Smithy

Yesterday morning, when I'd decided to stick around here, I thought to myself "Self, there are still 1-1/3 dozen eggs in the refrigerator. Time to do something with them." You see, I'd come from home with a dozen eggs...maybe more, I don't remember...and then not used as many as I'd anticipated. When my sister came to visit, we didn't get around to eating eggs either. @rotuts' comment about lavash making a good wrap has stuck with me. Somewhere since then, I'd seen a great-looking recipe online for spinach, feta and egg breakfast wraps. I couldn't find that recipe. What the heck. I decided to wing it. I got out 4 eggs, thereby emptying the 1/3 dozen from home, and whipped them up with a bit of half-and-half. I realized I had no spinach, but I did have broccoli florets. I chopped them finely. I pulled out some of that great Trader Joe's sundried tomatoes in olive oil and chopped them finely. The oil from the tomatoes would supplement the butter I planned to use for cooking. I looked around for an appropriate cheese to add. Hmm, here's a luxury cheese from home. Impulse buy. Never fished out of the cheese basket. Maybe it was time to try it? Nope. Hard as a rock. Really. For shame! I'll have to consult the "What to do with very hard cheese" topic for ideas. Better still, maybe someone reading this will chime in with ideas! Okay, how about this Cotija? Yep. Very nice. I probably could have crumbled it, but chopping was quicker. Okay, all set to go except for the pan. I was working inside. Note to self: pack a smaller skillet or two into this Princessmobile! I left all the nonstick pans behind, except for the large ones. I was a bit leery of using my cast iron skillet, even though it's well seasoned. The nonstick wok would have to do. It actually wasn't bad for this purpose, just bigger than necessary with the water-use excess that implies for cleanup afterward. I learned anew that I still don't have the hang of putting together wraps that will hold together. It's as difficult for me with lavash as with a tortilla! I made two wraps and gave them a bit of a sear in the skillet. That may have helped stiffen them, and definitely helped clean up stray oil in the pan. Breakfast yesterday was messy but good. The original article -- where the heck was that thing? -- had suggested these wraps as grab-and-go ideas, and I thought that sounded appealing for the rest of my road trip. The second wrap went into the refrigerator until today. Still messy, still good after I'd reheated it. I don't like cold eggs except the occasional hard-boiled egg, usually in something. This was no exception. It was even better with salsa. Definitely not a candidate for road food, though. After all that was done, I stumbled over the original inspiration: a NYT recipe I'd filed away a couple of days ago! Here it is, in case you're interested. It called for baking a frittata in the oven, then cutting it into squares and wrapping it. I was way off base on my recollection, but I'm pretty happy with the overall results. Except for my wrapping skills. (Incidentally, I've begun a running list of things to pack next time that I wish I'd brought, like a small nonstick skillet or two. There are a few things I'll be able to leave behind as well, but not many.)

@Ann_T: what a shame about the restaurant! I wanted to "react" with a sad face, until I read about and saw your breakfast. The story has a happy ending! 🙂

So, it looks like I have another grocery store tour for you! I drove to town to get a prescription refilled, refuel the pickup, and make sure my 4-footed family has enough food to get home. I discovered a wonderful grocery store called Cosentino's Price Chopper. They have a gorgeous produce section: ...and although I didn't need much, I had wanted spinach for a project I'll show you later. Their deli counter has a wonderful mural. If you didn't want to cook, or were pressed for time, you had plenty of options. And look at these sweet treats! I'm not sure I've ever seen cannoli in the wild before. These were gorgeous and tempting, though I didn't buy. There were some really good bargains on pork roasts. I thought of my darling, and how we'd probably have bought one or two of these if he were still around. In another area, they had seafood and specials ready to grill. I certainly didn't need anything. But I'm camped! And I have a fire pit! I bought a pound of shrimp. Frozen, peeled, deveined, good price. And baby "power greens" rather than just spinach. They'll do as well for what I need.

