Smithy

I am itching to try those pepper recipes! Right now there's still too much stuff in the fridge to justify buying them until I've used up other fresh stock. Keep those photos coming, please, so I can enjoy them vicariously! Last night was his turn to cook, and apparently we didn't take any pictures. It was tube steaks in the grill basket and sweet corn (from frozen) with butter in Papa's pan, all done over the fire. He was skeptical of doing corn that way, but I thought the corn might pick up some good flavor from the previous use of the pan, which had left a hard-cooked layer that I hadn't properly cleaned. (I also suspected that the corn juices and butter would loosen some of that hard layer, but he doesn't need to know that.) The corn was good that way. What I did photograph, repeatedly, without ever getting the exposure I wanted, was the sight of the moon forming a delicate bowl with Venus dangling directly above it. They'll be closer together tonight, but the bowl will be fatter. Yesterday I started soaking the remainder of a bag of way-old Rancho Gordo Corona beans. Shame on me. I like beans, but somehow - as with pomegranates - I delay using them because of the anticipated workload until they're past their prime. I'm going to sweat some onion and carrot, then throw the beans in and give them a good, long cook with some bay and sage. This would be the time to bring out the Instant Pot, but we don't have any other reason to run the generator until this evening. Once they're cooked, they'll either be kept whole and tossed with, oh, a vinaigrette? or mashed into a dip. Suggestions welcome! And keep those peppers coming!

Thanks for that information, @lemniscate. We aren't near a Cost Plus World Market, but I see from the store locator that I should be close to one in the next month or so. Yesterday it was time, finally, to put our latest ham bone and scraps to final use. We kept forgetting and overlooking that little container in the fridge, hiding amongst the others. Before I went for my afternoon walk I diced the remaining meat, stripped the knuckle as best I could and put it in the freezer for bean or pea seasoning. I also grated the cheese I'd need for mac 'n' cheese 'n' ham. It seems that if I don't do much of the dinner prep before the sun goes down then I'll run out of energy and we'll end up eating dogs or burgers. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't keep the refrigerator and food stocks balanced. I bet I'm not the only person here who is inundated with charitable-donation requests that include notepads, address labels and, for the holiday season, gift stickers. I finally realized this month that the gift stickers have a perfect use in the kitchen. Why did it take me so long to figure this out? I went for a walk, and spotted these brown-eyed evening primroses. (@demiglace, this is especially for you. ) Each flower is about 1 cm across. When I got home and we'd finished admiring the sunset, then I started what turned out to be a late dinner anyway. I balked at the idea of a pot for the pasta, a pot for the cream sauce, and a dish to bake it all in. I know it can be done in fewer pots, but after some stalling decided that sequencing was more of a pain than dishwashing. My last two cracks at mac 'n' cheese 'n' ham involved the melty cheese calculator and sodium citrate. Last night's was the classic white sauce-based version. We loved it. It was worth dirtying up that many dishes.

We're getting better at the burger timing. Last night he was in charge and I left him to it, once I got the camp stove running. (It's getting cranky.) We have finally emptied the squeeze bottles of mustard (coarse Dijon, and horseradish) from home so I pulled two jars out from storage and let my darling pick. The jalapeño mustard is one of the things my DIL egged me into buying last September.The mustard in the stein is a Dusseldorfer mustard that I find once in a while at good grocery stores . It's sharp and delicious, one of my favorites. My darling flinched at the idea of jalapeño mustard on his spicy-hot burgers (half beef, half hot Italian sausage), so it went back into the cupboard. In other news: spring is coming to the desert. We're seeing the first tiny flowers. We're also spotting fresh young mustard greens. A handful, foraged from a huge patch, made it into our salads.

@Darienne, I recommend both. @heidih, I think you nailed my biggest objection. I have had coconut flakes that weren't objectionable, and I think it was because they were unsweetened. Still can't stand the shredded stuff from most grocery stores, nor candy bars nor cookies containing them. Anyone eating a Mounds bar or a macaroon is safe from me!

How did that work, Elsie? I've been enjoying the stuffed pepper show over in the Cooking forum.

I never liked shredded coconut before I tried basbousa in Egypt. It was a revelation to me that shredded coconut could be moist and tasty, and not overpower all the other flavors. Your basbousa looks delicious!

Welcome home! Thanks again for taking us along!

Thanks for that recipe! It looks like a keeper, well worth trying. To answer your question, though: I cooked them long enough to cook that thick, raw bacon...half an hour over the fire? I didn't see a way around that. Porthos' suggestion of par-cooking, and Shelby's of using thinner bacon both would have helped. It looks like I'll have to buy some toothpicks, too. My BBQ skewers would be another option, but they're thicker and wouldn't allow individual turning of the peppers.

