It’s raining today. Raining! Not snowing, well, sort of sleeting, but I’m calling it rain and that means spring!! So, as we near the end of winter, I figured I’d share a few of our favorite moments where we really made the best of this crazy cold, long, snoooooowy winter we’ve had. I took the photo above on the coldest day of the year (it was somewhere around -40 F), and I was fairly skeptical about why I was living here, rather than, say, Hawaii. So, here are some of the reasons why we love Minnesota. Just so we remember. Because sometimes it’s easy to forget. 
We went tubing for the first time this year and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this for the last 22 years that I’ve more or less lived here! So. Much. Fun. Like can’t wipe that ridiculously silly grin off your face kinda fun. Kinda like this other activity we did this winter. But, as you are laugh-screaming while your face is sprayed with snow as you speed down the slope, you can’t help but have an inkling that, at any moment, this could be a serious disaster if you were to let go. But no matter, you keep holding on for dear life, tethered to your friends tubes, and as you reach the bottom, you all collapse in a pile of laughter and relief that you are still alive. And alive is how you feel. And, as soon as you can stand again, you find yourself running back to do it all again. Continue Reading →
Underwater
We spent our last afternoon on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) enjoying some much needed beach time after a long three weeks of work. And it was the most perfect day, meaning the water and air were both warm enough that we could play in the ocean much longer than usual. So we got out the GoPro and decided to have some fun. 
I kinda love using our GoPro camera these days because it doesn’t have a view finder (and it’s waterproof). The lens is wide angle enough that if you point it in the general direction of what you want to photograph or film, it will get it. So it brings back a lot of that mystery and excitement film cameras used to have for me, in that you never quite knew what you were gonna get until you picked up the prints. And then flipping through them was full of anticipation as you looked to see if you got one of those perfectly composed and lit shots. The one you saw in your head, but didn’t know if the camera captured quite as well. 
Continue Reading →
Finished with production! (mostly)
We spent three weeks in February shooting the rest of the documentary we are working on, Eating Up Easter.* While it started out as a film about food and resources on Easter Island and the importation of food, it has shifted and drifted quite a bit since that starting point. Now, we are following three main characters and a few secondary characters, highlighting their daily life on this most remote little island, and the many ways in which they are working to move their community forward in a positive, loving way that nurtures their island’s unique and invaluable resources. There is much to learn from their stories and we are thrilled to get to share them.
*Eating Up Easter is getting an overhaul and will soon have a new website. In the meantime, we have a facebook page, where some of you may have been following our progress during the shoot. Like our page, Eating Up Easter, to stay informed about the everyday happenings of the film. 
When we first arrived on the island, it was the tail end of the Tapati Rapa Nui Festival, a two week long celebration of the culture of Rapa Nui, in which sporting competitions, singing and dancing fill the days and nights and culminate in a day long parade in which locals and tourists alike are painted with soil-based paint and dressed in traditional clothing (which isn’t much). Above, Mark, one of our cameramen, shoots our main character Mama Piru as she leads a group of women pulling a float. 
The only beach on the island, Anakena, was overloaded with tourists in February, the busiest month for tourism on the island. 
Continue Reading →
Easter Island: The North Coast
We finished filming the first part of Eating up Easter with our cinematographer this week! Although it was a huge challenge to work in an environment where everything happens day by day and minute by minute (i.e. appointments cannot be made with anyone, or certainly will never be kept if they are), we were able to film a ton of great content and capture lots of beautiful b-roll. What an awesome team we have! We’ll share more on that later, but for now we want to show you this beautiful hike we took just before filming began. I can’t believe I got this many photos to load here.
So, here we go…..beware, this might get a little archaeology-sciencey/tour-guidey, but I just can’t help myself. I want to teach you all about this fantastic little place.
Last week we hiked the north coast of Easter Island. While there are roads around the south coast and through the middle of the island, the north coast consists of steep slopes ending in rocky cliffs and is only accessible by foot or on horseback. The coast forms the northern base of the island’s largest and youngest volcano, Terevaka. We got a ride to the end of the road, just a few miles north of town to begin our hike, which ended at Anakena, the only sandy beach, where the road picks up again and heads back to town. With the rocky terrain, a nice stop for lunch and our zigzagging up and down the hillsides looking for interesting remnants of past life, it took us almost 7 hours. A good, full, beautiful, and refreshingly exhausting day.
