Insulated food warmer

 Readers will know that i love to make my own gear and i get a great deal of satisfaction from doing that. It stems from my working background in engineering that things can always be improved upon, that there is a better, cheaper, more practical way of making it. I know there are quite a few of you think similar.

So progressing from my last post, once you have heated up which ever type of outdoor grub you prefer you need to place it in a food warmer.

Well i am pleased to release here for the first time a fantastic new product that in no way i can improve upon. It's manufacture and specification is as good as i have seen and i don't think any other manufacturer is offering a product quite like it.

I am also pleased to say that it's from Brenig, the small British outdoor gear manufacturer from whom i reviewed their Aran smock a little while ago. Here

It's an insulated food warmer. Designed to accept dehydrated/freeze dried food pouches that need to stand for a number of minutes to allow the food to re-hydrate once you have added the boiling water.

My old pouch is made from silver roofing insulation. I know that like me, many of you use it for pot cosy's. It has served me well. But this new insulated warmer leaves it standing.

The warmer's heart is Thinsulate covered inside and out with a material which is for all intensive purposes the same as Pertex. It's soft, warm to the touch, in fact it feels just like your own insulated jacket. It packs down really small and it only weighs 65 grams.

Where it excels is it's temperature specification. It has been successfully tested down to -50C. Yes -50C. (-58F). So for even the hardiest souls who build igloo's in the Cairngorm in winter, traverse the Munro's in the harshest of weather or plan Arctic adventures, having one of these with you will ensure your food stays hot because it retains the heat longer. For the mere mortal backpacker it's a luxury worth having.

With it being so soft and warm you can also put an item of clothing inside it, a down Gilet for instance and use it as a pillow. We like our backpacking gear to be multi functional don't we.
I'm sure you will think up numerous other uses for it. eg. Protecting a Kindle or in my case a Nexus 7 for one.

Another nice surprise is the cost! It can be purchased for the very reasonable price of £12.50 plus postage and packing. Here.
And when it needs it, it can be washed at low temperature.

I must see if i can get one for my cooking pot too. Now there's a thought.

Beanfeast Outdoor recipe - trial run.

I have followed Tracksterman's adventures for sometime now. You can read his blog here if you havn't come across it before. Oh and here too, (thanks to Martin Rye.).
He certainly gets about and seemingly spends most of the year outdoors. Switching between China and Scotland. I wish i knew how he did it. He certainly has an opinion though.

At this time he is in Scotland, around Glendoe recently.

His recent posts and excellent video's i may add, was about trail food. It's in 2 parts. Beanfeast ala Tracksterman part un and part deux.
1st here
and the 2nd here.

It's not often i cook food whilst backpacking. I tend to just boil water and re-hydrate packet stuff. Usually i'm too tired to bother. Unlike Mike Knipe who has been known to take, Potato's, cheese, onions, sausage, bacon, beans, muffins, frying pans and god knows what else.

But these 2 video's i found interesting and thought i would try the recipe before i went out walking. So chose to cook it at home. I didn't want to chance hating it and then chucking it away leaving me with no meal.

It's simple to make, if i can do it anyone can. It's quick and its cheaper than buying packet meals.

So what did i use.

1 pan, (everything can be done in 1 pan)
A small knife
A spoon or spatula.
In the field a pot cosy would be required.

Ingredients.
3 tablespoons or a good slug of canola oil (rapeseed oil) its better for you as it doesn't oxidise.
1/2 small white onion - chopped small
1/2 tomato - chopped small
1/4 red pepper. - sliced thin
1/4 tea spoon of garlic but garlic flake would do the job
pinch of salt and pepper.
dried mixed herbs to taste
Tomato sauce available in small pouches or Tomato puree.
Dried chilli flakes or powder.
1/2 packet of microwave rice
1/2 packet of Batchellors beanfeast bolognase.
1 cup of water

Now you might look at the above list and think that's a lot of stuff but in reality it's not and it's not heavy.
My recipe is not exactly the same as Trackstermans, you can use any seasoning you fancy or have at hand and also any veg that you can get hold of.

