Yummy couscous

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I tend to get a little paranoid as I get closer to leaving for the Adirondacks. Every ache and pain is overanalyzed as I imagine its consequence if I were half way up a peak and five hours from camp. I’ve got a pain in the left hip right now that has me concerned and which caused me to take the night off. I could have walked or ridden the bike, but what would that get me? Once in a while, I can use common sense about exercise.

I spent the early evening in one of my favorite pursuits instead, which is preparing for the trip. I pull out all the necessary gear and check that it is in working order and then go over every item I intend to put in my pack to convince myself that I will use it. I hate to carry any extra weight…forget about the extra exercise value – I don’t put myself through it in the back country. I typically end up with about 45 pounds on my back when I go solo and a little less when traveling with someone (some items can be shared, so why bring two?), and that’s more than enough. I train with 60 pounds, so it’s like taking the lead doughnut off of the bat when you stride to the plate…it feels so much lighter.

I also go over the food. Since I’m taking Jimmy and Reza, I actually try to accommodate their tastes…to a degree. They’re actually pretty simple…willing to eat almost anything and that makes them my kind of people. Jimmy was pushing for couscous, something I’ve had before, but found pretty tasteless. Couscous is a typical Berber food, a culture found in Northern Africa, and is made from rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat ant then coating them with finely ground wheat flour…according to Wikipedia anyway. All I know is it’s light and cooks by simply adding boiling water and letting set for five minutes, which is perfect for backpacking when fuel for stoves is used sparingly on a week-long trip (this is the instant way. Normally, couscous would be steamed, leaving it fluffy, but taking considerably more time and fuel – impractical in the field).

I made a batch using the spice packet that came with it and had it done in about 7 minutes. It tasted pretty good, was quite filling and would be easy to combine with dehydrated vegetables, soups, beef stick or cheese…all things I typically pack. By weight, it will be lighter than rice and take up less space than angel hair pasta with more calories – all good things. Jimmy may have done something right.

I finished the evening by going to ‘Date Night’ with Holly. The movie featured Tina Fey and Steve Carell, two of my favorite comedians, but I thought the comedy was only fair and that it fell flat on its face, as a whole. I was still hungry when we got home and warmed up my rice and beans concoction, but chased it with a piece of ice cream cake. Oh well. Tomorrow may be a run, depending on the hip.