Let's Eat: Food for a 3 day backpacking adventure

If all goes as planned (and when does that happen?!), we'll be hitting the trail for some backpacking this weekend. I've got a fairly solid gear list I follow (see it here), but we always seem to start from scratch, if you'll pardon the pun, with food selection. Hot dogs the first night is a given. But what about night two? And lunches? And snacks?

So as a note to Future Me, here's what we are planning to bring this weekend:

Included in the photo: Hot dogs, baked beans, crackers, Oatmeal Squares cereal, Cheerios, pretzels, Twizzlers, Goldfish, peanut butter, marshmallows, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds, honey roasted peanuts, Tasty Bite Chana Masala, Tasty Bite Jodphur Lentils, pretzels with peanut butter, M&M's, baby carrots, raisins, mini Oreos, Nutella packets, tuna with jalapeno and olive oil, Kind Bars, hummus, Irish Breakfast tea.

And here's what it packed down to:

Weight: about 5lbs.

Oh, and Future Me, when Shira suggests using Tasty Bite for dinner, recall that you've already talked through how it's not that crazy an idea. Sure it has liquid in it, and "real" backpacking meals are dehydrated. But because it has the liquid in it, it's super easy to cook. Heck, you could it cold in an emergency. And at 10oz, it's just 4oz heavier than a box of Mac and Cheese. The benefits of zero cleanup and shortened cooking time, outweigh the cost of a few extra ounces.

I'm also planning to bring a few cooking staples with me:

This includes: flour, corn meal, olive oil, baking powder, salt and crushed red pepper. I have hopes of practicing some 18th century trail cooking techniques. Not likely to happen, but it's worth a shot.

Whenever we pack for a trip, my job is to be the voice of leave it at home. Surely I don't need to change underwear *every* day; that sort of thing. And Shira's job is to be the voice of reason. So if it were up to me, our food would consist of four Kind Bars and a cup of flour. Luckily, it isn't up to me and we typically eat very well.

Bike Challenge: Hauling Unplanned Cargo

I'm standing in the grocery store looking at a 6 pack of 24 oz. water bottles and wondering how I was going to carry it home on my bike. I've got a bike rack, but I hadn't grabbed any cordage before leaving the house. What the heck, I figured I'd buy the bottles and figure it out.

Turns out, I had the perfect solution at the bottom of my murse bag: a 1yd x 1yd sheet of bright orange parachute material. It had been stashed at the bottom of my man-bag waiting to be used.

Turns out, it makes the perfect gear net:

I draped the material over the water bottles, tied the ends off to each other and rode away. Worked like a charm. Heck it was easier to use than a bungee net, which I've wrestled with previously.

Hey, I'll take my problem-solving-successes wherever I can get them.

Being More Prepared, The Kid Friendly Way

Continuing on my theme of kids summer activity suggestions I give you: The Prepper Family’s Summer Bucket List by the Survival Mom. For those not in the know, the word prepper has replaced the now defunct term survivalist, and at its mention should conjure up images like this one:

But, before you assume that every 'prepper' activity involves an AK-47, check out the suggested bucket list. You'll probably surprised at the mix of fun and practical activities you can do with your kids that go beyond making yet another tsotchke to stick to your fridge (not that there's anything wrong that!).

With the right spirit, anything from sprouting seeds to having a fire drill could be both fun and useful.

Enjoy!

Why Yes, We Can All Get Along

That is: if you define all as robots, pirates, wizards and safety officers.

Designed and executed by Master Builder Aurora; support services offered by Jr. Assistant Builder Ben; Demolition services eagerly provided by Shia.

Lions, Pandas and Sea Monsters - A Weekend of fun with Gavriella

Our niece, Gavriella, is just too young to do summer camp. That means that when her sisters and brother visit for a week later this summer, she'll be stuck at home. To remedy this injustice, we had her (and her wonderful nanny!) down for the weekend. We may have only had a couple of days to work with, but we packed in a whole lot of fun and adventure.

