Smithy

I'm not usually crazy about sweet potatoes, Anna N, because people usually insist on making them even sweeter. Your noodles look and sound delicious...not too sweet, and quite creative. What are the darker strips in the photo? Spiral-cut peel? Slightly caramelized potato noodle?

Wow...edible 'legos'! What fun!

Markus, that is a fascinating tagine, and a great find! I love the haggling process. It's best when both parties walk away thinking they got a good deal and had a few laughs. Welcome to eGullet, by the way.

No, we're farther south between the 10 and the 8, enjoying a very rare, clear view of the mountains around Banning Pass: rare because there's not the usual tongue of smog sticking out of the pass from the L.A. Basin.I'm enjoying a late breakfast: 2 oranges, a mandarin orange, and an avocado sandwich on rosemary bread. I set off the smoke alarm, trying to toast the bread on stovetop. Guess I should have turned on the generator and run the toaster instead. :-)

Those are gorgeous...absolutely gorgeous!...and I would gorge myself on them if we were in the same county. Thanks so much for showing us this equipment and technique, and what you can do with it!

This morning's view: The ribs before cooking, with their seasoning, looked dreadful in the "before" photo, so I'm saving the pixels. I really have to start paying more attention to lighting; late afternoon sunlight isn't the ticket. After they were cooked, they looked like this: The roundish things above are the two silicone disks I used to cover instead of foil. I left a couple of ribs uncoated with Jack Daniels barbecue sauce, and instead used some of the leftover sauce from citrus-marinated chicken last week. I think I liked that better, but both flavorings were good. This oven is new as of January 2, and I'm still learning to use it. (I broke my baking stone last week wtih injudicious heat.) The dial doesn't go below 300F, but by guess and by golly I got the oven to maintain around 200F by positioning the control about halfway between the "300F" mark and the "Pilot Light On" mark. Judging by the texture of the cooked ribs, they may have needed a bit more time. Nonetheless, the meat was nearly perfect: inexpensive prime rib, almost all falling off the bone. We did have vegetables also: the rest of the brussels sprouts for him and some steamed broccoli with yet more leftover citrus sauce for me. There is leftover meat - not as much as two sensible adults should have left - but some. (I hid my share lest it evaporate overnight.) When it's done, we'll really need to be 'good' about the calories for a while. Oinkeroo.

I'm reasonably certain that MSG is the principal constituent of Accent Flavor Enhancer, which is quite common in USA grocery stores. I'll have to check the next time I'm looking at a shaker of the stuff. I remember when my mother first discovered it in the 1960's - it was quite the rage back then. (Liuzhou, you forgot the other meaning of "on-line" back then: it meant Dad was coming home with fish. :-D)

Today we didn't have much breaking of camp to do, since we'd done nothing more than level and stabilize the trailer - and open the glides - for the night. It's a good thing, because the wind was brisk and continues to be so. Remember all the food I said we didn't need to buy? We needed "only a few things" from the grocery store and stopped at Stater Brothers in 29 Palms for fresh salad vegetables and pet supplies. We also came out with a rack of beef ribs that looked too good to pass up. It's in the oven now, slow-cooking with a rub of cumin and paprika (sweet and smoked). He's a fan of barbecue sauce - I like it sometimes - so in an hour or so I'll paint some on half of the rack. Our usual lunch is salad, but when we're driving it's more likely to be carrots, radishes, and (as yesterday) cheese and crackers. Today we threw over the traces: Stater Bros' deli had a chicken salad with dill and olives that somehow found its way into our cart, and into the last of my last batch of pita. Photos to come later.

