Smithy

And now for something completely different: I went to a restaurant yesterday! (No, it wasn't Monster Tacos although I may make time to try that place too.) I spent the day in town and had a gap between appointments, so decided to check out this new restaurant. Shawarma Vibes caught my eye when we arrived in Yuma last November. It turns out they've been open since last August. I love Middle Eastern food, but in most places we hang out I have to make it myself if I'm going to have it. There was a Middle Eastern market and deli here a few years ago, but they didn't last long. I was sorry to see them go, partly because they were a good source for the boxed Egyptian feta cheese we like but also because of their food...when they could be bothered to serve it. Whether the place failed due to its spectacularly poor service or due to a lack of market in Yuma I never learned. I hope that it was the poor service, and that Shawarma Vibes fares better. The place offers takeout or dine-in, and offers both indoor and outdoor dining. I opted to eat indoors, and was promptly brought a menu, a cup of lentil soup, and pita chips. Let me tell you: I'm not usually one to rave about lentil soup, but this was marvelous. Smooth, warm, quite delicious. I forgot to ask what the broth base was. While I enjoyed that, and ignored the fact that it would have been quite enough lunch for me, I perused the menu. So many delicious-sounding options! While I dithered, the waitress pointed out the day's special: chicken or beef shawarma wrap with fries and a fountain drink. The whole shebang was $8. I ordered the chicken wrap. This was a very generous plate! I was a little surprised at the chicken chunks rather than shavings from a gyro, as I normally see chicken shawarma. That's probably a safer bet for a fairly small operation than having the rotating stuff waiting to be shaved. I was also a bit surprised at the pita wrapped around the lot and grilled. I think I prefer a thinner wrap (Babylon Market in Tucson uses tortillas and grills them) for its tenderness, but I'm not going to quibble. The flavors were good, and there was a lot. In fact, I brought most of it home. I also ordered a large serving (about a pint) of lentil soup to bring home. If you've looked at the prices on the menu, you can see that the place isn't really cheap...but all that food, and a tip, ran me $23. My darling and I spend about that much buying 2 Whoppers and fries at Carl's Jr. I'd say this is a much better deal.

The sunrise has moved north of the nearby mountains now. Days are noticeably longer, although still relatively cool. I'm pretty happy with the current air temperatures in the high 60s to mid 70s, especially given the way the Princessmobile heats up on sunny days. My darling is anxiously waiting for what he considers proper warmth (temps in the 80s). When that happens I'll be whinging about the heat, and he'll be ecstatic. Maybe we'll be interested in sitting outside by a campfire, anyway. For a variety of reasons that hasn't happened yet this season. Vivian Howard has a great-looking recipe in Deep Run Roots (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) for Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak with Cucumber and Charred Onion Relish. Fortunately, I have the Kindle version here and fortunately, Eat Your Books pointed me to it when I was trying to work out what to do with a flank steak in the freezer. It turned out that the flank steak was a flatiron steak, but never mind. I used that recipe anyway. As so often happens these days, the prep started one day and the cooking happened a couple of days later. I'd already peeled, cut, salted and started draining the cucumbers. Her recipe calls for grilling onion slices to char them; I cooked them in a hot oven on a baking sheet instead. I had to do some substitutions with the other ingredients: I didn't have all the fresh herbs she wanted, but it's a pretty forgiving relish. I used all the parsley and cilantro taking space in the refrigerator. The spice rub is a mixture of cumin, paprika, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I mixed according to her proportions and have a jarful left over; that's a good thing, since the rub is tasty. The steak sat, rubbed, overnight in the refrigerator. When it came time to cook, I preheated a cast iron skillet in the hot oven, threw the steak into the skillet and put it back in the oven. Flipped it after a minute or so, did the other side. Sliced and served. The relish went atop a simple lettuce salad with oil and balsamic vinegar, and the steak chunks went onto that. I thought it all quite good. He thought the meat was too tough -- despite being cut into bite-sized chunks. We both loved the salad and relish, and are glad to have more of it. The relish and spice rub, at least, are keepers. The flatiron steak was a bargain experiment anyway, so I'm not much fussed at the prospect of leaving it off our shopping lists. 🙂

I'd love to talk about it! Is this still the recipe and process you use? Got any updates? I'd be up for trying it again. Also, I'll be in Trader Joe's country in a few weeks. I'll see if I can find some there.