Friday we hit the National Zoo. Highlights included seeing the lions, riding the merry-go-round, and taking in the reptile house. Gavriella displayed wonderful patience as she went from window sill to window sill in the reptile house, and spotted the snake, turtle or other creature lurking within. She had an absolute blast at a misting station where she alternated between running into, and quickly retreating from the spray of water. So precious. The path to the elephant overlook has a series of red painted tracks. Gavriella carefully "hopped" from footprint to footprint. She'd crouch low; hop with all her might; and then quickly step over to the next footprint. What she lacks in long jumping skills, she makes up for in heart. Again, she was incredibly patient, insisting that we slowly plod our way to elephant over look, regardless of how long it took.

We visited the pandas, and found one of them eating bamboo. When asked about what she saw the next day, Gavriella explained that they were noshing on bamboo. She's definitely at the age where everything you say gets parroted back at you. It's both cute and a bit scary.

For Shabbat, Gavriella and I walked to shul. She was my little assistant, helping me fulfill my gabbai responsibilities.

On Sunday, we hit Butler's Orchard for some blueberry picking. I was surprised at how precise she was at picking berries: she was excellent about just picking the ripe ones, and on more than one occasion she picked a green one out of her bucket. She did have me dive for her bucket, when at the end of our time picking she announced that she was going to dump out her berries and start over. After picking berries, we hit the playground and looked at animals. Definitely fun times.

By Sunday afternoon it was already time to think about dropping Gavriella and her nanny back at the airport, but we had time for one last mini-adventure. We hit Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Grove, and from there, we walked to the Navy Merchant-Marine Memorial. While I'm not entirely sure how kosher it is to do so; it's one of my favorite memorials to have kids climb up and play on. I explained to Gavriella before we arrived that were going to see the sea monster, and once we got there, and climbed inside the monument, she explained to me that the sea monster gobbled us up. So precious.

And just like that, it was time to drop off our visitors at the airport and for Shira and I go to back home and crash in a pile of kid-induced exhaustion. Man, did I ever need the 4th of July off to recover.

Well that's handy: 10 fun sidewalk chalk activities

Whoa, it's July! Now that we're really getting into summer, it's almost time for our nieces, nephew and family friends to visit. This means I'm on the lookout for easy, fun and practical kid activity ideas. Makes and Takes definitely gave me some fresh ideas with their recent post: 10 Awesomely Fun Sidewalk Chalk Activities.

I can totally relate to the author's opening comment: I've handed kids sidewalk chalk, watched them doodle, and then wondered, now what?. Well now I've got that answer.

Here's a quick summary of the suggestions. See the post for a complete description.

1. Self portraits: lie down; trace the individual; fill in the portrait
2. Checkers: draw a checker board; play checkers. Bonus points for coming up with improvised pieces.
3. Wet Sidewalk Chalk: wet the concrete; then draw
4. Tic Tac Toe Toss: draw tic tac toe board; play the game by tossing a rock/beanbag into the spot you want to mark
5. Long Jump: measure out a scale of markings; jump!
6. Dots and Lines: draw a grid of dots; take turns drawing a single line between the dots; the person who completes a square gets a point
7. Fun Messages: draw fun messages in unexpected places
8. Target Practice: draw target; toss rock/beanbag; win.
9. Shuffleboard: draw to goals; take turns getting as close to the goal as possible
10. Twister: draw a twister board; play!

Have any goto summer kids activities you'd like to share? I'd love to hear 'em!

Cooking like it's 1799

Last week's cool YouTube discovery: crafting tiny doll accessories. This week's has to be Jas. Townsend and Son's, 18th Century Cooking channel. I'm not one to watch cooking shows, but man, these pull me in. The original one that caught my interest was on making Portable Soup, thanks to this forum thread.

I love everything about these videos. Their production value is top notch, they're an excellent mix of history and practical cooking advice, and they give you a fresh take on what you can create when you have limited ingredients and cookware. Heck, I just love that someone can get dressed up in 1700's era garb and proudly tell me about what it was like to cook, eat and live in those times. Bravo! Talk about finding and sharing your passion.

