Smithy

I love Ajo! We always pass through it without spending time there except possibly in a grocery store parking lot. This might be the incentive I need to get us back to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for a few days so I can make that trip. Thanks for the information!

Thanks, @Toliver...I think......"Casablanca" and "Olives, Lemons and Za'atar" (hey, they were only $0.99 each) led me also to Turkish Delights: Stunning regional recipes from the Bosphorus to the Black Sea and The Indian Cookery Course Both are also $0.99 specials. Not that I need any more Indian or Middle Eastern cookbooks so much as I need to use them. Hey, maybe if I sleep with my tablet under my pillow I'll absorb all this electronic information by osmosis. I think I tried that with high school chemistry.

Glochids! That's the new word I got that night, and had forgotten. Thank you, @lemniscate! Do you know whether the cholla fruit is edible? I don't see much made about cholla fruit as opposed to prickly pear fruit. I've asked locals mearby and they don't know. They also don't know whether it turns color when it's ripe.

I would love to have regular access to fish the way you do! Somehow, I suspect those smaller fish make for just the right ratio of crispy coating to tender fish flesh. Yours looks wonderful.

Arey, I think you could substitute dried fruit for candied fruit with no trouble, although it will change the taste somewhat. (In my book it would change the taste for the better, but I'm not a good judge since I like candied fruit in only small amounts!) I think the dried cherries are an excellent choice. You might also want to consider dried apricots, plums or pears, if you can find them; they'll be sweeter than the craisins and more nearly like the sugared fruits. You noted that the raisins on top always seemed to burn.There's a trick to preventing the fruit from floating upward in the batter. I'm highlighting that question so someone with experience can help. As for Splenda: there have been discussions about baking with sugar substitutes over the years. The chemistry is different - I know you're asking about that - and for some people the flavor is also detectably different. These topics may help you, and get some more focused answers: Anyone baked with Splenda? Cooking and baking with sugar substitutes

Welcome @kitchen_muse! It's always nice to see lurkers come forward from the shadows. What sort of cookery do you like to do? Do you cook for yourself alone, or for others also? Or are you an eater but not a cooker? Since you've been lurking, you probably already have a good idea where to find - or post - things. If not, feel free to contact a host (I am one). Come on in and join the fun!

Going back to your short list, then: That's a pretty good selection, I think. (I still like my basbousa idea!) Are you looking for advice on which of those to tackle first, or whether some are impractical?

From what I can tell, it depends on (a) how much of a perfectionist you are, (b) how long you intend to keep the cookware, as opposed to having to replace it due to wear, and (c) whether you have someone else who will eventually appreciate the ancient-and-still-performing cookware. I I bought some Le Creuset (and Descoware) as a result of the topics linked below - at sale prices - and have never looked back. Nowadays I might go for the less expensive stuff although I've sometimes regretted doing that with other types of cookware. I like my Le Creuset. Do I like it 5 times as much as an equivalent Lodge pan, now that Lodge is in the hunt? I don't know. Maybe others who have tried side-by-side comparisons will have more specific opinions. You may find these more-than-a-decade-old discussions valuable: Le Creuset Look-alikes at Target Le Creuset Braising: Le Creuset v All-Clad v Staub v Others

