Smithy

Hmm, glad I didn't wait around for answers! I hacked my way around, pulled together a marinade / sauce that would get me disowned from eGullet if I gave the particulars, and came out with this for dinner, grilled in 'woks' over the campfire: Not shown: the rice that it all went over. Note the plate! I took a photo after we'd begun serving, so more of the pattern would exposed; however, the picture looks more like a catastrophe than a celebration. I'll spare you the sight. One of the beauties of this area is the nearly-total silence much of the time. Some night bird is repeating its call not far from our window at present. Today, while I was reading, it was the call of quail.

We went to town yesterday and replenished - not that we were running low on food as such, but the fresh fruit and vegetables were almost gone, and the refrigerator was unusually bare. :-D Besides, we needed propane. Now the refrigerator's jammed and some things need to be used soon. I have long Japanese eggplants (although I think they were labeled Chinese eggplants in the store). I have a quarter of a pineapple, cut lengthwise into spears but not yet peeled, reserved from my darling's fruit salad. I have shrimp in the freezer that can be pressed into action if necessary. I want to grill the eggplant and pineapple tonight to make best use of them and make room in the fridge. (It would be good to make inroads on the fresh cilantro I bought, too.) I remember a fine Thai meal, nearly 6 years ago, that featured grilled pineapple, and possibly eggplant, although that may have been a separate dish; I'd like to do something along those lines. I have a few ideas from About.com and the Food&Wine site, but there may be better ideas floating around here. Any suggestions?

Last summer we discovered that a bar near our (stationary) home has taken burger decadence to new levels; they make the burgers out of Italian sausage, bread them, and deep-fry them. This specialty meal makes no pretense of being healthful or low calorie, but it's delicious. Tonight we decided to try something similar over the campfire. Half lean ground beef and half hot Italian sausage, coated with bread crumbs, oregano, rosemary, thyme and paprika. Into a hot pan and a little oil they went. Some minutes later, having been turned once, out they came. They were a little blacker on the outside than I'd have preferred, but not charred (despite the photo): they had crisp exteriors and juicy spicy meat inside. Not shown in the photo: my latest batch of homemade mayonnaise. Thanks to those of you who made suggestions, this is much better than my first attempt and it's properly emulsified, unlike my second. By George, I think I've got it! We needed some sort of salad, and tabbouli was the expedient choice. ...Wonderful burger... ...Excellent tabbouli... Does anyone remember P.D.Q. Bach's music as 'presented' by Peter Shickele? One memorable concert featured a piece written for bagpipe and lute. "It's a very nice lute," said Peter Shickele, "and it has a wonderful tone...." but of course it was rarely heard. The burgers and tabbouli were like that.

They're sliced thinly, into half-rounds, instead of cubes. It seems to make them easier to flip and monitor than cubed, or at least that's his opinion. You and Anna are supporting my suspicion that it's a multi-batch operation, which defeats his objective. Someone on the Dinner! topic (I think) was trying to do hash-browned potato plates. That would require grating the spuds instead of slicing, but might get the crispiness he's after. It would still have to be done in batches, though, with the onions and sausage being cooked separately while the potato 'plate' was kept warm elsewhere.

Well, Bluetooth to your computer, to which you could log in remotely, would work. My "penny drops and closes a contact" idea was so that some alarm would be sent to the same computer, or better still to your phone. Both are pretty kludgy, though, and there should be something already marketed to do the same thing. A few years ago we bought a home alarm system that plugs into the phone line and has wired sensors. If the temperature dropped below a set temperature the system started calling telephone numbers that we'd entered. The alarm could also be set for high temperature, moisture or power failure. It worked well for a few seasons, although we learned that it wouldn't work if the phone had been knocked off the hook. It lasted a couple of seasons and cost less than $50. That sounds like the kind of thing you're looking for, if it can be set for freezer-level temperatures. We got it at our local hardware store, but (sorry!) I've forgotten the brand.

