Smithy

Thanks for helping me feel better about all these new cookbooks, you enabler, you.

Sheesh. If my e-Cookbook collection were the physical books, I've had had to add a room by now.

Thanks, Porthos - and indeed, Yay Stater Bros! I didn't fully appreciate this grocery store when I lived in the area. When I lived within easy walking distance of a Stater Bros. I was in college, on a meal plan at the dorm. A trip to the grocery store meant walking with my best friend to have a good round-trip gabfest and buy Mystic Mint Cookies. I'm not sure we ever made it back to the dorm before tearing into the package. Later, when I was out on my own and working, my normal routes didn't take me near a Stater Bros. and I wasn't as fussy about meat quality or selection as I am now. @andiesenji and @Porthos have both extolled the virtues of Stater Bros. in various posts. You can read more about their history here than I care to go into; suffice it to say that we try to visit at least one Stater Bros. during our Southern California sojourns. Their produce department is delightful. I'd never seen a miniature pineapple before this trip. I didn't buy any, but I held one and said, "Awww!" Their meat counter - not including the frozen section - includes a good variety of cut but untreated meats... marinated, ready to cook meats.... cuts that we simply can't find in northern Minnesota any more... and plenty of their own sausages. We purchased some "New York Style Calabrese Italian Sausage" because we remembered loving it from last time, and some "Salvadorean" (sic) Pork Chorizo because it's so darned cute and we wanted to see whether we could tell a difference in the flavor from the Mexican Chorizo commonly found around here. We also purchased flap meat and smoked pork shanks. The shanks are conveniently sliced and will be great with sauerkraut and potatoes, if we ever get into cool weather again. (I'm surprised at how long it's taking to get through 5 quarts of sauerkraut. Next year, I won't pack as much. That probably means, in turn, I won't make as much as I did last fall.) In the mixed-blessing department, the beautiful variety of meats and produce is commensurate with the selection elsewhere in the store. We had recovered enough from whatever ailed us to believe we'd want to eat again, but still had little energy. We wanted to pay, get out of the store and get back on the road. Still, we needed toothpaste. This is what confronted us: (No wonder my best friend's son, freshly back in the States after spending his formative years in Tanzania, was befuddled when we went grocery shopping together.) We finally made it out, got everything packed up, and moved to our new camping spot. I don't remember what we ate that night. We may have picked up some fried chicken from the Stater Bros. deli. Sometime in the next day or so the flap meat went into a marinade of mixed citrus juice: orange, minneola, possibly some mandarin. Sliced onion, red bell pepper and poblano pepper shared the bath and they all got acquainted in the refrigerator for a day or so. When I felt like dealing with it I drained the lot (saving the marinade), sauteed it, then pitched it onto a bed of spinach. The drained marinade was boiled, then mixed with some sort of oil to make a hot dressing for the salad. One of us had that as a salad; the other wrapped it in a tortilla.

Do you have any idea why Fitness Pal wants access to my contacts? I hesitate to allow some "personal helper" onto my machines when it needs the full suite of permissions.

The chicken adobo was finally cooked for last night's meal, and it was a success. I took some liberties with the recipe: I ran out of rice vinegar for the marinade, and supplemented it with plum vinegar that I'm determined to use up. I also ran out of interest in stir-frying the vegetables separately, so they all went into the same pot. Fewer dishes to wash. We were pleased. We went grocery shopping today. In light of the Top Rated US Supermarkets topic I'd intended to take pictures of Fry's, to show folks away from this area what a nice setup they have. I forgot to do so. On the first Wednesday of each month they have super specials, and the place is so jammed that it's difficult to remember anything without a shopping list. Never mind, I'll tell you about Stater Bros. in another post. They're even better.

I hadn't thought of looking for a different calculator. Thanks for that suggestion!

I'm referring to bookmarks in my Kindle books, not to bookmarked recipes that I can open on the web. I agree that it's easy to have multiple tabs open, each with a difference recipe, in the browser. (However did we manage, back in the day when browsers had one - and only one - tab/window?) With the Kindle app there doesn't seem to be a way to have multiple books open at once. If I've missed it, someone should let me know. I'm still working on the helpful Kindle instructions above, and may have more questions after I've played with it a bit.

I made the first recipe from it last night: Chicken Adobo, with some liberties. It was quite good. The "liberty" involved keeping the skin on the chicken (I know, I know) and doubling the chicken (so there would theoretically be leftovers) and simmering the vegetables in the same sauce so it was a one-pot meal. I had intended to stir-fry the vegetables separately, but ran out of motivation and started taking shortcuts. It worked well. I'll do it again. Maybe I'll even stick to the portion size next time. I miss the Weight Watchers calcuator that allowed me to work out points - in this case, calories - for myself and allocate them during the day as I see fit. @ElsieD, is there a calculator on the site that I've missed? I'd like to be able to make allowances for, say, wine at dinner.