<Cue The Clash: Should I Stay or Should I Go?> In 3 days' travel I went from the windy desert of Arizona, through the high plateaus of New Mexico and the lower-elevation heat of Texas and Oklahoma, to mid-Kansas. A little over 1000 miles. I arrived at one of our old favorite camping spots: a campground developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. If you look at the sky above the trees, you can see why I wondered whether to stay or go on today. If I had chosen to continue driving at roughly the same pace I had been, I might have stayed ahead of the predicted bad weather. Then again, maybe not. And this is a nice place. And I've put on 1000 miles (or so) in 3 days. So I'm staying. The travel nights gave me a lot of variety: 2 truck stops, before arriving at this campground. Truck stops are good if you can sleep through the noise. My rig is smaller than the trucks but may have unexpected protrusions, hence the traffic cones. So far, no problems. I hope that continues. I haven't, however, been inclined to cook or eat much. There's been lots of road food in the form of chopped vegetables, or sandwiches. I finally figured out that hoarding the last of my wonderful sandwiches from Wolfe's wasn't a good idea. Even that wonderful bread had its limits. So I ate half of it dried out, and grilled the other half in oil one night. I don't seem to have taken pictures. The night I arrived here, I began with a simple green salad, using some fine salad dressing I'd picked up at Wolfe's in Claremont. While I was eating the salad, I also was reheating some of the chicken and rice from when my sister visited. As it turns out, the residual salad dressing after I'd finished the greens went very well with that dish! I would be remiss if I didn't give some love to Subway. I know Subway is disliked in some quarters, but yesterday morning I picked up a foot-long special "not here long" sandwich that I wish I could remember. Rotisserie chicken, spicy ranch dressing. Probably jalapenos, onions and red bell peppers. I certainly asked for lettuce, tomato, spinach and pickles but left the rest as they suggested. It was quite good, and saw me through the day until I arrived and set up... ...and ate my chicken, rice and vegetables, and pondered whether to stay or go on the morrow. So far, I'm glad I've stayed.

What do you especially like about it? The cleanup, or does it make a flavor / texture difference?

Do you have your back issues, or did this pop up somewhere on a news feed?

The northern Visitor's Center has a full-blown grill and spacious cafe. This is what had caught my eye: Fry Bread! I've always wanted to try it, and never had the chance. I thought about just buying a piece of fry bread alone and bringing it back to the trailer, since I'm leery of other people's chili. I'm glad I didn't go that route. I ordered the Baby Navajo Taco. It turns out the fry bread is deep fried in canola oil. It was light, puffy, delicate and delicious: too soft to be able to pick up easily, so I resorted to flatware for it. The entire assembly was lacking...something...probably at least in part because the tomatoes were insipid. But the chili was pretty good, and I'm glad I had a chance to try the bread as it's meant to be eaten (hot and fresh). The bread was delicious. The cook told me that it's simply made from flour and water. That was a surprise, but I remember the bread that our Bedouin guide made under hot coals, buried in sand. I watched him make it by pouring a bit of water into his flour sack and kneading the resulting knot until it could be formed into a dough. It was also delicious. My darling thought that it had to have leavening of some sort, but I'm not convinced. We'll never know now. And...and there's a gift shop in that building. Now really...did you think I could get away from there without buying a cookbook? Actually, I'd thought I might...but no. The ideas look too good. And it's for a good cause or three.

