Smithy

Texas is far behind us now, but I have another post or two to share from there. We would like to have visited Laird's B-B-Q & Catering one more time, but they finally managed to sell after some years of trying. More power to them, they wanted to retire! The pits were sold to an outfit in Austin. I understand that Kenny is thoroughly enjoying retirement and Esther is selling her art in a local gallery. The old place is now a private residence. That meant that our last hurrah for our 'cue season was back at Cooper's Old-Time Pit Barbecue, which was no hardship. It's an easy walk from the park where we stayed. I've written about it before, and if you want to see a previous entry you can look here. The pits had the usual tempting selection of meats. I had made arrangements in advance to get a small piece of cabrito (kid goat). I've never had it. It's supposed to be delicious, but it always sells out quickly. It turned out that I could ask someone to set some aside for me. I also selected brisket. In addition to the meat, there are desserts and sides to be ordered, if one wishes. The macaroni and cheese didn't make it into this picture. I got some hickory-smoked bacon, and more potato salad. Once I'd paid for the purchases, I went to get one last large serving of their wonderful pinto peans and barbecue sauce. You've seen those before, so instead I'll show their award plaque and part of the dining area. Once I got home and we were ready to eat, I unwrapped my prizes (you've seen brisket; this is cabrito shoulder)... ...and discovered that there was no way my darling would let cabrito pass his lips. It isn't a question of flavor, but rather a question of cuteness. He has a soft spot for them because of the way his Bedouin friends in Egypt treated them: never to be eaten directly, but instead to be sold in order to buy essentials such as cloth and foodstuffs. He knows it isn't rational, but there it is. So he had brisket, and I had cabrito. (That's his preferred barbecue sauce - Jack Daniels #7 - instead of Cooper's sauce on the brisket.) Some miles outside Llano, on our way north, we passed under this banner. "Oh, no!" he groaned, "I can't get away from it!"

It all looks, beautiful. I'm glad to see all the great publicity!

@kayb, I'm thrilled for you! The kitchen looks beautiful: ready to move into, and all you'll need to do is decide where best to put things. Is that oven a Samsung, by any chance? If so, is it one of their dual-option ovens? That's what I have at home.

That looks like a wonderful place! I like the fanciful names. I would have a difficult time choosing; it all sounds delicious.

That's my favorite, too! Give me peaches, or nectarines, and the fixings for ice cream and I'm a happy woman.

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing it!

Right you both are!

That looks like a wonderful Easter dinner. Ramps!! Oh, you lucky duck! Ours will be coming up in about a month.

Yep! (Taken out of context, that sounds rather uncomplimentary. ) OK, here's the other one for the day:

This one probably isn't too tough...

More sights from my walking tour. I did not buy the cute cookie jar, nor any of the very large apothecary jars (bargain-priced), nor any of the other pretty jars, nor the stiff wooden basket large enough to double as a crib, nor even a pressure gauge. Nor did I buy (or even try to fit into) the vintage cowgirl outfit, for that matter. Later in the day we went to Miller's Smokehouse & Market. They have a great selection of fresh and smoked meats, sausage-making supplies, preserves and a few "normal" groceries. Here's a very small selection of their offerings: We bought some of their sausages, the massive chicken breasts I showed in the sous vide post earlier, and a selection of their stuffed peppers: jalapeno poppers, armadillo eggs, gator toes and brisket poppers. The brisket poppers are supposed to be the local favorites; having sampled some, I can see why. We baked them in the oven at 325F or 350F until the bacon wrapping was brown. They were good! We also bought pork steaks. It seems as though most areas that we travel favor thinly-sliced pork - something appropriate for quick frying, but not satisfying for the breaded, oven-baked version my darling prefers. These overcompensated: each steak was immense in thickness as well as area. We decided to share one. I couldn't finish my half. Lest you think we're only eating meat and potato salad in Llano, let me tell you about the green beans I cooked from @JAZ's new book, The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook for Two. (Disclosure: I was one of several eGullet recipe testers for this book, and Janet was good enough to send me a free copy by way of thanks. I'll also say that I liked the recipes I tested so much that I bought a copy of the book for my best friend when it hit the presses.) My copy finally (finally!) caught up to me in the roving mail, and it's bristling with sticky-notes for recipes to try. For this dinner it was the Warm Thai-Style Green Bean and Tomato Salad. Simple, from start to finish, and delicious. I didn't tell my darling it contained cilantro. He loved the salad as much as I did.

I wrote last fall about the terrible flooding along the Llano River that prevented us from visiting then. The park where we like to stay was badly damaged. I'm happy to report that most of the trailer camping facilities have been repaired, so we were able to visit for a few days, get our fill of barbecue, and see how the town fared. I have been enjoying Cooper's pinto beans for breakfast for the last couple of days, and it's a good way to fortify myself for walking tours. The Inks Bridge that connects the northern and southern sides of the town actually had water over it at the worst of the flood. It wasn't damaged, but the river bed has been scrubbed down to the rock. On the downstream side of the bridge, there are two photos that show the "before" so you can see how much that flood affected the vegetation. I walked across the bridge and admired the sculptures that have gone up in another riverfront park. (Note the flood debris high in the tree's branches!) I walked on into town, and by sheer dumb luck discovered that there's a Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings! I went to the Courthouse Square to see what they might have. I walked around two corners of the square before I found it: 3 stations, only. Well, this was the first weekend of the season for the market. One woman was selling vegetable plants that wouldn't appreciate being asked to flourish where we live. Another woman was selling baked goods. The third vendor was a man selling hand-woven cloths. To the left of the spinning machine were some plain, soft cotton napkins; the cloth to the right was woven of linen, or maybe linen and cotton. I had never seen a spinning machine like this, but the style dates back to Mahatma Gandhi's day. Lest this veer off into politics, please see this link for more information. This vendor is making his own yarn from cotton, but the cloth I bought as a table centerpiece is made from purchased yarn. It's luxuriantly soft. You'll see it in use at the table before we get home...but not when we're eating something messy! The weaver assured me that it's been washed many times, and that as cotton it's quite washable. Still, I don't think I want to risk it with barbecue sauce.