Thanks, Shelby and Porthos! Shelby, I'll have to look for that movie. I hadn't heard of it, but Lucy and Desi were a funny couple. Yesterday we drove up and out of Death Valley, past the sign that says "Sea Level", and up onto the high desert. We drove through Shoshone and Baker, where we fueled up (don't do that again unless desperate) and did not buy a Quiznos sub because they were out of everything that interested us. Instead, we noshed on cheese, crackers, salami, assorted vegetables and citrus as we headed south and past Kelso and the signs that warn to watch out for desert tortoises. We didn't see any tortoises, but joshua trees are a sight unto themselves. It's rare to see heavy cloud cover over the desert, and I found it refreshing. My darling prefers the monotony of endless sunshine, so only one of us was happy with this view. We'd have liked to stay near Kelso for a day or two, but it was cool and we wanted to find a lower elevation for the night, so we continued on under the clouds. When we finally settled for the evening, we found ourselves at 2500' anyway, so it was a cool evening. With clear skies however, the star-gazing and planet-watching were good. Our computer's wireless connection has decided to stop working, and after we struggled to the point of ill temper it was late to do much interesting cooking. This is what Farmer John Smoked Louisiana-style (made in California) sausage is for! That, plus my favorite way of doing brussels sprouts, constituted dinner.

FlyingChopstik, that's a great idea! In fact, it reminds me that one of my favorite ways to make clay-pot chicken involves seasoning the chicken with generous amounts of paprika, cumin, saffron, garlic, sometimes preserved lemon, with (at the end) parsley and (if I'm the only one eating it) cilantro. Hmm, it's been a while since I made that. Maybe I'll have to rectify that.

I'm pretty sure I've seen a recipe among her stuff for cumin-scented beef tagine; if there isn't one, there should be. Along those lines I would try dusting chunks of beef with cumin, salt and a bit of pepper. I'd start in the tagine with a little oil and some onions, then add the beef until it was warming, then add garlic and, oh, maybe some water if necessary. Two ways I can think to finish it are tomatoes, cooked down at the end, or perhaps tomato paste; or - going in another direction altogether - a light touch of orange juice, cooked down. (I have cumin, beef and orange on the brain but may have made the whole thing up). I'm not too sure about preserved lemon with beef, but since the lemon goes well with lamb, chicken and fish, why not? I don't have any of Paula's books with me but I do have another with some interesting-sounding recipes: The North African Kitchen: Regional Recipes and Stories, by Fiona Dunlop. It was a Christmas present and I haven't had a chance yet to try any recipes. Two that might be of interest to you are Beef and Okra Stew, and Lamb (tagine) with Pumpkin and Apricots. If either of those sounds tempting, PM me for more information. There may be a delay, however; my internet connection is exasperatingly unreliable at present.

I'll bet those cherries pop with intense cherry flavor! That's brilliant: coating them with cherry powder. Did you simply split a batch of freeze-dried cherries and powder some?

The internet connection here is tenuous - i.e. very good considering what it was 2 years ago and where we're actually located, but not great for blogging. :-) My photos are suffering. rotuts and FauxPas: our trailer is about 40' long. Our coterie comprises 3 very attached (to us) cats and 1 very sociable (to anyone) dog. In past years we've constrained ourselves to 2 cats, but this year we took the leap and brought along a third who is very sociable and (by all past years' reports) lonely when left to the wiles of the sitters. The travelling cats all seem to have worked out the idea that the trailer is home even though its surroundings change after it shakes for several hours. The rain blessed the desert for much of the day, and it's a much-needed blessing. We stepped out late in the day for a walk, and drank in the smells and sights. Later, I pulled together the fixings for this evening's meal: enchiladas filled with a blend of sweated onions and red bell peppers, lightly browned ground beef and chorizo...all wrapped in tortillas and topped by Hatch green enchilada sauce (from a can of indeterminate age), baked, and served with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese to our tastes. Now, just before signing off and doing dishes, I have this report: the sky is dark, the stars are bright, and the air smells like rain and creosote-bush...a magical desert smell. Crappy photos, best I can do until the computer and modem decide to 'play nice' with each other.