I'm glad I stayed another day. If anything, the wind is stiffer now than it was, and it was a crosswind for my return trip to the Petrified Forest National Park. I hadn't been able to see the Museum or Visitor's Center at the northern end of the park, so today was a good day day to visit them. The Painted Desert Inn is now registered as a historical landmark. It was built in the 1930's and is a beautiful example of Southwestern Desert architecture of the time. It was originally built as a good stopping place for travelers, and has the old Fred Harvey restaurant and soda fountain to prove it. I don't know if I still have the cookbook, but the Harvey House Cookbook is entertaining to read, and to learn about the history of the Fred Harvey company. If the books are to believed, the "Harvey Girls" were a considerable influence on civilizing the American Southwest as the railroads worked their ways in. In addition to the discussion of the Inn and its Route 66 connection, there's a lot of space devoted to Native American crafts of the area. I was greeted in the first room by a gentleman who was busily threading beads to make jewelry. One table was filled with it. Gorgeous stuff. He said he'd been learning since he was a little boy, taught by his uncles. (Incidentally, I asked his permission before photographing him or his work.) When I asked about whether he just dreams up this stuff or works from patterns, he said he just starts working on whatever idea seems cool at the time. He also said he sometimes suffers from "writer's block". It never occured to me that a craftsman might suffer the same blank mind as a writer. There were also beautiful Navajo rugs of various sizes. He said his grandmother weaves them. I admired them, moved on in to the rest of the museum, and spotted this display. "Feel the raw wool!" Something I could touch! On my way back out I stopped to admire and touch the rugs on the table next to the jewelry. The blue rug has more turquoise tones than this picture shows. I fell in love with it. Finally I asked him, "If I were to buy this rug, how much mortgage would I have to take out on my house?" He laughed, said most people don't even ask (they just buy the rugs) and then said that particular rug is $4500. I'm not surprised. The workmanship is beautiful. The feel is beautiful. I'm glad they have customers who can appreciate and afford their work, and I said so. He appreciated that. He also said he'd never heard the "how much?" question put the way I just had. We smiled, bid each other good wishes, and I left. There is a soda fountain in that building, but I wanted something more substantial so I backtracked to the Visitor's Center for lunch.

What fun! I'm sure y'all had even more fun, being there together, but I've thoroughly enjoyed this trip report. Thank you for bringing us along!

My darling and I always found ourselves sitting somewhere for a day or two while weather cleared ahead of us. For some silly reason, I thought May would be different than Aprils past! 😄 And today, right now and here where I'm camped, it's utterly still, sunny and beautiful. (It was cool last night, though, to the point that the furnace ran a few times.) The forecast is for heavy wind again today, and it's already quite windy ahead of me. So I'll use this day to go see the museums and visitor center I missed a couple of days ago, and get myself ready to leave in the morning. No photo, but I just slugged down a large spoonful of yogurt with chopped nuts atop it. Maybe I'll eat a banana, maybe not. It's surprising to me how filling yogurt and nuts can be.

