Van Life Archives - Klang Slattery

living in a van or car, living in limited space, tips and recipes for cooking in small space.

Books, Writing, History, and Me

In “Books, Writing, History, and Me” I share my thoughts on travel, cooking, van-life, books, the process of writing, the experiences of an indie-publisher, WWII, the Holocaust, and anything else I feel might be of interest to readers of my books. Please send me comments and let me know what you like and what you want to know more about. Everything in this blog reflects my personal ideas and feelings–a memoir of sorts, it is my perspective and any errors or omissions are mine.

Comfort Food for Shelter in Place Days

The simple cooking style I practiced of necessity in my van-life days translates well to the shelter in place weeks we are experiencing now. One of my favorite comfort food ingredients, white sauce, is finding its way back into my repertoire. If you are older (say in your 70s like myself), mid-twentieth century comfort food may be calling to you in these stressful times. For all of us, comfort foods are the dishes that remind us of the love and safety of our childhood home. […]

Katie Slattery2020-04-23T16:58:56+00:00April 19th, 2020|Tags: Bechamel sauce, cooking, memoir, pantry staples, tuna, white sauce|7 Comments

Nomadland, A Book about Van-life Today

Over the last months, while I was researching travel memoirs, I came across Nomandland, by Jessica Bruder. Not a memoir, still this triumph of personal journalism hit a cord with me because it reveals van-life as it is today. I am aware of the trend of adventurous youth to spend some years living in a van or camper on the road. Some time ago, I read about the upswing of interest in van living that was highlighted in The New Yorker Magazine (“#Vanlife, The Bohemian Social-Media Movement,” April 2017 issue). Instagram reveals dozens of hashtags about this lifestyle, including #vanlife (266,126 posts), #vanlifediaries, and #vanlifeexplorers. […]

Katie Slattery2020-05-15T17:57:24+00:00April 4th, 2020|Tags: memoir, Nomadland, road-trips, the economy, Travels with Charley, van-life|0 Comments

Mexican Fried Rice, Van-life Cooking at a Time of Uncertainty

Last night for supper I prepared a rice dish that was inspired by both Chinese Fried Rice and the delicious Persian dish, Baghali Polo. Creating new dishes has always been relaxing and fun for me and, during these days of enforced “sheltering in place,” I’ve set myself the goal of making the best use of what food I already have in the cupboard. Normally I shop for groceries several times a week, but my plan for the next month is to hunker down and use what I have in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. These are skills I perfected during the two-year road trip that is the subject of my upcoming memoir, Wherever the Road Leads. Often, we didn’t know when or where we would find the next grocery store or open market. Occasionally my small cupboard offered nothing more than a few cans and a bag of pasta. Other [...]

Katie Slattery2020-03-21T23:50:55+00:00March 21st, 2020|Tags: cooking, mexican rice, van-life|2 Comments

A Memoir of Love and Travel Van-Life Style

Travel is my passion and my way of learning about the world. What was the most influential journey of your life? How has travel changed your perspective? The first question is an easy one for me — it was my honeymoon! Granted, my honeymoon was a bit different than most. It lasted for two years in the early 1970s and featured four continents via Volkswagen microbus. For years, I resisted writing about the experience. When we were traveling, I took notes, thinking I would write a travelogue or a food essay for a cooking magazine when we returned home. However, by the time I was back in California, I realized that most of my notes, by then as much as two years old, were already out of date. I set the idea of writing about our trip aside and proceeded with my life [...]

Katie Slattery2020-03-23T08:45:38+00:00October 1st, 2017|Tags: journal letters, memoir, travel, writing|0 Comments