Actress Kristy Lapointe spent the summer cooking for a treeplanting camp in Northern Canada with her husband. She shared her adventures with SDTC. This is her last missive from the woods.

And just like that, this psychotic woodland summer is over. For our fin dinner in camp we did a simple Taco Salad with a few side dishes like Spanish fried rice and Maple Glazed Carrots. It felt like a throw-away meal to me, but the planters went crazy for it. Maybe it was incredible. More likely they were just very excited at the prospect of seeing loved ones and using indoor plumbing.

The next day we served an amazing breakfast before packing up our kitchen: crepes. Crepes are impressive on a small scale, but pulling them off for fifty insatiable planters is near miraculous. The prep was mundane and involved Chris slicing over 100 bananas and various other fruits (peaches, strawberries,blueberries…) while I whipped up the batter from scratch. We served the fresh homemade crepes hot off the griddle with an array of berries, bananas, custard, nutella, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, along with the best Morning Glory Muffins I’ve ever made in my life. The rest of the day was spent meticulously cleaning each dish and utensil and putting away all of our summer tools. We had a lovely “Year End Dinner” in camp, especially enjoyable as I didn’t have to cook a thing. Also, inexplicably, a couple  of math rock bands were visiting our treeplanting camp, so they played a  “Last Night Show” while the whole camp revelled in the long drawn-out finale to the season. 

As I spent my final evening sleeping in a trailer, being lulled to sleep by the melodic sounds of heavy rock, a sense of relief washed over me. As much as I enjoy my yearly escape from the city, I am so ready for urban life. I want to go to pretentious vegan restaurants and be bored at hipstery concerts. And I am excited to be an actress again. It’s hard not to get burnt out, and this four month hiatus is just what I needed to get some perspective and motivation. I can’t wait to go audition for a small television role that will eventually be given to an overweight Norwegian 12 year old. I’m pumped to get callback after callback for an obnoxious tampon commercial. This is my life, and I’ve missed it. 

The following “morning” we woke up at 4am and drove from Slave Lake, Alberta to Prince George BC. That is not a short drive, but I enjoyed it compliments of my sister’s company, Rachel Dratch’s Audio Book, and a plethora of trail mix options. Once we got to Prince George we had to unpack all of our kitchen equipment, turn in our paperwork, chat with the office staff. It was nice to finally have some closure to the never-ending summer. 

We had some awesome times this summer. I got to spend so much time with Chris, cooking, laughing, being exasperated and overjoyed and exhausted. When else do you get to spend all day, every day with your significant other? I saw a grizzly bear for the first time, dealt with families of kangaroo mice, and was way too nervous for a surprise health inspection. And of course I had unlimited access to a professional kitchen and some excellent equipment. My tiny downtown kitchen pales in comparison. 

And now it’s all over. I’ve left my days of wilderness behind, and for them I traded a west coast road trip to San Diego, the worst sunburn I’ve ever had and a few weeks of relaxation in Ontario Cottage country. But those are stories for another time (and they are mostly about food). Thanks for sharing in this journey with me, it’s been great to document my crazy summer in the woods! Now if you’ll excuse me, my agent keeps calling about a bit character named Olga on Degrassi and asking how good my Norwegian accent is. 

Kristy (Back in Toronto, finally!)

PS. The amazing Morning Glory recipe is from a website called “My Little Celebration“, go check it out!

Kristy has spent the fast few months chronicling her summer as a Treeplanting cook for SDTC, and is finally back in that city that stands in for NYC in some movies and shows(because of tax credits or something…she’s not really sure). She also acts, writes, sings, and has various other special skills according to her resume. You can follow her on twitter @kristylapointe, and enjoy the blog she shares custody of at adeleandkristy.tumblr.com