Once again, I find myself sitting and waiting for weather to clear ahead of me. No way am I going through this: When I pulled into this campground on Friday I'd originally thought just to spend one night. But I also wanted to see some of the Petrified Forest National Park, and I arrived here too late on Friday to do that. So I opted for 2 days. Then I looked at the wind ("breezy" as in gusting to around 40 mph) for the next several days and several hundred miles, and prolonged my stay even more. The wind is supposed to be a tailwind and could give me a good mileage push, but it still seems a bit dicey for my experience level. And there have been tornadoes just east of my proposed path home. And I don't want to drive through thunderstorms if I can help it! So here I sit, comfortably plugged into electricity and using the campground's water and sewer, and glad not to have pressing appointments at home. It's a busy campground, but I'm parked at the periphery next to an open field where the dog and I can run (him) or stroll (me). Near the entrance it's a different story. They have a nice little green space with picnic tables and a cooking shack. Here's their menu: I had to ask about "Petrified Toast" and was advised that it's basically a garlic bread toast. This area, close to the Petrified Forest, celebrates that connection. There are a few petrified logs here, and many in town. These are a fairly typical example of what I had thought petrified logs looked like. I got an eye-opener yesterday! But back to the campground and its cooking facilities. There's a group cooking shack that looks like a great place to throw a party. There are barbecue grills on pedestals close to where I'm parked. When I wrote about grilling the chicken I had one of them in mind. But it was already windy, and it's only gotten more so. The oven is safer and more convenient. Yesterday I packed a lunch and launched off to tour the park. It WAS windy...enough that any nincompoop standing atop a roof would have been blown off. I held a tight grip on my cell phone at some of the vista points. They overlook deep canyons, with pictographs below and telescopes for better viewing. I wonder how many hats have inadvertently been lost over the edges? (That's a petrified log at the bottom of the collage above. What's left of the root ball is nearly as tall as I am.) What I never knew about petrified wood before yesterday is that it can be spectacularly colorful. The colors come from the mineral impurities present in the sediments and waters that covered the logs during the Triassic period, when they were submerged and gradually mineralized. Note that tree rings and knots are still visible. I don't seem to have gotten any of the blue or green colors but they were there also. Jim Gray's Petrified Wood Company is a fun shop outside the park where you can see even more fine specimens, polished and cut and most for sale. Sorry, he doesn't seem to have a web site but you can Google the place and see some photos and reviews from others. They don't just have the rocks. They also have fossils, jewelry, Route 66 memorabilia, hats, and anything else you can think of designed to separate you from your money. I'd love to have one of their tables, but of course have no place to put it! I took a break and ate part of my sandwich. You've seen my sandwiches...loads of layers, pretty good. I'm still saving the last sandwich from Wolfe's for road food although I may need to reconsider that if I stay here much longer. When I got home, I reheated the last of the ribs and potatoes from my celebratory dinner with my sister. And I STILL didn't finish it all! I ate about half of that rib. The rest was today's late afternoon lunch. I won't need much dinner. (I just finished chatting with a couple who came this way from New York, on a 9-day trip. They were fighting that wind I mentioned, going into it. And they just missed a tornado in Kansas City a day or two ago, by an hour! I'm glad I'm staying put.)

In truth, my experimentation has been rather pedestrian. I have a nice sampler set of peppercorns, courtesy of a suggestion from @andiesenji years ago, that I've used a bit. (In case anyone's interested, it's this set by The Pepper Trade (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)). I find that I especially like mixtures of black, white and green peppercorns, freshly ground. Telicherry peppers are nice. Brazilian pink peppers are nice, in small quantities. But the biggest discovery for me was learning that freshly ground black pepper is nothing at all like the years-old, long-gone-stale, heavily used ground pepper in a can that my dear departed grandmother used on everything. 🙂 I still prefer white pepper, but fresh black pepper vs. stale black pepper was a revelation.

I am continually amazed at the talent, skill, artistry and no doubt patience that goes into those edible artworks! What are these colored handle-y things? Sponges for daubing color? Dipping sticks? Some fun form of lollipop? Something I haven't thought of?

I agree that they're different. In general, I prefer white pepper. I think it was my "gateway" to the world of pepper flavors.

I finally -- was it really only yesterday? -- bid farewell to the Eastern Sierras and their wild weather... ...and started heading toward home. There were still a few high wind warnings along the way, but they seemed more aimed at the northbound and westbound traffic. I only hit a little bit of turbulence, and nothing too frightening. The most frightening thing might have been at this enticingly-named "Desert Oasis" or some such (I've forgotten the full name) along the fabled Route 66, and before I left California: No truck parking. And diesel was $8.50/gallon! I'm used to around $5. The very, very fine dust (note the footprints) was yet more proof that I was in new country. As I drove through the California desert I recognized a lot of areas my darling and I had stayed in, but I couldn't snap photos much less plan to stay there. It's time to move. The wonderful sandwiches I purchased from Wolfe's are finally coming into their own. Ingredients are as I listed before: their dark brown "Prairie bread" (I still think it needs a different name) with roast beef, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, sprouts, pepperoncini, mayonnaise and mustard. I've now had one entire sandwich, split over two days, and have one in abeyance. I drove through Winslow, Arizona and checked out a potential camping area before moving on. My darling had once called me from that town, specifically to tell me that he was "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona" and that he loved me. If you aren't an Eagles fan you may not get the reference. The chicken thighs I bought in Lone Pine have come into their own. I'd thought to cook them over an open fire, reminiscent of our Cowgirl Chicken of yesteryear, but in the end cooked them in the oven. I first laid down a layer of rinsed brown rice with a little water, then loaded the chicken thighs atop it. They'd been coated with generous helpings of Penzey's "Resist" spice blend, more than I'd normally apply but I wanted to finish off that package. Oven roasted until the chicken and rice were both cooked. Quite good. Not shown: the green bean salad I'd consumed while waiting, because I was already darned hungry. I will add that the spice blend is a bit too aggressive -- as in, hot -- for such a heavy coating. I like it, but ended up tempering the flavors with Meyer lemon juice and a bit of salt. Still, I have one small packet finished off. There's another in abeyance but I'm about a week from home, and would like to keep the second one unopened.

