Smithy

I've noted before that our plans change abruptly at times. Last night we were planning to cook outside. The campfire hadn't been laid yet, but the fireplace and camp stove are ready to go. Instead, we found ourselves making an unplanned trip to town. By the time we got back (in the dark - it's surprising how much different the terrain looks by headlight!) we wanted the easiest thing we could think of, short of leftovers. Jarred spaghetti sauce supplemented with chopped onions and hot Italian sausage did the trick. I normally use one of those silicone blumen-things to prevent pasta from boiling over, but my new pasta pot has a strainer built in and I wasn't thinking clearly. Given the pattern of bubbles building and breaking against the clear glass of the lid (lower right image in the collage above) I'm glad I tried the pot lid. Isn't that a pretty pattern? I'll get back to Pismo (figuratively speaking, not literally) later today.

I thought that bit was almost mixed parts sad, funny and creepy. Sad for the obvious reason that you were denied those mushrooms, funny because of the unexpected competition: the competition was a surprise, even though you discuss it in Acorns & Cattails. Creepy because, well, somebody else could have been watching you directly. I probably read too many crime novels.

That's an interesting take on the concept!

That's a nice article, Rob. I especially liked the opening contrast of perceptions: a city with trees, vs. a forest with buildings. Are you harvesting only wild persimmons, or do you also find commercial cultivars such as Hachiya and Fuyu?

Have you ever made it? I don't know anyone who has, except for Shelby - whose attempt was rather discouraging. I'd love to hear first-hand experience from someone who got it right.

Aha. I've been looking for more information on Dutch Crunch Bread. I found a very good article in American Food Roots titled Dutch Crunch is San Francisco's other bread that tells about its history and explains the odd topping of rice flour, yeast, sugar, salt and fat. The history is unclear. Some claim that it's an old recipe from the Netherlands, where it's known as tijgerbrood (Tiger Bread). @ElsieD, does that ring any bells for you? Others claim that the recipe even in the Netherlands isn't very old - dating back maybe to the 1970's. I have also found recipes for tiger bread, but as usual the internet is a prolific source of information - good and bad - and I've restricted my search to the term I know. I was amused to read that Sainsbury's in the U.K. has taken to calling it Giraffe Bread instead, after a 3-year-old girl questioned the name. The pattern doesn't look very tigerish to me either, but it does look giraffe-like, or jaguar-ish. Here's what the American Food Roots web page has to say about the Dutch Crunch bread's texture: They offer a recipe on the web page, of course. I also found these recipes to consider: Genius Kitchen: Crunch Dutch Bread (I don't know why the words are reversed. Strangely it seems harder to say that way.) @kitchn: How to make Dutch Crunch Bread Time to compare, contrast, and try when I find some rice flour.

They were very good. I don't remember much detail, unfortunately, but the photos give an idea of the texture. The buns were sturdy enough to stand up to the juices of the burger and additions, but not tough. I don't particularly remember a "crunch" but the burger in the background suggests that there was. Here you can see how much stuff I had loaded into mine. The bread never got soggy. @Porthos may be able to say more about the bread and what it's like. He recognized it two years ago and commented on his favorite source for it. @Thanks for the Crepes posted a link to a recipe, also. Hmm, I still haven't tried making this! Maybe it's time to change that. (To go directly to the recipe TftC posted, see here.)

