Day Off Hike To The Cell Phone Curve

(My Trail marker for the turn off back into camp)

I hiked out the camper trail out past the boat dock and onto the road to the cell phone curve. It took about an hour and a half to hike about a 2 and a half 3 mile hike. I talked on the phone from around 3 until 6:30. I got to talk to my Mom, Dad, Grandma and Chance, I missed talking to all of them so much! I can not believe I have been in the mountains straight for over a month with out really talking to anyone!

 The Road signs leading to Loon Lake

Around 6:30 I decided to hike back to the boat docks to go for a swim, I wanted to jump off the boat dock, but people were fishing on it, so I just went for a swim instead. Around 7:40 I decided to hike the 2 and a half miles back to camp since it was getting late and the sun was starting to set.

On the hike back to camp I met Previous Chef Steven and his wife Debbie, it was funny running into them, because I met them as they were hiking into DCC and I was hiking out, but we didn't know who each other were the first time we saw each other. Steven was the Cook for Deer Crossing 3 years ago, and he was the chef's blog I read before deciding to take the job at Deer Crossing.

When I got back to camp it was around 8:45pm and it was a funny, but strange arrival, I first went to my tent to put on warmer clothes then headed up to the lodge, to walk into the 4 or so staff that were on and the LITs and GITs  getting ready to send out a search party for me. Which was strange to me because I don't know what made them think I would be back for dinner especially since I didn't know what time dinner would be on an off session day. It was very strange since I only told Jenny the other cook I would be back some time that night, but for some reason they worried I had gotten lost since it was the first time I had hiked the going out of camp trail and the sun was starting to go down. But everything was good once I was there, just thank goodness they hadn't actually gone out looking for me!

On Saturday nights in between sessions we get to watch a movie at night, tonight we watched Grown Ups, it was a very funny movie, I would watch it again. I love movie night, it makes me feel like I am back home. There is nothing better then a Saturday 12 to 12 day off in between sessions getting to relax, swim, talk on the phone and watch a movie all while still in the wilderness!

Sunday Instructor Breakfast

I love Sundays, not only is brunch at 11, but I don't have to cook, the instructors on that day do! The instructors have the freedom to make what ever they please, creative things not on the menu. They make things like quesadillas, stir fry, chocolate chip pancakes, crapes, desert pizza, breakfast pizza, watermelon salad, macaroni, sweet potato fries etc.

Brunch is more like a feast, where we offer seconds and thirds until kids are either to full to eat anymore food or the food is gone.

Watermelon salad, with sliced bananas, lemon juice, and basil (made by myself)

 Desert Pizzas: coated with butter, cinnamon and sugar, chocolate chips, brown sugar, crasions, bananas

Breakfast Pizzas: coated with beaten eggs, sausage, and tomato.

Swim Breaks

One of the nice things about working at a wilderness camp right on a lake, is the long morning or afternoon swims. This morning Ania and I went for a swim at 6am before breakfast to Scylla Tribdis, a set of rocks in the water that acts like an island about 250 yards away. We each swam there and back twice and paddle boarded for each other twice, since you need to have a life guard at all times while swimming.

The morning water is so nice and calm, perfect to swim long distance. It feels as flat as a pool, but better because it is fresh water and the scenery is just wonderful.

In the afternoons here on my time off between lunch and dinner I love going down to the lake to our open beach to lay in the sun and go for a quick swim to cool off. It has to be one of my favorite parts of my days up here, it is so relaxing, and I have been teaching Jenny the other cook how to swim. I have never taught anyone to swim before, but she is picking up quick.

Grease Trap Challenge

On the second week the campers are here they go on something called out trips, there is a rock climbing trip, canoe trip, and a valley trip which is a beginner hiking trip. All kids and most staff are out of camp and the select few instructors left behind and the cooks have the joy of thoroughly cleaning the place up and getting it ready for the next set of campers.

Jenny and I's first encounter with the grease trap;

These pictures are after Jenny and I already scooped out all the disgusting liquid that fills the grease trap to the brim. 

Cleaning the grease trap has to be the most disgusting job I have ever done in my life. It takes some serious work to get this thing clean. First you have to hand scoop all the liquid out into buckets lined with trash bags, dig 3 or 4 wholes out side in the dirt away from where we do activities, and pour the liquid in the holes and bury it. 

