burning man food gets an upgrade...of sorts

Well here I am back from super hot and dusty Black Rock where the temperature was actually a degree or so cooler than in SF, go figure. I've had a few days to de-dust and sleep and shower and sleep and reached a good point for a bit of coverage.

A week in the desert can offer new perspectives and I tried to just go with things and as they came up and started to feel better as the week progressed. It was a real chance to unplug, relax and just hang out and drink wine--which we did a lot of--and ice cream. Both essential items to ease heat, appetites and take the edge off. Call it emotional drinking and eating all you want, it kind of worked and felt good. Total recovery, no, but definitely a good start and I used all my packing skills to fill up the RV's mini fridge.

wine, ice cream and some other stuff — **wine, ice cream and some other stuff**

Yeah, we know how to pack (essential) food! To answer a couple questions you may have. We drank all but one bottle and ate all the ice cream. I know I'm not the biggest ice cream fan but it was more than super hot and the cold wine and frozen ice cream went down smoooooth.

Beyond our food hoarding, there were the usual number of offerings from assorted camps around the playa. All done as "gifting." While there were some holdovers from last year like pizza and hot dogs, the quesadilla pizza made an appearance at more than one spot. Also "hot" this year were sno-cones! (Spelled with both a c and k)

They came in a variety of flavors and several had the added bonus of alcohol, though really, it was all about the crushed ice and the cool down. I'm pretty sure we had 4 in one day from 4 different camps and they all had a machine similar to this, a seemingly essential Burning Man thing. Beyond this cold treat, I noticed some offerings were an upgrade from last year as it seems some camps want to up their game to impress, which is fine, but when you've been pedaling around in the heat all day, most any free food offering is greatly appreciate. There were a few I thought I'd share which stood out.

A potato blintz from Blintzkreig was great for an early morning carbo load. Add in a dash of sriracha and wham, a tasty morning kicker.

Frozen Oasis had a special dinner we got in invite to and they didn't disappoint serving up curry chicken, curry vegetables, grilled broccolini, jasmine rice and glass noodles with pea pods. Healthy eating all served up on compostable bamboo plates.

Preservation Society held their annual pig roast, which I missed out on last year. This time we made a point to get their earlier and got in on all the goodies. Roast pork, cabbage, two kinds of couscous, roasted potatoes and cauliflower and a little bit of crispy pig skin. Good hearty bits to soak up alcohol.

Sweets weren't far behind with a visit to Burners Under the Influence serving up their camp made version of pineapple upside down cake which they served with side of pineapple vodka shots. They had an abundance of the cake and I managed to snag two pieces of this down home old school fave.

But Rogue Nation, a camp of mostly French, were not to be outdone with their own treat, creme brûlée. They even had their own torch to get the caramelization just right. It crackled and snapped like a hard topping should.

And while I forgot to get a picture of it. we just happened to be biking in search of a camp serving up white trash sangria when someone yelled, "hey, want some Pakistani food?" How could we refuse. We wheeled in and though there wasn't much left we did get treated to jasmine rice, spicy black beans, red curry veggies and some Indian spiced lentils. Definitely unexpected and most assuredly tasty.

The week seemed to fly by but overall it was a fun experience to get out of my head to relax and enjoy the art, the lights, the people and most definitely the food around the playa. And while it wasn't a total cure all, it helped to get some of my focus back on track. Hopefully that will fulfill itself with some kind of job eventually, but for sure it has put me back into some kind of food mode as I feel ready to share my eats again--especially ones not covered in desert dust.