That's a good question, gfweb. Probably Weinoo's, but judging by 'typical' NYC apartments it may not be by much. ;-) When we stepped up from a pickup camper to a trailer and I realized we were looking at weeks to months on the road, the kitchen was my main criterion. By the time we'd found one that suited me we were up to a 40' trailer. Still, I have things squirreled away in unlikely corners and cabinets. Spaces that for most families would be devoted to board games are occupied by extra storage containers, large aluminum mixing bowls and small appliances.

Thank you, caroled! This travelogue begins in the San Joaquin Valley of California, where I grew up. We spent the New Year week there visiting friends, family and old stomping grounds, gorging on navel and mandarin oranges, and getting various trailer repairs completed. Our friends allowed us to park near their shops in the orange groves. There we wandered freely, our dog and their dog visited each other and wandered freely, our cats pointedly did not visit their dog but otherwise roamed freely, and we celebrated a lovely variety of ripe fruit. A cold snap arrived when we did, and the wind machines that pull air from aloft to protect the groves and crops ran nearly every night. I grew up with that thrum of large propellers during the coldest winter nights and find it very soothing; nonetheless it's an expensive lullaby. This lullaby is almost inevitable when what I like to call "Chamber of Commerce" weather comes around and the view looks like this: The obvious motivation for our travels is looking for milder winter weather than we'd have in northern Minnesota, while we see various parts of the country and learn a thing or three. Two other, less obvious driving (heh) forces are in direct conflict with each other: discovering and celebrating local foods and cuisine, and my tendency to stock up whenever I find something interesting that can't be found at home. Consequently we left with a well-stocked trailer, and it will be a challenge to work my way through most of these goods before we arrive home in the spring. Dry goods can stay in the pantry if necessary, but it's really a pain to unload the refrigerator and freezer. This will not stop me from stocking up on more goods as we work our way back! In the fridge: as many good local cheeses as I could lay my hands on, a surfeit of cured meats and hot sausages, the usual stock of (grocery store) green vegetables and commercially grown fruits for my darling's morning salads, and a selection of condiments, milk and other beverages. Nothing interesting, but one must be careful - despite the restraining bars - opening the door after travel, lest things jump out as from Fibber McGee's closet. (One might think we're going for weeks without a decent grocery store. It's usually once a week, and at most 10 days, although some places' stores don't qualify as 'decent' unless one squints. ) In the freezer: chicken, various ground meats, fish, and - oh, bless our friends - many packages of salmon from their trip to Alaska. They prefer the halibut. If I'd known that they had it and wanted to unload it before my shopping expedition, I'd have gotten much less of the other meats and left more room for the salmon. There's also a fair amount of persimmon puree in there, from some of the fruits I stocked up on from friends and family. I have some sourdough starter in there too, preserved from home in case I killed my active starter. This all normally sits on the counter, but I took the photo as we were getting ready to travel: potatoes, onions, pomegranates, a couple of intact persimmons, avocados, garlic, salamis that were Christmas presents, and assorted dog and cat treats. I can't pass up interesting beans, canned goods, boxed goods or spices, and I keep a variety of flours on hand for baking lessons. This pantry is completely out of control, with cans and bottles and spices to allow food from almost any cuisine that strikes our fancy: curry mixes, enchilada sauces, quick rice dishes for when we're too tired to cook (Zatarain's is a favorite). There are jellies given us by friends, our stock of coffee and tea, and pastas..as well as some "00" pasta flour. How I'll get through this before we arrive home is anyone's guess. That won't keep me from stocking up on more mystery ingredients as we travel, and I'm hoping some reader(s) will be able to offer ideas.