If you're ever in the vicinity of Independence, CA there's a lot to see. I mentioned that we went to Manzanar one day. On another two days we visited the old Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery, which operated from 1916 until 2008 and is now a fascinating museum about the life cycle of trout, the ecology of the region, and some of the other wildlife. We visited twice because the first day we lollygagged on the grounds enjoying a picnic lunch and didn't realize we'd missed the museum! We came back the next day. This was typical of our picnic lunches: The building itself is beautiful, and was built to stand "forever" although it took the intervention of a group formed to save it when floods wiped out most of the stock ponds and the Fish and Wildlife Service decided to close and abandon it. The pond downsteam of the hatchery is beautiful, and has extremely lively and overfed trout. They're overfed courtesy of the little fish-food vending machine on the banks of the pond. For $0.25 you can get a drinking cup's worth of fish pellets. When you start scattering them on the waters, the word spreads. Some of these guys were the length of my arm! I didn't realize that mulberries grow in California, but here they were on the grounds. Ripe, or at least ripening. Nice. Tart. A bit astringent. On the day we visited while the museum was opening, we found reasons to spend money in the gift shop. I don't need new potholders, but these are fun and they go to a good cause: supporting the museum. They're also a bit of a gift to myself: new potholders for the new Princessmobile. Symbolic of a new life.

Following up on this tip: I haven't made the roux (yet) but the tip helped me justify keeping the fat around until I could made the roux. Last week, when my sister was here, we had a fine festive dinner with most of the leftover rib meat from my Easter dinner; my favorite green bean salad; and potatoes cooked in some of that fat. And wine of course, lots of wine. I was thinking along the lines of Potatoes Anna or Potatoes Dauphinois, but I don't think the final product fit either of these. I liberally buttered the bottom of the square Corningware baker I'd bought at a Yuma yard sale. I used a mandoline to cut thin slices of a Russet potato she'd brought. I've had thinner slices, but this worked well. I layered them around in a "scallop" or "fishscale" pattern. Meanwhile, while the oven was heating, I heated 4? finely chopped garlic cloves in the melting beef tallow. When they had just started to sizzle and the tallow was quite warm and melty, I poured it all over the potato slices, covered it and loaded into a 425F oven. After about a half hour the potatoes were softening and absorbing the fat. I took the cover off, turned down the heat and put the beef ribs, still wrapped tightly in the foil in which I'd stored them, into the oven to warm up. I had intended to shred this cheese and put it atop the potatoes. This is one of the treats I brought from home. I tried some. Nope. Not compatible with the existing flavor profile. Neither was regular cheddar. I decided that the spuds didn't really need anything more. My sister agreed. And we luxuriated in dinner! Of course, the next morning there was this spectacle to be dealt with. Still no kitchen brownies!

Oh, very yes! I'm so pleased to know that someone else knows the word "mondagreen". I introduce it to friends and family whenever possible. I think one of my favorite examples from personal life comes from a few years ago, when I was reading a high-wind warning from the National Weather Service to my darling on a day like yesterday. The warning said that high winds might blow off "weakened roofs". He thought I'd read "nincompoops" and wondered why they'd be up on the roof in the first place!

