Smithy

That would be Rob! Might have trouble getting reservations as there have been some pretty significant write ups and folks are coming from all over the US and further to eat there. We ran into another camper a couple of days ago who lives in Silver City. I asked him about The Curious Kumquat. "Oh yes," he said, "I've been there a couple of times." He went on to make some comments that made it clear it isn't really his speed, and probably is mine. I'll have to try to get there!

That is very sad news. Her Zuni Cafe cookbook is one of my favorites. I'm sorry I never wrote, or emailed, and told her so.

James, we'll be eating at The Adobe Deli, http://adobedeli.com/, which is a few miles east of Deming. It's a funky steakhouse/ribhouse/burger joint built in what used to be the one-room school house. The place is decorated with stuffed animals of all types, ranging from alligator (they call it the Deligator) and various antelope to, I think there may even be a jackalope. Strung around the room is also various memorabilia: the first time we went, we were greeted by a full-size free-standing photo of Henry Fonda as Tom Joad (Grapes of Wrath). I think we've seen Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne at various stages, too. Outside the building are a bunch of old farm implements, always good for speculation about what they used to do (sometimes we get answers). They get a little crazy with some of their presentations: one year I had marinated beef kabobs on skewers that must have been 2' long, arranged in some elaborate holder. It's way too much food, and fairly pricey, but we figure we're getting 2 meals for the price of one since we inevitably take some home. The way we found the Adobe Deli in the first place was about 8 years ago, when we were traveling on company business and staying in a hotel. When we asked the clerk where we could find a good steak house, she named one place in Deming (now I've forgotten what), then hesitated and said, "That's for fine dining. If you're adventurous and want a place with more attitude and just as good food, go to the Adobe Deli." We've managed to get there almost yearly ever since. We've bypassed Las Cruces every year, due to schedule pressures and/or weather, but I appreciate the suggestions as to good places to go. Bisbee is a fascinating place, isn't it? We have to stop at just about every mining operation, active or not, that we see. And yes, we'll probably go that way again.

Silver City isn't on our itinerary this trip, but I'll remember it for the next time we come through, presumably in the spring. Thanks for the suggestion.

Last night we arrived in Columbus, New Mexico: a small village that was raided by Pancho Villa's men in 1916, from which Black Jack Pershing launched a raid into Mexico after the Villistas. He never caught them, but he developed a lot of "new" technology (tanks, early jeeps) that because useful during WWI. Pancho Villa State Park has an excellent museum; across the way is another museum run by the local historical society. (The historical society's museum is particularly deadly to me, because they always stock books and I have yet to get out of there without buying another cookbook I tell myself it's for a good cause.) If you wander far afield you can find the rubbish heap where materials were bulldozed to make room for this park. I've found fragments of dishes labeled "USQMC" (United States Quarter Masters Corp), and other dishes with dates from the early 1900's. It's all been picked over so it's difficult to find anything intact, but it's fun to look anyway. Along the walk we saw ripe coyote gourds, which I seem to recall have some medicinal qualities but are otherwise inedible; the book I just checked says they're very bitter and can be toxic in large quantities. Nonetheless they're pretty at this time of year: unlikely-looking yellow balls, more or less the size of a large orange, lying on the ground or else draped from low mesquite shrubs. Columbus is an area with abundant birds; there are thousands of sandhill cranes nearby, and they clatter and clack and croak to each other as they fly in tangled skeins. You can hear them from at least a half mile away. I'd hoped to be able to show photos from one of the local restaurants, but Tres Salsas was locked up. Tomorrow we're planning a trip to Deming and one of our favorite restaurants. Tonight we feasted on an edible cousin of coyote gourd: carnival squash brought from home, cleaned, scored, drizzled with olive oil, filled with a meat sauce, then baked. The finished product was topped with grated parmesan and chopped parsley.