I fear this will be behind a paywall for non-subscribers, but I recommend this funny article by J.J. Goode in today's Washington Post: As a cookbook writer, I just knew my children would be good eaters. Then they were born. It's a funny essay about high expectations and low capitulation. Here's a small sample:

Ha. I just thought to Google the issue and discovered this web site owned by the San Diego Farm Bureau. Farmers Markets lists location and schedule - and by golly, there is more than one in Rancho Bernardo! So I've answered my own question. Nonetheless, pointers from others who know will be welcome.

I'll be making a trip soon to visit my best friend in Rancho Bernardo, just north of San Diego proper. Where would we have to go to find a good farmers' market, if there is one? Escondido and Poway are the two towns I can think of that aren't too far away. Rancho Bernardo would be ideal, but I think she'd know about it if one existed. Locations and schedules would be most welcome.

I like eating jalapeño poppers, "armadillo eggs", "gator toes" and the like, but have only tried making them once - and that without a bacon wrapping. Last night I realized that the jalapeños I'd bought for the purpose were headed south fast. It was time to try making them. First question: does the cheese matter? I decided to try two candidates side by side. The Egyptian feta cheese is saltier than cream cheese. One set of peppers had the stem on so we could tell after the fact which cheese was which. Next question: how the heck does one get that bacon to stay wrapped? I think the bacon slices were too thick, for starters. This was thick-slice hickory smoked bacon from Cooper's in Llano, Texas. We may have more in the freezer, but I couldn't find it. We don't have toothpicks in the trailer. i didn't want to dig out the step stool to dig out the box that has the butcher's twine. I opted for Papa's Pan instead. Given the messiness of the cheeses, containment seemed like a good idea anyway. The dogs were delicious. The poppers - well, they weren't poppers. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the pan after cooking, when it was open. Everything had disintegrated into a cheesy, peppery, bacony mess. You could make out the peppers' carcasses. A couple had cheese inside them; all were coated in cheese. The flavor combination was delicious, but I need to do some research on how the heck those things are supposed to be made! Comments and suggestions welcome. How do you make jalapeño poppers?

Wow...this whole trip has been one that made me with we had a WOW! icon. Thank you for the great photos! Happy (well, uneventful at least) travels back!

It's a bit of ambiance and a bit of control. I think when we did that we still hadn't cut and sorted the firewood, so it would have been difficult to pick and choose the size wood we needed. Another reason is that the fire puts soot on the bottom of the pan and the camp stove doesn't. We've never cared about that before - I just do a final cleaning before we pack up - but he decided somehow that I don't like it and is trying to be careful of the cookware. I think I've just about got him convinced that it's really okay for the "outside" pans.

Our outdoor kitchen is set up for cooking either over a campfire or the camp stove. We've used the stove a couple of times now. So far we've enjoyed a campfire without cooking over it. That may change tonight. Our first night's cook over the camp stove was a bit overdone, due to lack of attention. We are both pilots and flight instructors, careful to establish who is pilot-in-command of a particular flight. Wouldn't you think we could avoid burnt burgers because each thought the other was watching?

Thanks for those instructions, @Shelby. I spotted some collard greens at a Walmart Superstore last week: 10 cents a bundle. I left them in the bin because they looked yellowish and tough - and at that price, how could they possibly be any good? OTOH at that price how could I possibly go wrong trying them? If I see them again, I'll get some to try using your method.

No, there's nothing weird about eating the citrus skin! I used to eat lemons, rind and all, raw! The peels for the mandarins and tangelos do get soft enough to eat. I found them a touch bitter, but my darling loved them. Mileage varies. Speaking of varying mileage: he strongly prefers sweet onions (Vidalia, Walla Walla, etc) and looks askance when I buy red onions. I want to emphasize that these red onions turned silky and sweet with the treatment they got. Maybe sweet onions would have done the same thing, though. I suppose next time I'll have to try some of both to compare them.

I'd be inclined to do them separately, to ensure that I don't overcook one while trying to get the other done. I haven't tried cooking a two-bean dish, though. I hope someone who has done so will answer.

Speaking of chicken: look what I scored in Yuma last weekend! Fresh-off-the-tree tangelos and mandarins! And yes, I know those aren't chickens. But they did give me a chance at one of my favorite roast chicken treatments: Citrus-Marinated Roast Chicken. I didn't follow the recipe exactly last night, but this was based on Fine Cooking's recipe of that name. Here's the before and after: Couple that with cauliflower that had been sprinkled with curry powder and drizzled with olive oil, then roasted until brown, steamed until soft and mashed, all in a clay pot, and we had a delicious dinner. The juices and roasting sweetened those red onions, and the juices enhanced the cauliflower mash nicely. I was a bit worried that the curry powder would clash with the citrus flavors, but it didn't. (His plate looks more full, but my piece of chicken was better browned. Neither of us had any complaints.)