The desert's starting its spring. The photos don't fully capture the green carpet beginning to velvet the landscape, but here's an attempt. My experiments with fermented foods continue -- I was going to say "apace", but I bought cabbages last Wednesday and still haven't shredded them for the next round of kraut! So the experiments continue at a crawl. I decided I like having kefir as part of my morning routine enough to get a dedicated vessel for it. $7 later at Target, I had found a flask of the right size and geometry. The plastic milk jugs I've been using have too many ridges and are difficult to clean. The glass milk jug I bought milk home in had too sharp of shoulders to allow me to clean it thoroughly, so I returned if for its deposit. Here's my new setup: After I get going on kraut, I'll be trying to make my own kimchi, maybe -- although it's pretty easy to find at grocery stores. Of these two varieties, I preferred the spicy version. I've worked my way through enough of them to combine the two jars. I like kimchi mixed into a tuna salad! This particular batch also has a bit of my red cabbage kraut in it. I've been eating green salads a few times a week. A few days ago, the remnants of the steak-mushroom-bacon sheet pan dinner graced a late lunch. Yesterday I was going to make something from Deep Run Roots, but ran out of motivation. Instead I cooked the Green Beans, Toasted Almonds and Feta salad from Cookie and Kate (using walnuts instead of almonds). I was sorry to read that Kate had lost her friend Cookie last year. Rest in Peace, pup. Aside from the green beans, it was a couple of Jalapeno Polish sausages from Miiler's in Llano last fall. We finally finished off a package! His dinner plate looked like mine, except that he had toast and skipped the sauerkraut. More spring color:

He passed away at the age of 94. That's a nice long run, and judging by the company he founded he used his time well. People article here.

Thanks for that. I tried making ricotta once and was unimpressed...but thinking back on it, I haven't usually been impressed with store-bought ricotta, either! Care to share your lasagna recipe? Did you used to do that for the Renaissance Faires?

Freezing to bake as you wish is a good strategy, if you have the freezer space for it. There's at least one company here in the USA that does that. What a treat it is, to walk into a hotel or airport business and get a warm, soft, chocolate chip cookie!

You're making your own ricotta? Details, please!

We won't be watching the game, due to constraints on TV coverage where we are right now, but I must admit that all the Superbowl snack foods crossing my news feed are driving me crazy. Never mind the game, gimme those snacks! If I were in the game-planning mode, I'd be figuring on Frito Pie, maybe cowboy caviar, guacamole and chips. Buffalo wings, or else Buffalo chicken dip. Finger food. Have fun tomorrow!

Would you say the flavor was different than usual? Deeper, more sour, no different? What about the handling or the rise time?

@TdeV - can't you simply mash them and slather with butter for good mashed potatoes? Else use them as the thickener in a creamy soup?

@vyas, I hope you haven't gone away in confusion or frustration from this topic. I've been conversing with a friend who works on energy efficiency studies. He's been working in Africa on transportation issues, but he's also tapped into the question of efficient cookery. When I wrote him about this topic, he first thought I was talking about household cooking setups, and recommended strongly that any devices be tested first by the people who'd be using them -- i.e. the women, usually, who do the cooking. When I brought up the issue of institutional cooking such as your group is doing, he noted that there are still fuel-efficient options that wouldn't require induction or natural gas. They're using clean(er) fuel briquettes, for example. Although this is a different direction than the induction you're asking about, he suggests that you check out the Clean Cooking Alliance. He also pointed me to Koko Fuel, but they seem strictly to be in Nairobi.

Yep. That's what I have, and what I was looking for in my post above. I wrecked one with too-hot liquid and learned my lesson, but my two replacements have held up well with some TLC.

I've been very happy with this graduated beaker for kitchen measurements: International Measuring Beaker (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and its ilk -- other manufacturers of the same idea. AFAIK they're as accurate as any other kitchen measuring tool. Problem is, it's plastic. I don't recall seeing one made of borosilicate glass. @Shelby, you might have the best luck haunting eBay for the older Pyrex. That isn't a very satisfying answer, but we know that the glass formula changed from borosilicate to soda lime glass. The paint markings may also have been affected then. I've been reading that the French-made stuff is labeled PYREX (all upper case) so if you spot that, you've got the French borosilicate. According to one Amazon review, the French stuff can't ben shipped directly from the factory to a USA address, so it's only available here from resellers. Here's a site that sells the French stuff. Be prepared for sticker shock! Again...I don't know whether the paint quality tracked the switch from borosilicate to soda lime.