Who else owns or has seen this nifty gadget? I give you the Swizzz Prozzz™, or - as I like to call it, the Swizzz Whizzz. This little hand-powered food chopper is a life saver when it comes to spin-drying small quantities of herbs, chopping said herbs, mixing batches of pesto or dips, or mixing sauces. I haven't tried whipping cream with it, but I think it would work. It comes with a removable spinner basket, a very sharp double chopping blade, a mixing paddle, and a small spatula. The bowl has a non-skid base. The action happens when you pull the handle. (He keeps saying, "pull harder! the motor didn't quite catch!") It doesn't spin freely, but a good retraction spring allows for quick repetition. It makes short work of chopping a lot of garlic: these 8 cloves went from whole... ...to coarsely chopped in 5 pulls... ...to finely chopped in 8 pulls, if I remember correctly. Everything except the lid is dishwasher safe, although that isn't a factor in the trailer. The instructions say the lid must not be submerged. I'm not sure how much splashing it can take, so I'm careful about how much free liquid I add. I particularly like the fact that it's an effective tool that requires no electricity. Sure, we have appliances aboard...but with this, I need not start the generator. Its only possible drawback is size: the maximum quantity is 2 cups. One large bunch of parsley leaves yesterday had to be split into 2 batches to get an even chop. Still, it lightened the workload of making tabbouli. Campfire hash again tonight, which you've already seen. The remarkable thing is that tonight, for the first time, my darling noted that it never comes out the way he wishes, and never has, whether he makes it or I do. (This has always been one of his favorite meals. I learned it from him.) He wants crispy potatoes in this hash, but he doesn't want a lot of oil. He wants it all done in one pan (potatoes, onions, meat). Is this even possible? How would one go about it without doing the ingredients in batches to avoid crowding the pan?

Franci, I want to add my compliments also. It does look delicious - and I'm very impressed that you found strawberries that were red all the way through. Lovely! Those are difficult to find, in my experience, except from the farmer's stand at the peak of the season.

Forgive me for assuming it was a dcarch trick! I figured that when the penny dropped it would close a contact and trigger an alarm. ;-) At any rate, it's a neat trick.

I'd love to find that penny-on-the-ice trick rotuts mentions (it does sound dcarchish), but haven't found it yet. How about this one? Bluetherm Duo from Thermaworks Depends on one's definition of 'reasonable' price, of course.

What seasoning blend do you use for the sausage? I've some ground lamb and a hankering for merguez, but am having trouble finding my notes on what I've done in the past. Next question, more relevant to this topic: is the blood orange syrup for the salad, the sausages, or something else? Edit: found some recipes for the merguez, but still interested in the syrup.

One challenge of boondocking - that's the RV slang for dispersed camping with no formal street address - is getting packages. US Postal Service (General Delivery) is easy; UPS is not. I finally found a nearby place to which a UPS package could be delivered, and was able to indulge in an order for a digital oven thermometer. Today, delivery day, I spent time waiting at the appointed place for the UPS delivery truck to arrive. The entertainment was a small museum, with an attached shop, and I found this treasure: It isn't practical in the trailer, but it's a nice break (only a figure of speech, I hope) from our melamine. A lunch treat ensued. I am a sucker for ice cream with a nice, crisp coating of chocolate! Dinner tonight was campfire chicken and asparagus doused in a citrus vinaigrette. Good flavors, unfortunate photo.

We schedule our errand day so that we arrive at Babylon Market around lunch time. We've liked their falafel sandwiches; I liked their shawarma, dolmas and tabbouli also. They do manage to pack a lot into the shop aisles, yet it doesn't seem as crazily cramped as a supermarket I visited recently where the aisles were too narrow for two carts to pass comfortably. Perhaps it's because Babylon makes no pretense of being able to accommodate standard-size carts.

Welcome, egypt803! I can't help with the chocolates or confectionaries, but you've already seen that there are a lot of experienced members in this group. Which riding of Yorkshire do you call home? I spent a summer and fall working in York, years ago, and had the opportunity to see much of the surrounding area. It was lovely then. I expect it still is.

The wind died yesterday evening in time for a campfire, and we opted for a simple dinner. The elements: Farmers John's Louisiana style hot sausages (2 regular, 2 smoked chicken), asparagus tossed with olive oil, and a parsley/garlic/oil sauce I've had hanging around. As usual, the tailgate was the staging area. (No ice in the wine tonight, rotuts. ) It's good to have a variety of grill baskets available; some can be flipped; some are more designed for tossing and shaking the contents. Now that we've had truly flamed tube steaks, there may be no going back to cooking them indoors, unless they're cooked as bits in something else. Those browned skins really enhance the flavors! (Cue readers saying "well, DUH!" ) The parsley sauce went over the asparagus in the bowl before we dished onto our plates. Simple cooking, simple cleanup. Yum.

I have no experience with this, but the molds remind me of those clever little 'walnut' molds where you make two halves of a nut-shaped cookie and then put them together with frosting. Is that something that could work in molded chocolate?

Yes, that's it. Do you shop there? I'm planning to post photos this time around, if the owners don't mind.

and in your best Baccarat, at that! I'm honored!

Lamb with standard lemon is also quite good. One of my favorite marinades for lamb is essentially lemon juice and olive oil, with assorted seasonings added. Lamb and cumin are excellent together. Cumin and orange are excellent together. I think lamb, cumin and orange might be a knockout. Hmm, I have some ground lamb on hand...

