A Delicious Silver Lining
We made it. We trekked 20 miles total: five miles up hill in drizzling rain, strapped with an extra 25-30 lbs; five miles racing to make an "under-20-minute mile" only to unnecessarily wade across the river twice (r.i.p. Robbie's sneaker), walking the last 1/4 mile barefoot to the hot springs; five miles back to camp in the dark, and five final miles with our packs back to the home-sweet-home mobile on a beautiful Sunday.
At the last minute before we hit the trail, I jettisoned the second pound of trail mix that I'd prepared for the group. I regretted that decision because our energy-burning army of 10 devoured the duplicate bag by sunset on day one. I had tossed the bag in the back seat of the Buick, took off into the woods and looked forward to returning to it all day on Sunday. I'm pretty confident about my trailmix. I love it so much I couldn't care less if anyone else can stomach it. When we did return to the car I was faced with a disappointing fact: the organic, dark chocolate chips had melted into a warm, gooey mess. The little things weren't equipped with a melt-in-your-mouth coating, a problem that in ordinary circumstances a little finger licking could clear up. I admit I considered going for it in my condition, but ultimately I couldn't eat out of fingers so dirty ink would be unnecessary to stamp prints. It worked out for the best. The bag spent the night in the car and completed a beautiful metamorphosis:
Trail-Mix Brittle
Recipe:
Plump, golden raisins
Organic, semi-sweet chocolate chips
Salted, roasted, mixed nuts (the snooty sort with a low-peanut percentage)
Dried banana chips
Nature's Valley Hemp Plus granola
Proportion each ingredient to taste. Set granola aside. Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl. When you're satisfied with the distribution, mindfully mix in the granola, staying careful not to stir it into crumbs. Eat as is, OR...
Place on backseat of 1999 Buick Regal on a sunny day in Big Sur, California. "Challenge" yourself to 20 miles up and down mountains. When you return exhausted, leave the bag in the back seat in forfeit. Return the next morning, delighted to find it edible and ready for you.
Enjoy.
4 comments:
Nice, 20 miles is no joke.
Are not the Hot Springs glorious? The trail mix brittle sounds so good it looks like you have a company to start!
May I suggest Accidental Brilliance has a company title? And perhaps, "the best things in life are complete accidents?" as a motto?
Ha! Yum, yum. Well, I tried the melted version and I think it's damn good.
Wow, I didn't know you hiked 20 miles! Man, that's hardcore...even when I was hiking the Long Trail, my longest day was only 16.9 miles. We should hike together sometime!
Mary, sounds like fun. i have to admit i did some hiking like that when i was oregon and i am envious. not legitimate backpacking, but pretty close.
w/r/t the trail mix "brittle", i think you may be onto something. while i'm sure you're not the first to find a gooey mix like that in a car, you may be onto a new recipe. just like when we made candy years ago (i confess that i still do), all you would have to do is melt the chocolate over a double boiler, coat your "mix", spread it our over a cookie sheet, and let cool. of course, it would be prone to the same gooey disaster if left in a heated vehicle again, but that's not the point. the point is a semi-healthy (good chocolate had lots of antioxidants) tasty snack for sugar deprivation and energy. maybe we can try a few collaborations when we visit in two weeks and get some recipes together! you can call them moody bars, or cranky bars, etc.
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