I'm sorry to report that Beach Burger, in Oceano, was closed while we stayed at Pismo Beach. I wrote about it here and rhapsodized about their burgers with the Dutch Crunch buns. Here's a refresher, from two years ago: There was a sign on the door saying they'd be opening "soon" - now I don't remember whether it was under new management - but it was clear the place had been closed a while. We were very disappointed, but it gave us a chance to check out another place we'd been wondering about: the Rock & Roll Diner, located along the Pacific Coast Highway in a couple of rail cars. We've looked at the place for years but never gone. "Come and experience the most unique 50s diner on the Central Coast!" they brag. (Yes, the web site says "most unique". Hey, it's a 50's sort of place.) I have always been entranced by their grill outside, that begins working on meats early in the morning. We learned that it isn't just "standard American" fare, but it's also Mexican and Greek cuisine. My sister, DH and I ate there one night. I think he had a burger. I had a tri-tip sandwich. She had Greek chicken. I don't seem to have taken pictures, inside or out. The interior is decorated with old movie posters; each table has a countertop jukebox, but the actual music had to be chosen from a more modern electronic version. One day my sister and I wandered the little village of Arroyo Grande, inland from Pismo. We weren't hungry at the time, and we were on a mission, so we simply stopped to admire this interesting little cafe. Next year maybe we'll stop in if it's still around. The chickens clearly belonged there. They looked like they were waiting to be let in. The mission was that I needed new guitar strings and there was a music store in the village. I got the strings, but I also came within a hair's breadth of buying a ukelele - like this one. It was so darned cute! And it was so cheerful! And it was on sale! And it was fun! I mastered my impulses for the moment, and we went across the street to an antique store. I came out with these: Considerably less monetary outlay, and (only slightly) smaller than the ukelele. I've nearly given up on being able to learn about Indian cookery from an e-book, and this book looks like it will be a good start for me. "feast of eden" seems to be a typically good Junior League book, and it's sprinkled with John Steinbeck quotes. This book is the source of the broccoli with sun-dried tomato dressing I wrote about a few days ago. We went for a good, long beach hike. I'll be posting more photos of the scenery - we walked a lot - but I'll spread them out amongst the Pismo posts.

That is a nice find, Shelby. I'm safe for now, though: it won't fit in the 3-quart IP! I don't know what it is about the iMusa brand, but it catches my eye every time I pass it in the grocery store(s) - and it seems to be widely distributed.

<The back-story resumes.> Somewhere between Claremont and Pismo Beach is a preferred fuel stop: preferred because of its easy access to fuel with our rig, and its easy access to and from the freeway. We have it marked on our GPS. I have always been intrigued by the Farmer's Market next door. Although we didn't need any groceries - we planned to eat out a lot at Pismo, and we still had a good stock of food - I decided to investigate. At first glance, it didn't look promising... ...but at a closer look I realized that there actually was produce available. The building itself was locked. How often do you see an "honor box" in California? They're rare even in northern Minnesota these days. I bought a bunch of onions that I didn't need but were too beautiful to pass up, then we went on. The coastal mountains are gorgeous in winter, when the rains have allowed them to green up. That night, we dined on the enchiladas I'd bought at Wolfe's. When I said earlier there was no photo, it's because I'd forgotten this one. In truth, the plating is horrible and the proprietors of Wolfe's Deli would probably prefer that I NOT show it...but this way, you can see some of our Christmas linens. The enchiladas were delicious.

We have gremlins in the trailer. I'm not talking about the gremlins in our electrical system, although we have more than our share of those. Maybe these are the same gremlins, doing extra mischief in their off-hours when they aren't messing with the wiring. It all began when my darling wanted to make chili. He has a very specific recipe, with very specific ingredients. He swears he bought the precise canned goods he needed for this dish before we left. (I do mean 'specific': Joan of Arc brand beans, for instance - not Bush's Best, thankyouverymuch, because they don't taste the same.) He swears they were in a bag to be packed. I have no such recollection, but packing can be pretty intense toward departure time. Maybe we'll find them on the garage floor, frozen and then exploded from the intense cold, when we get home. Recollections or no, we can't find them. Next up was refried beans. They are a staple in our household: want Mexican? Pull out some salsa, refried beans, maybe some enchilada sauce, and have at it with the meat of choice, tortillas, sour cream, greens, etc. Nope. No refried beans to be found in the trailer. We've looked everywhere. There are at least 3 cans of assorted enchilada sauce. There are least a dozen pints of salsa we made last fall and packed along. There are at least 4 cans of diced or crushed tomatoes, although they aren't the specific brand he wants for his chili. There are no refried beans. There are plenty of dried beans from which to make refried beans, but one doesn't do that on a moment's notice. We began to wonder about our packing, or our memories. The plot thickened. Last night, we wanted something incredibly easy. "Zatarain's!" I yelled. "How about red beans and rice?" Yep, that was it. I dug through the cupboard until I came to the canister that carries several boxes of Zatarain's New Orleans mixes, and opened it....and found a small bag of brown sugar and a piloncillo. "We must have gremlins in the cabinets," we agreed. We settled for leftovers. Today we realized the gremlins give as well as take. There is a mystery bottle of salad dressing...or marinade...or what?... in the refrigerator. He swears it isn't his, because he always makes his salad dressing in the ridged bottle. I swear it isn't mine, because I never use packaged mixes. The picture below shows, from left to right, my most recent salad dressing, the mystery bottle, and his salad dressing. He tried to claim today that it's the leftover marinade from my last citrus chicken. I know it isn't. Gremlins, I tell you. At least they give back.