"Sick" is quite definitely an Americanism for "excellent" to a generation younger than mine, and has been for at least a decade. Whether the instagram note meant "sick" as in 'nauseating' or "sick" as in 'outstandingly good' does depend on the Instagram poster's location/culture. As adey73 notes, it's in indication of the vaguaries of language, particularly slang. "...two countries, separated by a common language" -- attributed to George Bernard Shaw

We lost faith in Rudy's after comparing their brisket and ribs to those from the one-off joints, but I must say this makes me miss their sausage!

I'm curious too, and worried. I grew up in the Central Valley, in a citrus farming family. I still have friends who do that. Water is a problem. The answer so far, after the water conservation changes made a couple of decades ago, seems to be to drill deeper wells - which they have done. We know that can't continue forever. I wonder whether there will be a reverse Dust Bowl episode that will drive 'my' people back to Oklahoma and Arkansas? @kayb, the latitude is not the only issue, as you know; the climate is also a factor - and of course, that's changing. Can citrus and stone fruits do well in your area? I have only heard of satsumas in Louisiana, but I may not have paid close enough attention. The article in SLB's link is a good one, and agrees with what I've heard with regard to the Resnicks.

I'm pretty sure I've done pita on the stove top before, but never on the campstove. It took a while to get the heat adjusted properly. Whether it was the overnight rest or the temperature of the skillet, or something else I haven't considered, these didn't puff into nice pockets as they should have. I think I've had this problem before when I stored pita dough overnight in the refrigerator, but I don't know why it should make a difference. Didn't hurt the flavor, though.

That's funny about the cold fried chicken and the cold schnitzel. I'd never thought of eating leftover schnitzel cold, but of course we did that with fried chicken all the time! Thanks for the Melissa Clark article. I'll be trying that recipe with my chicken cutlets. One thing I have trouble visualizing is how to swirl the pan enough to wash hot oil over the top of the cutlet(s) without getting oil all over the stove and me. Does anyone have tips on how to do that? Is this a case where a straight-sided skillet might be better than one with curved or sloped sides? Is the answer to how to do that swirling as simple as "very, very carefully"?

General Tso Cauliflower. Hmm, interesting concept. I'd have wanted to try the Buffalo Brussells Sprouts, but IIRC you are averse to that vegetable. Did you happen to see any served at another table?

No, this is a free-for-all: folks can share their own recipes and techniques, show what they've cooked from books (with proper credit given, of course), ask and answer questions. The point is to learn something new, or help others learn something new!

I'm glad to know the HamBeens soup mix should be readily available. It's something worth keeping around, IMO. @Thanks for the Crepes, thanks for clueing me in about where I probably found it in the first place. Last night was fairly typical of our volatile dinner plans. I had thawed chicken thighs the previous day and run out of inclination to cook them. Yesterday morning I put together the marinade for a Chicken Adobo recipe from the Cooking Light Diet for which I signed up (but so far have only used for suggestions). By having the thighs in the marinade and the vegetables for stir-frying already cut, it should have been easy to start dinner. I also got a batch of pita bread started, to be cooked on the outdoor stove. Well, it's still all uncooked: The marinating chicken thighs (which are covered and refrigerated, and have spent the night that way) The pita balls, which spent the night in the refrigerator and are now losing their chill The chopped broccoli and asparagus (no photo) which admittedly are good raw snacks Instead, we had leftover "Bedouin-style tuna noodle hot dish" (my darling's invention). This is comfort food for us, and it's dead easy, and a batch makes a lot of leftovers for easy dinners. Breakfast this morning, while I've been writing: It's time to light that stove, roll out the pitas and get them going. I told my best friend last night about my efforts to simplify my cooking. She scoffed, "Nancy, you don't know from simple!" She's right. On the other hand, last Friday night we just had popcorn.

Oh, good! I have a couple of chicken cutlets I've been saving for just such a purpose. My breading technique still needs some help, so I'll be interested to see how others do it.

Too bad you don't like chickpeas, @ElsieD! With all the other beans you might not notice them, but I realize that's like the line from the Monty Python "Spam" skit: "There's ham, eggs, sausage and Spam...that doesn't have much Spam in it!" I feel the same way about lima beans, and as I read the ingredient list I see there are both baby and large lima beans. Incidentally, I'd forgotten that a holiday ham bone was also simmered in that soup until all the meat scraps were claimed and the joint was softening. I realize the ham bone is the traditional bean soup/pea soup meat provider, but we added the andouille to make sure there was enough meat to suit us.

Yes!! Thank you!! How did you make that leap, and where did you find that soup mix?

