Tea-time in the summer

We have been so ending this summer in Sweden, renting a house and going camping with an enormous tent among other things. Every morning has started with slow breakfasts with tea. Sometimes at home, sometimes in borrowed kitchens and sometimes outdoors. This setup was on a sunny campsite by lake Vänern just below the plateau mountain of Kinnekulle. Old Trangia coffee pot, rings on the handle are for extending it with a stick in a campfire. The tea was supplemented by oatmeal porridge, making us ready to hunt for fossils in this case. The abandoned quarry of Hällekis has plenty of othocerida and other remains in the limestone from 400 million years ago.

This nice morning routine is now changed to regular quick breakfasts and an urban way of life. Not normal as the corona pandemic is continuing but still lacks the serenity of green grass and a more natural pace.

Old Trangia coffee pot filled with tea on top of the Svea 123r. all placed on a saucepan to avoid scorching the grass and setting the tent on fire.

Coffee break in the forest

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This winter is really mild and hiking is simple but still chilly in the nearby forest. It is never bad to take a coffee break in the outdoors to get warm. Cooking water on a Svea petrol stove (the brass cylinder in the back) for coffee and somewhat too spicy instant noodles feels so much better than eating them at home. The stainless steel cup that fits a canteen was shiny and brand new and could in spite of its kidney-shape balance on top of the Svea 123R. The stove works really well in cold conditions with few moving parts. A bit fiddly to start sometimes. I never get a smooth solution for getting the key to the right place when putting the windscreen back on in the midst of preheating. Maybee I have to improve my fine motor skills… Note that the bread is not on top of a chopping board. It is a seat made of wool, making it a bit more pleasurable to sit on a boulder when it is freezing. After this break in the peri-urban forest it feels better to return to the urban world again.