Smithy

It's now in the oven. I see, now that it's too late, that I was supposed to not only grease the pan (which I did) but also put down a piece of parchment to use as a sling to lift it later! Ah well, it'll be an adventure. One instruction the recipe doesn't include but I did anyway was to strain the custard as I poured it atop the crust. In general, I don't like the texture of lemon zest. Maybe if I used a finer grater I wouldn't mind, but my microplane leaves detectable strips. The batter tastes good, though. On to my next batch of cleanup! Look at the garbage bag! (Okay, the watermelon rinds are from lunch, and the water bottles are to keep from dehydrating.)

I fear this particular recipe will be more trouble than it's worth, given the equipment (and room) I have. So far, here's the cleanup debris from making the crust. The recipe is for a 9x13 pan, and the 9x9 Corningware baking dish I bought last week is the biggest thing I have. I probably should have scaled it down, or found a second pan for a smaller batch. An additional issue is that my handheld wand blender isn't really good for creaming butter and sugar. It ground my toasted pecans nicely, and it's about to whisk the eggs for my lemon curd. I have no doubts about its ability to handle that job. However, it's woefully inadequate for mixing the dough. I tried the chopper blade and the whisk. Below, you see what I had to work with for patting into the pan, and you see the baked crust. That crust was pretty puffy. I used a flat spatula to compress it a bit, based on comments that the crust as written tended to develop holes and leak the filling down to the bottom. Assuming I keep traveling like this, I'll make a point of packing my handheld mixer. Sure, I could buy another -- but there's one sitting at home. I'll just avoid recipes that need it for the remainder of the trip. More updates later!

Only one small jar's worth, no doubt set aside in case I get tea-drinking company. I did check! 🤣

I also thank you for the reminder. That cookbook is one of a half-dozen that I have with me right now. I should check out LGD again and see whether it's a better use than what I'd intended for the herbs in my refrigerator.

The best has been when we had a house-sitter who paid enough attention to the mail to suspect when something important had come in. These days, it's a neighbor who kindly collects the mail and boxes it all securely. When there's a full box, or when I ask because I'm expecting something important, she sends it along. Most postal areas offer General Delivery, in which mail can be sent to them and they'll hold it for pickup. You have to go online to look at services offered for a particular Post Office, or else do a search on General Delivery to see who offers it in your area. That only officially works for 30 days out of any given year, though. Once we began staying in one spot longer, we rented a Post Office box. It's an excellent service, and IMO a bargain. Over the years we've also had the box of mail, or packages, sent to friends or family where we planned to visit. There have been occasions when that meant staying longer than anyone had intended until said package arrived, but I don't think we've ever worn out our welcome. 🙂 The Aji Amarilla paste that just arrived would have been problematic if I'd camping someplace with a 7-day limit!

It's also a Southern US relish. My father used to reminisce about his mother making chow chow with their end-of-season green tomatoes. That was in California, but she had grown up in Oklahoma and Tennessee. I never found her recipe, though; and Dad could never remember much detail except that he'd liked it.

