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When I arrived here at our boondocking spot, I celebrated. I took pictures. I walked, and gleefully thought about having time to cook! What should I eat? I decided to celebrate with the last of a package of Trader Joe's chicken and green chile tamales, along with a green salad. (It was especially a celebration because I'd thought these were all gone until I started packing for this trip, then found them buried in the freezer. I bought them back here and since then have been through an entirely different and disappointing brand of Trader Joe's chicken and green chile tamales.) (Edited to add: I just realized that those very disappointing tamales were cheese and green chiles, with no chicken at all!) I needed to steam them, and reached for the pot with steamer basket that lives in the bottom drawer of the oven. This drawer. It was jammed. Shut tight. Remember in the last post, where I said I'd used 3 baking sheets? They had come from 2 different storage locations. Heck, I'd thought, they nest just fine. I'll let them all ride together. That turned out to be a bad idea. I thought a lot about Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series, and Anoia, the Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers. She can sometimes be appeased by simply rattling drawers. Would that do the trick, or would a more serious sacrifice -- like, my beautiful oven -- be required? It took a lot of rattling until I could get the drawer open a little way, then prying and shuffling items blindly with a spatula and ruler until I could things rearranged enough to unstick the drawer. Out came the pot in question... ...and out came the offending 3rd sheet pan. It's back in its earlier position now. Be careful about how much stuff you put into a drawer, especially in a house that moves! Whew. I steamed the tamales, made myself a nice salad, and breathed a prayer of thanks. Thanks, Anoia!

On the night before a big move, it would make sense to get everything cleaned up and ready to go, and get to bed early for an early start. Wouldn't it? Of course it would. I'm afraid that's not my style. Never has been. Maybe it's a form of foot-dragging because I really don't want to move. Maybe it's because, as my darling used to assert, I'm more deadline driven and need the pressure to make me move. (He used to say that most people are crisis-driven and tend to leave academic issues like papers and studying for the Last Possible Minute. He was not like that. I'm guilty.) Whatever the reason, I found myself roasting vegetables and taking advantage of the last predictable water, power and trailer dump on my last night in Alamagordo. I'd been to the grocery store and picked up fresh vegetables. They needed to be roasted. Oh, what a good time I had! Whee! I used 3 racks and 3 baking sheets in the oven. I roasted peppers, cauliflower, and mushrooms on 3 sheets, then combined them onto 1 sheet until they cooled enough to be stored. Some of those peppers and mushrooms are a bit overdone; the bottom "rack" of the oven is actually the bottom of the oven and I didn't mind the heat carefully enough. That's all right, though; the results are pretty good. Of course, this is what faced me in the morning: I was able to get everything put away and the trailer ready to go without too much trouble. My poor darling, who was a morning person, would have been stamping and gnashing his teeth, but we always did work best at opposite ends of the day. It's probably no surprise that it takes longer to set up and tear down with only one person. In the Good Old Days he'd be doing the outside chores while I did the inside chores, and someone would still find the time to take the dog for a walk. Now it all falls to me. Anyway, I told you this story (about the vegetables and using 3 sheet pans) so I can tell you the next one.

Breakfast for Dinner. Brought home leftover red cambray potatoes from lunch out and made a potato hash. No meat, no cheese, only eggs and my usual onions & peppers. I fry a heaping pan of onions, sweet red peppers and poblanos every week and store in fridge. It goes on and in a lot of our meals. Omelets, burger topping, pizza topping, tacos, quesadillas, etc.

Brunch today was a smaller version of yesterday's grilled cheese and tabbouli on jalapeno popper sourdough bread. Did you know bulgur would pop when it hits a hot griddle? I didn't, before now. Getting back to the tortillas for a moment: there's still the question of just what to do with them. I made a road-food sandwich in Papa's Pan with one of them. For oil I used the salad dressing remaining in the bottom of the bowl after my dinner salad. I didn't bother taking a photo of the interior, but that's all right, because it was entirely forgettable except to remember not to make it again. The filling was several types of sliced meats and cheeses, all melted together in the wrap. I think I included salad greens, which is an unkind treatment for such delicacies. I didn't include pickles because it would be messy to eat. The process of cooking it in Papa's Pan worked well enough; the pan kept the wrap doubled over on itself until the interior set. The difference in color you see here is because I put all the salad dressing on one side and didn't want to make a mess trying to distribute it. I'd made enough mess already, and I'll tell you about that later. I had more success once I got here, making a quesadilla of sorts. I tried the ridged side of my reversible grill, because I like the grill markings. Well, I like the grill markings from my panini press at home. I'm not so sure about this one. (I think there was cheese in there. Maybe it's just a griddled sandwich.)

I'd probably try to buy one if I'd watched it much longer! Wouldn't that be a hoot to have at home, in your outdoor kitchen, right next to the giant grill? Incidentally, that 10-pack of tortillas was only $2.99. Quite the bargain. In case someone's interested, here are the ingredients: That's a very different ingredient list than for the flour tortillas I usually buy. The dough relaxers and conditioners are probably why they puffed up so much.

It's Zingerman's annual Spring Sale!