**Please Note: If you are a tourist considering doing this hike, make sure to hire a guide or go with a local person on the island. There have been cases recently in which tourists have become lost on the hike and had to be rescued during the night.
Our Garden, Year 1: a recap
This summer we planted our very first garden. And we grew things. And we ate them. It was so exciting.
Here’s a little re-cap of how it went, what we learned and what we might do differently next year. We by no means are master gardeners. We (or really I) can keep houseplants and herbs alive inside like nobody’s business, but when it comes to outdoor gardening, other than begrudgingly helping stick seeds in the ground in my parents’ garden growing up, I had zero experience. Ta’u had learned some gardening skills back in Binghamton helping out with a local church garden, but basically this was our first time doing it all ourselves and with, well at least an 80% interest in it, if not for the love of planting, at least for the potential outcome of free (mostly), all natural, locally grown food. I say 80% interest because we could have invested a lot more time in the planning, caring for and harvesting, but the lesson learned is, even with only 80% input of time/energy, you still get a lot of great fresh food. Sure it could have been better…we could have maximized space more or replanted a few times with early and then late season crops, but in general, it was a great first try. 
We pulled out our Organic Gardening Encyclopedia, given to Ta’u when he was in his Binghamton gardening phase, and looked around for ideas of what to plant, when, and how to space it. We basically picked the things we buy the most at the farmer’s market, and the things we thought would be easy-ish to grow. We decided to try more of a 1’x1′ square layout versus rows of plants to maximize the 10’x4′ plot we had. And we tried to plan out where to put things based on which side of the garden would get the most sun…..We planted the largest plants (tomatoes) on the eastern side, and plants that would grow up the trellis (cucumbers) along the north side so that they wouldn’t block the stronger southwestern sun from the rest of the garden [File that under things you don’t have to think so much about when you live on an island near the equator (ahem, Hawaii)]. Most of the seeds themselves were gifted to us by our landlord, a master gardener for real, so we spent 0 dollars on seeds. Yippee. Although, I have since learned not all seeds are created equal, and they actually expire, and there are things such as organic seeds, and sometimes you can save seeds from your plants for the next year….so as I said, still lots to learn. But for this year, free seeds got us pretty darn far. Continue Reading →
Weekend Getaway: Gunflint Trail
Sorry we haven’t posted in a while…..we needed a little break to focus on the present, but we’re back today with some fun inspiration for the weekend.
Sometimes we all need a little time away from our routines to restart our creativity, nourish our relationships, or find ourselves again. While we love to travel to meet new people and discover new ways of living, we also travel simply to regroup, get new perspective, have some adventure and fun, and come back refreshed and ready to attack the daily grind with new energy.
We’ve found we don’t have to travel far to get this little boost, just a day trip or weekend getaway often does the trick. So we are going to start a little series of inspiration for weekend getaways….including places we’ve been and short itineraries of what to do in each place (I love planning, Ta’u’s more of a wing-it guy, so go with what works for you). Often we travel within driving distance of wherever we are living at the time, but if the means are available, you could fly to these places too. Whether you travel to these particular places or it just inspires you to seek adventure near your own home base, we hope you enjoy following along. Continue Reading →
Leap of Faith
What do you fear most and when did you realize you had that fear? For me, one of my biggest fears (much more than flying, although perhaps the two are related) is heights. I can remember the exact moment when I realized I had a crippling fear of heights. And not just any fear….a lay down on the ground paralyzed kind of fear. Not kidding. If it hadn’t been for my amazing mom, my remains would probably still be laid out on one of the platforms below the bell at the top of the Torre del Mangia in Sienna, Italy. Have you ever climbed that tower?