I've had the best luck keeping parsley and cilantro in a large plastic container -- I have quart-sized Glad containers -- with an inch or so of water on the bottom, a plastic bag around the entire assembly, and stored in the refrigerator. The leaves still can get snotty unless I used it fairly quickly. I've never bought a special gizmo for them. Thyme, I dunno. Right now I have a few sprigs of rosemary that I bought in a clamshell yesterday. They're in the refrigerator. A woody herb like that I think wouldn't care to be stuck in water.

Thanks for that followup. I've noticed that potatoes cooked in the IP keep their shape better and it's good to know chickpeas will do that too. I'll go back up and see the precise method you used, and try that next time around.

I'm delighted at your writeup and results, but surprised that a peaty Scotch worked so well. Did it not leave a heavy whiskey flavor in the fish? If not, why not, do you think?

I'd be tempted to enlist myself, for such a send-off! Doubt they'd take me, though. 😉

Jeepers, creepers. While I was buying the Pepin cookbook, this popped up: The Puglian Cookbook: Bringing the Flavors of Puglia Home Kindle Edition (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Viktorija Todoroskva, also $2.99. That led me to another of her books: The Sardinian Cookbook: The Cooking and Culture of a Mediterranean Island Kindle Edition (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) $2.99 I'm going to stop now.

New deals! Jacques Pépin, Poulets & Légumes: My Favorite Chicken and Vegetable Recipes Kindle Edition (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) with his charming sketches, $2.99 À la Mère de Famille: Recipes from the Beloved Parisian Confectioner Kindle Edition (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) $2.99 Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats Kindle Edition (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) $2.99 The Chef Next Door: A Pro Chef's Recipes for Fun, Fearless Home Cooking Kindle Edition (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) $2.99 And then, not quite in crazy-good category but quite good for such a renowned name: Wylie Dufresne's wd~50: The Cookbook Kindle Edition (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) $4.99

Welcome! You'll find a lot of kindred spirits around here. My baking inclinations come and go, but we have a lot of passionate bakers here and we always love having more. 🙂 If you need help posting, or have questions, feel free to ask a host by Personal Messenger. I'm one of 'em.

My best friend, who lives in San Diego, is part of a Buy Nothing group. I didn't know that it was buynothingproject.org until now. Thanks for that! That is such a stunningly pretty mental image. Pictures, please? And then will you come organize our freezer?

In the last few days we've been working on leftovers, or what @Anna N would have called "planned-overs": pea stew, pork roast and potatoes, perfunctory vegetables of some sort. We're trying to work our way through the refrigerator and freezer contents, because next Wednesday is Old Farts Day at the local grocery store. We know ourselves well enough to know that we'll come home loaded! Gotta empty the refrigerator and freezer so we can stuff them again! 😄 Yesterday I tried my red cabbage sauerkraut for the first time, and was quite pleased with it. I posted more about that here in the Preservation topic. Last night I got around to cooking some bacon and chunks of ribeye steak that were sent home with us in a freezer package last fall after our great-grandson's first birthday party. The family loved the skewered meats and vegetables, but we were assured that they wouldn't cook it for themselves. Okay, then. We came home with it, and last night I cooked it in the oven, on a baking sheet. I sneaked mushrooms into the mix too. My darling thinks he doesn't like mushrooms, but he doesn't seem to mind them when they're wrapped with bacon. 🙂 There's a tomato or two in there also. Cherry tomatoes stuffed into the pit of the mushroom, before wrapping the ensemble with bacon, work better but we're out of cherry tomatoes. I was going to add jalapenos but got lazy. I used the package of Ben's Original Ready Rice, the Whole Grain Medley for a base layer. This is a package I bought because of the grain mix, but hadn't noticed the sodium content until @rotuts asked about it. I won't get it again because I have unsalted options that are just as convenient, but we had no other complaints about it. Overall it was a delicious and easy dinner. And there are planned-overs! To the west of us, they're worrying about rain and more rain. We're supposed to get some, but not as much; we're out of the expected path of the Pineapple Expresses headed for the West Coast. Still, the clouds have made for beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Bumping this up to point out that there are a lot of clever ideas going on over here in the Absurdly, Stupidly Basic Cooking Questions topic about freezing buttermilk, juices, lemon zest, and other items in small portions for later use. Egg cups. Ice cube trays. Zip-top bags, even. What do you like to use for freezing small portions when you have too much of something? All too often, I freeze things like excess broth in quart-sized containers, and still can't use it all. I need to cultivate more small-sized containers, or invest in a few extra ice cube trays.

This, and similar posts following and preceding it, all could stand to be brought up in The Quintessential eG Kitchen Tips/Trucs topic! I think my silicone ice cube trays are smaller, but I think the things are marvelous.