Mad About Udon

This past weekend I travelled to New England to hike the Presidential Range of mountains in New Hampshire. This was my first trip into the States this hiking season. Usually I go to Adirondacks in New York but something drew me to New Hampshire. I went with 8 other hikers from the Alpine Club of Canada. The drive through Vermont was lovely, tarnished only by the uproarious admission by my car-mates that they had (all!) smuggled fruits and veggies across the border. What. The. Hell.

Hiking burns about 500 cal/hour, and for long stretches on the trail, it’s important to pack lots of food and pack it well. I made a dozen sandwiches consising of baked tofu (marinated in soy & ginger salad dressing), soy cheese, and sweet thai chilli sauce on a bun.

I also packed 12 granola bars (seen above) and 8 apples (which I legitimately purchased in Vermont, unlike my obnoxiously felonious comrades).

Aside from tofu sandwiches, apples, and granola bars, there is a lot that the active vegan can pack for a hike. Unless you’re trying to create a calorie deficit (which is often the case), you may need to pack up to 5,000 calories/day. Packable fruits and veggies include oranges, carrots, peppers, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes. For long hikes, you can dehydrate certain fruits like pineapple, bananas, mangoes, apples, strawberries, and kiwis.

Additionally, Luna Bars, some Clif Bars, and random brands of granola bars are vegan, so check the labels. I find it’s easier to pack a dozen identical sandwiches because it saves money and stress, and packs well, but other ideas include: peanut butter or hummus on a pita, crackers, dry cereal, trail mix (although I personally think that hikers eat waaaay to much trail mix), raisins, wild rice, vegan cookies, fruit leather, or just any type of homemade sandwich using your favourite vegan protein.

Our group dinner the first night was fortuitously vegan—pasta and sauce. I co-ordinated dinner the second night, which was 6 different kinds of store bought curry (all vegetarian, two vegan), brown basmati rice, and naan. Unfortch I forgot to take a pic but here is a salad that another hiker made that night for the group:

The hikes were great—the storms lifted just in time on Saturday morning for us to scale Mt Madison and Mt Adams, and hike along the rocky ridge of Mt Jefferson. On Sunday we hiked a small mountain just to stretch our muscles back into shape. It was very challenging overall (I’m still sore!) but good practice for my Rockies trip in August. The views were incredible.

Happy Hiking!

-Maureen

I have not been feeling inspired in the kitchen lately, and am once again living off of salads and PBB’s so I have not had anything new or interesting to photograph for the blog. I do have some exciting news for any of our readers who are in to awesome music! Sigur Rós are releasing their fifth album “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” on June 23! This is their first album recorded outside of Iceland and Jónsi apparently sings in English on one track too. You can download “Gobbledigook”, the first track of the album, and watch the music video here. The video is amazing and I definitely cannot stop listening to this track!

- Aly

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24781094/

I suppose it’s a good thing… maybe this will build a bridge of peace and understanding between the meat-eating legions of middle-America housewives and hip urban vegans (okay, a little too much stereotyping, I know). But it feels a little like “Superstar attempts temporary lifestyle change to alleviate health and environmental crises and absolve ethical dilemma of animal cruelty; reverts back 3 weeks later.”

Veganism is not a fad! But, I suppose any exposure is better than nothing… I don’t have a TV so I can’t keep up with this series, but I hope she’s not pushing undercooked tofu around on a plate with her nose scrunched up and then denouncing the whole lifestyle. We’ll see.

-Maureen

From the bowels of the University of Ottawa, with its crappy, overpriced, unhealthy, and barely edible excuses for food services, emerged two environmentally conscious vegans and their philosophy on life, love, and most importantly GOOD FOOD! Aly and Maureen are undergraduate science students who ironically met in a plant-science laboratory (they were both late on the first day and needed a lab partner). They want to share their tasty and colourful creations with the world. No vegetable shall be left un-sauteéd, no spice left untempered, no grain left unsampled, no omnivore left untempted. And they promise that they won’t always blog in the third person.

Until next thyme,

-Maureen and Aly