To cook.
Boil a cup of water and put it in the pot cosy.
Slice the onion, tomato and pepper. and put it all in the pan with the oil.
Quick fry until going soft. A couple of minutes.
Add in the various seasoning and herbs.
Then pour in the hot water and bring back to the boil.

Pour in 1/2 packet of Beanfeast bolognase and stir, then add 1/2 packet of Microwave rice and stir.
I used microwave rice because it's already part reconstituted.

Once boiling put the pan in the cosy again for about 10-15 minutes. Tracksterman suggests 20 minutes but that long is not required with using microwave rice.

 {Chopped Tomato, pepper and onion in the pan with oil, garlic, mixed herbs, seasoning.}

 {Meal with water, rice and beanfeast added and almost ready to eat.}

Meal complete and its a generous portion. Too much for me today but then again i'm not on the hill. It's probably perfect after a long day out.

What did i think.
I have tried trail foods at home before and admit that they never taste as good as when your out. It must be the fresh air or the tiredness. I'm not sure which.
However, i found this tasted superb in the house so on the hill it's a treat i can't wait to try.
It set my taste buds on fire and i was licking my lips for about 10 minutes after. I managed to leave some for Sheila to try later on today.

I must say Tracksterman, (sorry i don't know your name), i'm glad you posted this on your blog. It has lots of connotations which i will look forward to investigating. Thanks very much. I give it and you  10/10.

For those of us who only get short periods of time out on the hill there is no reason why the ingredients cannot be made at home and put into an air tight pour and store bag. This would save time in camp.

I think it would also suit vegetarians. (Apology if i am wrong). I'm sure fellow blogger Judith will let me know if i'm wrong.

A quick bag - Freeholds Top.

 With only a couple of hours to spare on Sunday we did what we don't usually do and that is just to bag a trig point. We parked up at Trough Gate, Britannia, not far from Bacup on the small car park opposite the old Travellers Rest pub which like so many other pubs, has gone to the wall.

The Travellers rest is famous for being the start point of the Coco-nut dancers route to Bacup at Easter. They are a troop of clog dancers and you can read all about them here. (Only if you want to of course).

Crossing over the main road we followed the old cart track behind the pub and goes in the general direction of Hogshead Law Hill. It was a warm sunny day with fantastic clear views in all directions. The route doesn't go all the way up the hill but turns SE. The track is the access way for a few remote farms. It must be quite bleak out here in the winter.

{Bacup in the centre}

Passing through the yard of the first farm we exchanged pleasantries with the owner and noticed quite a few signs around letting people know that the land was private and that it didn't have right to roam access. So we made sure we stuck to the paths. There were quite a few rare breed sheep about too.

It was good to get off the track and into open country where again we skirted behind a second farm which was under renovations. On such a pleasant day we would have expected the builders to be on the job but there was nobody around.

As we gained height the breeze picked up. We had been walking in the lee of the wind but now that we were close to the ridge line it was really strong and quite bitter. Crossing 2 more fields we reached a large stile over the wall which marks the Boro boundary. On the other side there was a radio tied to the fence. What it was doing there is anyones guess.

It wasn't long before our target was spotted. The trig point at Freeholds Top (Marilyn) 454m (1490ft). It was just a case of following the boundary.

I took a few photo's at the top then quickly got ourselves behind a wall out of the wind.

After a few minutes we were startled by a dog, we never heard it coming and it was a bit of a shock being close to a growling dog. Fortunately its owner was not far behind.
She called it away and she said she was glad to be at the top. I guess she had come up the steep route from Walsden area. She didn't stop and headed off on the track north of Gorpley reservoir.

 {The view North}

 {The view East with Stoodley Pike just visible on the far ridge. (Centre)}

So we had done what we intended and headed off back. We had to put our outer shell jackets on. The wind was numbing. It was good to drop down again into the lee where the sun was hot and the jackets came off.