But who wants to just watch someone else cook? As a nod to these videos, I figured I should at least try one of the recipes. And for that, I chose the simplest and most practical one I could find: making Ship's Biscuit. The recipe couldn't be simpler: combine flour, water and salt and bake till the biscuit is dry and rock solid. It takes just a few minutes to prepare them (and hours to cook):

They aren't much to look at, and they basically have the consistency of an art project. But that's actually the point. It's hard to believe that what I'm holding in my hand would be an essential part of a standard ration issued to sailors and soldiers. If I prepared them right, they should last for months, if not up to a year. My plan is to hold on to said biscuits and see if I can't put them to use in a few months. Yum! Right?

As an aside: this is, of course, the same ingredients for making matzo. No wonder that stuff has no problem lasting for years.

History, practical ideas and sweet looking hats. I'm telling you, this YouTube channel rocks.

Here's a few videos to get you started:

My almost half-a-pound, almost $100, travel computer setup

The ultimate travel computer: it's ultralight; inexpensive enough that you don't worry about it getting bashed around, stolen or used only occasionally; and of course, it's super capable, whether that means using it to hack code, edit photos or watch a movie. In other words, it doesn't exist. Over the years I've tried various approach to travel computing, from simply schlepping my usual work laptop, to using a Netbook to using my Cell Phone plus a bluetooth keyboard. This latter method is what I've been relying on for either overnights or for longer overseas trips, when the only "work" I'll need to do is emergency bug fixes. And while a Galaxy Note 5 + a full sized keyboard + ssh can do amazing things, there's no denying that the screen size is still a limiting factor. Which brings me to my latest attempt at a travel computer: the Asus Chromebit.

The Chromebit is part of the wave of stick computers, which like Netbooks of the day, are all the rage. For around $80, you get a fully functional computer that's the size of an oversized stick of gum. Here's my entire travel setup:

That's the Chormebit itself, the wall adapter, an HDMI extender and a tiny bluetooth keyboard. As you can see, the entire setup weighs about half a pound. Not too shabby for a little over $100.

In terms of action shots, there's really not much to show. Once you plug everything in, you end staring at a Chrome OS computer. And once you log in, you've got a Chrome browser which behaves like any other browser you've ever used. Still, here's the setup in use. One photo is from our kitchen and another in the hotel we stayed at last weekend:

It was actually pretty sweet doing route planning with Google Maps on a large screen TV.

I hadn't used Chrome OS before the Chormebit, so I didn't have much in terms of expectations. But the experimenting I've done so far has lead me to be very impressed. I've plugged this into various TVs and monitors, and it all Just Works. There's no doubt that my Mom's next computer should be a Chromebit. This is just too easy to use.

Let's see how this setup stacks up against the criteria I mentioned above:

Ultralight: Check. I've often debated with Shira where's the most secure place to store a laptop while traveling. The Chromebit gives you a new option: your front pocket.

Cheap: Check. It's hard to argue with a capable computer for $80. And the fact that it's lacking a fragile screen means that you worry far less about damaging the device.

Capable: Maybe. Probably. Hopefully. This one is an open question. Most of what I do these days is web based, from Google Docs, to Blogging to managing photos. And what's not web based can usually be addressed over ssh, which Chrome OS has clients for. In terms of hardware, when everything is finally in sync over Bluetooth, the results are quite impressive. I've had minimal problems pairing a full sized keyboard, real mouse and speaker to the Chromebit. Once theses are connected, it's like your working on a "real" computer. I haven't yet experimented with booting Linux on this device; who knows, maybe it would work. For now though, just having a full sized web browser and ssh seems to cover my bases.

But alas, the setup is perfect. There are definitely a few key 'cons' to relying on a Chromebit as a travel computer:

No HDMI Access, No Computer. My thinking is that most hotel rooms have an HDMI capable TV in them, and failing that, the business center of the hotel should have an HDMI capable monitor. That's a big assumption and one that could go terribly wrong. Even if you have access to HDMI, you need a relatively close outlet, which was almost my undoing at the last hotel we stayed at. The only good news is that the setup is light and compact enough that if you can't put it to use, there's no harm done.

