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Outlandish: Fuel Your Epic
“Besides drooling over the gorgeous photos, it is guaranteed that you will salivate over the recipes that accompany each adventure and hopefully utilize Morgan’s sustainable outdoor cooking tips.” ?American Trail Running Association Outlandish is a sun-soaked starter manual to fueling your own epic, equal parts fuel for the body and food for the soul. In this guide, the canyoneering wordsmith and adventurer Morgan Sjogren shows how outdoor adventure can become your lifestyle. Through her riveting personal stories, flavorful recipes, and the book’s gotta-go-there photographs, Sjogren shares her advice and lessons learned from years exploring the desert Southwest while living out of her canary-yellow Jeep Wrangler. Outlandish is a gorgeous guide to a more adventurous life. In Outlandish, Sjogren shows how to sleep better in a car, build a cooking fire, overcome calamity, repurpose bacon grease, leave no trace, sun-dry tomatoes on your car hood, cook food on a hot engine block, and select practical gear for your tailgate kitchen. Equipped with little more than Outlandish, a backpacking stove, a cooler, and a few staple foods, you can seek out your own adventures fueled by Sjogren’s inspiring outdoor lifestyle as well as her favorite burritos, dandelion salads, campfire blondies, and prickly pear margaritas. Sjogren offers up dozens of recipes that draw from the places she’s been?Sedona, Bears Ears, Yosemite, Silverton, Utah?and help her tell intoxicating tales of exploration and mishap. There are taco recipes remembered from the highest mountain in Mexico and “50 Shades of Burritos” with flavors taken from around the Four Corners. This smart and meaningful guide comes straight from the Utah canyon country and deserts of Arizona to share lessons learned from a life lived in wilderness. Sjogren’s exhilarating guide will stoke your desire for adventure while offering tools, tips, and tricks that can help you launch your epic.
- GenresNonfictionCookbooks
285 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 15, 2019
10 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 23, 2024
In the vein of the esteemed Branton Ego, a critic whose palate for the exquisite often surpassed the mere boundaries of the culinary world, I find myself poised to deliver an assessment of Morgan Sjogren's novel, "Outlandish". Ah, but this is no ordinary tome; it is a symphony of flavors, both literary and literal, an odyssey not just of the palate but of the soul.
The heart of "Outlandish" beats with a rhythm as untamed and spirited as Sjogren herself, whose narrative is as much a chronicle of her adventures as it is a testament to the boundless possibilities of life on the road. Her companion, a jeep named "Sunny", is not merely a vehicle but a vessel of dreams, a chariot that whisks the reader along on a journey of discovery, both internal and external.
But, dear reader, it is not just the tale that captivates; it is the sustenance. The burrito - a humble fare, you might think. Yet in the hands of Sjogren, this simple dish is elevated to haute cuisine. Her ideas, like the ingredients of her unconventional burritos, blend together in a mélange that is both surprising and deeply satisfying. Each recipe is a revelation, a daring escapade in the realm of culinary experimentation.
And then, the photographs - ah, the photographs! They are not mere images; they are portals to the vistas she traverses, capturing the majesty and the solitude of the landscapes that are both her home and her muse. These visual feasts are as integral to the narrative as the words themselves, painting a picture so vivid, so real, that one can almost feel the sun on their face, the dust in their mouth.
In "Outlandish", Sjogren does not merely write; she inspires. She reminds us that adventure is not found in the destination, but in the journey. That life, like a well-crafted burrito, is about the blend of its ingredients, the unexpected flavors, and the joy of discovery.
It is rare, indeed, for a book to not only satisfy the hunger for adventure but also to awaken a craving for culinary exploration. "Outlandish" achieves this with a grace and a gusto that is as admirable as it is delectable. Bravo, Morgan Sjogren. Your journey, your jeep, your burritos - they are a banquet to be savored, and your story, a dish that lingers long after the last page is turned.
