The Return Of The Son Of Packing The RV For The Climb

OK. A Costco run and another to Fred Meyers, a restless night spent revisiting everything I could potentially forget, and a dog who still thinks we plan to leave her and take off somewhere followed by making a broccoli salad and 2 different kinds of roasted nuts, rigging some curtains for the rear sleeping area in the RV, more packing and trying to find all of the potential rattlers and squeakers in the rig and now I'm tired.

Next trip I'll know how much time to devote to this. I still need to install the hitch mount bike rack and track down some firewood. I fired up the fridge and freezer and will get them loaded early Thursday.

We started with a 3.4 mile walk at a pedestrian 4.3 miles per hour. It was like every dog alive was barking at Athena, and she didn't take kindly to their attention. She can be a tiny bit belligerent when barked at, but then who isn't?

Any RVers reading this please tell me what I'm forgetting unless it's some RV right of passage to screw up your first trip. I'd hate to miss a good hazing.

Nutrition:

You may have noticed that all of the recipes call for Organic ingredients. So lets talk about organics.

Most of us forty and older  grew up on fruits and vegetables that were grown locally and reasonably organic. In the 1970s we were barraged by advertisements extolling “Better Life Through Chemicals.”  Since then many changes and few advances have occurred in food production. On the scary side of these changes are genetically modified organisms (GMO’s).

GMO’s are seeds that Monsanto and some other companies have produced that have things like insecticides and herbicides modified into them. The idea, according to them, is that the crops will need less chemicals, but that doesn’t turn out to be the case. What is true is that these plants have insecticides and herbicides within them. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I have had enough chemicals in my food.

Organic foods are  those that are produced using environmentally sound methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives. 

Oddly, the other type of agriculture is called conventional. The bottom line is that organic is better. I hear people tell me that “reports” say that up to 30% of foods labeled as organic are not, but even if that’s true, I’ll take  70% less chemicals.

The other thing most people believe is that organics are drastically more expensive than the other, and while there is a price difference it is not large and the food tastes better anyway.  The more we choose organics, the more quantity and variety there will be and the added demand should bring prices down and attract more farmers to embrace the organic way.

Recipe:

Roasted Nuts Your Way

1 Container (I use a Costco mixed nut container) full of raw nuts of your choosing. My mix is almonds, walnuts, and pecans. If that's too boring add some hazelnuts or macadamia nuts if you wish.

Pour nuts into a bowl large enough to stir the nuts in and add 2 tablespoons of water. Stir until all the nuts are coated.

Add salt or spicy dry rub mix or salt and pepper, or whatever you want. I make one with salt and pepper like this. I take 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt and put it in my spice (coffee) grinder and run the machine for 10-15 seconds. This makes the salt super fine and increases the volume. I add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt to the nuts and then cover the top with ground black pepper in a light layer.

Toss the nuts to cover well and pour onto a cookie sheet. Put in 375 degree oven for 5 minutes. Stir and replace for 5 more minutes. Allow to cool and add to container and enjoy!

More soon......