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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.

I've always wondered about the chile roasting season. This Lowe's had a roasting cage that was visible but not active, and didn't look like it had been in use recently. I assumed it meant that the roasting season stopped a few months after the harvest. Clearly, that isn't the case if you saw it in action in July! I love your story! 😂

I was in El Paso a couple of years ago inI July, taking care of my SIL after open heart surgery. Went to the grocery store almost daily because I was making dinner and freezing meals for SIL, brother and adult nephew for after I left. The store was roasting chilies outside and it was always over 100 degrees, pity for the employee tending thre roaster. On one of the store trips, I dropped my phone between the console and seat, reached down to get it and my left hand got stuck. I had to sit there with my shorts on, showing most of my upper posterior thigh until I hollered at a nice lady and she came over and moved the seat lever back. Broke the bracelet, but I laughed all the way back to the house 😂

Alberta only (at present): Mahrousa brand tahini's being recalled for salmonella. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/mahrousa-brand-tahini-recalled-due-salmonella

Add me to the shiny culinary club. And the save it for special club.

FWIW ketchup would be wasted on me and most or all of my friends and (living) family. If you were going to go that route, then I think you'd also need to consider the other standard elements: salt, pepper, and sometimes mustard. I think that way lies madness, and unnecessary waste. In other words, don't worry about those little packets!

ditto

I too am prone to pick up "shiny objects". The other day I found a salted caramel chocolate drink mix in the cupboard.............dated Best Before 2023.

Thanks, y’all! @Smithy & @Shelby, your encouragement is appreciated! I was pleased with the components. I really wish I’d had ketchup packets for the hash brown patty, but didn’t think to try to acquire them, and I bet a fast food place would’ve donated some. I also didn’t want to use my own plastic condiment containers for this. 🤷‍♀️ @Shelby, you suggested egg bites early on in this thread, and a few other people chimed in, I think. I guess this was my way of using your idea. Thank you!

I'm sure it did. I've started learning to use skimmed fat, or excess oil from a salad (even though it includes vinegar by that time), for sauteeing other ingredients. Works a treat, I think, and it's thrifty!

Oh boy, I can relate! Laughs and frowns, all around!

I think we're definitely related. I bought a fancy brand chocolate sauce that I've saved for "a special occasion". The other day I had some vanilla ice cream that I wanted to eat and decided that it was a good day to just break that out. Why wait? It was moldy 🤣

@Smithy thank you for taking the time to show us the tour of that store. I visited my sister in TX , north of Austin. the H.E.B. in her town ( Georgetown ) had a Tortilleria , not quite as impressive. the I visited the H.E.B in downtown Austin : theirs was as impressive as the one you visited.

Camarones a la pimienta (peppered shrimp): Saute sliced white onion, garlic, jalapenos, and roasted chile Poblano. Add shrimp and a ton of black pepper, saute until done, and finish with a dollop of mayonnaise. This is a long-time favorite. Edit to add: I skimmed the chicken fat off the stock and used it when sauteing the onions. Probably added some flavor. Arroz poblano (green rice): Blend garlic, white onion, parsley, cilantro, spinach, and one of the roasted chile Poblanos with Mrs. C's chicken stock. Fry jasmine rice until lightly browned, stir in the green paste, and steam with chicken stock. Finish with diced roasted chile Poblano. This is probably my favorite green rice recipe.

They had several balsamic vinegars although I can't swear that they all were. My problem is that I buy these things thinking they look like a wonderful idea, then don't get around to using them for donkey's years. At least the vinegars shouldn't go off, but I know I have bottles of citrus-infused balsamic vinegars at home from trips we took at least 10 years ago. I'm kinda like a culinary magpie: it's shiny, I pick it up, then take it off somewhere to stash. 🫠 I'm trying to change that, and one way is to stick with the more straighforward stuff I know I'll use. I do like and use the varietal olive oils.

Me too and WOW that is an excellent price on that ham!

@patti, I continue to be in awe of your project and how it all works out. Those quiches look delicious! The hash brown patties and satsumas are just the right accompaniment.

@Smithy Are the vinegars balsamic? If yes, i have a bunch of fruit flavoured infused ones and love them. Wise buy on the kalamata olive oil - i love the stuff. I also use a butter infused olive oil.

It is cool! The first winter in my new house, years before I met my darling, friends came up for a winter camping and skiing trip. They brought a mini-keg of beer as a house-warming gift. It's too long ago now for me to remember its size, but it was probably a couple of gallons' worth. Opening it was a bit of a mess because none of us had messed with something like it before, but the mini-keg was cool and it did keep the beer in good condition. Not that the beer lasted long enough to go off. 🙂

Amusing signs seen around Alamagordo:

Well. I think someone should start making those barrel containers on a smaller size. I think the oils would keep for longer. Plus it's cool.

I think that may have happened to me once, but I'm a slow learner.

If you mean the big barrels, I think those are for tasting and supply. They pour into the squarish bottles of the size you choose, and then give them a special stopper that requires a bodacious press to shove it in. When I wondered aloud how I'd get the stopper back in once I'd opened a bottle, she told me that it has a built-in pour spout. I haven't taken the wrapper off one to see it yet (each bottle has a black plastic shrink-wrapped cap atop the stopper) but when I do I'll show you a photo of it.