Weight Watchers Air Fryer Crispy Chicken, Cavendish Flavour Crisp Fries (So handy!) Shrimp & Mixed Veg" Quick meal! Eating from the freezer. Took inventory and actually made a list on a white board. No shopping for protein for a couple of months! Cumin Spiced Chicken, pears, and scalloped potatoes: Weight Watchers recipes Chicken steamed with Shitaki mushrooms and Lap Cheung Salmon baked between 2 layers of herbs: B Chinese New Year! Savory Tang Yuen Buddha's Delight: so many goodies! Spicy Shrimp and Cheesy Grits: Another Weight Watchers recipe Snow days! More cooking in the kitchen, with a free facial included: Made 3 dozen Char Siu Baos!

Lamb ragu from Six Seasons of Pasta by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg This is a delicious, meaty ragu made with chunks of lamb shoulder and ground lamb. No tomato; instead, chicken broth provides the liquid. Since I cut and trimmed the lamb shoulder chunks, I had bones and trimmings and could have made a lamb stock but I went with the recipe. I was afraid of it being too mutton-y but I think it would have been fine. I’ll make the stock next time. He recommendeds a pasta like radiatore to catch the meaty bits and suggests adding a handful of nettles. I had the radiatore but was fresh out of nettles so I used arugula and it worked well. The book includes a recipe for pasta with snap peas, lamb ragu and fiore Sardo. He says the fiore Sardo (a lightly smoked sheep milk cheese from Sardinia) is worth seeking out. I’m debating whether it’s worth a $20 shipping charge. We’ll see….

Merci beaucoup! Haha! I didn’t want to admit that I thought people (me) might like ketchup with their quiche, too. (But only if the quiche is somehow lacking.)

Milk proteins bing to polyphenols mostly. Mutes down bitter flavors. So if you like bitter flavors (and I do) may not be your jam. Chunks of stuff get filtered as well. I didn’t really show the whole process or list all the ingredients (I assumed it was more than folks wanted to know)

anyone as amused as I about ads for the smart oven driven by QR codes? drooling tv presenter: 'tastes like it just came from a restaurant" . . . . giggle - she doesn't know how accurate that is . . . .

I’m with @Smithy in that the ketchup would be wasted on me and you can’t make yourself crazy! I do know some people who put ketchup on any and all eggs - quiche included. But you know what, ketchup is so ubiquitous that I bet even an unhoused ketchup devotee would know where to find a few of those packets if they were lucky enough to pick up one of those delicious meals.

3 yr aged Artikaas gouda/ parm carbonara La Quercia Pancetta 3mm home extruded spagetti/ 35% fine Semo/ 00 -24 hr aged after extrusion The start--one dose of pasta water

Hand held egg souffle bites== Fingerling potatoes/sundried tomatoes/bckchoy/corn/garlic and 3 yr age gouda cheese

Too far back to edit, but sometime ago I mentioned young lotus leaves being edible. Here is an example from a Maoan ethnic minority village in northern Guangxi. Lightly "breadened" and fried in the night market.

So the milk is just a clarifier? To collect things like lemon pulp?

I just want to throw in a plug for Breville's smallest, bottom-of-the-line smart oven. The only thing "smart" about it is the design. Which is all I want, and which is hard to find. It's just a really good toaster, which has also worked in a pinch to bake tarts and cake rounds, warm plates, toast nuts, melt cheese etc. Nothing fancy. Even heat and simple interface. The killer feature is the button labelled "a little bit more." We've bought two over the years for different kitchens; my sister used it and bought one and then another, a friend saw it and bought one. My only complaint is the crumb tray. It's got a dumb non-stick coating on it, which, self-defeatingly, makes it hard to clean. It should just be a slab of stainless that can be scoured with anything or thrown in a dishwasher.

I did think that was an excellent touch.

That’s the curdled stuff in the Cambro. It’s a clarified punch

I lightly salted the hash brown patties after baking them. I don’t use ketchup on much, and these days only ketchup without added sugar, but there are certain foods I enjoy more with ketchup. Crispy chicken skin - fried or baked - MUST have ketchup for dipping. Meatloaf. Must have ketchup for a quick dip. I try not to eat fries, tots, hash browns, or any other delicious potato concoction that might benefit from ketchup, so I’m safe there. Scrambled eggs, not necessary to have ketchup, but salsa makes me happy. But you’re right, I can’t drive myself crazy worrying about condiments and “accessories.” When I did chili recently, I did feel good about including little containers of diced raw onions, sour cream, and a baggy of cheese, as well as Fritos.

Where is the milk, @Dr. Teeth ?

The story of my life. I hang onto things too long waiting for just the right occasion. @Smithy, I have never seen a supermarket with a tortilleria in it!! Wow!! I'd still be standing there watching it.

Playing with milk punches. Rum, port, demara and lemon

Thank you. Ruidoso looks like a nice area, but hasn't been on our (my) list of good options for our visiting times. Same for Cloudcroft, I'm afraid. The closest I've been so far has been Tularosa, but I didn't notice any good disc golf courses there at the time. 🙂

I am continuing to enjoy your travel reports, so thanks again (and again) for your posts. Have you ever been up to Ruidoso or Cloudcroft? I expect they are probably snowed in this time of year, but they do feature some well-regarded mountain disc golf courses that I would like to play someday.