Smithy

In addition to tonight's extravagant grilled sandwiches, I griddled a tray of portabella caps. The plan was to press them between heated plates, like the sandwiches, until they'd flattened and softened; then use them later in sandwiches or salads. Ha! Most are already gone. They're too tempting as snacks to be eaten out of hand. I do think they'd do better sliced first, if the plan is to use them in sandwiches.

I haven't heard that about CA not liking diesel pushers, unless you're referring to fuel prices. I can attest from personal experience and secondhand knowledge that the traffic congestion and speed get crazier every year. That might be what you're hearing about. A friend who lives in British Columbia and travels to the eastern SoCal desert has more or less quit traveling through the state. Of course, CA itself is just about as diverse as the entire country. You must not judge the state by a single area. Your experience in the BLM lands near Yuma will be wildly different from the experience on the CA coast. I speak from experience.

I've been spending 6 months/year living in an RV. You can read about it (to exhaustion) in this topic: Camping, Princess Style if you wish. (I didn't start it, but I took it over around Page 3 and it's at Page 169 now.) I too like to cook and bake, and have had to made accommodations. I think of our trailer as being pretty well kitted out, but it doesn't have a stand mixer. The trailer we had before this one had a combination convection/microwave oven; in fact, it might have been a GE Profile although I've forgotten now. I never used the microwave and convection at the same time once I realized the power requirements. I strongly suspect we were responsible for a campground electrical failure, though I'll never know for sure. I found the convection/microwave not to be very efficient. You can see that trailer and its kitchen here. In many ways I still miss that kitchen, but we traded it in 2017 for a different one here. I personally haven't missed convection and I rarely use the microwave. That's partly because we usually boondock and I try to minimize generator usage. What is your power setup? Must you always be plugged in somewhere? The oven is propane-powered and gets up to 500F at least. I don't know the BTU's of the burners, but there are only 3. It's a challenge to use 2 pots or skillets at the same time although I do it. I can give you specs as far as dimensions go. The oven chamber is a bit of a disappointment in that it has 3 rack slots but only 1 rack. When the Magic Chef oven in our previous trailer died I kept its racks, but they don't fit the oven in the current trailer. To me the biggest drawback has been counter space, and I'd be reluctant to add a countertop oven to the mix for that reason. We rigged an extra counter by means of collapsible shelf supports and a Boos Block, but every time we move we have to collapse that arrangement. I may be babbling a bit here. I'll be happy to provide dimensions and model specs later. If you have questions, ask away! Edited to add: our microwave sits over the oven and provides a range hood of sorts. It simply recirculates the air. If I could design a dream RV kitchen, the oven and range hood would be on an outside wall so that the hood vented outside.

Welcome, @lastpick! As noted above, I've done a fair amount of RV traveling -- my husband and I spend the winter months traveling the southern states (I guess you could call us "half-timers") although we've spent less time moving and more time camping in one spot in the last year or two. Whereabouts do you like to go? What region of the US?

Yeah, that stuff was due to be thrown away anyhow!

I've had a couple of OXO can openers -- both regular style and side-cutter style -- and didn't like them. I know that sounds like heresy. The regular style one I think simply wore out, much sooner than it should have. I couldn't make the side-cutter style work easily (or at all) and got rid of it. Some unsuspecting thrifter got a chance to try it, and maybe they had better luck with it than I did. (Incidentally, I tried it in all states of wakefulness, caffeination and inebriation. Nothing helped. 😀 ) I have the EZ-DUZ-IT manual opener and like it. It isn't as entertaining as the battery-powered side-cutting type, but if I want to be quiet and don't need the "safety" edge the EZ-DUZ-IT is just fine. I notice that there are now wall-mounted crank-style openers like the one I grew up with. I'd get one, but I'm really quite pleased with my current equipment.

@JAZ, what did you finally pick for your BIL? Does he like it? Would you recommend it?

The tapered adapter fitting @Kerry Beal showed above looks perfect.

I agree with palo. I'm a bit confused by your measurements in inches and millimeters, and I wonder whether that i.d. will really be 1/4". (I can see you wonder also.) The flexible 7mm tubing I found on Amazon has an i.d. of 5 mm (13/64"), slightly smaller than 1/4". Is the Polyscience tubing stretchy enough to fit over a 14" adapter?