I'm afraid you didn't miss much. I went alone, and it's a good thing: my darling wouldn't have enjoyed himself at all. Much too much walking, on dimly-lit pathways, with long lines and - all too often - nothing left by the time I got there. It wasn't a total bust, but I doubt you'd have thought it worth the drive and the ticket cost. I doubt I'd go again. (Caveat: this is long! Sorry! I'm not willing to break it into two posts now.) The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum held its first-ever Sonoran Harvest "Taste the Desert" food festival last night. Since we first began visiting here, I've read about their occasional evening events - wine under the stars, chances to see the animals in the evening when they're typically more active, and so on. This event was billed as a celebration of local foods - with, of course, the wine and beer and animals. It happens that our campground is quite close to the ASDM. There was no way I would miss this event! I arrived promptly at the 6:30 opening, along with what seemed half the population of Tucson. Each person received a map and a schedule, and if s/he'd paid the extra for beer tasting, also received a 4-oz tasting cup to be carried along. Our tickets allowed 6 food tastings, 4 beer tastings and 2 full-bar drinks. (There was also a tequila tasting, but I hadn't paid for that.) Here's the map of the ground to be covered... ...and the schedule of events. I waited for some time in line for chips and salsa, never made it through, decided to go to visit the animals as they received their special puzzle-treats. That was at one end of the park (item 10). The other end of the park, with most of the food items (4, 5, 6 and so on) is a brisk 10 minute walk for someone who knows where she's going. With dimly-lit pathways and the usual wrong turns in that maze, it was more like 15 minutes. The stars were gorgeous, I will say! When I arrived at the food end of the park, the lines were still very long but some stands were already running out of food. I was able to use 3 of my 4 beer-tasting tickets. I enjoyed Dragoon Brewing's Stronghold Session Ale (I got the very last sample, at around 8 p.m.) and Catalina Brewing Company's La Rosa, with its hint of prickly pear fruit. Catalina's Mesquite Agave was another story. The beauty of tastings like this is that I didn't have to buy a glass to find out I didn't like it! Most of the foods I tried were mystifying as to what made them special. The Sonoran hot dog was simply a run-of-the-mill dog in a run-of-the-mill bun, with run-of-the-mill pinto beans. The Sonoran dog as described by FauxPas is a different animal altogether. I asked the gentleman serving "turkey sliders" what made them uniquely Sonoran. He made a face. "Well," he said, "we've run out of the special ingredient that made it Sonoran." He couldn't remember whether it was agave or prickly pear or chipotle, nor could he remember what had been done with it. Jelly? Syrup? I never found out. What I got was just chunks of turkey in barbecue sauce, placed on a small burger bun. I didn't finish it. All that said, there were some brilliant moments that kept the evening from being a total bust. There was a chef competition (no special punch tickets needed) among 4 local dining establishments. The public was invited to come sample and vote. By the time I found the place at around 8:15, 1 table had run out of material and closed. Voting was no longer an option. Another table had left samples of some sliced bread with toasted pepitas scattered over some sauce. It was okay, but nothing to write home about. Then there were two marvelous creations, with wonderful staff to go with it! Prickly pear caramel flan, from Welcome Diner. Luscious, lovely stuff. I want to try caramelizing prickly pear syrup to see if I can get close. I wanted to go back for more, but given the short supply I restrained myself. At the next table was the Ciao Down Food Truck entry. This food truck is a roving pizza joint. Everything is handmade, from the dough up. The owner began his professional career as a brewer, and then moved into baking. He uses champagne yeast for his dough fermentation, does 2-3 day retarded ferments. His passion for his work shone through every sentence, even after their booth had closed and I accosted them outside with more questions. This picture doesn't do the food justice. I meant to take a "money shot" after I'd bitten into the appetizer, but my fingers were too gooey to work the phone. It's a play on their "Snake Bite" Pizza. Under the microgreens was a crispy sealed pouch of mesquite puff pastry. Inside it was a shot of raspberry chipotle jam, a touch of jalapeño, mozzarella and cream cheese. Prickly pear jam lined the bottom of the plate. The microgreens were cilantro, IIRC. It was brilliant - and delicious, with just a slight surprise sting of heat that was tamed by the cheeses and sweet sauce. I think I did go back for another of these. I asked later about the puff pastry. Yes, he'd made it from scratch. Yes, it was from mesquite flour. He showed a picture of the pastry rolled out to a thickness that would make a strudel chef weep with envy, just as the dough circles were being cut. This isn't one of their normal products; it was a flier for this event. It was brilliant, I tell you. I hope they took first place. If you have a chance to find the Ciao Down Food Truck (they post their route on Facebook), make a point of tracking them down. There was music nearby, and although I never reached the head of the line to try the dessert bar, it would have been overkill after the excellence of the samples above. The fun was that a musical duo played Mississippi Delta-style blues and they were resonating with a couple that danced beautifully together. Everyone else stood back and admired the dancing and music. There's a deep magic that comes, as a rare gift, when one is playing music and truly connecting with other musicians and/or the audience, and I think the same must hold true of other live performances. It doesn't happen every time. This was one of those times. I loved being there for it, even though I'm not crazy about the blues! Finally, I stumbled onto some fascinating information booths. The best was this woman who demonstrated just how easy it is to preserve the desert harvest with a pot, a pillowcase and a propane torch. She showed how to gently torch the prickles off a cholla so that the buds can be harvested. It turns out that cholla is very high in calcium while being zero-fat or cholesterol. (Hmm, maybe I'll try some of my dried ciolim again.) She had mesquite pods and talked about how to make mesquite flour (from the pods, not the beans) or mesquite syrup (from boiling and crushing it all, then letting it steep and straining it). We talked about the good mesquite and the not-so-good mesquite. All the pods are edible, but the local Velvet Mesquite, Texas' Honey Mesquite, and the Screwbean Mesquite are the best. When in doubt, break and taste a ripe, dried pod. If you like the flavor, harvest it. If not, don't. The prickly pear fruits are the most intriguing to me. She had two ways of treating them: (1) puree the tunas, then strain through a pillowcase and discard the solids, or (2) freeze them, then let them thaw and drain through a strainer for a few days. The juice is a beautiful, deep magenta. (She boils the juice before bottling, to kill microbes: 170F for a few minutes.) I want to try this. She gave me her husband's recipe for prickly pear ice cream, and I'm eager to try it! So...despite the initial kvetching, I'm glad I went. Once.

