Smithy

@Franci, how much difference do you think it makes to use the traditional terracotta stone for that piadine, as opposed to the steel griddle in the commercial kitchen? @Kerry Beal, I wish I could travel with you! Or at second best, travel the way you do. What style and delicious adventure! Thanks for bringing us along.

Hello, Fred, and welcome!* We have a lot of Anglophiles in this crowd; some of us in the USA have lived there, or traveled there. We also have a number of members who presently live in your fair isles. I think I'd be pleased if my darling cooked pork tenderloin with grilled tomato salsa for dinner. That sort of thing falls to me. From him, it's burgers. But he appreciates my cooking and I his lack of dirty dishes, so it works out. Does Emma also cook, or do you get all the fun? Are you native to the Midlands, or did you move to Manchester from elsewhere? Come on in and enjoy the fun. If you have questions about the forums - where to look, how to post, and so on - feel free to ask a host (I am one) by Personal Messenger, or else ask in the Moderation and Policy Discussion forum. *(Don't mind the after-a-certain-age Yanks with their cultural references. I'm not quite sure how they arrived at the theme song from a 1960's TV show about a talking horse named Mr. Ed, but that's what they're on about. Nothing rude.)

I got my copy of Usha's Pickle Digest today. It really is a pickle digest: how to choose ingredients, what ingredients you need, and then on to the recipes. The wording is very spare but there are fun quips here and there. I especially love the fact that it characterizes each pickle simply: hot, sweet, and so on. I'm going to be enjoying this book!

Peanut butter on toast, with 2 mandarin oranges.

Ah...a lot more than several people!

I can believe the ostrich eggshells were tough. I've seen South African serverware (salad servers and serving trays, for instance) made from wood with ostrich eggshell inlays. Beautiful stuff. It looks as tough as mother-of-pearl. As for the ostrich eggs to eat - I've read one can feed several people!

That is a wonderful and touching obituary. I especially love the last paragraph recommending a meal in his honor, with family and/or friends. Thank you, Shelby, for the link.

Yes to more oomph. I don't remember any funk. Neither my sister nor I is especially fond of stinky cheeses, and we didn't notice a resemblance. I was disappointed the year our local chicken-raiser decided to stop raising ducks and selling their eggs. He said the ducks were so aggressive that they drove the poor chickens to distraction and hurt the hens' laying ability. He said he was never so happy to slaughter livestock as when he finished those ducks! But I was disappointed not to have access to the eggs any more.

David, thanks for reviving this topic. Somehow I missed it the first time around. The timing is especially interesting because I'm taking a cooking class (on Craftsy / Bluprint) on Northern Italian cookery. One of his dishes is frico (fricò, if you mind your diacriticals) and it is remarkably like your Pommes de Terre Macaire. They have slightly different ingredients (other than the potatoes, of course) but are enough like in technique and result that I feel like I'm getting a nudge from the Universe. I must make one, or the other, or both, soon!

I had access to duck eggs at a farmers' market for a few summers. I enjoyed using them for omelettes and probably quiches. It's been 6 years since the last time, so I probably can't remember everything I did with them. My sister and I enjoyed their extra richness and size.

That aspect of induction cookery never occurred to me before now!

That's all a good perspective. I'm used to places that aren't quite so isolated. You were a bit high on your guess about the gift box, so you're clearly more realistic about prices in isolation that I! I was shocked to see their original price of $48 plus tax for that box, but with the discount and tax I paid about $15 for it and thought that was an excellent deal. So far the crackers and elk sausage are great. We haven't tried the rest of it yet.

We rarely have power failures that last more than a few hours, but they do happen. The last time we had a several-day outage it was in high summer. Fortunately, the Princessmobile's generator could be used to run the refrigerators and freezers in the house and garage. A generator is an excellent security blanket.