I am not a chocolatier (and have never played one on TV) but I LOVE the action photos and the images of intense concentration of the participants! The gear and action shots are great too, but I think it's the people shots I like the best! Who is that youngest chocolatier-to-be?

I think this panini press / grill was the best $8 I've ever spent. Granted: our life circumstances are leaning heavily toward "easy" in terms of prep and cleanup. Granted: I can imagine becoming bored with grilled sandwiches, no matter the combination of meat, cheese, and condiments, although I'm not there yet. Granted: I still haven't put this Cuisinart griddler-gourmet through the rest of its paces. I had intended to try grilling pieces of ribeye steak on it tonight, but we got sidetracked as we do so often these days. So far, we haven't even scratched the surface of what this thing can do. Nor have we scratched the surface of potential grilled sandwiches! These days we have a selection of sliced meats, sliced cheeses, fresh greens, our preferred breads, and my latest batch of sauerkraut. In tonight's dinner sandwiches: slices of beef, turkey, pepperoni, various smoked and unsmoked cheeses. Bread interiors were slathered with Miracle Whip (him), Duke's Mayonnaise (me), some mustard (both). The exteriors were slathered with butter before grilling and pressing. Salad greens and sauerkraut were added after griddling. Our appetites aren't large these days. Each sandwich was cut in half. At least half will serve as dinner or lunch or snack some other time. Probably The Best Eight Bucks I've ever spent. When and if this panini press dies (may it live forever), I'll probably spring for a new one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). And I haven't even tried its other functions or fancier recipes yet!

Yes, it's a shame about the iSI spatulas. I bought several while they were still available and they're still my favorites. Something about the Thermoworks spatula shape doesn't appeal to me as much, although I like the colors!

I don't have answers yet for the relative costs of kefir vs. milk here, or what powdered products might be available to supplement it. I do want to give an update on my latest batch. I started from scratch and added a sachet of the powder (sorry, @Joe Blowe, but I have a lot of it to use up). I shook it up and let it sit out overnight. Next morning, it was still the consistency of milk. At noon, it was the consistency of milk. By 4 pm, it had totally seized. Somewhere between the 20 hour and 24 hour mark. Into the refrigerator it went, after I gave it a good shaking. ("Bad kefir! Bad kefir!") This morning it blended nicely with a banana. The flavor isn't as wild and funky as my 3- and 4-day kefir, and it doesn't have the clumps I showed uptopic, so that's progress. But I'm very surprised at the abrupt change in texture.

I'm probably going to be arrested by the Kraut Police for abuse of innocent foodstuffs, but after all this time I finally got around to checking on the batches of kraut I started in this post (higher up on this page). That was 3 months ago. Life got in the way, and those jars sat as you see them, at room temperature and sometimes with a slight boost from the pilot light of the oven, until today. To recap the situation: I shredded red cabbage and mixed batches of kraut with 1.5%, 2.0% and 3.0% by weight salt. I had a combination of pint jars and quart jars available. Since I'd been happy with an earlier batch of 3% salt, I added shredded carrots to one of the 3% jars. Then they sat. And sat. And the time to start checking them came and went. I noticed that juices bubbled out the top of one or two of the "Pickle pipe" tops, and I was glad the jars all sat in containment pans. (One of those pans had been slated for a rummage sale donation. No longer!) Two days ago, I finally found the time and gumption to open those jars and begin testing. Here's what I had to work with: See those pint jars in the back? My first lesson is that for some reason, too much head space is Not A Good Thing. Granted, the shredded materials were all submerged, but who wants to dig down through that black stuff to get at it? I don't know what kind of mold or other undesirable it was, but I opened and dumped those jars outside. The smell was not appealing. If I hear a bear bellow from our brush/compost pile, I'll know it shared my opinion. It's important to note that the pint jars contained two salt percentage batches, both of which were also in quart jars. The quart jars, which were packed much more fully, did not develop that black stuff. I think it has to have been due to too much air in the jar. Then I turned to the good-looking jars, and began testing and tasting. It doesn't show up as well as I'd hoped in this photo, but the top layers of the kraut were darker than the lower layers. I think it must have been oxidation. More to the point, the stuff was mushy. I had to get down to the bottom layers, where there was still a lot of liquid coverage, to find crunch. This was true of all 3 batches. Now for the tasting notes: 1.5% -- Light, krauty smell. Good crunch once I got through the dark, oxidized material. 2.0% -- This had been the most active of the bunch, bubbling up through the pickle pipe. Same issue with mush on top, crunch on the bottom. Not much flavor difference that I noted. 3.0% -- The top mushy layer was thinner than with the other too, but the kraut was too salty for me. It had almost a metallic flavor. I tossed the mushy stuff from all three batches and combined the crunchy stuff into a mixing bowl, then bundled it all into a 1-gallon Mason jar. That jar's now sitting in the refrigerator. No doubt a shorter fermentation time would have been better, but it was interesting to see how well some of this survived, given all it's been through. It would be interesting to see whether the 3% ferments more quickly and reaches the same point as the 1.5% but needs less time. Maybe I'll try that someday. In the meantime, I have a large jar of crunchy, beautiful sauerkraut that may need rinsing to tame the salt. There's less of the 3% than of the other two, so it may not be necessary. Unless I choose to run more side-by-side experiments, I'll be going with 2% or less by weight salt in future batches. I'll probably end up splitting the difference at 1.75%. just as @FauxPas did. 😀