Breakfast this morning, while I write a bit more and ponder what to do today. That's Meyer lemon from my L.A. friend's tree. I brought a dozen with me when I left a week ago. I'd like to have taken more (I don't think she's using them) but I didn't have specific uses for them so I restrained myself. Last night I had one of the chicken enchiladas from Wolfe's, and can write a bit more about what they're made of and how they taste. Here's the ingredient list, graciously written out by the staff member who prepared my order: I once again cooked it in the oven in one of the Corelle pie pans I'd picked up at a Yuma yard sale. That's a pretty good vessel for the purpose. I probably still don't have the right time and temperature, but it came out better last night than the last time, when a telephone call distracted me. I started at 350F, decided that wasn't hot enough, turned it up to 400 or so, then decided that was too hot. Probably turning the pan would have helped also. Still, it was very good. As with so many things, the quality of the ingredients is the key. The chicken breast chunks are a fairly good size, and very tender. The notes say they're baked with olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. I suspect the baking is a key factor. Here's the best money shot I could manage: This time, the flavor and texture of the corn tortillas was unmistakeable. I loved it. I'm glad I have more of these. All the time I was doing my evening thing, a storm was blowing in. Dust below me on Lake Owens, clouds and eventually a scattering of rain above me. The wind shook the trailer and I rearranged the pickup to make what windbreak I could (not much). Bishop, some 50 miles north, was reporting wind 28 gusting to 43. That's knots. In mph that came out to nearly 50 mph wind gusts, nearly broadside to the trailer. (In kph it sounds even more scary: 79 kilometers per hour!) I went to bed with the Beach Boys' Barbara Ann ringing in my head: you got me rockin' and a rollin', rockin' and a reelin' BoberAnn. This morning it was 43F. Still gusty wind. Classic post-cold-front weather. The wind is nowhere near as strong, but last time I looked there were still travel advisories for my intended route. There's a pilot's adage that it's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the sky, than the other way around. I'm in a similar position here. Maybe I'll move today, maybe not.

That makes a lot of sense regarding the grocery store. There are a couple of ag-supply stores here that I haven't explored, but it's clear that the agricultural community is strong here. I haven't ventured much farther north than Independence during this trip, but I haven't seen anything this good to the south. You can probably shed light on the restaurants and hotels/motels around here. I see there's a lot to offer -- both fast-food and seated, but as I've shown here there simply hasn't been time or reason to explore them. It would be lovely to coordinate a visit sometime, since you'd be overnighting here! However, I'm hoping to leave today or tomorrow, wind permitting. This is as good a time as any to show a little store landmark my sister and I noticed near the stop light in Lone Pine. Unless there was more than one such sign made, this used to be a Visalia storefront landmark when we were growing up, about 100 miles west of here and across the mountains. Merry-Go-Round was the children's (maybe girls' only?) clothing store on Main Street. Rather upscale for the time and area. It disappeared from Main Street as the town changed. Nice to see it here.

Wow. I've usually been buying the Bota Box Pinot Grigio at about the price listed in your link. That's what cost me $24 today. I do expect higher prices in small stores in remote towns, but not as much elevation as Elsie apparently experiences.

Thanks for that perspective!