Seen today at a Frye's grocery store in Tucson, AZ: (No, I didn't bite. Not today, at any rate.) I see from the web site that it's 800W. I also see that Target has it for $79.99.

If you want a good culinary guide in Tucson, it's hard to go wrong with @FauxPas. After some back-and-forth about schedules and venues, we arranged to meet for dinner at Barrio Brewing Company. It features artisan beers, burgers and other foods. We had considered some slightly more upscale places, but the idea of needing a reservation seemed a bit much. When we arrived, FauxPas and Mr. FauxPas were already there with a porter for him and a cider for her. A generous platter of artichoke-spinach spread, with chips, was at the center of the table. The menu was coy about what else was in the spread, but the garnish of chopped tomato (was there also avocado? I've forgotten) dressed up the dish nicely. I think the men more or less ignored the appetizer. That was no problem, as it left more for FauxPas and me. My darling and I sampled beers and tried to work out what we wanted. We all talked. We perused the menus. We talked more. My darling chose a hefeweizen, and I followed Mr. FauxPas' example and chose the porter. We talked more. The waitress kept drifting by to see whether we were ready, but we were in no particular hurry. At least, my darling and I weren't. I hope the FauxPases weren't starving! Eventually we were ready, except that I kept changing my mind. Teasing from Mr. FauxPas as I changed my order by the time the waitress had gone round the table! A Southwestern burger for me (with avocado, and Hatch chile), a Sonoran dog for FauxPas. The men chose other burgers. A side of onion rings went into the middle of the table. This isn't much of a picture. We were too busy talking and eating for me to document the dinner as faithfully as I might have. Did I mention that we talked? And we laughed. And we ate. Of course we discussed food, but we also roamed freely among topics ourside the eGullet scope. You'll just have to wonder what we talked about. Oh, except for this linguistic tidbit....I wondered whether there was a business link between Barrio Brewing and Barrio Bread. There isn't. The term "Barrio", which means "neighborhood" in Spanish, turns up frequently in Tucson businesses. It apparently doesn't carry the same racial and ethnic connotation that I associate with East L.A. Either that, or the term is being redeemed into common usage. The burgers were good, and FauxPas seemed to like her Sonoran dog. We lingered over our dinner until it was time to go, then loaded up to-go boxes for the leftovers. And now you know the story behind my breakfast the next morning, shown here. Many thanks for a lovely evening, FauxPas and Mr. F! (Next time, dinner's on us. )

