field notes
recent adventures & misadventures
upcoming expedition:
first female crossing of omani empty quarter
Made possible by LandRover ​
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Kitchen(less) Cooking seeks to inspire people to dive into the world of outdoor cooking. The kind of meals you might imagine crafted if Indiana Jones and Martha Stewart threw a dinner party. Outdoor cooking is a complete sensory experience – there is nothing like the crackle of wood burning, the warmth of the flames, the smoky scent, and the mesmerizing visual display. Armed with matches, a pocket knife and local ingredients, join ballerina turned award winning explorer, Sofia cooking in some of the most remote parts of the world.
Recipes are simple and straightforward often involving only a handful of ingredients. But nothing tastes as good as food cooked over the fire not to mention the magic that lights up people’s faces when they partake in an outdoor cooking experience. While these recipes were originally crafted in the outback, they can easily be replicated in your own backyard to turn a meal into an experience: Cook by the beach, in the forest, or on your apartment rooftop garden. Scrap your stove and build a fire!
New recipes published monthly.
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ADVENTURES IN SEA URCHIN BEER
When I tell people my boyfriend and I make sea urchin beer, we often have to repeat ourselves a few times…. Understandably. It is not your everyday beer. But it is seriously good, not as weird as you might think and it is a free-diving adventure to provision and make. The story behind our foraged and hand dove sea urchin beer.
Read the full story here.
NICAragua​
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I decided it was finally time to sit down and put pen to paper about my time in Nicaragua. From 2012 - 2016 I divided my time between NYC and some of the most remote and lawless jungles in Central America. Any sensible person would skip over Nicaragua entirely and go to their far more developed neighbor to the south, Costa Rica. But I was naïve enough to rent a horse and voluntarily trek into a Sandinista occupied territory, but old enough to know that what I was attempting to do was worth the risk. Read more here.
4x4 across Australia​
Where is your husband? Are you in the outback alone? These two questions followed me as I crossed Australia on unsealed 4x4 tracks in my Landcruiser. The answers were, there is no husband, and yes I am in the outback alone. People stared in disbelief as if I had a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock. I reckon they didn’t know whether to call the authorities or invite me for a beer... Read the full story here.
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Hot off the PRESS:
Snapper on a Stick​
As featured in Sarasota Magazine - On a recent trip to her Florida gulf coast hometown, Sophie partnered with Sarasota Magazine to create fire roasted sizzling snapper on a stick. You can try it yourself, but having Sophie cook it for you would make it a real adventure. ​Find the recipe and full story here.
That is it mates. I'll grace your inbox again when the seasons change. In the mean time... we are growing The Sofia Log so share The Sofia Log newsletter/website love with your friends.
Musings from Metro-Manila
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Metro-Manila, the bustling sprawling South-East Asian capital of the Philippines where I spent the greater majority of the spring. When I accepted the job of helping create a National Geographic tv episode about mismanaged waste and ocean plastic pollution in the Philippines I had no idea what I was getting myself into…There is more to the episode than you will see on the National Geographic Channel, here are some non-essential musings and behind the scenes look at my time in metro-Manila helping make a Nat Geo TV episode.
Smashed pumpkin​
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It’s that special time of the year again, when America runs on pumpkin. The beloved vegetable that once fed New England’s starving settlers now serves as the multi-month gateway to the holidays. Some like pumpkin spiced in their latte’s, others likes it in their beer, or enjoy the smell wafting from candles. But I like pumpkin cooked over the fire, theatrically smashed with a shovel, and I think you’ll like it too.
watch Sophie on the national Geographic channel tonight
(oct. 3rd) at 10 PM EST​
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For the past six months I've been working on a documentary series called Activate with National Geographic and Procter & Gamble all about ocean plastic pollution and mismanaged waste in the Philippines. Tune in October 3rd at 10pm EST on the National Geographic Channel or at globalcitizen.org/activate.