After glamping with Fancy Frite Janine a few years ago, I knew my Calgarian friends and I had to up the ante, and make an entire camping weekend all about competing for fanciest food in the woods. I took on the breakfasts for Saturday and Sunday, our friend Oliver was in charge of Saturday’s lunch, and Kurtis and Craig had Saturday’s dinner covered.
We headed up northwest of Calgary, near Wabamun lake, to the 40 acre plot of land my friends Kurtis and Craig recently purchased. They’ve since parked an ample-sized camping trailer, and installed solar panels to provide electricity. Overall, an exceptionally comfortable way to camp.
On Saturday we realized some of the ingredients needed to make dinner had been forgotten back in Calgary, so we took the opportunity to drive into the summer community of Seba Beach, located right on the lake. There, we perused the weekend farmer’s market and picked up some stewing vegetables, and spent some time wandering around the lake, before heading back to get down to business in the kitchen(ette).
Wabamun Lake, Alberta
Saturday Breakfast
Cinnamon sourdough french toast cooked in a dutch oven over moderate coals for about an hour
Finest chine de papier upon which the french toast was served with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and sliced pluot (part plum, part apricot, entirely delicious)
Saturday LunchÂ
Oliver’s lunch spread of Terra chips, homemade tzatziki, veggies, cheeses, and assorted meats, including a mortadella-style sausage with decadent bits of wild boar
Saturday afternoon, aka cocktail hour, involved foraging for wild blueberries on the property, then muddling them in a glass and adding lemon simple syrup, vodka, and topping it with soda water
Saturday Dinner
the beginnings of a Hungarian rabbit stew
Building the stew with onion, carrot, celery, and plenty of paprika and bay leaf
Topping the stew with mushrooms, worchestershire, and later in the cooking process, a whole lot of cream
Bonus points for actually cooking the stew over a roaring fire – it likely took about an hour for total cooking time on the fire
The finished product – a rich, thick, creamy stew perfect for a cold night in the woods
Sunday Breakfast
Crepes (made the night before we left and wrapped in saran) topped with an orange honey vanilla ricotta and homemade cherry jam, rolled in foil and set over a fire to heat through