Do you have any firsthand experience you can share with me on working with this flour? Mine's in a mixture of flours. I plan to try using it as I would any bread flour, but if it has peculiarities it wouldn't hurt for me to have some advance guidance. Not that I'm above taking leaps into the cooking void...anyone who's watched me cook knows this....

I wonder how many people died before this treatment was worked out - or, more importantly, how it was ever worked out? I realize that the necessity of preparing something properly to make it safe to eat is not unique to bamboo shoots. Nonetheless this is another marvel to me. Is the pickled bamboo cooked first? Do the leaves need special treatment, or does the steaming do the trick?

Thank you for that information, @lemniscate and @FauxPas - I'd never even heard of coyotas before now! They sound tasty. I'll have to keep an eye out for them. And yes, there is a recipe for coyotas in that Edible Baja article. FauxPas, it looks from their web site as though they aren't publishing any more although back issues can still be purchased. It's a shame; I also liked that magazine - but like you, I relied on picking up free copies when I was around here. If I make it to Phoenix, lemiscate, I'll see if I can find some Mediterra bread. We've driven past a Whole Foods in Tucson, but I've never shopped there. There are more stories to tell, but I'm headed out the door for the evening. With any luck, this evening's event will also lead to some stories!

Yes, I've thought about the water volume. So far my uses for the circulators have been for relatively small quantities; a 12-quart pot is my standard vessel.

This is tempting. I love the size of my Joule but it's maddening to have to control it by phone. The Nano is about the same size, but has manual controls as well as a phone interface. I wonder how much difference the smaller wattage makes? Nano is 700W, Joule is 1100. I haven't tried my Joule vs. Anova Bluetooth (900W) to see how much practical difference the 200W makes for my purposes.

That's a funny writeup! Thanks for the link.

What lovely market photos! Waa the driver surprised that you wanted to go there because it's for the real residents instead of tourists? In Egypt, we much preferred the "people's souks" to the "tourists' souks". Another question: do you know why it's called the "deserters' market"?

Do you mean the flattish squarish bread on their wire racks? That was their foccacia. I like making (and eating) foccaccia, and sometime perhaps in the future I hope I'll get a chance to try theirs. Thanks for the compliment. It helps to have a big trailer with multiple rooms.

I grew up in California and never heard of cheddar with apple pie until I moved to Minnesota. Still haven't cottoned to it, even though I like fresh apples and cheddar together.