Thanks for the concern, everyone. I wasn't trying to throw a pity party, although it may have sounded like that. It's just taken a long time to feel as though I could say something about our travels without letting my internal SuperGrouch get at the keyboard. My darling fell and is still recovering from a wrenched back. We both had bad colds (or mild flu?) and felt like sleeping much of the time. There are certain household chores that can't be slept through - especially with animals, especially with an energetic puppy (who, btw, neither understands lassitude nor believes in snuggling without wiggling) - and living in a mobile situation adds the complication of having to pack up and move. We kept the chores to a bare minimum and holed up when and where we could. (And yes, @suzilightning, I'd much rather be at home when I'm sick!) In a fit of pique I started throwing away spices that I haven't used, and opening and using (or binning) mystery ingredients that I bought on impulse, simply in an attempt to be able to find things. As with many overloaded rooms and refrigerators, the dent isn't visible yet. Dent or no dent, I have had a few wild successes with the "open it and use it, and don't dirty up so many dishes!" approach. Simplicity is the target, at least until I regain myself. One pot is better than two. One success involved a package of somebody's Cajun 15-bean soup ("feeds 10!") that has been riding around in our 'pantry' for at least 2 years. I threw in some andouille sausage I'd bought when we were feeling better, let it all simmer a very long time, and used potatoes to thicken it up. Over the past month it's been a good pinch-hit-I'm-tired-comfort food, and we've gotten more than the alloted number of servings thanks to the added ingredients. There's enough for at least one more dinner. This soup cries out for cornbread, and I'm saving the last servings until I make some. Now that I know how good this soup mix is, I wish I'd kept a record of the particular soup brand...so I could stock up on it again. Edited to add: I forgot about the ham bone! A holiday ham bone that had been cluttering the freezer was also simmered in this soup until it gave up all its meat scraps and collagen.

Does the "Notes and Highlights" allow notes from more than one book at a time? I've seen the "Your Notes" section and the "Flashcards" but maybe I haven't experimented with them enough.

"Adventures are not all pony-rides and May-sunshine." --J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Just so: trailer travel is not all it's cracked up to be. When you're mobile, the usual support networks that you've established at home, if you're fortunate, aren't there. Something breaks and needs repair. (There are 7,000 trailer camping spots in the immediate vicinity of Pismo Beach, California; and they're ALL FULL at New Year's!) The factory warranty place may be a few hundred miles away. The mobile repair folks will come, but they have a call-out charge and may not be able to get to you, and get parts, as quickly as your schedule demands. Something human breaks, and you have to find a doctor...and later, a pharmacy. A pet needs attention, and you have to find a vet. And it all takes scheduling. I don't think it could be done without a good mobile connection. I'm sure I wouldn't be willing to do it. Whinging aside, there are also good things about trailer travel, and I try to keep them to the fore. Over the years I've established favorite people and places to visit and foods to stock, and I have to remind myself that I'd be depriving myself of those things if I were to stop this winter travel. I have to get photos in order to tell the stories better, but here are some previews: A plethora of persimmons (and a slo-mo explosion) An avalanche of avocados A sufficiency of citrus A dearth in Death Valley An update on dates ...and some fun shopping trips and visits, and how illness and lack of energy have changed my cooking strategy.

I'm bumping this up to get an update and to see how others deal with a problem I'm having. First, the update: if you participated in this topic before, has your attitude changed since then? If so, how? (Folks who haven't participated before are welcome to join in to the original question, of course.) Second, my problem statement. Thanks in large part to the Crazy Good e-Book Bargains topic, my cookbook collection has burgeoned to the point that I have trouble deciding among several recipes that I'd like to try for a particular food. With dead-tree books I can pull all out the candidates, flip through them, find and mark the best-looking recipes, and keep them all open together until I make my selection or, more likely, come up with a hybrid. With e-cookbooks I seem able to have only 1 open at a time. I open one, look through the recipes, bookmark the likeliest candidate(s). Maybe I take a screen shot. Then I have to close that book, open another, repeat the process of looking and bookmarking. I can have anything open at any given time, but I don't have a good way to compare. I find it much more cumbersome and less satisfying than having several physical books open at once to compare recipes and photos. A printer is not an option at present, nor is the use of multiple tablets. Has anyone else found this to be a problem, then satisfactorily solved it?

Chris, can you comment on how this sourdough compares with true (that is, made in that area) San Francisco sourdough? Every time I think I have it right, I get a chance to taste the local stuff and realize how far off I am.

Welcome, Luis! It's nice to see another lurker come out of the shadows. You probably know already how the forums are structured and how to use them, but if you need assistance feel free to contact me or another of the hosts. Look around and join the conversations, when your busy schedule allows!