making red pepper jelly. We like to have it with cream cheese and crackers on some of our shorter backcountry trips. It’s really good on a bagel with cream cheese too. I was pleasantly surprised at how much better it tasted compared to the store-bought varieties I’d been trying. It’s surprisingly easy to make and worth the small effort.

When the June 2008 issue of the Washington Trails Magazine, put out by the Washington Trails Association, arrived in my mailbox I was pleasantly surprised.

Erika Klimecky wrote a wonderful review of my wilderness cookbook,
A Fork in the Trail, and I am quite proud of what she had to say.

Here is an excerpt from the review…

“When I received the book, my mouth began watering from the moment I spied the cover. I immediately opened it and pored over page after page of creative and unique recipes, trying in vain to narrow it down to ’several’ to make.

The recipes are healthy, balanced and useful for hiking and backpacking, but convert easily for home cooking as well. The instructions are explicit so you can modify based on your needs. There is a section on dehydrating foods, wilderness cooking and menu planning in the wilds. There are markers for vegetarian dishes and very lightweight dishes to suit backpackers perfectly. Dehydration time, serving size, ‘At Home’ and ‘At Camp’ instructions make it easy to prep, pack and plan each meal.”

I’d like to thank Erika for her kind words and for taking the time to test some of the recipes in my book.