I made egg bites a couple of times this summer using guidance from Anova's Sous Vide Egg Bites article and links. They were delicious: a major hit in our household! Only problem with them was that we ate them too quickly to have any left for work the following week. I guess I needed to make bigger batches.

You're pretty close on the fruit. I think it was $5.00 or 5.50 per clamshell. We wouldn't have paid that at home, but it was Christmas.

Our generator is on its way back to us. I have time to take us back to Death Valley. The day after Christmas, the weather turned beautiful. It was cool the whole time we stayed - too cool to want to sit outside in deck chairs, for instance - but not uncomfortably cold for tent campers. There were a few blustery days and nights when I was glad not to be trying to anchor down a tent or trying to sleep with all the noise! Still, the days were sunny and the nights clear. I've been writing on a yearly basis about the facilities at Furnace Creek, in Death Valley, and the major renovations under way. The original "Furnace Creek Ranch" resort, built to be family-friendly and relatively low-cost, was built along western / wooden / ranch house lines and had a decidedly rustic feel to it. Three years ago the facilities were torn down to make way for the new, Mediterranean-style, Ranch at Death Valley. This year the old cabins had been torn down and construction had begun for their replacements. The restaurants and gift shop have been up and running for over a year. I wrote in fair detail and included pictures in this post last year, showing what I could of the before-and-after, so I won't repeat it. The gift store / grocery store has gone considerably upscale from its humble predecessor. There is a broader selection of jewelry, basketry, clothes, books, children's toys and various doodads than there used to be, all intended to separate the tourists from their money and, one hopes, give happy memories along the way. I picked up some jewelry but for once couldn't find any cookbooks that I wanted to buy. The grocery store was the astonishing part. There's a wide selection of beer, both local microbrews and more mainstream stuff. There's some wine. There's also coffee, tea, milk (dairy, soy, almond) and cheese. There are dried foods in packages. There are now full-blown microwaveable meals. There are deli meats in packages. There are prepared sandwiches to take with you, and hard-boiled eggs, and fruit, and salads. I went one day to check out their stock of fruit. I remembered seeing some sad bananas and the inescapable Red Delicious apples. Did they have anything else? They did. I couldn't bring myself to touch the peppers (already going off) or the avocados (ditto, and from Mexico) but I was really after fruit to supplement our typical breakfast fruit salad. We hadn't bought enough before leaving the Yuma area, and it might not have lasted anyway. So...how much do you think a basket of berries cost? How much do you think I paid for a basket of blueberries and one of raspberries (8 oz. each)? Prices weren't terribly surprising to me. This is an out-of-the-way place; there are transportation costs to be considered, and since it's an upscale resort you can expect prices to be inflated anyway. The irony, to me, is that this National Park (perhaps like all National Parks) stresses conservation and environmental protection. Take a look again at the stock, and how it's packaged. While you're guessing at prices, here's another one: a gift box of Hunter's Reserve sausage (elk and pork, and venison and pork), spreadable cheeses, crackers and 2 mustards. It was a beautiful box. I bought one and thought it a decent deal at 25% of its original price. It's pretty good stuff, too. Got any guesses about how much they wanted for it in the first place?

I find that's key for us as well, and the "stuff will always come on sale" comment is one I need to take more to heart. In our case we add things that we can't get just anywhere, as we pass through an area...but hoarding them is still no good! I went back to the beginning of this topic and noted it's been going for over 2 years now! Those of you losing hope might want to look back at the initial premise: reach in and grab something. Anything. Then cook it. For those whose freezers resemble mine, that might mean making a meal of puff pastry or of frozen mole sauce, but it would be progress. Hmm. How would nachos made with seasoned burger and molé (the sauce, not the animal) come out, do you think?

@CantCookStillTry, I'm laughing because of your "Moe" comment, but I'm very impressed with the product! How old are the youngest? Will their school chums be impressed, or will they laugh because the boys' lunches are so different from everyone else's? Most importantly, what do the boys think about the meals?

Tonight's dinner was worthy of the freezer challenge topic. Chicken thighs, oven-dried tomatoes in oil, and chicken broth all came out of the freezer. If I'd thought of it I could have added ginger from the freezer; next time I will. Broccoli from the refrigerator, rice from the pantry and the decapitated leaves from a dying basil plant all went into the mix: pilaf made in one pot, the chicken and vegetables cooked in a skillet, and the lot served in bowls. It's a good thing we liked it; there are plenty of leftovers. I think I could reproduce this dish, but I've said that before! At this point we have 4 meals (each) of various leftovers. If the generator isn't back tomorrow, we'll have to be creative about reheating something without the microwave oven.

From the badly-stuffed freezer: 4 boneless/skinless chicken thighs, a bag of oven-dried tomatoes that had originally been packed in oil (the mess in the fridge was horrid when it leaked), and a pint of chicken broth. The dish was assisted by 2 crowns of broccoli from the refrigerator, rice from the pantry and basil rescued from my ailing, now decapitated deck plant. In retrospect ginger would have been a nice addition; that's also in the freezer. Who else is trying to work through, or at least turn over, the contents of their freezers now that the holidays are over?

I love these wedding-catering stories! Let more come along as y'all think of them. I have a bit more to write about Death Valley and the holidays, but wish to interrupt this narrative with the latest exigency. We awoke yesterday morning to a generator that refused to generate. (It seems that trailer failures, like most emergencies and even births, are most likely to happen on weekends or after work hours!) We found someone willing to make a "house call" on a Saturday. They arrived around 1:30 in the afternoon, and left around 3:00 with the generator, having determined that it's either the "brains" or the stator. They thought they'd get back to the shop in time to determine which. They called later. Nope, they hadn't gotten to the shop in time. We'll hear Monday. They have ready access to both parts, so either way the generator should be back here on Tuesday. The lack of a generator means returning to "older, simpler" times like those when we traveled with a bed-of-the-pickup camper. Fortunately the pickup can recharge our trailer's batteries, so we have fundamentals like water, lights and heat. The stove and oven don't need electricity. The refrigerator runs on propane and 12v power, so our food is safe. What we can't use are things that run on 110v electricity: the microwave oven and, woe is us, the coffee maker. How can one face a crisis like a failed generator on a Saturday morning without coffee!? I found my stash of instant Starbuck's 2019 Christmas Blend, boiled water and had what passed for "coffee" (if you squinted) while I searched for generator repair services and made phone calls. After the generator had gone to the shop I went looking for our French press. We haven't used it for years. I had considered leaving it behind, and maybe even donating it. Had I actually done so? I'm happy to report that procrastination and lack of resolve to simplify have paid off again. The bottom photo in that collage is simply for beauty. I think the bubble pattern in that pot coming to the boil is delightful. Maybe you will too.

I believe you, but now I'm impressed with you as well as Heidi. When we were planning our wedding, a friend offered the use of his brand-new, still-clean hangar. Cool! We decided to make it a pot-luck party. My parents, who had given up on my ever getting married and had a bit of money to throw at the operation, said "Oh, honey. Oh, honey! Nobody wants to be stuck with that cleanup!" So we had it catered instead, at a hotel, where someone else would do all the work. (The wedding certificate went missing at the reception / dinner after the ceremony, but that's another story.)

Y'all are making me wish I had crab in my holiday traditions! It was never part of our family's holidays. I'll have to settle for what I can find in the upscale grocery stores, or else vicarious enjoyment through this topic.

Once again I wish I could work two emojis into a response, @heidih: I'm torn between a belly-laugh and a "thanks". I chose the "thanks", but I'm getting hilarious mental images!

Yeah, I took that without a perceptible stagger as well. Now I wish I could go back and add an "astonished" emoji, instead of wittering on about the paper plates! Amen! Any more stories you want to tell about that, @heidih, will be welcome!