Paddle Meals: Brown Bag It!

April-May 2004

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Patty Brown with Deborah Leach

Make sure you pack lots of wine gums or jujubes to tuck under the bungies in front your cockpit. They are a great incentive when you have to paddle enthusiastically into the wind and they don’t stain your deck!” A tip from Patty Brown who loves to be in her kayak when she can drag herself away From the Ground Up Landscape Gardening. She enjoys stealth-paddling into familiar places along the southern BC islands that her family visited by power boat in the days “when there was nobody there!”

Patty is a bag artist. Knowing that small, skinny shapes fit kayak spaces best, she taught customizing dry bag workshops for several years at the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club. She now ties a long line onto bags—ever since one spent a long time hidden in the nose of her boat. Patty color codes the bags for each meal and snack. A former sailmaker, Patty uses her machine to sew mesh carry bags for her gear. A lunch-size Thermos bag packs most of her perishables. For her teabags, Patty reckons a stainless steel teapot is an extravagant but worthwhile use of space. Her best brews are Bengal Spice and green tea. (Not peppermint, Patty?)

Patty is a year-round fan of packaged meal starters from companies like Fantastic Foods. Before going paddling she swoops through the supermarket, dumps the contents into ziplock bags and shoves in the instructions. She serves black beans as a dip with slices of jicama (that Mexican pseudo-potato) and baby carrots.

“Risotto is much classier than instant rice. The secret is not adding too much water. Toss in sliced zucchini, red pepper and slivered almonds. Serve anything with roasted garlic in it.” [Drop 5-6 unpeeled garlic cloves into a heavy skillet over medium heat. Roast for 10 to 12 minutes.]

HOME-STYLE RISOTTO MUSHROOM STARTER

1 pkg. Lundberg Creamy Parmesan Risotto

1/2 tbsp olive oil

2-1/2 cups water

12 large mushrooms

1 sploosh sherry

1/4 cup grated parmesan

Sauté rice from the package in olive oil in heavy saucepan. Add water and contents of seasoning pouch, stirring well to blend seasonings. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time. Meanwhile clean and remove stems from mushrooms. Place them upside down. Fill each cap with 1 spoonful of risotto mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in a heavy frypan with a lid (or a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes at home) until mushroom caps are tender and cheese is bubbly.

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME DATES

3 Medjool dates per paddler

cream cheese—1 ounce per

paddler candied ginger—3 chunks per paddler

dark chocolate melting wafers—1/2 cup per paddler

Remove pits from dates and spread open, keeping the sections together. Put a splodge (tsp) of cream cheese in the middle of half. Stick a piece of candied ginger in the middle and close the date. Melt chocolate in a pan over simmering water in the bottom pot. Dip the dates into the molten chocolate.