photo from wherefivevalleysmeet.blogspot.com
- I was 9, and on vacation in Italy with my family. We were lazily driving from Naples to Torino (south to north) exploring many of the beautiful little towns along the way. We stopped in Sienna to climb the famous Terre del Mangia, the bell tower that rises 289 feet, the third tallest tower in Italy. It’s great for the first 470 steps or so because you are climbing stairs inside the tower. You feel all nice and safe and cozy…you’re just getting some exercise. Then all of a sudden you come out on top and then there’s a ladder going up through the middle of a platform above you. You climb the ladder, all, “sure I can do this” and then you realize you are above any last fragment of wall surrounding the top of the tower. And then there’s another ladder to another platform to reach the bell itself, which is suspended above the tower with only a rope railing separating you from imminent death. Bring on the terror. I made it up the ladder to that first platform and said oh heck no and laid down, completely content to never move again. Clearly I did make it back down, but only because my mom is incredible. She talked me through it and then backed me down the ladder practically in her arms. I often forget it these days now that I’m supposed to be all adult myself, but sometimes I am reminded how powerful my mother’s protection still is.
This summer I visited my mom who now lives in the mountains in North Carolina. Feeling in a mood for taking risks, we decided to go ziplining. If you are ever in the Asheville area, there are a ton of options, but we really enjoyed Navitat because throughout the tour they taught us about the flora and fauna of the canopy and forest floor. 
We learned about the Hemlock that are dying on the East Coast from the Woolly Adelgid insect infestation and what they are trying to do to save them. 
There were 10 ziplines, the longest of which was over 1000 feet, 200 feet above the ground, and took nearly 30 seconds to cross. Also, there a few rope bridges and two places where we rappelled to the ground to look at the plant life and take a break.
So seeing as how I have a fear of heights I wasn’t sure how I would do with the ziplines. I’ve been on a mission lately to challenge that fear and I’ve been doing pretty well….making it up a rickety old fire tower in northern Minnesota was one of my recent accomplishments. 
The first few ziplines at Navitat were easy. The platforms weren’t too high, I felt pretty safe with all the gear I had keeping me tethered to the lines and the rides weren’t too fast or long. 
But then we got to the biggest one…you couldn’t even see the end of it, just a rope going off into the great beyond….you crossed over a whole valley so when you were in the middle, the view was incredible out over the mountains, but it was high. I finally got that crippling feeling of fear and I asked my mom if she would go first, which of course as my protector (even at 30 years old!) she did. Only later did I realize she was dealing with intense fear of her own (which made me feel guilty and terrible for only considering my own fear in the moment), but she set that aside to make it easier for her child….I will forever be grateful that I have such a strong and caring mother. Thank you mom! 
In the moment when I finally had to take that leap, I remembered what Ta’u had told me before I went. We have been taking lots of metaphorical “leaps” into the unknown lately and so he reminded me of that and told me to trust that life (or the line in this case) would always catch me…all I needed to do was trust and take that leap of faith. And so I leapt.
Here’s a little video capturing some of our zips (what do you call a ride on a zipline?). The funniest thing about the video is that it makes the zipping seem so smooth and easy….it totally didn’t capture the height or much of our fear…we look pretty chill. Although if you look closely at our faces I think you can see some of our apprehension.
In the end we both made it and had a blast and are already talking about when we’ll do it again. Navitat told us they were building a new course with lines 2000 feet long and 400 feet high and you go much much faster…..a new challenge? We’ll see.
I always thought I’d have to go to Costa Rica to try ziplining, but apparently it’s getting very popular right here in the U.S. Next time we want to go in the fall….the leaf colors in North Carolina are supposed to be breathtaking. Have you ever gone ziplining? What have you done to challenge your fears lately?
Eating Gourmet in the BWCA
We know car campers out there are experts at this, but as backpacking and canoe-portaging campers ourselves, we are usually concerned with weight and ease of cooking. So, gourmet eating in the boundary waters canoe area was a bit of a new concept for us. But the friends we went with on this trip, who are BWCA pros, taught us how to dine in style on our four night trip. And it was so good we want to pass on the tips. Everyone should eat this well up there! It doesn’t work so well for longer trips or with a different size of group because fancy food often equals more weight to carry and food that spoils after a few days. But with good planning, freezing perishable foods before leaving (but not your veggies!!), and picking veggies and foods that won’t spoil quickly, you don’t have to leave your gourmet food preferences behind for your four to five day trip. Just remember everything has to be repacked into plastic containers or bags (no glass or metal cans allowed) and everything you bring in has to come back out, even food waste, so plan accordingly.