The heart of "Outlandish" beats with a rhythm as untamed and spirited as Sjogren herself, whose narrative is as much a chronicle of her adventures as it is a testament to the boundless possibilities of life on the road. Her companion, a jeep named "Sunny", is not merely a vehicle but a vessel of dreams, a chariot that whisks the reader along on a journey of discovery, both internal and external.
But, dear reader, it is not just the tale that captivates; it is the sustenance. The burrito - a humble fare, you might think. Yet in the hands of Sjogren, this simple dish is elevated to haute cuisine. Her ideas, like the ingredients of her unconventional burritos, blend together in a mélange that is both surprising and deeply satisfying. Each recipe is a revelation, a daring escapade in the realm of culinary experimentation.
And then, the photographs - ah, the photographs! They are not mere images; they are portals to the vistas she traverses, capturing the majesty and the solitude of the landscapes that are both her home and her muse. These visual feasts are as integral to the narrative as the words themselves, painting a picture so vivid, so real, that one can almost feel the sun on their face, the dust in their mouth.
In "Outlandish", Sjogren does not merely write; she inspires. She reminds us that adventure is not found in the destination, but in the journey. That life, like a well-crafted burrito, is about the blend of its ingredients, the unexpected flavors, and the joy of discovery.
It is rare, indeed, for a book to not only satisfy the hunger for adventure but also to awaken a craving for culinary exploration. "Outlandish" achieves this with a grace and a gusto that is as admirable as it is delectable. Bravo, Morgan Sjogren. Your journey, your jeep, your burritos - they are a banquet to be savored, and your story, a dish that lingers long after the last page is turned.
June 16, 2019
I really liked this book. I found it refreshing. I get many books by runners and, sure they have led impressive lives, sometimes transformational lives, but they lack something. They lack soul. They lack the writer’s soul. Miss Sjorgen has that soul. And in her it is as haunting as the lands that she passes through.
Allow a cranky old runner a little space to complain.
These other books I get always follow the same narrative. It is the runner’s journey. The runner’s journey is the hero’s journey. They have a life challenge. They find running. They find a coach. In act three they overcome and triumph.
And I wish that’s where it ended, but no, then they have to write a book about it.
These runner’s journey books are mostly flawed things. They do a poor job of translating the internal massiveness of the transformational event. In their hands it becomes commonplace. It’s a hard thing to make running an ultra uninteresting. It’s too big, too mercurial to capture the essence.
That’s why I am filled with pure joy when a writer finds a way to get the ghosts of our sport out into the open, without having to say “Hey! Look at the ghosts! Aren’t those cool Ghosts?”
Writing is painting with words. You find the story in the painting. You see a hint of the author in the painting. The best authors are only in the painting so that you can find yourself in it as well.
A funny thing is that when these authors pitch these books they inevitably say, “It’s about my running but I think it will resonate with everyone!” No, it won’t. No one else cares about your marathon. We who have been there and reveled in that pain and passion and grit care, a little, because it reminds us of our own journey. But, no one else does.
To get out of this trap their editors convince them to include training tips or recipes. Then it gets even more diluted and confusing.
The other thing that gives these books a dead cat bounce is that insufferable first-person, bloggy style of writing. It’s lazy writing. It’s not even story telling. It’s that person who corners you at a party to tell you all about their work day.
By God this book is therefor refreshing! Thank you Morgan.
In Outlandish you never see Morgan in the direct light. You only see shadows of her flitting about this landscape of burritos, desert trails and warm beer. The prose is descriptive enough to give you the ‘oh wow’ affect of the landscapes she moves through, while at the same time spare and leaving room for the reader.
So much is unsaid, but felt, heard and smelled in the narrative. It’s beautiful writing.
I see ghosts in her writing.
These ghosts are the real recipe here. I see a few cups of Jack Kerouac, maybe a dash of Hunter S. Thompson, a smidge of Kurt Vonnegut, salted with Trout Fishing in America and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
This beautiful prose pouring forth from a broken waif who has retreated to the desert to find safety, purity and worthiness.
