backpacker delights

Actual recipes taken from the Sequoia Lodge “travellers cook book”:

SPAM MUSUBI
Ingredients: 1 can Spam, soy sauce, brown sugar, white rice

Mix soy sauce and 2 spoons of brown sugar in a bowl. Cut Spam lengthwise into 5 or 6 slabs and dip them in the sauce. Pop ’em into a frying pan for 3-4 minutes a side. Cook a cup of rice, then mold the rice into the same size as da’ Spam slices. Place da Spam on top of the rice and wrap with
(recipe mysteriously ends here)

SWEET & SOUR VEGETABLES:
Chop onion/peppers/brocolli/carrots. Place in frying pan with small amount of oil. Fry for approx 5 minutes. Add a jar of sweet & sour sauce. (ed’s note: BRILLIANT!) Boil some rice to compliment the above stir fry. Serve and enjoy. Better and healthier than noodles!

BEANS ON TOAST:  1 can Wattlies beans; 2 slices cheddar cheese; 2 slices buttered toast; worstershire sauce (optional).
“Cook” beans in a pan til hot. Add cheese in pan (or put in half and sprinkle half on top). Pour beans over buttered toast and add a few drops of worcester sauce. BON APPETIT!
Approx prep time 2 min. Cook time 5 min. Eating time 10 min
(BEANS ARE HOT DUDE!)

CEREAL IN A BOWL:
Ingredients: Boxed cereal of choice (e.g. Muesli); milk.
Find bowl in cupboard. Pour cereal into bowl. Pour milk on cereal. Approx 250 ml.
Eat with spoon. Smashing!

BACK PACKER PASTA
Ingredients: 1 bag cheap pasta; 1 jar cheap sauce.
Cook cheap pasta / add cheap sauce. Eat.

CHEESE SANDWICH
Ingredients: 2 slices bread; 2 spoons mayones; 4 slice tomato; salt; cheese.
Make your self sandwich with the ingredients written up.
This is the best sandwich (although I haven’t found a good chees here in NZ)

(No good cheese in NZ? Man, are you kidding me?)

GLASSE O AQUA
Get glass. Fill with water from cold tap. Down the water instantly.

ZEN WATER
Get glass. Don’t fill with water. Contemplate empty glass.


Sign outside church in Marton, NZ
:

“I am mysterious. Live with it.”  
                                                                   — God

songs from the road

(To the tune of As Tears Go By):

It is the morning after Auckland
I ride the Overlander train
Ten hours of silver fern
Three flat whites and bad lasagne
I sit and watch the sheep go by

(To the tune of the Green Acres theme):

These hostels ain’t no place for me
Communal living’s a catastrophe
I just can’t stand to share my loo
Darling I love you but I need my own space to poo

(duh-duh-duh-duh-duh) The snores!
(duh-duh-duh-duh-duh) The bores!
(duh-duh-duh-duh-duh) Loud noise!
(duh-duh-duh-duh-duh) Rude boys!
The stove’s on the fritz … this sure ain’t the Ritz …
Backpackers, wash your feet!

Three Danish girls have plugged the sink
German men have a tobacco stink
Somebody lost the laundry key
Toilets won’t flush and I really do have to pee

REFRAIN (duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, etc.)

(To the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas):

On our trip through New Zealand, my true love gave to me

12 kegs of Monteith’s
11 pints of Speight’s ale
10 Hawkes Bay red wines
9 All Blacks jerseys
8 diving gannets
7 Hector’s dolphins
6 Anzac biscuits
5 million sheep
4 paua shells
3 sperm whales
2 king shags
and a gumboot filled with pavlova

hostel hostility

OK, it’s official, i am not a people person. which i had kinda suspected for most of the last half-century but … staying at backpacker hostels has confirmed it.
sharing kitchen and bathroom space with other frugal-minded travellers with varying standards of cleanliness and etiquette and privacy considerations does not bring out the best in moi. like, just now, while i am quietly attempting to compose this blog post, a young bearded fellow has picked up a guitar and started to strum it. right in front of me. in MY space. and i don’t feel like hearing that just now, thank you very much. but, rather than throw my jandal at his inconsiderate head, i will merely sigh and conclude this snippet with something i just copied off the wall in the eating lounge:

The way to happiness is:

Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply; give much. Fill your life with love.

Do as you would be done by.

(Buddha)