I do too, and this morning I realized that the dressing in question would go very well with green beans. To our tastes, anyway.

By all means, let us know how it works if you try it. It occurred to me yesterday that the dressing might not do well with brussels sprouts for the same reason the tomatoes and brussels sprouts didn't compliment each other in my pasta dish the other night. Roasting the sprouts might bring out enough toasty / Maillard notes to stand up to the dressing, though. Maybe it would be the same for the pork tenderloin.

We've stayed as little as overnight when we were in a hurry to maybe 2 weeks, depending on weather and our schedule. Impending rain drives us out in a hurry, as the campground turns into a clayey mire when it gets wet. The Salton Sea area is indeed interesting, and is/was a birder's paradise. In the 1950's and '60's it was also a boating and sport-fishing paradise and it's had its share of oddball cults around the area. The water level has been declining due to high evaporation rates and low water input. When we first began visiting here, tilapia were still abundant but the other fish had disappeared due to the increasing salinity. In the last two years, I understand even the tilapia have stopped reproducing. It's going too far from food to say much more, except to say that the water level is dropping and salinity rising even faster because the local agricultural runoff no longer comes in. As far as I know the farms to the north and south are still able to get enough water. However, the runoff is collected and sent to San Diego, to make up for Colorado River water that is no longer going to San Diego. (Water is a complicated issue in this state.) For more information about this particular issue, please see 12.31.2017 | Salton Sea Now! For several years running, state and federal agencies collaborated on a "Pelican Days" festival here at this time of year. There were food stands, food tours and presentations on the natural history, indigenous populations and biologic importance of the area. The purpose of the festival was to spark the general public's interest and provide education about the problems it faces. I learned a lot (and ate well). The festival disappeared a couple of years ago but revived this year under another name. We missed it by a week.

If I'm planning a meal to share or cooking something entirely unfamiliar, I'll often consult the Flavor Bible or Vegetarian Flavor Bible.  We didn't notice any of the recent earthquakes. We were here for a 4.6 about 12 years ago, with the epicenter about 10 miles south, at Bombay Beach. I forget how far down it was. That one woke us up. I thought at first someone was trying to get into the trailer, then realized it was more like a giant hand shaking the trailer. Wind? No. We worked out what was happening, and the next day were able to get the details. Thanks for those book recommendations. I'll see whether I can check them out from my library to scope them out more carefully. Would one of them be useful for matching a finished dish (like this broccoli recipe) to another finished dish, or is it more of the match-single-ingredients algorithm that would have prevented my mixing brussels sprouts and tomatoes in the pasta dish a few nights back?