Today felt like a molasses day, and not in a good way. I can't blame the weather. It was pleasant: not too cool, not too warm; I left the windows open all day and was rewarded with nice breezes. I can't blame the conveniences of being here: water, sewer hookup, electricity. I'm using them all in abundance, in ways that I wouldn't if I were boondocking. Why, with all these greens I'm washing, you'd think I was living somewhere with plenty of water! Grump factor 1: I can partly blame wading through the latest batch of mail, and starting to sort through my tax records. I had plenty of time to work on them today, and plenty of pleasant news in the mail. The taxes aren't likely to be terrible, but they're about my least favorite thing in the world to work on. I am prone to throwing "tax related" things loosely into a folder, willy-nilly. Eventually it all has to be sorted. Do I change my ways and impose some sort of order as I go? Well, I haven't yet. Grump factor 2: the night before last I realized I'd run myself out of coffee, and had only half a cup yesterday morning. So yesterday after doing laundry, I made a trip to the grocery store for coffee; the salad greens you see above; the ingredients I'll need for the Aji de Gallina, now that the Aji Amarilla paste has finally arrived; and pet supplies that ran the ticket up past reasonable. Then, today, I realized that I'd need to go to the grocery store AGAIN in order to make those lemon bars. It doesn't matter which recipe I choose; I'll need sugar and butter. So, another trip to the grocery store. I wanted a small bag of sugar, and was rewarded with the "easy pour" boxes that they're discontinuing. Okay, 4 lbs is more than I'd wanted to buy, but I shouldn't need to get any more this trip. I hadn't been pleased with my attempt at pulverizing sugar enough to powder it, so I gave in and bought powdered sugar. I had these choices: and then spotted this smaller bag of powdered sugar that doesn't contain cornstarch. It, er, has tapioca starch instead. I'll be interested to see how it behaves. Gratitude check: I should not allow those grump factors above get me down. I'm grateful for leisure and health to do this sort of things, and money enough to do them although I'm hardly rich. But I've really had to struggle to feel gratitude today. Gratuitous desert tracks, that I enjoyed spotting. Wouldn't this make a nice embroidery pattern? And finally, I'm grateful for leftovers...or planned-overs, as Anna N would have called them. I got home from the grocery store with too little time or energy to cook. I still have a bit of this panade left over after tonight, and I have the ingredients already prepped for another entire batch. When exactly I'll get around to making the enchiladas, or aji de gallina, or bacon-wrapped asparagus before the asparagus goes off, is anyone's guess. But tomorrow, by golly, I'll be making those lemon bars!

Chow chow?

Breakfast, part the first: Plain keffir, mixed with the best juice I could find here... The last juice I had was either apricot or mango, no added sugar, quite delicious. I haven't been able to find it here. Last night I received an invitation to a pot luck and music jam session on Monday afternoon. I thought hard about what to bring -- salads are obvious and easy, but maybe I should bring a dessert? I've discovered that my landlords have sweet tooths -- he especially -- and that she hasn't been up for much baking or cooking lately. If I bake something sweet I can save some for them. Besides, I scored a bunch of lemons a couple of weekends ago at the music festival. I really ought to do something with them. Back in the Good Old Days, by now we'd have had coolers full of citrus from my original home, and I'd have been making gelatins and soups and fruits salads and heaven knows what else...as well as simply drinking their juice or eating them out of hand. Now, I don't have that ready access and that may be the reason I've been hoarding them. It could also have been apathy on my part. At any rate, I opened the bag and discovered... ...already, the dreaded citrus mold has set in. How could I not have smelled it? Age? Apathy? Doing my best to ignore my surroundings? I dunno. But I didn't smell it until I opened the bag. Fortunately it was just the one lemon. Here's what's left, having been thoroughly washed, rinsed, and allowed to dry. Plenty for what I intend: lemon bars. I have two three candidates, both all from the New York Times. I've loaded up the unlocked articles. Which do you think looks better? Lemon Bars with Pecan Crust, by Lisa Donovan Lemon Bars with Olive Oil and Sea Salt, by Melissa Clark Lemon Bars, by Genevieve Ko I'm leaning toward the Pecan Crust version but haven't decided yet. Comments, please! I said I've been doing my best to ignore my surroundings. It's been hot here -- too darned hot for my comfort -- but today it's started to cool off to something civilized, and that makes it easier for me to appreciate the possibilities of the area. At the moment it's 67F and it's only supposed to go up to 81F today. Maybe I can keep the windows open and air conditioner off. The nearby undeveloped area of desert sand and dunes is always good for exploring on foot. Today I was treated to this display of what loose brush and wind can do to fine sand:

This article is full of wonderful insights and comments. Of course I want to include the whole thing here, and I may not. It makes the note that mastery of omelets takes time, practice and lots of mistakes -- and really, at best, receiving mentorship as the author was doing here. Omelets are old-style classic dishes, not to be confused with whatever is raging on TikTok or other social media at any given moment. This part, right here, I will share because it made me laugh aloud:

Sorry. Trying again: What Jacques Pépin taught me about omelets and life I love this subheader: If that doesn't work, then I'm out of ideas.

Host's note: this topic began in, and was split from, the "Gotten Any Fun Stuff?" topic. It finally arrived! This little jar, ordered on March 6, arrived at my post office box on Tuesday, March 25. Why it languished so long in carrier facilities is a mystery. That said, it was beautifully packed: triple padded bubble wrapping. I'd been worried that it would have been damaged in transit, but I think it would have survived any abuse short of being driven over by the delivery truck. Now I'm set to make the Peruvian chicken stew I've been planning for a while.

