Smithy

As I recall, Garrison Keillor referred to being in his "extremely late 40's" all the way through his 50's and maybe his 60's.

That, and Rosa's Thai Cafe. The explanation of ingredients alone is worth $0.99.

Last night's dinner was worthy of the Freezer Challenge topic, and I posted about it there. Still, I'd like to crow a bit more about how well it all turned out. My tortilla casseroles in the Instant Pot have been all over the map - some good, some more like soups - since we discussed it last fall and it was too dry. However, I'm starting to have some confidence in my ability to do enchiladas in a baking dish. I filmed a pan with cooking spray and gently browned the flour tortillas, one at a time. After each tortilla was browned slightly (one got almost crunchy, but I saved it) I rolled some of the stuffing into it tightly and laid it into a baking dish. I think I'd filmed the dish with spray too. Once the dish was full of tightly-rolled tortillas, the remaining pepper stuffing went in at the ends of the dish to (a) fill the space and (b) save my having to refreeze a small amount. The enchilada sauce went over the lot; the grated cheese (a mix of that chipotle gouda and cheddar) went over it all. I baked it at 350F for maybe 1/2 hour, covered, then another quarter or half hour until the cheese was browned and we were ready to eat. This was gratifying! Not only did I eliminate two freezer containers, but this was one of the rare times we didn't need any embellishments at the table. I'd set out sour cream, salsa and more cheese. None of it was needed. A green garnish (chopped cilantro or parsley) might have made it look prettier, but we didn't think it would taste any better. Best of all was the crunchy crust at the bottom and edges. Now, if I can duplicate that stuffing, this won't be a one-shot wonder.

I eliminated two freezer packages and most of a package of tortillas yesterday evening. The cheese wasn't a leftover, but it was taking space in the refrigerator. The leftovers from a stuffed-pepper dish last winter got rolled into tortillas that had been barely-browned in an oiled skillet. The rolled tortillas went into a baking dish; the sauce went over them; cheese over that. It all baked at 350F, covered for maybe a half hour, and then uncovered for another 15 minutes until the cheese had browned. There was a wonderful crust on the bottom and edges of the finished dish. I can actually see to the back of my freezer!

I'm not kayb, but here are topics for TWO eG gatherings at Bulrush coming up: PLANNING...an eG Gathering in STL for Bulrush PLANNING: chocolatiers dinner at Bulrush (I assume it's also open to non-chocolatiers )

For those who don't understand the reference, here is a picture of the newly-painted wall at @gfron1's soon-to-open restaurant, Bulrush. Fried chicken was part of the work crew's meal. I think these chocolates have a gorgeous pattern, just as that wall does!

What a great story! Thanks for that, and thanks even more for the pictures!

Alas, it's no longer available at the sale price Toliver posted.

I finally got around to trying the recipe for Great-Great Grandma Anna's Romanian Eggplant Spread (Potlagel) to which @heidih pointed me, way back near the beginning of this year's trip. This can be done in a food processor or by hand-chunking, according to the recipe. As it happened I had a plastic container of fire-roasted, peeled red peppers from last summer that had cracked when it fell out of the freezer thanks to some especially rough road. It needed to thaw in a container. I opted for the easiest container. The rich, savory smell of these peppers was tantalizing as soon as it began to thaw! Not shown is the similar container (not cracked) of cooked, peeled eggplant, also from last summer. Where I went wrong, I think, was in using already-chopped sweet onion that had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. This is the second time we've had half an onion sit in the refrigerator, already chopped, for a couple of days and then regretted using it. Man, that onion was hot! It overwhelmed everything else. I was going the lazy route and whirling everything together at once, rather than chopping the individual ingredients and tasting as I went. I added more vinegar, and salt, and prickly pear juice and prickly pear balsamic vinegar to tone it down. This morning it's tamer, but doesn't taste of the individually delicious ingredients. My darling thinks it's all right. Next time, I'll use fresh onion and I won't chop the pieces so finely. It looks a lot prettier in the Food52 article - but then, that shouldn't surprise anyone. Questions: 1. Has anyone else experienced this business of sweet (Walla Walla, or Vidalia, for instance) onions losing their sweetness within a few days after being cut, even though they were refrigerated? 2. What do you do with something like this dip to tone down rampageous heat? Sour cream or other dairy didn't seem the right way to go.