We found four people worked perfectly for calculating proportions of food, for instance, a pack of rice noodles was the perfect amount for four people, or a package of dried refried beans. We packed this trip so well we only brought back a small handful of uneaten food, mostly lunch stuff that we had planned on eating the last day, but we made it out without needing it and snagged the best ever burgers and milkshakes* just down the gunflint trail on our way out.
*you could eat absolutely anything after being on trail and it will taste the “best ever” especially if it includes things you didn’t get on trail like meat and ice cream.
Here’s a quick recap of what we learned about eating on trail in the BWCA:
Everything will taste amazing
No explanation needed. It’s true.
Make food as quickly as possible
Get as many people to help cook as you can to make the process go fast or make sure to start early so you aren’t hangry cooking….that kind of energy doesn’t bode well for anything and that’s when leatherman’s start mysteriously jumping up and cutting you or the stove’s gas starts leaking all over or, while draining the pasta, it suddenly ends up on the forest floor…..
Which brings us to our next rule….
Dirt don’t hurt
If it falls on the ground, pick it up and eat it. If your hands are black from cooking over fire or setting up camp, you can rinse them in the lake, but you are still going to hold your food and eat it. If a whole pot of tortellini suddenly and inexplicably jumps out of the pot and ends up on the forest floor, pick off as many pine needles as you can, put them back in the pot, add water, scoop out what floats, drain again (make sure it stays in the pot this time!) and add pesto…..no one will be the wiser to the extra pieces you couldn’t get out. And now you can introduce a new gourmet twist to dinner: pine pesto tortellini (and no, not pine nuts).
Eat often and eat well
It’s better to go to bed stuffed than to have to pack out those final bites you didn’t want, so eat up. And if you find your happy self suddenly sullen and quiet, or feel like it’s just too much to pick up that pack again, portage that canoe, paddle this lake, or set up your tent, it’s probably time for a snack. Hunger can sneak up on you like that so don’t let it trick you into thinking life is hard. It’s really not – you are just hungry. Everything feels possible again when you eat. And that’s why eating well makes camping life even better.
So how can you make an incredible dinner on trail? Here are a few recipes we’d like to share from our first dinner. It’s definitely a meal worth repeating.
For the main course we enjoyed steak fajitas (see full recipe at end of post).
First, you must start a fire (see our guide for the easiest way to get a fire started thanks to Ta’u’s current survivalist obsession). Grill the steak over the fire until it is medium well.
Meanwhile, on a camp stove, you can be heating water for the rice and beans. We just poured the water over the beans and then let them sit in a warming bag. These “warming bags” are amazing! Our friend’s Dad made them out of padded cloth. They work great for cooking rice or oatmeal too…all you have to do is cook the food part of the way, then remove the pot and put it in the warmer and the food keeps cooking while you use the fire for other things. Or, you can keep your drinks warm in it while you go for a swim so you can grab them as soon as you get out – essential for those ice cold lakes.
While all the cooking is going on, assign someone to cut the peppers and onions into thin strips.Then. grill the veggies in frying pan on a camp stove or over the fire. Cut your avocado into thin strips, heat the tortillas over the fire and finally, cut up the meat. Then, serve it up! You can put the rice and beans into the fajitas or eat them on the side.
And there you have an amazing gourmet camping meal that will taste like no other on trail!
We were both celebrating our wedding anniversaries during the trip so we decided to go big the first night and have a special camp dessert : Nutella, Banana, Crescent Roll Pockets.
Cheers!
To make them, we brought a tube of crescent roll dough, two bananas and some nutella. We spread Nutella on each triangle of dough added three to four banana slices and then folded them up into a messy pocket or calzone shape. 
Cook four at a time in a pot lined with foil and topped with oil. Cover the pot with an upside-down lid and then more tin foil to keep the heat in. Put it just above the fire by propping it up on three rocks (a technique also detailed in this post) but try to leave a little distance between the fire and the pot to prevent the bottoms of the pockets from burning. Build a small fire on top of the lid (this allows it to bake). Bake for 10 – 12 minutes.