Bluetooth is Bluetooth. By that I mean that regardless of the host computer, pairing Bluetooth devices can be a pain. My original plan was to depend on the Perixx keyboard I use with my phone, but the Perixx wants to pair with a single device at a time. I had visions of me being in some far off land with the Chromebit booted up, but not having a detected keyboard to actually log in. My fix, for now, is to depend on the tiny MiniSuit keyboard, which I happened to have lying around. I keep it exclusively paired with the ChromeBit and it provides reliable keyboard and mouse capability. I can then use it to pair my larger keyboard or another mouse if need be.

I'm definitely curious to see how this setup performs on the road. When I have additional field data, I'll be sure to share.

Bike Friendly Park Improvements

It appears as though they've finished renovating the park near where the W&OD crosses Columbia Pike. I've got to say, I'm impressed. First off, they included a bike work-stand (equipped with tools) which is certainly handy:

And even more impressive, they included a short section of winding trail that's off the W&OD itself:

The trail is a practice area for kids and other bike newbies to get used to practice riding the trail. It's been a while since we've had to teach a child how to ride a bike, but man, this would have been helpful.

Now, if we could only train the "experienced" bikers to signal, that would be really something.

Seriously, well done Arlington County.

Adventures In Non-Roughing-It Bike Touring | Exploring Maryland's Eastern Shore

After nearly 18 years of marriage it's pretty obvious how each of us likes to mark our wedding anniversary: Me, on some ridiculous outdoor adventure, covered in muck and bug bites, and Shira, in a 5 star resort, soaking up luxury. We strive, therefore, to compromise. This year, we actually found a pretty solid balance. I got my outdoor adventure in the form of some bike touring and Shira avoided roughing it, by arranging for our base of operations to be a delightful bed and breakfast. The weather even cooperated, and the result was a fantastic weekend.

On Friday, we made our way to the quaint town of Oxford, MD. From there we jumped on the Oxford-Belleuvue Ferry and started our 7 miles or so ride to St. Michaels, MD. The ferry was an awesome way to start our weekend: it's history (the "nation's oldest privately operated ferry service") and romance (ahhh, to be on the open sea! minus the waves of the open sea) all in one.

The ride to St. Michaels is part of a well known network of bike "trails" in the area. Trails earns quotes in the previous sentence because really the bike trails are simply roads with wide shoulders and/or the occasional watch for bikers signs. Most of the roads have minimal traffic on them, and the roads that did have heavy traffic had wide shoulders, so the claim of being a bike friendly area truly does hold.

Of course we showed up in St. Michaels two minutes before the Maritime Museum closed for the day. So classic. From there we explored the town and had a delicious meal at Gina's Cafe. Yum! We biked the 7 miles back to Oxford without incident.

The next day we woke up and rode an improvised 24 mile loop throughout the area (based on this route). While we were technically near water nearly the entire trek, we mainly saw farmland and open fields. It was most excellent. For some reason, the route suggested traversing the loop clockwise. We went counter-clockwise (wanting to finish with the section of trail we'd done the night before), and this turned out to be a very smart move. The only real hills we encountered were down-hills, and had we gone the recommended route, we'd have had to slog up them (OK, I'm being dramatic - this was nearly an all flat route). Still, I'd suggest the counter-clockwise approach.

We did lunch in Easton, which is a bustling metropolis when compared to Oxford. And from there we continued on until we came across the MEBA Merchant Marine Memorial. Naturally, we had to stop and explore. I'm sorry, but passing up giant anchors is just not an option for me. From there, we finished our loop and took the ferry back to Oxford.

We've only done one other extended bike ride, so we're still very much newbies at the idea of taking a whole day to just ride. We couldn't have selected a better route to build our skills with. Easy terrain, light traffic and beautiful scenery meant that this adventure just flew by and had me definitely wanting more.

On Saturday evening we enjoyed strolling through Oxford, dipping our feet in the bay and of course getting ice cream. It was the perfect blend of outdoorsy and romance.

On our way back to DC we stopped in Annapolis and did a bit of walking around. As if to underscore how little biking we had actually done, we happened to notice a finishing area for a race and a biker came through. As we took in the scene, we realized we had just witnessed Franco Micolini complete Race Across America. In 11 days, 20 hours he had covered 3069.25 miles, traveling from Oceanside, CA to the point where we had watched him roll through. Holy smokes! Now that's biking!