A very pleasant couple of hours.

Lifeventure daysack review

When we go on holiday we use the same principles for packing our bags as we do for hiking.

So we weigh everything, don't take items which can be sourced locally, don't take towels or hair driers, don't take items which are "Just in case" and make sure that in total the bags weigh less than 5kilo's so that we can take them into the plane as hand luggage.

This years trip to Greece was only for one week and Sheila's bag which believe it or not included 7 dresses weighed 3.8kg and mine which didn't included 7 dresses weighed 4.8kg. Has she sneaked something into my bag i wondered.

Anyway this lightweight philosophy is definitely the way to travel. So when i received an email in Greece from Rachel at Siverfox Travel Outdoors,  asking me if i would like to review a rucksack or any other product i immediately wondered if i could get an even lighter sack than our current OMM sack.

Upon arrival home i studied the website and was stuck for choice. A couple of sleeping bags and numerous backpacking sacks caught my eye as well as a lightweight stove and a number of other items.
Considering that i had kindly been offered to choose anything from the site i was definitely in 2 minds what to choose.

I eventually stuck to my plan to look for a lighter travel pack which would double for a daypack too.
I chose the Lifeventure black packable 18L daysack.

{Lifeventure packable daysack}

The pack weight is specified as 325gr and so it was good to see that my sack was actually 320gr. That's a 230gr saving over my OMM sack.

 The Lifeventure sack is 18 litres in size and is made from black ripstop nylon. When you receive it, it is in it's neat stow away guise which includes a carry handle and a mesh zipped pocket and behind it an open sleeve.

 Unzipping the pouch and turning inside out, reveals the day sack and the pouch then becomes the front pocket of the sack. Complete with secure mesh pocket and behind that an open sleeve. Just below the main compartment zip there is also a separate zipped pocket which has 2 expanding gussets.

 Each side has a handy mesh pocket that suits 500ml water bottles  and also a compression strap.

 The back of the sack is unpadded. The unshaped shoulder straps are heavy duty mesh with adjusters and also have a small pocket on each strap that have elasticated closures. Suitable for items like glasses, keys, sweets, small change etc but not big enough for phones or GPS.

The main compartment zips approximately 180 degrees and the inside is coated with a waterproofer. It doesn't have a separate compartment for hydration bladder.

All the zippers are YKK.

I have found it a comfy carry and the shoulder straps are far enough apart not to chaff your neck. This can sometimes be a problem with small sacks but not with this one. I found the straps had a tendency to slip off the shoulder especially when i was wearing a smooth outer jacket but less so when wearing just a fleece. I will resolve this by adding an elasticated chest strap. 

The sack does not have a hip belt and it doesn't need one. The shoulder straps are adequate at restricting movement.

It's an ideal sack to take with you on longer trips. With it being light and packable it's easily stowed in a larger backpack. Also just an ideal size and weight for quick trips to the shops.

Sheila has already decided it will be ideal for her gym gear. So it looks like i have lost it already.
I will have to buy another one. It costs £19.99
I wish it had a key clip in one of the secure pockets. I will add one.

A mushroom /toadstool hunt.

 Today as the autumnal colours become more prevalent we decided to incorporate on our walk a mushroom hunt. The walk itself was nothing of any effort. 11k through local countryside and parkland.
Weather glorious with clear blue skies and just a slight breeze. In the sun it was like summer. In the shade you knew autumn was with us.

 The leaves were falling all around but being dry it was crisp underfoot. The colours not yet as vibrant as they will be in just a couple of weeks but still beautiful with the lowering sun highlighting the shapes.

{Autumn colours}

 {Our route took us along a small section of the Rochdale canal with the sun highlighting a lock}

Plenty of bikers out today and hardly a polite word from any of them as we got out of the way to let them fly past. One family group did stop and wait for us to pass and were quite jovial, the little boy who didn't stop said "sorry, dad said i have to keep to one side".  We let him off.