Tonight's dinner could be subtitled "How to make room in a refrigerator". Tepary beans come in both a brown and white variety, and we keep both around. They're small - about the size of lentils - and cook quickly. I think the white beans may hydrate and cook more quickly than the browns, but that doesn't keep me from mixing and cooking them together. This didn't vacate refrigerator space, but everything else did. I soaked them for about 2 hours. When it was time to begin cooking, there was half an onion and the leftover juices from citrus roasted chicken (fridge continer #1 emptied! hooray!) waiting in a pot. They were joined by a quart of beef broth I'd made from ribs a while back. (That's container #2!) When the beans were cooked, I took an immersion blender to them and mashed them into submission. Meanwhile, in another pot, ground beef and chorizo were browned with the other half of the onion and a chopped red bell pepper. I had intended to include some aging chopped vegetables (container #3), but forgot them. They'll probably go to the local critters. The cherished sour cream had been kept past its time, so out it went (#4). We opened a container of labne as a substitute...and a fine substitute it was. We also had shredded cheddar cheese and green enchilada sauce lurking in the refrigerator; happily, they were not past their prime. Here's dinner, just before we wrapped it up and tucked in: This evening's sunset:

Thanks for the explanations. In my world, a fuzzy melon is past its prime and destined for the compost pile. I'm glad I asked!

liuzhou, did you need to heat that before eating, or was it already cooked? If you heated it - did you steam it? What purpose did the leaf wrapping serve? It looks like it was just a shaper, like a tamale wrapping. Yes? No? It looks like a very nice lagniappe. I wish I could imagine its flavor and texture. ...and by the way, gung hay fat choy. (If you don't know what the heck I mean, I blame my elementary school teachers. )

Ah! No, thanks for reminding me. During his Egyptian research days, DH spent a week or 10 days at a time on desert expeditions with the guide and driver(s) described above. Their travels were very different from our current glamping expeditions: a quarter-ton 2 wheel-drive Toyota pickup (called a "Teeyohta" even if it was a Chevrolet or Bedford ) carried all their provisions, tents, water and so on. There was one cooler, but no ice for it; everything had to be shelf-stable in some fashion. We fell in love with Egyptian feta cheese, also known in some circles as Danish white cheese. It came in these sealed TetraBrik™ foil-lined boxes and needed no refrigeration. It's very salty, like most feta, but it has more the consistency of cream cheese instead of the typical crumbly texture of feta we see here at home. Much of the feta we buy here has a flavor we find distasteful, too: he describes it as tasting like a petroleum product. I don't notice it with good restaurant feta cheeses, but most of the versions I've tried from the grocery store are objectionable. In reading the side of the box we see that these packages are labeled "Aseptic" but they also say "Keep refrigerated". It's possible that the formulation or treatment has changed since we first discovered this product, but until a couple of weeks ago I'd never seen one start growing things. I am very, very glad I discovered that box before it exploded! The ingredient descriptions says: White Cheese (Full Cream) Made from fresh pasteurized milk, salt, starter culture, palm oil, microbial rennet, contains 40% fat/dry matter, 5% milk powder. We've had the Devil's own time finding this type of boxed feta cheese in the U.S, although it is (or was then) common in Egypt under several brand names. For a while there was a Middle Eastern mail-order company out of Pennsylvania that carried it, but they seem to have gone out of business. Finally, a couple of years ago, we discovered a Middle Eastern grocery store in Tucson that carries it. Every time we pass through, we stock up. At $3/500g box it's a bargain.

I personally wouldn't mind some of that snow, but it wouldn't go well with the Other Half - nor with this environment. I do remember, my first winter in Minnesota, using a snowbank to chill a bottle of bubbly. I learned that it doesn't take long at 20 below to go from warm to frozen, even under that insulating blanket of snow. Here, the afternoon temperatures are getting into the 80's. When the afternoon sun hits the side of the trailer, the refrigerator really has to work. We're positioned to take advantage of a brake of trees but it's more of a wind brake than a sun brake. Today the wind has been howling: the local name for it is "Santa Ana winds", where high pressure over the desert blows air down through the passes and out to sea via the L.A. Basin. The wind does wonders for the area's visibility; it also heats and dries in its downhill slide, doing no favors for area farmers. I'd estimate the wind here to be pushing 30 knots, out of the shelter of our tree brake, and in the sheltered areas still gusting over 15. Dinner will probably be an indoor cooking affair again tonight.

Don't I know the phenomenon of going on for one or two things and coming out with 3 or 4 bags! :-D FWIW I too think it's interesting to see what people buy. Your purchases are interesting and, as always, beautifully photographed...I'm usually mostly amazed at the variety, given my lack of access to anything like an Asian market.

"Fuzzy squash"? What is that, please, huiray?