It sounds a little complicated but no matter how it turns out it will taste oh so amazing. Best anniversary dessert ever*
*again, everything on trail tastes amazing
If you enjoy a nightcap, we found that the most amazing* drink on trail is Bailey’s hot chocolate. Especially after an evening swim. If you have them ready and waiting in a warming bag, there’s just about nothing better than getting out of the freezing cold lake, getting dressed up warm in your dry clothes, and sipping a bailey’s hot chocolate with a view like this:
**We love our GSI camping cook kit because the cups are insulated and have built-in measurements in the inside of the cups.
Boom. Day one gourmet camping in the BWCA.
Steak Fajitas
Serves 4 on trail
Ingredients:
- 1 lb Flank steak pre-marinated and frozen before setting out
- 1 vidalia onion
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 Avocado
- Package of 8 small flour tortillas
- 1 c. rice
- 1 box of dried refried beans (we used this brand and the whole pack was perfect for four people).
- Salsa in a plastic container
Marinade
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- juice from ½ lemon and sliced rounds from the other half of the lemon
- 1 Tbsp or so Worcestershire sauce
- ½ Tbsp or so Sriracha or Tabasco (more or less to taste)
- pinch salt
- pinch pepper
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
For the marinade: Mix well, pour over steak in plastic ziplock and squish around to coat steak. Let sit in fridge overnight, turning now and then. Freeze overnight. Remove from freezer (or cooler with dry ice) just before you head out on trail. It will thaw as you hike and be ready to cook when you get to camp.
For the Fajitas: Start a fire. Grill the steak over the fire until medium well.
Meanwhile, on a camp stove, heat a large pot of water with the lid on until boiling. Pour water over beans and let sit in a warming bag (described above). Measure out 2 c. of water from the remaining heated water and add rice to the 2 c. of water. Simmer over heat for about 10 min. then remove from heat and put in a warming bag to finish cooking, or continue cooking for a full 20 min. on the stove if you don’t have a warming bag.
Meanwhile, cut veggies into thin strips. Put 1 Tbps oil in a frying pan and grill veggies in frying pan on stove or over fire until slightly softened and browned.
Cut avocado into thin strips. Heat tortillas over the fire and cut up the meat when everything else is ready. You can put the rice and beans into the fajitas or eat on the side. Let each person pile up the ingredients they want onto their tortillas.
Nutella, Banana, Crescent Roll Pockets:
makes 8 pockets (2/person)
Ingredients:
- 1 crescent roll tube (this needs to stay cool but can’t be frozen, so it’s best to eat it on the first night on trail)
- 2 bananas
- ½ c. Nutella (left overs can go into oatmeal for breakfast)
- 1 -2 tsp oil
- tin foil
Cover the bottom of a pan with tin foil, and spread 1 tbsp oil around on the foil. Slice the bananas. Unwrap the crescent roll dough and in the middle of each triangle spread Nutella and place three to four banana slices. Seal up the dough around the filling as best you can, making a pocket like object or a sort of calzone shape.
Put four of the pockets in the pot on top of the oil and tin foil. Cover the pot with the lid upside-down so it forms a slight bowl on top of the pot (camping stove lids usually are also frying pans when used upside-down). Wrap foil over the lid to keep the heat in. Put the pot just above the fire by propping it up on three rocks, but try to leave a little distance between the fire and the pot to prevent the bottoms from burning. Then, in the frying pan lid, build a small fire (this allows it to bake by getting heat from both top and bottom of the pan). Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. Bottoms may be slightly charred but they will still taste most excellent.
Bailey’s Hot Chocolate, Trail Style
Makes 1 individual serving
Ingredients:
- 1 packet of Swiss Miss hot chocolate
- 1 shot of bailey’s (about 0.8oz) (some friends of ours recently gave us mini 100 ml (3.30z) bailey’s bottles and 1 bottle divided four ways was the perfect amount for 8oz. of hot chocolate)
- 8 oz.** hot water (don’t be tempted to put more in, the hot chocolate packs are made for 8 oz. and will be too watered down if you put in too much water. Or you could always use 2 packs….now that sounds amazing).
Heat water on stove or fire to boiling or near boiling. Pour 1 hot chocolate packet into mug. Add 8oz. water into mug on top of cocoa mix. Add 1 shot of Bailey’s. Stir well. Enjoy!