I was thinking the same thing about the dressing this morning, during our walk. I also mused on meat dishes that might go with it. Something stronger, I think...perhaps the right type of sausage? Then I said aloud, "maybe smoked turkey leg or a smoked pork shank". My darling squinted at me. "But I like smoked pork shank with sauerkraut!" Me: "Sure, but does it have to be done that way every single time?" He: "Yes, why mess with success?" *Groan* Another meat for which, in his mind, there is only One True Way to cook it. 😞

Sunrise on the Salton Sea. This lake is rapidly shrinking, but the winter rains may be helping with the water level slightly. We haven't been to the harbor or the Visitor Center yet to see whether there's a significant difference. I doubt it has affected the water level, but it's certainly helped the plants that bloom where runoff is trapped by the railroad grade. Yesterday I made another batch of fruit salad for my darling's breakfast, now that we're restocked. In the evening, we baked a pork steak and shared it. In a marvelous demonstration of restraint and foresight, I only cooked one of the two we purchased at the last stop, because of their size. I also tried a broccoli recipe from a new-used cookbook I picked up at Pismo Beach. I haven't told you about that trip, or the grocery store, or several other stops yet. Pretend you're watching a Quentin Tarantino movie. The broccoli recipe is wonderful. The dressing is made of lemon juice, garlic, anchovies (don't tell my darling), sun-dried tomatoes (I used some of the oven-roasted batch from our freezer) and olive oil, all whirred together in the food processor until smooth. A bit of grated parmesan is stirred in. The whole lot goes over steamed broccoli. This is delicious, and we'll be doing it again. I think the same dressing will work well on other vegetables. However... This pork steak, with its savory-salty coating of cumin, sweet and hot paprika, various seasoned salts, bread crumbs and corn meal, was delicious. So was the garlicky, tart, lemony broccoli. They didn't necessarily compliment each other, though. While they weren't as incompatible as, oh, a bagpipe and lute playing a duet, they were singing their own songs instead of harmonizing. How do you go about deciding in advance whether various dishes will enhance? I can do this with tried-and-true combinations, but when I venture into new territory it doesn't always work as well as I'd expected. I may start a topic on the idea, unless someone can point me to an existing topic. So far the best I've found is Food Pairing, which led to a web site that is much more about building new recipes than deciding whether separate recipes will work together well.

As we have done for many years now, we braved the traffic of the L.A. Basin to spend Midwinter's Eve and Midwinter Day with our dearest and oldest friend. When I say "oldest" I am not simply referring to the number of years I've known her; she turned 98 this trip! We helped her celebrate in two birthday parties on two evenings, with other friends joining us for food, music and visiting. There was a lot of visiting, one-on-one, during the intervening day. There were also walks, admiring the flowers and enjoying the warm sun, and there were naps. Although our friend is in remarkably good health, she hasn't as much energy as she once did and the household routine has changed to reflect that fact. Where once I might have cooked at least one dinner, complete with bread, dinners are generally prepared in advance by the housekeeper. These birthday dinners were selected by the Birthday Woman and prepared by her daughter, and they were good. One night it was salmon with steamed vegetables and potatoes; the other night was some delectable chicken dish with appropriate vegetables and rice. I'm sure I'm forgetting something of the main courses and sides. Does it all sound too healthful for birthday celebrations? Well yes -- but that all went out the window with the birthday cakes: huge ice cream cakes with frosting and flowers. A different cake for each night. And hot chocolate or hot cider, according to the eaters' wishes. Each night we dined happily, told stories, then brought out the guitars for an evening of song...beginning with the requisite birthday song, of course. Breakfast during our visit was left up to us. Lunch brings me to my food pictures, and a small lamentation of change. Wolfe's Market was the small but excellent market closest to my college when I was a student there. Truth to tell, it was generally too expensive for me at the time, and my tastes ran more to Mystic Mint cookies (which involved walking another mile to the Albertson's with my best friend) than fine roast chicken. We had dorm food, and that was good enough. Over the years of coming back to visit I became acquainted with the high quality of Wolfe's produce, meat, breads and cheeses. Their deli counter was a delight. Well, Wolfe's is now only a deli. It's a delightful deli, but the market portion has been walled off to make a restaurant. We understand that the owner-family (2nd or 3rd generation) had to make difficult business decisions and that the market had been losing money for nearly a decade. It's the passing of an era. But! It's a great deli! Our lunches were sandwiches made to order and then brought home to eat. They were generous and delicious. On the second day of visiting, I tagged along on a vain attempt to contribute money to the cause. (I was foiled on that; our hostess simply told the staff to add the order to her account.) What I did do was snap photos and purchase foods for our meals once we moved on to our next stop. I bought fruit salad, a vegetable salad with spinach, feta cheese, tomatoes and I-forget-what-else, and a sour cream potato salad that for me is the Platonic Ideal of potato salads. Next time I visit, I'm buying more of that. A LOT more. I also purchased enchiladas to share for the following night's dinner: one chicken, one green chile and pork. Somehow, I seem not to have gotten pictures of them. We left the next day, headed out of The Basin and up the California coast. I commented both on the way in and on the way out at how light and easy the traffic was, and what a blessing it was to have sunny weather. "Don't say that!" said my darling. I thought he was afraid I'd be jinxing the trip, since this seemed ideal to me: But no. It seems he prefers this sort of traffic and weather (photo from 2 years ago)... ...because everything is traveling more slowly. In traffic like that, I want to hide my eyes and hope we get through without incident. To him, it's better than sailing along at 55 mph with all the traffic flowing around us. Go figure.