I save chicken bones and make stock from them. Once in a while I'll get a whole chicken and break it down into its component parts - in which case the back and neck are saved for stock - but usually if I get a whole chicken I'll roast the whole thing. Then the carcass goes into the stock pot. The Instant Pot does indeed make great stock! I've never tried adding chicken feet. I suppose they're good for a collagen boost?

In this case, they cost $1.99/lb. I thought that was a good price, but @heidih or others with ready access to the right markets may think otherwise. Boneless skinless thigh meat usually costs more in my experience.

Thanks for posting this. Did you notice a difference in texture?

About that carne asada and the tortillas: it took a few days, but the elements were that meat, the aforementioned onions, red (no, I don't do green) bell peppers, shredded cheese, refried beans, and red enchilada sauce. And the tortillas. Oh, dear. When it came time to assemble the enchiladas, I found the tortillas to be impossibly brittle. These were large, fajita-sized flour tortillas that had been refrigerated for at least a week. Dipping them in warm enchilada sauce made them fall apart. Microwaving them didn't seem to help. They refused to bend nicely and neatly and wrap into burrito shape to lie in the baking dish without breakage. I did my best with them anyway, and loaded them into a baking dish. Then I coated the lot with most of a package of shredded cheese. Shredded cheese is a great disguise, isn't it? The garnish was chopped cilantro for me, chopped parsley for him. Chips added a nice crunch. This made us happy for two meals, and heated the trailer for one.

South of the Salton Sea, in the little town of Calipatria, sits an unassuming place called Market Square. If the grocery store inside the building has a different name, I can't tell you what it is. The building looks kempt and fairly new, but that is no guarantee of vitality. There is a newish- and once nice-looking gas and food mart a mile or so north that has utterly failed despite being less than 5 years old. (We know the age because we watched the building go up.) We are mystified as to why it didn't succeed, given its location in town along a highway, with good parking and other promising elements. So looks aren't everything. Anyway, back to the Market Square: we stopped there a couple of years ago on our way from the Salton Sea to our desert camping spot, hoping to avert some catastrophe like having to drive to town for beer. We've been stopping there each time through town ever since. Its produce section is very limited, and I didn't bother with pictures. The aisles of canned and boxed goods are pretty well stocked. The selection of Mexican food items is especially good, but there is also a good selection of run-of-the-mill "American" (no, don't ask me to define it) and a fair selection of what passes for Chinese and Italian in Middle America. You'd be out of luck of you wanted Middle Eastern food there, but one can't have everything. The beer selection is pretty good. It's nice to be able to go into a grocery store and buy beer - not just the 3.2% stuff you can get in Minnesota grocery stores, but real beer. There are microbrews and mainstream brews. The dairy selection is also better than I see in many small stores like this. What brings us back each time is the butcher counter. Every time we've been there we've seen some great special. Last fall it was pork shoulder roast for $1.99/lb. The butcher was good enough to cut the smallest roast in two for us, and each half was barely small enough to fit our roasting pot. We were well pleased with both halves, and thought about buying another such roast this time, but my darling was particularly jonesing for pork shoulder steaks. (If you think you're seeing a theme here, you're correct.) I was jonesing for some of their flap meat, or marinated flank steak - something to wrap in tortillas with sauteed onions, red bell peppers, and other items of my choosing. I'd had those tortillas, and that ambition, for far too long. I needed to scratch that itch. We bought pork shoulder steaks, forgetting that we still had a pair from Stater Bros the previous week. (In truth, we probably would have bought more anyway.) We also bought some boneless, skinless chicken hindquarter meat and some of the carne asada meat you see just above, at the left. A 10-pound bag of chicken for $7.99 was tempting, but when I realized it was hindquarters I passed. We hadn't made THAT much room in the fridge and freezer yet. Then we moved on: through the cultivated area, up above sea level for the first time in a week, across the Coachella Canal and across the Imperial Dunes. The dunes with their beautiful swirls remind me of meringue, but there's nothing to eat there that you don't pack in, or buy at one of the settlements. Cultivation doesn't resume until you're near the Colorado River.

I have no particular interest in learning to make chocolate confections or molded chocolates myself, but I do love seeing the variety of molds available -- as well as what folks do with them! Thanks for all these photos, Kerry. Keep 'em coming!