I've been wanting to visit Barrio Bread, a local bakery that features Sonoran white wheat and red fife wheats, since I read about it last spring. (Trust @FauxPas to be an excellent guide to food and food sources in the Tucson area!) Last spring I made it to a co-op where I bought some excellent bread but couldn't find the wheat. I wrote about it here. Yesterday, we went looking for Barrio Bread itself. It was a fraught and overwrought journey. Tucson traffic isn't bad, as city traffic goes, but our pickup is larger than most and not ideal for maneuvering through crowded streets. We updated our GPS just before we left, and have been rewarded with more than one wrong turn. The GPS led us to what looked like a parking lot entrance for a strip mall. There was no street sign. There was a small street that looked more like a pedestrian mall just ahead. "Where the heck is it?!" demanded my darling, the driver. "I don't know!" I countered, let's look!" "Well, I can't keep holding up traffic!" he said. (He wasn't holding up anyone; we were in a turn lane.) He continued apace down the street, demanding that I tell him what to do. I was trying to get Mr. Google to help us out on my phone. The upshot was that we went around several blocks before finally coming in toward the bakery from the back way. There was no place to park. We still didn't see the bakery, but we could see addresses. I got out while he looked for a place to park. Feathers Were Ruffled. I looked again at the addresses. He'd let me out in front of the bakery! The store front is small. The staff greeted me cheerily, asked how I was doing, and I laughed about the difficulty we'd had finding them. At 12:30 p.m. the stock was already low. Oh, dear! Bread was rolling out of the ovens at a regular pace, but the cashier explained that everything was spoken for - even the loaves you see here. Oh, double dear! Could I at least get flour? Could I take some pictures? It was fine to take pictures. The owner explained that the holiday baking season was upon them and they're crazy-busy just trying to keep up with orders. Shelves I didn't photograph were full of bags labeled by the restaurant or store name, ready for pickup. He evidently took pity on me and said one of the fresh loaves of Pan Rustico could be spared. Oh, lovely! My two bags of wheat mix came. As I was paying, the owner said, "Here, take this out to your hubby as a sweetener!" The bag contained several "ears" from a pain epi. Check out the seed coat on this! This bread has a chewy texture and the seeds are wonderful. My darling was touched. The pan rustico has a very open crumb and delightful flavor. All told, here's the haul from Barrio Bread. I'd like to have had some of their bread for our Thanksgiving dinner, but it won't last that long. Guess I'll have to get baking...and see what differences I can tell by using these flour blends.

Host's note: Porthos has graciously posted the pie recipe we requested above; it's here in RecipeGullet for easy searching later.

Yesterday, we went out for what we'd expected to be an hour but became an entire morning of automotive repair. Having shot the morning, we decided to reward ourselves with a trip to the Babylon Market. It was on my list of errands...but I hadn't intended to go quite so early in our stay. We are so far ahead of our normal schedule that we still have little to no room in the refrigerator and haven't used up much of our supplies from home. Still, this was the time to go. Every time we visit this market, we see that it's better organized and the stock has expanded. Their deli now has a couple of tables for indoor eating. During our two visits since that addition, the tables have been full with happy chatting customers. I didn't bother with pictures of the interior this time, but I made a point of telling the proprietors how pleased I am for them that their business is flourishing. We bought the few items I could remember we needed, ordered sandwiches, and ate outside: beef gyros for him, chicken shawarma for me. Both delicious, as always; both slightly different than previous iterations, as always. Rats! I forgot to buy more barberries! I think I have enough to make it until spring.

How different the Sonoran desert is from the Chihuahan desert! We're in Tucson, nearly 2000' lower than Columbus and quite a bit warmer. The vegetation still includes creosote, but the cactus population has burgeoned in variety and density. There are also flowers blooming here. It seems strange, considering the winter grey we left behind. Before we left home I excavated and unpacked the freezer to the extent possible, and loaded it into this trailer's freezer. A couple of days ago I removed and thawed two packages. Their contents, treated and rubbed with a brine/rub from ChefSteps, are now vacuum-packed and taking a sous vide bath. I had thought they were both chicken. On further examination one turned out to be duck backs. Ancient duck backs. They may be freezer-burned, but since they could be packaged separately I decided to give them a try. Whatever is edible out of this will get the skin crisped up. It will all go into a dinner salad. We've been consuming conspicuously the last few days. As evidence of conspicuous consumption, I give you Exhibit A: leftovers for breakfast. There's a story behind those leftovers! Stay tuned....

Following up on what gfron1 just wrote about different desserts that are not substitutions: have you ever had basbousa? It's an Arabic dessert that is naturally eggless. Ingredients, in general, are semolina or almond flour, coconut, milk or a substitute, yogurt and/or sour cream, and a sweet syrup made from sugar or honey. I've only had it when someone else made it, so can't give you a definitive recipe, but this basbousa recipe from Genius Kitchen sounds much like what I had in Egypt. If you search for it elsewhere on the internet, do try both basboosa and basbousa as spellings.