I love nasturtiums. Unfortunately, they don't do well in our climate...except, possibly, for the very dedicated gardeners in my area. I am not one of those, at present. But they are delightful to look at and a nicely versatile table addition. I must speak up for lovage...yes, it is celery on steroids. What's not to like?

More bread-baking today. I've been experimenting with using persimmon pulp in a sourdough bread. I flailed around a bit with proportions: adding some water, then overcompensating and needing more flour to get the dough right. Nonetheless, it wasn't bad. My darling prefers soft bread and thought the texture of this was reminiscent of his mother's bread - that's high praise indeed! I think it needed time and temperature adjustments; the bottom crust was tough and the interior a tad mushy despite internal temperature measurements of 98C. (I probably need to check the calibration on my thermometer.) The flavor's pretty good, though. The persimmon pulp gives it the darkish color, and the sweetness of the persimmon cancels the sourdough flavor. As my best friend said last year, you'd never guess that it was a sourdough loaf. Perhaps calling it a "wild yeast" dough would be more accurate. We finished the leftover ribeye by cutting it into small chunks and very gently reheating it in sauce, then committing it to a green salad. There was too little of the original wine sauce, so I had to augment it with some other sauces we had in the fridge. This meal used up the last of our fresh greens and tomatoes. It's time for a grocery run! Here's a bit more of the local color, for those of you who need a break from storms.

A couple of days ago when we were hiding out from the desert wind, I set out to make pita bread. I used the Tucson sourdough starter I began last November and the Sonoran flour blend from Barrio Bread in Tucson in place of white whole wheat flour. It's been at least a year since I made pita, and it took a few flat non-puffies to get the temperature and thickness right, but overall I'm well pleased. The flavor is good. I still haven't done a rigorous test to compare the performance and flavor of the Duluth sourdough starter and the Tucson sourdough starter, but right now I lean toward preferring the Tucson starter. It's entirely possible that the refreshing time and the resting time of the dough have much more influence than the starter culture. Several topics I've found here on eG suggest that to be the case.

Aha! This is what I needed instead of tomatoes for a brussel sprouts pasta dish I made last night!

Oh, my...Blind Dog Coffee Roasters have an Amazon presence. Here, with a different label, is the Death Valley French Roast, ground and whole bean. They have other roasts as well, including the Italian roast that I bought but haven't opened.

I have a bunch of Hachiya persimmon pulp from our trip to Ivanhoe (my earliest home) and need to do something with it today. While I ponder the possibilities, I'm breakfasting in yogurt with Fuyu persimmon that I bought from a fruit stand at Christmas time. Beautiful, isn't it? Tasty, too.

That probably would have worked. My usual sprout treatment is much like yours when I'm doing the sprouts as a side. Adding pasta was a new take. Thanks for the confirmation about the tomatoes.