Smithy

Sure. Note that the crock pot was "warmed but not on". You could do the same thing with a heavy pot that's warmed. Friends of mine used a glass jar although they may have been in a warmer climate than you. The main thing is to wrap it well so it stays warm. Putting the entire assembly into an insulated cooler / styrofoam chest (but NOT cooled) will protect the batch even more from cooling too quickly.

I adore this simile! 😄

Here it is: my KitchenAid KQ909 Dual Platform Digital Kitchen and Food Scale, 11 pound capacity and Precision 16oz capacity (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). The box arrived the other day: ...and I finally had time to open and play with it. Pretty, isn't it? Someone noted uptopic that they didn't see the point of having two separate scales if they're integrated into the same platform but the weights can't be added together. Although I understand that sentiment, it doesn't matter to me as much as the ability to weigh small amounts of something and add them to larger amounts. At 10-1/2" x 6-3/4" x 1" it has a smaller footprint than a piece of office paper, and is slim enough to fit into one of my gadget drawers. The screen is very bright and easy to read. That's a plus for me; I'm used to needing a penlight to read my scales even in bright light, but I won't need it for this one. The screen automatically reads whichever pad is being used. Note that there's more precision for the smaller scale than on the larger scale. That's no surprise, really; but it's nice to see. The other thing that makes this easier to use is the size of the larger platform. For comparison's sake, I've parked my existing (and trusty) Salter scale atop the larger platform of the KitchenAid scale. Most of my mixing bowls overhang the screen on the Salter and make it difficult to read. The screen on this scale is out in the clear and less likely to be blocked from view. Another scale discussed above, with a pull-out pad, eliminates that problem but I wasn't in a buying mood when I looked at it. For $33, I'm keeping this scale. I think it's going to work very well for me.

Well. Given that I split my time between a house and travel trailer and prefer not to have to move too much equipment between kitchens, I purchased another automatic safety (side-cutting) can opener. I've learned something: they aren't all the same! (Unfortunately, the one I bought last year is no longer available.) It may not be a big deal for most people, but I was spoiled by the one I bought last summer: when the lid is free of the can, it has an automatic shutoff. The one I ordered last week was the least expensive, and it just keeps going (and going, and going...) until I press the power button to turn it off. Not a big thing, but I prefer an auto-stop feature. Be warned.

...I simply have to repeat this lovely phrase. 🙂 I'm also trying to imagine cherry, pistachio, coconut and mahleb together. If you've noted the recipe before, I've missed it and I apologize. Got a link?

Thanks! Yes, that's the one. I'll go back and correct my earlier link if I can.

That ($6.99 for the set of 4) is a heck of a good price. I'm a bit surprised at their aspect ratio, though: the blades look wider than those of the skinny spatulas I like. Are you saying that you cut one lengthwise to make it skinny and you're happy with the result?

It's a small thing, but the Mrs. Anderson's slim baking spatula (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) in cherry red is on sale for $5.49. You have to want the red one or pay more for other colors, but a lot of us go for the red anyway. 🙂 Edited to correct the link, which @TdeV noted below wasn't correct in the first place.

I came over to this topic, all hot and bothered, to tell about the Mrs. Anderson's baking slim spatula (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and see that it's the one you listed above. I have 2 on the way. Do you like yours?

I'd laugh but your situation sounds too catastrophic. Thanks for sharing the story. Except...with enough time, sometimes it becomes funny. One laughable story in the "I will never again" category is from when my parents bought their first microwave oven. Mom and I were both gone. Dad served as host to a couple of friends who used our house as a base camp for a backpacking trip. Dad found 2 eggs, and cooked them in the new microwave. "BOOM!" went one, to their mystification until they figured it out. Dad was all embarrassment and apology, but gamely served the accidentally-scrambled egg to one friend and the intact egg to the other friend. As soon as that friend dug into his egg, "BOOM!" it went -- all over the kitchen. I got home that evening and Dad was still laughing about it. As he told the story, he pointed over his shoulder...and found yet more egg yolk on the refrigerator behind him. The following week, when I was back at school with my buddies, they were still collapsing with hilarity over the story. I think it might have been the highlight of their backpacking weekend!

I shall never again shake my bottle of kefir culture without "burping" the lid first. It was bulging. It stopped bulging when I shook it. (No photos, sorry. Imagine leopard-spotted kitchen cabinets, counters and accessories if the leopard's spots had been white.) The kitchen is now cleaner than it had been for some weeks. Still...this is not my preferred method of triggering housework.

Dang...I'd take that over storebought stuff any day. Thanks for the report!

Mine arrives tomorrow!

It's been 3 years since we managed to visit Tucson, but a few good places back then were Barrio Brewing and Bianchi's Italian Restaurant. The latter is a family-run restaurant with The. Best. Lasagna. I have ever eaten in my life. Their salads were quite good too, and the staff are a kick. I very much like the Babylon Market's deli for lunch. The Babylon Market is a Middle Eastern grocery store. They don't have a web site, but here's my first post about it, from 2015. It's expanded since then. Don't even think of taking your RV there, though. It's on Speedway and has a tiny parking lot. We had trouble finding room for our pickup! The food at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum used to be quite good, but it's gone through some management changes and wasn't quite as good the last time we visited. We used to be members of the ASDM and visit a couple of times a year. It's a fascinating place.

I'm not a fan of chardonnay, but this is a wonderful label!

Without having tried any of this operation, my first thought is that once the turkey is browned and the skin crisp you don't need to bring the turkey back up to boiling point. I'd try following the first couple of lines above, until the skin is golden and crisp, then remove the turkey. Then I'd take all those other steps with softening the shallots and apples, then bringing the cider and broth to a simmer -- not a boil! Then, and only then, I'd put the turkey back in and throw the covered lot into the oven. I also wouldn't pay as much attention to time as to tenderness of the meat. That means checking on it once in a while. I suspect that 1 1/2 hours, plus the extra half hour to boil down the sauce with the turkey still in it, is too much.

Every time I see one of your posts in this topic, I look at the food and then think, "why didn't I think of that?" Never mind whether I could carry it out properly. 🙃 I'm looking forward to your posts about this visit, as I do for every visit!

...and those oversized skewers! The literal meaning of "souvlaki"! Glad to know the place is still alive and well. 🙂

As for recommendations for places to visit: since you spend time in Deming, have you been to the Adobe Deli? Here's one of my posts about it. Mind you, that post is 11 years old and we haven't been there since the start of the pandemic. Their website suggests that the place is the same as always. Columbus, NM is an interesting town to visit and has a good campground. We like to stay there a couple of nights and go to The Pink Store in Palomas. I've seen that there's now a Pink Store in Deming, but I don't know whether their restaurant is the same. I assume you've spent time rambling around Tucson. If you haven't, it may be already too hot to suit you, but there are oodles of great places to visit and eat if you can tolerate the traffic. Do you tow a separate vehicle for getting around?

Do you slice them first, or do any other special treatment before griddling?

Yes, it can. I think I remember hearing the generator load down a little when I used the press, but not much. I'm using this press a lot here in our house, but I expect that when/if we hit the road again this fall I'll be bringing it along.

That's my kind of breakfast...at, oh, noon. 😀

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.