Amen! Though that cheese looks excellent too. I can imagine a trifecta there on that toast: butter, cheese AND bacon. 😀

https://wapo.st/4c9kG2l This is an unlocked gift article link. No special sign-ins, or FB, needed.

That sounds like a wonderful flavor combination. I love those particular seasonings.

Bumping this back up to note that the A4 boxes seem still to be available but no longer on sale. This surprises me, since our last speculation was that the fabulous sale was happening to eliminate inventory as they wound the company down. The accessory kits are listed as being available when bundled with the A4, but when I try to order the accessory trays separately they're still listed as Sold Out. Has everyone who ordered an A4 box during that lovely sale gotten theirs? There was some concern about customer service a few months ago. If you have gotten it and started to play with it, remember to let us know how it's going -- either here or, better still, over here: I'm a couple of months and a couple of thousand miles from being able to play with mine, but I'd love a progress report!

If you've never had gumbo before, you're in for a treat! You may want to peruse, and even contribute to, this topic: And yes, even though it's an old topic it's always available for participation and expansion!

That's a much nicer color!

I don't have much to add to what's been said so far -- the design looks good and at that price point I'd sure be interested -- but I will say "me too" regarding that color. I find that particular color of orange very unattractive. Blue, yellow, even black or stainless steel or red would appeal much more to me! The knobs and gauges are great. I've become leery of items that require a remote signal to run. A remote connection can be handy (say, start from your phone while you're away) but requiring one is a dealbreaker for me. I would advocate a larger disk if you can manage it. 8" diameter seems a bit small for the uses I can imagine. Can you make it 10" or, better still, 12" but have a pot size adjustment so it doesn't heat unnecessary surface?

Oops I did it again.... That's this morning's wreckage from last night's dinner. I started very late, having had this sandwich in midafternoon. If it hadn't been for the peppers and kale already cut from a couple of days ago and not getting any better, I'd have called that dinner and gone to bed. But no. I wanted to use them, and the onion, and some of the good San Diego bread from the freezer, to make a panade. I also wanted to cook some bacon in order to try it with my soup per @C. sapidus's suggestion up here. So yes, it was hot and I hadn't cooked earlier in the day. I just kept the air conditioning going until the smoke alarm, which is very overly sensitive, forced me to open all the vents and turn on all the fans instead. I pumped air outside as fast as I could. I was reminded of the folly of cooking bacon "for later". This was cooked in the oven. It's nice and crisp. Of the original 5 strips, only 2 survived to go into the refrigerator for later. 😀 Even though the smoke alarm objected to this process, you can see it was a pretty good way to cook, and not overcook, the bacon. I got about a quarter cup of grease out of the deal also. The "lunar lander" earned its keep, slicing onion and cheese into the fine bits that I wanted. I used a bit of my good English cheddar from Costco and this cheese, which has been with me since sometime last summer. Other ingredients that went into the panade: ...as well as more bacon, to get the skillet process going. I ended up using a bit of olive oil also. Then it all went in layers into my casserole dish: bread cubes, sweated vegetables, cheese, until that dish was as full as I dared make it. I pressed eveything down to mash it as much as possible, then poured chicken broth in until the liquid layer was about halfway up the dish. Into the oven it went. Baked until bubbly. I'm glad I put a pan underneath that baking dish! It was good. It was also very late. 10 pm? I thought of how often my darling and I had discussed and lamented late dinners. I still don't like 'em. But this was good, especially after I put more shredded cheese atop the serving. But then, there was the washing-up to do. Ah well, between the soup and this I won't need to cook for several days if I don't want to!