Potatoes coarsely cubed, tossed with EVOO, salt, and diced pancetta; roasted at 500F in a Wagner cast aluminum pan. Stirred and flipped it all once, and worried that I should have lined the pan because everything was sticking. Then I added bite-sized pieces of asparagus for the last 5 minutes or so, and as the asparagus released its juices it essentially deglazed the pan. Delicious dinner in a bowl! I tried adding balsamic vinegar for the asparagus, but didn't like the result. I added a little butter to my bowl. He didn't think it needed anything. This was one of those I'm-hungry-and-don't-want-to-fuss dinners. From initial chop to the table took under an hour, and 30 to 40 minutes of that was in the oven. He gave me his ultimate compliment: "You DID write this down so you can repeat it, right? RIGHT?"

How will you use the pickled scapes?

The Workshop has begun! Go here for the 2024 Workshop Report.

Add me to the list of people who could cheerfully get lost in that store, and stay there until I was dragged out with full shopping carts and an empty bank balance! And all those exotic meats to try! And the charcuterie! And the cheeses! And the butters! And the condiments! And...well, what a delight to see! It was fun seeing Big Boy again, too. I'd forgotten all about Bob's Big Boy, but we had one in town when I was growing up in central California. I thought the statue was bigger. Maybe that's because they had parked it atop the building! Many thanks for the mini-trip!

I think it's pretty self-explanatory, if you click on that link. If you have questions, check out this topic in addition to @blue_dolphin's link above.

That must be a market / demand issue. Here in Duluth, kefir costs at least twice, maybe 3 or 4 times, the same volume of good milk.

I'm pretty sure I've seen it in stores here, but it hasn't been on my radar here so I'm not sure. Some of the flavor suggestions @Tropicalsenior made might work for me. Fruit juices, or fruit pulp I can blend into the kefir, work for me but I've discovered that certain flavors are more to my taste than others. That's no surprise, of course, but I'm learning about my own preferences. For instance, pomegranate is pretty but too tart to take the edge off the kefir's tartness. I'll look for Tang and see what's available around here, if anything.

I think you're probably right. My best friend, and @lemniscate above, both let the stuff ferment for much less time than I've given it. I guess my idea of when it "thickens" (thereby indicating that it's done) has been a bit too thick. I took the wand blender to the remainder of this batch today, and although it didn't really get the consistency I prefer it was better. It was also too tart for me, though. I blended a banana with some and had a good breakfast drink that way.

How often could one say this about pasta? I love pasta, but this sounds especially special. I want some!! Thanks for the reminder that not all pastas are created equal.

Okay, you've convinced me that this book belongs in my library! I went back to the original posts, and those links indicated that there was no Kindle version. There is now: Sunday Suppers at Lucques, by Suzanne Goin (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). However, I think I'll want the hard-copy version. If my library doesn't carry it, I'll be picking up a used copy!

For the first few months that I was making kefir, I'd save a bit of the old batch to use as a starter culture for the new batch. Consequently a single sachet lasted me through several batches. At some point the kefir would seem to lose its good flavor, and I'd finish that batch and start a fresh batch with a new sachet. My best friend thinks that I am indeed making cheese, and that I'm leaving it at room temperature too long (3 or 4 days, compared to her 18-24 hours). What you write above is consistent with what @andiesenji reported originally, so those probably are salvageable grains. I'll try saving those grains and starting a new batch, and see how it goes. How long do you incubate your kefir?