How To Make The Most Out Of Your Keener Lunch Site Experience - Andrew Palim

As keeners we eat lunch at the rafter’s lunch site, either at the Lorne on the main channel or Garvin’s on the middle. While there is also good food served at both there are certain ways to optimize your time at the lunch site, secure more food and have a better time with the lads. Today I will fill you in a few secrets I’ve learned the hard way over many lunches.

First, get a mocha at the soup station but skip the soup, we’ll be eating more than enough hot food later and the caffeine is essential to overcome the fatigue that comes from kayaking everyday. Be sure to high tail out of there before the raft trip comes or you might be “voluntold” into serving endless throngs of rafters soup, a purgatory from which you will never escape.

Next up is the main event, the burger stand. I highly reccomend going behind the counter here, the work is pretty easy and lots of keeners will be behind the grill with you so it’s easy enough to dip before the crowds. The advantage to working at the burger stand is access to cookies, an extremely limited resource only awarded to keeners deemed helpful by the kitchen staff. And you can easily take a two or three patty burger without fear of reprisal, because after all you are helping out. After you’re done chopping veggies, flipping burgers and collecting your aforementioned reward you can settle into your burger. But don’t forget to always toast your buns and add cheese. Another great trick is to grill your onions and then stack your patties on top. Not only does the grease help cook the onions but it also allows for the cheese to melt. As for condiments, pickles are essential and some mix of ketchup and mayo is ideal. Lettuce is sometimes nice but I’m not sure vegetables are really on brand for my style of burger. Depending on the weather the benches by the trail and the fire are good places to eat, allow easy exit in case of Steveo asking for garbage men and letting you disguise yourself as a rafter for the purpose of eating more cookies. 

If you followed my steps you should be full, sufficiently caffeinated and quickly back on the water doing what keeners do best: kayaking.