I got up early to deal with the refrigerator vegetables that I didn't cook last night. The red bell peppers were already starting to go off. Most was still usable and it's all chopped and put into a refrigerator container. The kale has been destemmed and chopped, and is similarly refrigerated. The onion will be fine where it is, for now. This will all become a panade using some of the frozen bread, or possibly a Spanish tortilla -- I think that's what that layered potato dish is called -- to use some of the potatoes. Either way, it probably won't happen until tomorrow. I went excavating in the belly box to find the chicken broth I knew was there and a new jar of pickles that I hoped would be there. I've used all my chicken broth from the freezer, and seem also to have exhausted the pickle supply. The excavation was interesting. Have I shown you the belly box storage area? If not, let me know and I'll snap a photo of it. Suffice to say for now that there are two coolers and a produce box, all tucked away like circus clowns in the Volkswagon. And I need to review more often just exactly what's in them. (Cue my darling's voice: "Do you know what's in those coolers? They never get any lighter! You should look!" How often did he say that in the past?) Well. There's a LOT of the Lipton's Onion Soup mix we used to use to coat roasts and hams before roasting. That's going to take a while to use up. Oh! There's the cornbread mix I was looking for at home! Tempura batter mix. Curry pastes. Larb mix. Cans of tomatoes, beans, olives. (Those weren't a surprise.) An unopened box of baking soda. I hadn't left without it! Several types of barbecue sauce. More jars of salsa from home. More specialty flours, though no AP flour like I needed the other day. That at least wasn't an empty purchase. More spices and baking basics. Note to self: I also have baking powder, and harissa, and a bit of sugar although not enough for what I needed the other day. That also was not an unnecessary purchase. No pickles. I'll have to buy more. But I did find the chicken broth, and while I was at it I excavated more of the staples I use fairly often. (Ignore the greenery behind the cans. That's a broccoli photobomb.) I would not buy those generic black ripe olives, but my DIL gave them to me when she didn't need them. I'll use them in something.

Nice idea! Thanks!

The surviving potatoes are dry, and sitting out on the counter still uncooked. I got as far as pondering several potato salad recipes, and other interesting potato dishes, before deciding last night to have some of the Sopa de Lima and call it dinner. This turned out to be an interesting and enlightening exercise. I wish I'd taken a better picture, but this is all I have now: I had two containers, and this is what's left of the larger one. See that layer at the top of the container? It was gratifyingly gelatinous last night. It also had the peel bitterness. I know this because I'd eaten most of the contents of the first, smaller container before deciding to supplement it with soup from this larger container. There was little of the peel bitterness in the first bowl's worth. When I added the good gelatinous stuff, the bitterness was much more pronounced. I also learned that the fried corn tortilla strips that I cooked the first night may not have a good substitute. They get soggy in a heartbeat, so I tried using Doritos tortilla chips as a replacement. Not the same, at all, at all. But now I have a container of the Sopa de Lima and no fried tortilla strips to go with it. I used 'em all up last night. Crackers, maybe?

This morning, roasting them all seemed to be a good idea. I have my doubts about that right now, though. 🙂 And you're right about the lasagne! In the meantime, I suddenly realized that the foul odor in the pantry wasn't my imagination. Some of the potatoes were going bad. That is a really, truly, terrible odor. The spuds are now out, and sorted; their (leak-proof, hallelujah) container is washed and drying. I'm considering potato salad for the survivors.

Yesterday was a day of fairly heavy housecleaning -- that is, trailer cleaning. For the first time in several weeks the floors feel (mostly) clean to my bare feet. Considering the dirt, dust and foot traffic of the four-footed kind that's an accomplishment. The upshot is that I really, really didn't feel like cooking. It was a big ol' dinner salad again. Really big. That bowl is what I usually use to serve two or three people. Good, but more even than I wanted. But I ate it anyway. I'm now out of spinach, asparagus and Campari tomatoes until my next grocery visit. I had a tuna salad for lunch a couple of hours ago: oil-packed tuna, mayo, salted capers, all on crackers. Here's what's left: I must remember to rinse those capers before using them; they have way too much salt as they are. They're delicious, though. I prefer them to the vinegar-brined capers. I still have non-leafy greens in the refrigerator: red bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, celery, kale, a couple of jalapenos, all of which need to be cooked before they go off. I'm lucky to have a lot of other food options: lots of canned and dried beans, as well as rice, pasta, potatoes and onions in the pantry. In the refrigerator and freezer there are various meats (cured and uncooked) and cheeses and breads. There's leftover Sopa de Lima. Problem is, right now I don't want to do any food prepping for dinner. I just want water. And more water. My thermometer says it's 101F outside. I'm glad to be plugged into electricity; the air conditioner in this trailer is good, but if I were out boondocking the generators would be working pretty hard to keep it going. The evening walk won't happen until very late this evening.