Greetings from Death Valley! Those of you suffering in the cold may wish to stop reading Right Now... unless you'd like a diversion. Once again we're mobile snowbirds, having left northern Minnesota in the late fall, going somewhere - anywhere - south and generally west to stay warm. In past years we've left the trailer in California and gone home for January. This year we're staying away: we have house-sitters, and by all reports the snow and ice have not been severe enough to need our personal attention. We'll come home when the snow melts or 4th of July, whichever comes first. At present we're in Death Valley, the lowest point of the United States at 282 feet (86m) below sea level at the deepest. My darling thinks it's still too cool, with temperatures ranging from the mid-40's to the mid-60's Fahrenheit. The highest mountains around us have a dusting of snow, which is no surprise for elevations as high as 11,049' (3368m). The desert is being blessed with a light sprinkling of rain as I type, and radar shows that outside this valley the rain may amount to enough to measure. When we came to Death Valley we'd planned a lot of campfire cooking, and we came loaded with appropriate supplies. (I'll write about our supplies in a later post.) The campground with fire rings was full, and we wound up at a campground with hundreds of sites but no fire rings: outdoor fires aren't allowed here. Campfire cooking will have to wait until another stop. In the meantime we've had such culinary delights as hot "Louisiana style" sausages (made in California and unavailable in Arizona) with homemade pita, our version of tuna noodle hot dish, citrus marinaded chicken, and grilled cheese sandwiches. The sandwiches were the result of my serious jonesing for this flavor combination, since I can't get the bread where we live and haven't yet learned to make it myself: I like these sandwiches so much that I had one for brunch this morning. Most mornings, I've been indulging in fresh avocado on that toast. The bread won't keep anyway, though I wish it would. We've also enjoyed a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables: green beans with bacon, brussels sprouts, green salads, and lots of fresh citrus. I'll write more about that later too. Last night we "splurged" on dinner at one of the local restaurants. This place is not the highest-end restaurant in the area, but looked good. They bill their burgers as a special blend of ground chuck, brisket and rib meat from certified Black Angus, on a grilled pretzel bun with their own "Dante's sauce" (named for an overlook here), fried onions, other accompaniments. Mine arrived with a not-grilled, cold-from-the-refrigerator bun; by the time they'd heated it my "medium rare" burger was well done. I didn't bother with pictures. Ah well, the decor was a lot of fun; there are photos of the area from the early to mid 1900's (including a long-gone grove of date palms) and posters from movies shot in Death Valley. There's also a wonderful painting of a 20-mule team hauling its load of Borax out of the Valley. The beer was good. Over the next few months I'll post as time and connectivity permit about life on the road for people like us who love to cook (and eat). Glamping is a great way to see different parts of the country, learn something about local specialty foods, and escape the winter cold. If anyone else is doing this sort of trailer touring and cooking or eating out (winter escape in my hemisphere, summer adventures in the Antipodes), I hope you'll chime in with your own travels and meals.

It looks like fun. We won't be going, but a report will be nice. :-)

Andie, that's very interesting: instead of a replacement for plastic wrap, this is the precursor! Do you remember how long it lasted, whether (and how) the beeswax-permeated muslin had to be cleaned?

I think the answer, based on what I've read (including Norm's post) is somewhere between "more than you care to spend" and "infinite". As Norm and his linked article point out, you need a higher 'low' temperature. gfweb, thanks for confirming my reading. I suspect an early morning typo. :-)

Norm, that's a great site. Thanks for the link. I have a question about what you wrote below, however: Did you mean that more gelatin is formed at higher temperatures because collagen doesn't melt much at lower temperatures? Collagen isn't formed at higher temperatures, is it?

My sister gave me this beautiful ladle for Christmas: She found it at some interesting gift shop/used stuff store and has no idea of its provenance, except that it seems to have been scribed by Lettie in '93. The steel is good stainless, so this is as useful as it is beautiful! Does anyone know what kind of horn/antler comprises the handle? Our best guess is mountain goat, or possibly some variety of antelope.

Welcome!

That needs to become someone's tag line, Porthos.

Very impressive! Looking at that schedule, I can't think why you'd need housing; it looks like you'll be spending all your spare time driving. The menu looks delicious and interesting in the best creative sense of the word. Thanks for keeping us posted, and good luck!

Do you know how to make that tamarind sauce, gulfporter? I haven't worked out a reliable recipe yet.