We wandered the nearby town of Rodeo, NM yesterday for a short time. This town was a railroad stop until 1952, and it's unclear how the town has stayed alive since then. It is clear that the town's struggling (my darling said "dead") but the not-too-old paint jobs, and faded murals on closed store fronts, show that efforts to revive the town can't be more than a decade old. The only places we found along the highway that were still open were a hotel/RV park and a second-hand store. A new grocery store / restaurant has opened recently, a few miles out of town on the way up to the mountains. We met friends there for dinner a couple of nights ago, but I didn't take pictures. I may get another crack at it; we'll probably drive past on our way up into the mountains today or tomorrow. It's windy and cool here: typical high-desert spring weather, I'm afraid. Yesterday afternoon was a good time to cook a ham. Now we have ham for sandwiches, and possiby ham 'n' mac 'n' cheese, and definitely my darling's favorite split pea soup. We'll have to get more split peas first, since we cooked them already. (He has no such recollection, and insists that the gremlins hid the peas!) I think the potatoes are the best part of this dish: soaked with all that ham juice, they mash easily and have excellent flavor. My darling says to publish this rule: whenever something is to be roasted, don't put it on a rack despite instructions. Put it on a bed of potatoes instead!

This makes me wish I had a Costco membership - and a Costco (or Costco Business Center) near where I live. Nice find!

We did! I got into a terrible dither there. The idea, of course, had been to see what was on the factory-seconds shelf since we wouldn't be there for the First Saturday factory-seconds sale. I found one Mimbreño salad plate. I'd more or less decided that I wanted china dinner plates, and possibly another platter. While I was walking around, holding what I REALLY wanted and telling myself that I didn't need them, they weren't on sale, my darling doesn't care for breakables, no room, and on and on, I spotted another pattern that was slightly lower in price. DH was eyeing them too. "What do you think of these?" he asked. "I like them," I said, "but I'm not sure I'd like them after a month or two of use." He bowed out of the discussion. Eventually, as I dithered, he bowed out of the shop. When I had finished dithering, I had TWO large dinner plates of the Mimbreño pattern and TWO dinner plates of the other pattern because it had kept growing on me. He was pleased at the other dinner plates...and not terribly surprised that I'd come out with more than I'd intended. I took some consolation in the fact that I wasn't the only one dithering. Another woman was having trouble deciding between two different desert-themed patterns for her home, and whether one was too kitschy. While I was waiting to pay, three or four of us had a fun confab over the pros and cons of the designs. I'm telling myself that I'm done with that factory now, unless we manage sometime to be in Tucson on the first Saturday of the month. We'll see. I wouldn't mind getting a match for that breakfast plate that you commented on above.

I am amazed at how well the chicken breast I sous-vided back here has held up. I waited a week to open the package once the breasts had been cooked, because I counted on it to be pasteurized before it was opened. Still, yesterday marked the 10th day since I opened the package. There was a little less than half the package left. (I mentioned before that the breasts were huge!) I decided I'd best use it before it went off. I don't think I could count on supermarket-deli chicken to hold up this well. A low-temp circulator has earned permanent real estate in the Princessmobile - whether it's the Joule or the Anova remains to be seen. I need to play with the Joule more while we have shore power, to see whether I can work out the issues I've been having. It had a firmware update the last time it was on, so it may behave differently than it did when I was kvetching about it.

As promised above, here's the Barrio Blonde. It's the last of that six-pack, and it would have gone well with dinner, except that it was finished during the preparations. Dinner used the last of our medium-heat Hatch chiles from last year, and a few of the hot chiles as well. I'll know during the next visit not to get as much of the hot chiles. They've been hard for us to use up. I'm coming to the end of our oranges, too. There are plenty of lemons and limes left, but I'll miss having an orange, or its juice, for breakfast. We're far from the citrus groves now!

