Smithy

When I was a kid I strongly preferred Miracle Whip. Sometime in early adulthood my tastes changed; I can't stand the stuff either. My darling isn't as bull-headed about getting his own preferred condiments as I am, but there's no harm in each of us getting what we want. It just makes for a more crowded refrigerator. :-)

Oh, boy. I've been getting plenty of new toys lately and figure I need to put them through their paces - but this looks like a lot of fun. I was thinking - nay dreaming! - about fried shoestring onions after seeing Anna's and Kerry's recent posts; clearly, I wasn't the only one! I have my mother's old Salad Shooter at home in a box of things claimed when we cleared out her apartment. I wonder if it will be a good trial version when I get back home?

Maybe I'll make a double batch, or triple. My Miracle Whip Brat has been suggesting white balsamic vinegar.

How could one help bragging, with that? That's quite a haul!

I've never seen a butter dish (except a butter bell) that would accommodate that much butter at one time. Is that a standard size in Canada? Or do you cut the butter into smaller portions?

This is what I mean by a clear view of the pass from L.A: unfortunately rare out here. The air right now is quite clear, however, and the view is glorious. One of our "time-saving" tricks is to do about a week's worth of salad preparation in advance. With proper timing the batches can be staggered to different days, but yesterday we were out of it all: the salad greens, the salad "crunchy" additions, and the fruit salad. Below is most, but not all of the results: mixed greens (romaine hearts and kale); 2 large containers of mixed chopped radishes, celery, carrots, ripe bell peppers and snap peas; more than 2 large containers of cut pineapple, citrus, strawberriBs, raspberries, grapes and dates. Not shown: hummus, and some of the other containers. By the time I'd finished with all that, I wasn't interested in food prep for dinner, preferring instead to sit outside in the sun with a book. Dinner was a very uninteresting mix of potato salad and bratwurst, not worth photos. I ran out of mayonnaise, so that's on today's task list. Does anyone have a favorite recipe? I'm doing the 2-minute immersion blender version from Serious Eats, but mine comes out very bland. My darling thinks it needs more sweet (he's a Miracle Whip kinda guy) and I think it needs more...salt? tart? garlic, perhaps? We're considering using Meyer lemon juice this time around but I'm open to suggestions.

I've been looking for the right butter dish for our trailer travels. Criteria: it must be pretty, sturdy and secure enough that the lid won't come off in transit. (Our original stainless steel dish is almost right, but the lid doesn't stay on securely. It takes 2 rubber bands to keep the lid on in transit.) Lightweight is also a good trait. Behold, I found something even better than I'd expected: The butter tray comes out for easy washing, so the entire dish need not be washed regularly...a good water-saving trick. The lid sits securely in the base, just as I needed. The style is a favorite, vaguely Danish Modern. I found this beauty last fall in, of all places, Simon's Town, South Africa, at the local equivalent of the Sally Ann. I think the marked price was 20 rand (something under $2) but I probably paid less: our entire bill, with 2 good linen jackets and some other clothing, was only 90 rand. My darling was a bit nonplussed that my souvenirs from South Africa included a butter dish that one might have seen in the USA in the '60's.

Thanks for that link, Chris. I can personally attest that the Cooper's Old-Time Barbecue of Llano, featured in that link, does wonderful brisket. We always get it dipped. Now I can work on making that sauce myself, more or less.

"Individual quiche" and "prosciutto wrapped eggie muffins" are making me absolutely envious! How I wish I'd packed along my little mini-tart pan as I'd intended! Anna N and Mmmpomps, those delicacies wouldn't last half an hour around here, even if I'd made a dozen for each of us.

How long do you expect the vins will have to sit before testing, Chris? You will report on the results in good time, please?

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.