Next you have to remove all the pieces of the grease trap and take note of the order they are in, then take them down stairs and outside to clean them with a decreasing chemical. You put one piece at a time in a metal tub and pour the de-greaser in and with a scrub brush and a spatula tool, you scrape off  all the grease and food particles. It isn't only gross work, but it is dangerous and harmful if you get the chemical on your skin which is almost always inevitable because you have to scrub at the pieces, you get little chemical burns on your hands and arms, which hurt and leave burns.

When we are all finished cleaning up the pieces we take them back upstairs into the kitchen, and put piece by piece back in the trap and put the lid back on.

The finished product! Crazy how filthy they can get in only 2 weeks. Two weeks from  today let the process begin all over again!

Campers arrive

First dinner with all the campers here was soooo stressful! Its a big change cooking for 60 people, then setting 8 tables with bowls of main dishes, salads, bread, desert, and plates and cutlery. It is very hard to judge how much each table will eat and it was very hard to get everything out on the tables on time.

It can only get better from here.

Realization of being the cook

When I accepted this job, I took the job thinking I had agreed to being an assistant cook. Chopping vegetables, prep work for the head cook. When I got to Deer Crossing, I had a sudden realization that was not what I was going to be doing. There was no "head cook" there were 2 cooks, Jenny from Colombia and myself.

Jenny in the beginning was very hard to work with, she spoke very little English, and had no idea how to prepare any of the dishes on the menu. It did not feel at all like I was an assistant cook, but more like I was the head cook. Jenny took to me like I was in charge, and I made all the decisions, like what to make for the meal, what time to start cooking, how to make the dish, it was very overwhelming.

After some time Jenny started to pick things up, I taught her to make French toast, and how to properly cut fruits and vegetables so it was time efficient. I also taught her how to make chili, meat and veggie chili, which was exciting since she had never had chili before.

Teaching someone how to cook things I have grown up cooking is so interesting, it feels good to share with someone a skill that they will keep with them forever and to share a recipe you can now both enjoy.

Learning the WAYS of Deer Crossing

The rules of the table;
1. To sit at the table for a meal, you must have a full 1 liter bottle of water.
2. To begin passing food, the head of the the must say my table may begin passing.
3. You must pass all cutlery, plates and cups in a clockwise direction, then pass all food.
4. Before you may begin eating, the head of the table must ask does everyone at my table have what they want? Then my table may begin eating.
5. If you would like to get up from the table for any reason you must say excuse me, then leave.

Cooking at Deer Crossing is very different then cooking anywhere else. For the stove and oven, you must first turn the gas switch on, then for the stove burners you must light all of them before they will work, and for the oven you must open the bottom cover and put the lighter in this hole and hold down a red bottom for 45 or more seconds making sure the light is still lit then after 45 or so seconds let go of the red bottom and if it stays lit then the oven is good to go.

Cooking for 18 people is kind of difficult to get the portions right, but it is getting better and better. All the recipes are either for a bunch of 50 or more or for a family of 5, so Jenny and I are learning to convert recipes.

Arriving At Deer Crossing

It was an interesting time just getting to the camp. I arrived at the Sacramento Airport around 7:30pm, I texted Neal, the camp guide sent to pick up all the staff flying into California. When I got there I met Anna from Spain, who will be teaching Sailing and speaks decent English, but mostly Spanish. Ania from Poland, who also teaches  sailing, and speaks English very well. Pako from Mexico, who is going to be our maintenance guy and speaks very little English at all. We all had to wait until a little after 11pm for the last staff member flying in from Colombia. Jenny was the last to arrive, she is the other cook and speaks decent English, but again mostly Spanish. Jenny was an interesting arrival, she didn't have Neal's phone number, and we didn't have any of her flight information just an estimated time of arrival. So we split up and Pako and I waited in terminal B and Neal went to terminal A  to wait. I held a Canoe paddle for over an hour that said Deer Crossing Camp on it hoping to attract her if she came into the terminal. It was an interesting wait, looking for someone you have never seen or met before, but it all ended well and we eventually found her in Terminal A.

After we had accumulated all the staff who had to fly, we had a 3 hour drive to Deer Crossing in a very luggage packed van, we finally made it to camp at 2am, and had to wait at the other side of the lake until they noticed us. We had our headlights on for 45 minutes before the flashed back at us they knew we were here. It took about 15 minutes before the boat arrived and we loaded in all of our luggage. It was a different boat ride then I was use to we power boated across the lake with no lights, because Jim said it was easier to see that way, which is strangely true. Once at the camp Jim gave us a quick tour of how to use the bathrooms here at camp, and where we were sleeping in the lodge that night, by 3am we were finally ready for bed.