Yes, thanks for the closer-up shot. The earlier pic didn't show the noodles clearly; at least on my screen that pile of noodles looked more like smoke!

I've taken the liberty of cropping your photo, posted above, for a closer look and for clarity. The mesh basket in the foreground has what looks like the perfect handle-bend so it can rest on the rim of the pot. Is that to allow drainage back into the pot once an object has been fished out? My question is about the size and intent of the mesh basket, and what sorts of objects would fit in it. I'm used to seeing broad, shallow scoops for things like tempura. What would this be used for, and how big is it? In the background, at the right: is that the rack you're describing to rotuts as being for cold noodles? I thought sure it was a grilling rack!

What fun! Is the plastic thing with the ruler, at the bottom right, a combination measuring/cutting board? My first thought was that it was a binder insert such as one might use in school, but I bet it has a cooking use. I love your yen/yen word play.

I just asked my friend, who is an accomplished gardener. She hadn't heard of it, but sent me this link to an article on the topic. The article has some very specific notes: that it can work on small scale, but you risk ruining the soil for the rest of the plants if you do it wrong. Here is an excerpt: She says she's a big believer in edging, to keep the plants from spreading beyond where they're supposed to be. I don't know whether that would help your situation. It's hard to imagine too much asparagus!

We seem to be continually running ahead of the spring weather we've seen in past years. Sure, there are flowers blooming, but I have yet to see a paloverde tree blossom. The pecans haven't started to sprout leaves yet. ("Why doesn't someone cut down all these old dead trees?" asked my Florida-born cousin when he visited one winter. How we laughed! I think we were kind enough to laugh when he was out of earshot, but it was long ago and I a teenager. I may not have been as kind as I would be now.) I've noticed an interesting pruning pattern on these tall trees. I haven't been able to see the machinery at work, nor have I found a link to show it. Maybe someone else can show us. This shot is deliberately long, to emphasize the geometry we're seeing on pruned pecan orchards.

Nice idea, although we won't be able to go back this trip. There may be other opportunities farther along. Otherwise, if we like it I'll add it to my ever-expanding list of oddball foods to pick up along our route! Thanks also for the refrigeration / anti-oxidation advice. I hadn't thought of that. We had intended to revisit the Barrio Brewing Co. where we dined with @FauxPas and Mr. FauxPas last spring. The only time we got close was quite by accident. My darling thinks it was a Freudian slip on the part of the GPS. We were trying to find HF Coors, of pottery fame, around several traffic accidents and reconstruction projects. My phone was saying to go one way, and so was my head; his GPS kept saying to go another way. It's no good having 2 navigators working at the same time, so I sat back and let his GPS take the lead. We ended up at Barrio Brewing! The GPS must have thought that was what "Coors" meant. It was much too early for dinner, and neither of us wanted beer with lunch, so we decided to come back later. We never made it. I found a consolation prize at a market later. It's a nice, light golden brew: not too hoppy, not too sweet. Pretty good with dinner. I'll add a photo of the brew in a mug later; it's pretty, but has escaped the camera lens for some reason.

Thanks for that information. I find that my sweet tooth isn't what it used to be, and some lemon curds are cloyingly sweet. When you do it in the Instant Pot, I'll be interested to see what the differences turn out to be.

Thanks for that clarification. Have you tried it yet? If so, how is the level of sweetness?

Aha, @sartoric - that helps! In this country we get dried hibiscus. I learned it in Egypt as "karkadeh" but here it's known as hibiscus, or the Mexican equivalent, "jamaica". I never thought of trying to make a jam or jelly from it. The color is beautiful. I'm relieved that you aren't picking out feathers.

Just for clarification: the recipe you linked to uses 3 whole eggs. Does your comment above, about using a whole egg recipe, simply refer to using entire eggs instead of parts? Or did you use only 1 egg?

Please tell more about rosella jam. My Google search simply says rosellas are a type of parrot!