I've been off running errands and exploring this amazing terrain, and am now having a tide-me-over snack of a few bites of Wolfe's Red Potato and Bacon salad. It's thickly creamy, not soupy, of course not sweet. I didn't think to ask them the ingredients, but I can identify the red potatoes and bacon; also dried dill and something creamy...I suspect sour cream as well as mayonnaise. Maybe a touch of Dijon mustard but there isn't much of a mustardy kick. I'm sure there are other spices too. My darling never liked this stuff, which of course left more for me. Oh, the drama of this area! There's a 20% chance of rain today, and the wind is picking up. (I'll stay another day if necessary, to avoid driving in rain or strong wind.) The scenery itself is amazing and the clouds are building over the mountains. It's raining atop the next range over. Maybe it will here also. The area is dramatic in more ways than one. The improbable scenery has been the site of many a movie and television show. There's a History of Western Film museum here that talks about local filming and film stars, and if you look around you can find some of the markers. Gettting back to food: I've been in the local grocery store twice now. For such a small town it has an amazing selection of goods, no doubt because it serves locals and tourists and is on a major US highway with not many crossroads. (This is a jumping-off point for many backpacking and climbing areas, including Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states.) There's a lot of fresh produce that I didn't photograph, although my sister and I bought some a few days ago. Their meat counter is wonderful and tempting. I thought hard about getting some of their ready-to-grill dinners, but I already had things planned and knew we weren't likely to get to these. I left them alone. The prices on the meat are surprisingly good. The cold storage case has an amazing variety. Alas, prices aren't necessarily good on these. I stretched my supply of half-and-half and restocked yesterday at Trader Joe's when I visited the L.A. Basin again. I did, today, cave and buy another box of Pinot Grigio that I didn't get yesterday, and probably spent about 25% more than I would have: $24 here, $16 to $20 there if I'd found what I wanted. I had bought bottled wine at TJ's but wanted something rather less expensive for my trip home. I also, against all practicality, caved and bought some chicken thighs. No, I don't know when I'll cook them. No, I don't need them for the trip home. But these are beautiful, fat chicken thighs at a good price, and I wanted them. So there.

Lunch today is a leftover from yesterday's visit. My friend had a selection of foods, all intended to be quick and easy, and altogether too much for one sitting. We ate Philly Beef Sandwiches, probably from Trader Joe's, and fruit. I came home with a spinach, Swiss cheese and turkey wrap set; some of the fruit; and this TJ's Vegetable Roll set. Given the "use by" date of today I decided I'd follow the suggestion. It's all pretty good. My sister gave me a darling little ceramic bowl that's purrfect for the purpose of a dipping bowl, and I had the chance to try it out. The wasabi paste had its usual sinus-clearing benefits. My sinuses didn't need clearing, but I like the flavor. On another note: the inflatable bed deflated beautifully, rolled up beautifully, and is now in its new home under the now-folded sofa. I hope I don't forget it's there. If anyone's interested, it's this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) although we paid considerably less for it when we bought it in 2019. I'd forgotten all about it, and only discovered it in storage during my frantic packing last January. Based on the date, we had to have ordered it for the last Princessmobile, then never had guests to use it.

Yesterday, after my sister headed home for Reno, I drove back down to the L.A. Basin sans trailer to pick up a gift from my dear departed friend's daughter, and visit with her briefly. It's a long drive: supposed 3-1/2 hours, but a little over 4 for me on the way down and more like 5 on the way back due to traffic accidents clogging the freeways. Still, it was nice to see her and it gave me a chance to visit Wolfe's Market yet one more (final, really?) time. I called ahead, stocked up on their delicious chicken enchiladas and potato salad, had a couple of sandwiches made from their "Prairie Bread", still locally known as "Squaw Bread" but they're working to change their linguistic habits, and managed to get more information about both the bread and the enchiladas. I think they need to come up with another name than "Prairie Bread" since that's already taken for breads that don't resemble this at all, but the bakery is doing its best. Maybe they'll come up with another distinctive name. Southwest Heritage Bread? Los Angeles Brown Bread? What would you suggest? Here's the basic loaf: I've broken it into groups of several slices each, wrapped them tightly without crushing, bagged them again, and put them in the freezer. Perhaps half the loaf is sitting in its original wrapper at this point, for my use in the next few days. A closeup of the ingredient list: The bread itself: (Hmm, I didn't notice the hair until after I'd shot this picture.) You can see just how brown it is. They list molasses, but it isn't as sweet as many brown breads so I don't think it has proportionally much molasses in it.