Survivalist: Boundary Waters Fire Starter
Heading into the wilderness, or heading to an isolated island, it seems that both help to reset our perspective on the world :
Life is simple if you get back to basics.
During out last Boundary Waters trip, this sentiment really set in for both of us. Every day was focused on 4 simple things: shelter, water, food, friends. Tim Ferris writes in his most recent book, Four Hour Chef, about the Survivalist’s Rule of Threes; assume you can survive without the following things for the given amount of time.
Shelter — Three Hours
Water — Three Days
Food — Three Weeks
We were far from having to rely on the Rule of Threes during our BWCA trip, but I did focus on honing my skills in surviving in the wilderness. Due to my recent man-crush on Bear Grylls, I decided to buy his fire starter and test it out on trail. Starting a fire without matches can be tricky. I prepared for success by making tinder out of cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly (or Vaseline) to catch the spark. These babies last for a good 30 seconds to a full minute, which is enough time to catch small twigs or branches on fire. To prep these cotton balls, I put a pinch of Vaseline in a ziplock bag along with 4 cotton balls. Then, I massaged the Vaseline into the cotton balls. Presto! Great tinder with no mess.
To keep these cotton balls dry I kept them in an old film canister. I could fit at least 4 in there. 
The BG fire starter also has a hidden, waterproof compartment that can keep at least 2 of the cotton balls dry.
I was incredibly excited to try it out the BG Fire Starter when we first got on trail. There are two parts to this tool, a metal striker a ferrocerium rod that emits the spark. It took a few tries, but I finally figure out two key points to sparking a good fire.
1. Keep the striker in place while moving the ferrocerium rod. This makes it easier to control where the sparks will land. If you move the striker instead of the rod, your sparks will fly everywhere.
2. Scrape with the sharp area of the striker. Imagine shaving a pencil with a sharp knife, except you are moving the pencil instead of the knife. I was worried about breaking the rod or scraping off too much, but no matter how hard I tried, the tool stayed intact.
Adding to this, our friend Adam showed us a technique used in Kenya to build small fires for heating a kettle of water.
The basic principle is to configure 3 rocks under your pot so that the fire in the middle can be fed through the 3 different holes. Make sure to place this fire in a well ventilated area, this way the 3 holes will fuel oxygen to the fire. You can then feed wood in through these holes to feed the fire underneath.
The embers of the burning sticks will gather just below the kettle.
In the end, you will generate sustained heat for a long time, instead of having a roaring fire for just a few minutes.
Paddle Boarding in Minnesota
I recently surprised Ellie with a stand-up paddle board (SUP) for her birthday. Besides it being something that we have both talked about getting, I realized it was a great way to bring an essence of Hawaii to the 10,000+ lakes here in Minnesota.
We also took a SUP tour when we were in the Turks and Caicos this summer. It’s a great way to see the water from a new angle.
We decided to get a board that would be good on lakes as well as the ocean, so that we could potentially bring it with us on trips to Hawaii or Easter Island. To my surprise, there are a bunch of different styles of boards (including ones that pack easy and inflate). They run between a big range of prices, sizes, and weights. I found the REI website to be the most useful in figuring out what style would work well for us. Another hurdle I had to overcome was how to transport the 10′ 6″ beast using our little Saturn without having to install roof racks. That’s when I remembered that beach-bumbs on the North Shore of Oahu would have some sort of simple contraption with tie-downs to secure their long boards onto their rusted out hondas. After a little digging in the Amazon of products online, I found Wrap Rax from Block Surf. It’s basically 2 sets of tie-downs with solid padding that holds your board in place on top of your car.
It only takes me about 5 minutes to get the straps tied down and the board on the car. I love the flexibility of this kit. And (!) the kit says it can hold up to two long boards. I guess I’ll just have to get another board for myself 🙂
The sport of Stand Up Paddling (or SUP) has become pretty big throughout the country. I always seem to run across interesting news articles about it, like this one: A musician recently paddled from Cuba to Florida. He stood up nearly the entire 28 hour journey! The feat was done to bring awareness to international relations between the US and Cuba. Maybe next year both presidents should settle their differences over a paddle on the Mississippi.
Here’s the article:
Musician Paddles from Cuba to Key West