And who doesn’t love running, dogs and burritos?
...
CJR 6-15-2019
Allow a cranky old runner a little space to complain.
These other books I get always follow the same narrative. It is the runner’s journey. The runner’s journey is the hero’s journey. They have a life challenge. They find running. They find a coach. In act three they overcome and triumph.
And I wish that’s where it ended, but no, then they have to write a book about it.
These runner’s journey books are mostly flawed things. They do a poor job of translating the internal massiveness of the transformational event. In their hands it becomes commonplace. It’s a hard thing to make running an ultra uninteresting. It’s too big, too mercurial to capture the essence.
That’s why I am filled with pure joy when a writer finds a way to get the ghosts of our sport out into the open, without having to say “Hey! Look at the ghosts! Aren’t those cool Ghosts?”
Writing is painting with words. You find the story in the painting. You see a hint of the author in the painting. The best authors are only in the painting so that you can find yourself in it as well.
A funny thing is that when these authors pitch these books they inevitably say, “It’s about my running but I think it will resonate with everyone!” No, it won’t. No one else cares about your marathon. We who have been there and reveled in that pain and passion and grit care, a little, because it reminds us of our own journey. But, no one else does.
To get out of this trap their editors convince them to include training tips or recipes. Then it gets even more diluted and confusing.
The other thing that gives these books a dead cat bounce is that insufferable first-person, bloggy style of writing. It’s lazy writing. It’s not even story telling. It’s that person who corners you at a party to tell you all about their work day.
By God this book is therefor refreshing! Thank you Morgan.
In Outlandish you never see Morgan in the direct light. You only see shadows of her flitting about this landscape of burritos, desert trails and warm beer. The prose is descriptive enough to give you the ‘oh wow’ affect of the landscapes she moves through, while at the same time spare and leaving room for the reader.
So much is unsaid, but felt, heard and smelled in the narrative. It’s beautiful writing.
I see ghosts in her writing.
These ghosts are the real recipe here. I see a few cups of Jack Kerouac, maybe a dash of Hunter S. Thompson, a smidge of Kurt Vonnegut, salted with Trout Fishing in America and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
This beautiful prose pouring forth from a broken waif who has retreated to the desert to find safety, purity and worthiness.
And who doesn’t love running, dogs and burritos?
...
CJR 6-15-2019
January 31, 2021
This book makes me crave a life I haven’t experienced.
August 26, 2019
"We needed to get away. Away from the freeways. To feel small sitting amongst the trees, beneath the mountains, underneath the open sky that rules over everything. To celebrate this life of impermanence, to embrace the unknown next chapter- one that we are not the center of, but rather just a lucky little part of."
November 3, 2019
I finished this book in one day. It’s a quick read and once you pick it up, you won’t want to put it down. Morgan Sjogren is a beautiful writer and I can hardly wait to see what this young writer does next. The book is a collection of short stories of her adventures living out of a Jeep writing hiking guidebooks and trail running. The book is filled with tips and recipes for camp cooking.
Read
January 4, 2020A quick read, She runs, drinks warm beer, and eats most meals in burrito form. I loved her writing. Beautiful imagery, but it was seemed like mostly a series of articles written for different magazines all put together with "recipes" of things to put in a tortilla. Don't read it or avoid it because it says cookbook. Anyway, I enjoyed it as a quick read on a couple of cold nights
October 6, 2020
"Flavorful recipes" is a stretch- most of the recipes are a bean burrito. I also share none of the authors love of extreme running. Reading her stories about her joys in doing what she loves and her appreciation of the world she gets to see? That's a heartwarming pleasure for most anyone.
November 12, 2019
Didn't know I could crave the desert.
February 22, 2020
Such a great book to remind me of who I am. I borrowed from the library and will now be purchasing my own copy. Spectacular photos and satisfying recipes (thanks for the dinner tips).
September 7, 2020
Beautiful writing, truly reminded me of what makes me feel alive and what is truly real. Will read time and time again.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews