Smithy

Honestly, I'm with you on this. Our family always, always had ham with family feasts - and all too often it was that nasty "Danish Ham" in the roughly triangular can. To make matters worse, it was speckled with cloves, probably my least favorite spice, and probably drowned in some sugary substance. The one exception, all those years, was picnic ham: salty, fatty, not sweet like most hams. That's still about the only way I like ham, and it's a struggle to find what's called a picnic ham down here: cut from the forequarters, smoked but not sweetened. When I buy sandwich ham, it's for him. I get chicken, turkey or beef instead. All that said, ham with cheese -- as in ham 'n' mac 'n' cheese, or on grilled cheese sandwiches, or with eggs and cheese, works for me. I think the fatty cheese offsets the sweetness of the ham. Thanks for the egg compliment.

Ham is the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it? We brought with us 2 picnic hams, cut into smaller portions and vacuum-bagged, from a favorite meat market back home. The problem with cooking them so far has been that the meat is so good and each ham so small that the leftovers don't last long enough for my darling to make split pea soup. Split pea soup is his favorite thing to do with ham bones and leftover ham. So he bought another, cheap, whole ham the other day. Was it Dorothy Parker who said "eternity is 2 people and a ham"? We cooked that one, and the leftovers got split into two containers: nice slices for sandwiches, and little chunks for his split pea soup. The top photos in the collage below show carving the leftovers, and the beautiful potatoes and ham goo left over. We've been eating that separately. This morning we had to deal with the fourth flat tire of the trip. This one happened while we were minding our business, set up and camping. The valve blew, all on its own, while we were sitting inside. I think we have it fixed now, but my aggravation level is very high at the moment. Nothing would do but make scrambled eggs with ham and cheese for brunch after we'd finished. The plate with the fried tomatoes is mine. In other news: last night was our first campfire cookery of the season. It's been cold here - nothing like at home, but too cold for him to be comfortable sitting outside, even by a fire. We finally did it anyway, and cooked Polish sausages (also from home) over that fire. Those were accompanied by potatoes, ham goo and brusell sprouts that had been cooked at the same time as the ham. That has to be one of the saltier meals we've eaten lately, between the salt in the ham goo and the salt in the sausages.

Well, the Breville Joule 1100 Watt circulator is now on sale for $159.99 instead of $249.99.... Credit goes to @lindag for pointing out this deal here.

A lifetime ago, my then-boyfriend and I got a goose to cook for Thanksgiving. I don't remember much about what we did, but I remember that we got a LOT of fat from it and enjoyed cooking with it later. I also remember liking the flavor. Enjoy your goose! That's a great price!

So far I have learned that I really like what my prickly pear juice does for/to yogurt. My homemade yogurt has an off-flavor that I associate with some American-made "Greek" feta cheeses. The prickly pear juice cancels that flavor out, whether by masking or some interaction I don't know. It looks pretty, too. I relayed this all to the above-mentioned Sarah Lee-Allen, and she responded:

I've never seen Pyrex painted like that! I'm no collector and can't comment on the quality of the deal, but my take is that if you like the design and the bowls give you pleasure, that's not a bad price. I hope one of the cognescnti answers you soon.

My mother did something along the lines of a creamy lemon Jello with nuts and fruit in it. I'm pretty sure it included sour cream, as @dtremit suggests. I don't have her recipe cards at hand, but I can check with my sister to see what she remembers about it.

Broken yolk notwithstanding, that looks like an excellent lunch! Or breakfast, brunch, elevensies, midnight snack....

I wasn't terribly impressed with the drinks I tried. In a way that's good, because I had to drive all of 5 miles to get home for the night, but it was a shame not to find a compelling brewery. One red beer I tried had chile in it; it tasted watery at first, and then built an entirely-too-strong-for-my-tastes heat. I think it was habanero chile, but I'm no longer sure. A lot of the beers seemed bent on being very hoppy, very strong, and/or filled with some desert-themed fruit flavor that didn't appeal to me. I tried two white wines from Rancho Rossa Vineyards and Rescued Hearts Cellars, a non-profit organization. Their Casa Cuvee was a bit cloying for my tastes, but grew on me. I liked their Ziggy Stardust blend right from the start; it was crisp and bright and fairly dry. I won't say I'm ready to join the Rescued Heart Cellars wine club, but I would look for the Ziggy Stardust and for opportunities to try other wines from them, given their stated purpose. They're in Elgin. Farther down the path, after I visited the Sting Ray Touch exhibit (mesmerizing, especially at night) ... ... I found Town Under Black Distillery, with their Wild Heritage Spirits. Their Three Sisters cocktail is the only cocktail I tried that night. You can read the sign better than I can transcribe it. What I liked best from this stand was a deeper explanation of the Three Sisters (corn, squash and beans) than I've ever heard before. I always assumed that it was simply an idiom for the native trio of common foods. We have the Cajun Trinity in cookery. Why not the Three Sisters in the desert southwest? The woman from Town Under Black Distillery explained it further, that the three sisters support each other: the beans fix nitrogen in the soil; the squash provides large leaves to shade delicate seedlings; the corn stalk provides something for the beans to climb. I like that imagery of mutual support, very much. Here's the cocktail in question: The foam on top was the aquafaba. Some of the other samplers were delighted to learn that this was a dairy-free drink. It had an interesting texture, and I'm glad I had a chance to try the drink.

We're having a turkey-free feast also, also just the two of us, as we have for many years. This year it's short ribs, smashed potatoes, creamed corn (his request of a classic), green beans with bacon (my classic), Caramelized Carrot Salad with bearnaise from a class I took earlier this year, Persimmon Panna Cotta, adapted from that same class, and fresh dinner rolls. It's a preposterous amount of food for 2 people, promising a great many leftovers. Whether I actually get it all done remains to be seen. I'm starting today. The beauty of the carrot dish and the panna cotta is that they can be done in advance.

Welcome, Toast! Hop right in and join the fun! Do you make the most of holidays on both sides of The Pond, or do you stay away from them all? In other words: have you any special plans for the USA Thanksgiving?

@eugenep, you exemplify a quality of being a good guest. Stay out of the way, be appreciative, and don't criticize others' efforts! I applaud you for it.

Outside the contest building, there was more food. The Roasted Chile's stand caught my eye. They had samples of their fudge for tasting. Oh, my! It was creamy and melty. The first impression was of rich chocolate fudge, then the chile heat kicked in. Not a big burn, just enough to get your attention. Of course I bought some. I also bought some of their green chile butter. Some other people at the stand were considering the samples. "Try some!" I said, "You'll be buying some to take home!" It was funny watching them get the chile kick -- you could see it on their faces -- but yes, they bought some too.

I've heard back from Sarah Lee-Allen, who was delighted that I'd come back and delighted at my writeup about her presentation. She liked my information about putting prickly pear syrup in my yogurt, and sent me this: Well no, I haven't. Yet. I will. I hope someone else does too!

I have a few more contest entries to show, and then I'll go back out, so to speak, to the rest of the festival. Mestizo Sonoran Bistro had the only entry I remember that used part of the prickly pear paddle instead of its fruit. You can see the description of their entry in the picture above. It was quite tasty! By this time I was juggling a wine glass (because I needed something between bites, dontcha know) and napkins and plate, so the closeup photography was pretty much done. The crowd was jostling around, and those of us trying to concentrate on our food were looking for quiet places off to the side. I should note that Mestizo had another food stand outside the contest area, and I tried that too. It was good, more along the lines of the pork sliders we saw inside the contest area. I think Mestizo would be a good food truck to go track down. Batch Cafe and Bar ("Whiskey & Doughnuts! and much more!") offered mesquite smoked tri-tip on greens, with a prickly pear barbecue sauce. The tri-tip was tender and delicious. I've never met a tri-tip I didn't like! This is another place I think worth checking out. Finally, to round off the contest, there was the DoubleTree Suites / Los Arboles Bar and Grill entry. THIS mesquite cornbread actually tasted of mesquite, and deliciously so. I learned from one of the chefs there that there was only about 1 cup of mesquite flour per batch of cornbread; they'd played with it until it tasted right. (Shoot! Now I can't remember how much cornmeal was in each batch. 5 pounds? It was a surprisingly small amount of mesquite flour to make such a difference.) The rest of the ingredients played well with each other. The jalapeno had a nice bite, but not a blow-your-head-off power. The contest voting was done by picking a dried bean out of a box, and dropping it into the ballot box of the winner. It was a tough choice. I wanted to go vote for more than one, but I played by the rules.

These two contestants are paired in my collage mostly because I didn't get other photos of either, and they were delighted to pose with their offerings. All the other tables had boards explaining their entries, and it made note-taking as easy as snapping a photo. These two didn't, and now I'm relying on memories over a week old. On the left: Gap Ministries, the only nonprofit (to my knowledge) in the contest. From what I gathered, their Food service helps at-risk children and families. You can read more about this aspect of their program here. As to their contest dish: well, it was brilliant and delicious. The mini-taco shells were made of egg roll wrappers that had been coated with mesquite powder before frying. The filling was mesquite-smoked brisket, done to unctuous tenderness. There was a squirt of prickly pear something -- bbq sauce, I think? -- and there may have been some kind of slaw. I've forgotten what the creamy white topper was, but I think it was a Mexican cheese like cotijo. Why I didn't take a more detailed photo, or better notes, is beyond me. I went back later for a second helping, loved it as much the second time, and still swore I'd remember without taking notes. If I have my memories straight, the gentleman on the right-hand side of the picture represented Geronimo's Revenge food truck (link goes to their Facebook page). The contest entry was a mesquite cornbread with, um, something topped by a slice of cured pork, with a drizzle of prickly pear syrup or bbq sauce atop it. I'm afraid I don't remember it clearly because it didn't impress me and, again, I failed to take notes. I couldn't taste any mesquite in the cornbread. but he assured me that it was there; it was he who told me about the requirements for prickly pear and mesquite to be used in the contest entries. Nice young man. I don't think he was amused by my question about "Geronimo's Revenge" vs. "Montezuma's Revenge". He's probably heard it before.

The Chefs' Competition at the ASDM Sonoran Desert Harvest Festival was much bigger and better organized than it was last year. There were 7 or 8 contestants, and there seemed to be plenty of food although my perspective might have been skewed by getting there early. A big difference between last year and this is that the food samples in the competition weren't free this year. Since the $15 food / drink fee included tickets for at least 15 different food samples and some 6 or 8 drinks, I didn't feel cheated by having to drop a "FOOD" ticket into each contestant's jar. There was a pumpkin carving demonstration at the entry. When I went in, I could see that the tables were laid out along two walls. (It got much busier later. I congratulated myself on arriving early!) I learned during the evening that the contest entries had to use prickly pear and mesquite in some way, in accordance with the Sonoran theme. I don't know whether there was such a stipulation last year, but it was fun to see the different tactics employed. Two contestants from last year were back again: Ciao Down Pizza Truck and Welcome Diner, on Broadway. I sallied up to the Ciao Down table. "I remember you from last year!" I exclaimed. "Those rattlenake bites were awesome!" He grinned and said that the rattlesnake bite pizza is easily the truck's biggest seller; he figures that 75% of their pizzas are of that type. Here, as a reminder, was the offering in question last year: I lamented that when I had visited last year the contest was already shut down, and I never heard the results of the contest. How did they do? "We won!" he grinned. "I'm here to defend our honor this year!" They still use a champagne yeast in their bread. This year's entry was excellent: When I got to the Welcome Diner table I started with the same greeting. "I remember you from last year!" I said, "that flan was wonderful!" She grinned at me, shrugged, and said, "And yet we didn't win!" I assured her that the flan had been an eye-opener for me, and she said she thought it had been a game-changer for a lot of people. This year it was mesquite-smoked pork sliders with a prickly pear slaw. I took a sample -- which was delicious -- and wished her luck, and got out of the way for the next in line.

I just stuck the aloe shoots into a small jar of desert soil. I'll probably need to poke holes in this jar for drainag and put it inside some sort of water catcher, but we'll see what happens with the aloe.

Those are lovely crusts, @Vincenzio. Judging by your recipe, it sounds like these would be slightly too large to eat as hand pies, but they could be eaten that way. What is the traditional way to eat them? Fork? Or pick them up and eat them out of hand?

I just checked our recent romaine purchase, and it came from Santa Maria. Different agricultural area. I think we're safe.

Thanks for the recommendation! It looks as though this show can be picked up in the USA on MSN.com, YouTubeTV, and Amazon Prime Video. There may be more opportunities as well.

That's quite an article. Not sure whether to look wide-eyed or nauseated...but thanks!

Uhm, maybe? I dunno, but given how easy it's supposed to be to propagate this stuff, it sounds plausible.

Do you remember how big it was? Can I keep it in a small pot that won't eat the Princessmobile?

The ethnobotanists and food organizations were more in evidence this time than last year, although a few were familiar to me from before. I think the festival map was better marked too, to show where each could be found. Iskashitaa Refugee Network is, to quote from their website, I like the social purpose. I also like the fact that they harvest / glean local food that would otherwise go to waste. If you travel around the southwestern communities like Tucson, Phoenix, and nearly anywhere in the L.A. Basin, you'll find that there are backyard trees planted by an earlier generation and no longer loved. There are abandoned farmsteads with growing crops. There are, of course, the native plants that flourish and provide food if you know what to do with it. Iskashitaa works in the Tucson area to get that food to people who need it. I have already noted that we came loaded with ridiculous amounts of food from home that somehow never got cooked over the summer. We don't need to be buying more; in fact, our shopping has been curtailed to date because of that. Nonetheless I bought these from Iskashitaa. My sister is coming to visit at Christmas, and I look forward to trying the prickly pear/calamondin marmalade with her. She may also like the green tomato relish. The San Xavier Co-op Farm is owned and operated by a local group of Tohono O'odham. I first heard of them because of their growing Sonoran White Wheat and other heritage grains that are used by Barrio Bread, a beloved bakery in Tucson that I didn't manage to visit this trip. Now I have information about the farm itself: where it's located, when it can be visited. They had a table full of items that I couldn't justify buying: mesquite flours, Sonoran white wheat flours, prickly pear syrups, some other items. Aha! They also had saguaro seeds. I tasted some. Nice crunch. They'll go well on rolls, like poppy seeds. I asked the young woman at the table whether she goes out for the saguaro harvest. "Oh yes," she said. Didn't she just about collapse in the heat? I asked. She smiled. "Yes, it's hot -- but we go out, because that's when the magic happens." I wanted to ask whether she meant magic in the figurative or literal sense, but couldn't think of a way to ask without sounding like a dumb insensitive houle/gringa/whatever the term would be to a local Native American. So I made my purchase, thanked her and moved on to the next table. The Farm is on my list of places to visit next time around. Maybe I can learn more then. Maybe somebody here knows. The other place I've wanted to find and visit is the Mission Garden, known as the birthplace of Tucson. The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum works with them and there's an ethnobotany display in part of the ASDM grounds. I've read enough to know that the Mission Garden works to find and revive the old heritage crops: the oldest pomegranates they have found are propagated at the gardens, and it's a strain from the original mission. Same thing goes for figs, and so on. I now know that the garden is organized according to settlement eras. It should be an interesting place to visit. The representatives and their table were on one of the rambling paths and I was happy to find them. "At last!" I said, "I've been reading about you for 2 years! Now I can get some information!" I came away with no pictures of their table (what was I thinking) but with viable native chile and onion seeds, and on my way out they also insisted I take some aloe vera cuttings. There was lively discussion about what to do with it. "Keep it in your kitchen to rub on your wounds when you make a boo-boo!" "Stick them in a pot of soil, and they'll grow!" Some said it's best to plant it right away, and others said that the traditional method was to wait a few days first. By default I'm in the latter camp. The final nonprofit organization that I noticed was the Community Food Bank. Maybe we'll be back in time for their Farm to Table Dinner. Maybe one of you readers will find this flyer valuable.