Searching out mushrooms and toadstools is quite time consuming and rummaging around in the undergrowth brings some funny looks from other walkers but if you are prepared to look it's amazing at what beauty fungi really is.

I will let the photo's tell the story.

It's amazing the number of different fungi you can find with a bit of effort. Some tough, solid and last all year. Others delicate, transparent and last only a week or two. I found a fantastic group during the week but to my disappointment they had finished when we got to them today. I have made a note for next year. I wish i knew enough to name them all. I will endeavour to find out.

You buy cheap you buy twice. Jet Tec cartridges.

We have all heard this saying and it's there for a very good reason.  What seems a bargain usually isn't and you end up buying the genuine one and you spend twice as much money.

So this post is basically to save folks that extra money.

I have a printer connected to my Mac and it's a Kodak C310. I bought it because of the smaller cost of ink cartridge. I was going to say "Cheap" but no ink is cheap for home pc's.
My previous printer was a Canon and wonderful as it was the ridiculous price of changing 5 cartridges at £80 was outrageous and so i gave it away.

I've been happy with my Kodak. I don't print photographs on it, just mundane stuff. When my 3rd lot of ink was almost gone i went to my supplier and asked for the 2 cartridges.
Unfortunately he didn't have any in stock but offered me a compatible set called Jet Tec for about the same price but 2 for the price of 1.

I don't usually go for cheap ink, because it's a poorer grade i am led to believe but this guy was convincing without being pushy and as i don't do photographs thought what the hell, i will give them a go.

I changed the cartridges when the red light said empty and put the compatibles in place. Switched on the printer and low and behold. Red light and Error.

I started again and switched on the printer. Message:- Error cartridges not recognisable. 

Always one for not giving up, i tried to logically work out what was different. How does a printer know that they are compatibles and not Kodak.

Well on the back of the cartridge there is a 3mm square bit of plastic with 2 contacts on it. I just thought these were the signal providers which interface with the printer to tell the cartridge that it's services were required. Well it seems that these contacts also have a micro circuit board on the back and this must also provides "Who AM I" information to the mother board of the printer. Just like a Ewe and lamb they know when it's not one of their own. So it pushed me away.

I thought i could get round this problem by removing the circuit board of the my old original Kodak cartridges and attaching them to the new compatibles ones. So with a bit of carful faffing i managed it.

I reloaded the now disguised compatibles and switched on. I thought the Ewe will never spot the difference now.

Wrong! New error message. These cartridges are empty please replace with new.

So even though there was plenty of ink, the mother board remembers the old cartridge signatures and recognised  that they were empty. So even filling them from a 3rd party source would have the same effect. Once Kodak cartridges are empty, that's it. You have to buy new.

Unfortunately for me because i have now bodged the compatible cartridges i cannot take them back for a refund.

I was never aware of this before and have never come across it. My old Canon printer accepted compatibles and refills no problem. I always thought getting an old cartridge refilled was a viable alternative. Well obviously Kodak don't think so.

Be warned.

Lassi sunset.

Well i finally managed to upload the sunset pic. Hope it was worth all the hassle.

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Beautiful Greek day

We did a 4 hour walk in high temperatures of 30c. It was a stunning day and scenery beautiful. We were pleased to reach the sea for the cooler breeze. We were lucky enough to see the loggerhead turtles.2 off them close up in the harbour. We are informed that there are 7 regular visitors. It was good to see the old water wheel restored at Katavothres and the restaurant open again. It had been run down and closed for years.
The old internet has been a bit hit and miss and would only allow 1 image to upload which is a bit of a pain.
Last evening we had the most splendid sunset. Even our Greek friends wanted a copy of the photo as it was good. (That's the sunset not particularly the photo).
I will try and upload it as a separate post next.
The island of Kefallonia is struggling with the economic measures taken by the government. Many hotels are closed and look quite sad. The ones that have survived seem to be doing ok.
We are off to look at the archaeological and earthquake museum in Argostoli now. So that's it for now.

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Occassional greek tractors

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