Yeah, I had to work backward from the knot on that one to work out that it was a lass at the upper left!

I've written before about Lone Star Beer. To be honest, I buy it more for the bottle caps than the flavor, but it's become a tradition for us: when in Texas, we have to buy at least one 6-pack of the stuff so we can enjoy the puzzles. Here are two. Can you make out what they say?

I found some ripe prickly pear fruit! I only took a small sample because I didn't actually see anyone from whom to ask permission. They probably wouldn't have cared, since there's a significant number of tunas on the ground - but still. I settled for just three. They're in the freezer now. If I manage to get juice out of this paltry sampling, I'll report back on the taste and tartness.

In reponse to my kvetching about the Joule, I'm happy to report that I used the Joule successfully yesterday for 3 separate cooks, with no trouble. It may be because the firmware and app have both been updated. It may be that I've finally figured out that I have to turn the Joule on before launching the app. At least, that's how I did it yesterday, and it all went smoothly. The chicken breasts received two different spice treatments, and I used 145F (working my way toward Shelby's numbers) for 2:15. We'll be set for sandwich meat and chicken salad until we get home. The lamb was cooked at 125F for 1:30 in my standard Greek-ish marinade. I'll plan to rewarm it, then give it a quick sear on a pan or a grill, depending on when I cook it. How nice to have a trouble-free experience with the Joule!

So whatever it is was a starter set.

Oh, I think the puzzle alone is worth that! @Anna N, do those things have a flat section around the oval hole, or are they cupped over the entire surface? I keep thinking of what we call "cocktail plates" that have a hole to hold one's stemware, so that one can hold the plate with the stemware and have another hand free for eating. The felt backing doesn't make sense with that, though - and neither does having the hole smack in the middle of the "plate"!

"We blithely speak of Nature's laws, but do things have a natural cause? Black earth turned to yellow crocus is undiluted hocus-pocus." ----- Piet Hein, from his Gruks

Last night's dinner was breaded, baked chicken thighs; broccoli salad; and the cauliflower mascarpone mash I mentioned earlier from Fine Cooking. I'm not sure I agree with the article that I'd never miss mashed potatoes with this as a substitute, but it was pretty darned good. I'll do it again. A little grocery store in Columbus, that I haven't bothered to photograph, has a surprising selection of frozen goods - better than I'd expected, based on their small selection of fresh produce. We went in yesterday to stock up on beer. I couldn't resist buying these: I keep running across recipes for nopalitos but not getting around to cooking the cactus paddle bits that I bought until they were starting to go off. These frozen bits can hold until I'm ready to use them. The mango bits will come in useful for a mango salsa, either with Mexican food or with some of the Indian and Thai curries I've admired. Suggestions for either of these items are welcome! We're on the road today, headed eastward (and, incidentally, out of cell coverage). It's tough to catch good photos from the windshield, but we've noticed over the past few years that this "Christmas tree" gets more colorful each time. Our road food includes hard-boiled eggs, cheese and crackers, but as i write this we've managed to have an austere breakfast: We've been indulging our appetites much, much too much this trip. It's time to make some changes. See you in a few days!

They are beautiful. I have a little cordial glass with that pattern that I use it as a bud vase. It's another style I wouldn't mind having, but our wedding goblets are clear cobalt blue, and I love them too. Too bad I didn't get a better closeup, but here's what I have:

Since I'm on the topic of blue-rimmed glassware, I'll point out a new style added to their wares in the last year or two: These are full-sized (12 oz? 16?) tumblers. This is the one set that didn't tempt me even a little. Imagine trying to drink out of these, or clean them! Imagine trying to set them down without toppling them, after a beer or three had been quaffed! They were available last year when we visited, so somebody must be buying them...I suppose they'd make for a great party game.

If I were good for more than one or two margaritas per year I might have considered these: I laughed when our margaritas arrived at the table. Scroll back up, and you'll see that they didn't use these classic glasses! There was a sauce under the chiles rellenos, although it isn't mentioned in the menu. Colorado enchilada sauce, I think? It had just a touch of heat. You can see it better in this close-up shot:

That's a brilliant way to deal with the broken pitcher! I had one that I bought in Duluth from some import shop, but unfortunately it leaked at the bottom where the blowing-rod would have been detached. Eventually I stopped using it as a decorative piece and gave it away. I also had a blown-glass pitcher that I inherited from my parents, that developed a crack at the handle. I think it's gone too. I looked hard at these and considered adding a pitcher to my collection: In truth, we throw few parties for which it could be used, and I'd have trouble figuring out where to put it when it wasn't in use. Maybe after I've done some housecleaning I'll have room.

I am surprised there isn't more of Mexico represented where you are...I think you're near Phoenix? I would expect more variety there.