What a difference a few hundred miles make! From Texas Hill Country and its abundant oaks we moved westward; the grass turned yellow; juniper and yucca began to appear, and at last we saw mountains. The Davis Mountains arise in a most unlikely way from the Chihuahuan desert to around 8,000 feet, and the scenery and ecosystems to be found there are wildly different than at the lower elevations. On the north side of those mountains is Balmorhea with its waters and a state park that we'd never tried before. We'll be back. The cienega (wetland) at the park was interesting, but by the time we arrived we were far more interested in food. We enjoyed the scenery, then said "Zatarain's to the rescue!" Dinner was Zatarain's red beans and rice, with some andouille sausage chopped up into it. I didn't bother photographing the meal, but in case you don't know Zatarain's boxed mixes, here's what to look for. They also make a low-sodium version. One of the many lovely things about Texas is its picnic areas. Unless otherwise marked, you're allowed to stay there for 24 hours. I don't recall whether there's a prohibition against pitching a tent, but since we're in a trailer it's a moot point. We generally stop at one for lunch along the way: open out enough of the trailer to get at the refrigerator, and enjoy a salad. Many picnic areas are developed according to a theme, complete with information signage about the area in question; almost all have grills. Texans know how to picnic!

That was my experience. The design is successful enough that it may not be a big issue; nonetheless I wouldn't be inclined to try it again. It seems to me that unless the blades are perfectly sharp and perfectly aligned, there will either be a gap that does not cut at all, or a buildup of material ahead of the blades that jams in the notch.

That larger Benriner looks nice. I keep thinking that a slanted blade would get a better cut than a straight-across blade, but I haven't tested to see whether that's true. Any thoughts on that? Rotuts is right that the mandoline Shel posted about originally looks like a knockoff of the Williams-Sonoma version; on the other hand, the Williams-Sonoma version is pricey, pricey, pricey. Is any mandoline worth that much any more? I tried the Oxo V-cut mandoline one time and took it back. I found that the V-shaped blade made a pinch point and was forever getting jammed with stuff that prevented a good cut. A lot of people seem to like it, but I wouldn't have one.

They are made with a different glass than the older Pyrex and there have been numerous reports of the dishes shattering. The packaging label on the new dishes STRONGLY caution about the glass shattering. IOW, new Pyrex ain't as good as the older glass and dishes, IMHO. http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/pyrex.asp http://www.techfragments.com/1608/exploding-pyrex-cookware/ Darn, now I wish I hadn't let all my mother's Pyrex baking dishes go this last summer! Someone else will get good use out of them, though. Thanks for the information and the links.

It would be nice to be able to inspect the blade assembly first, but since this is mail order, an inspection of the return policy might be in order instead. It does look like a nice mandoline at a good price...enough so that it tempts me...however, I'm still doing well with the cheap plastic gizmo I bought some years back, so I think I can resist this temptation.

Any of those materials would be fine, and I have them all in some form or other. I personally like the extra flexibility that an enameled cast-iron pan can give, especially if it comes with a good, tight cover; it can also be a good braiser and you can add liquid during cooking without worrying about breaking it. (I realize that Corningware is similarly shockproof, but the glass and ceramic dishes require a little more caution.) In addition, enameled cast iron gives a bit more even heat, in my experience. What's wrong with the new Pyrex baking dishes?

I was referring to the seeds contained in the greenish pods. I have no experience with black cardamom. ltimmis80 will have to answer your question separately; now that you mention it, I'm not certain which type she meant.

Cardamom is an amazing spice: used by Scandinavians in baked goods, used in Indian curries. Hmm, maybe I'll try a little cardamom next time I'm cooking chicken.

i recently made my first batch of ricotta. The curdling agent was plain white vinegar, instead of citric acid or rennet. (Temperature was also important.) I actually found myself wondering whether it would have had more character if I'd used citric acid instead, possibly a more flavored vinegar like white wine vinegar. YMMV.

I've had Nancy Silverton's Breads from La Brea Bakery for years, but have not made a serious attempt at following her methods; the last time I tried, I was still working 2 jobs and much too scattered. Now my attention may be scattered by too many projects, but I can at least start thinking about using the book again. Unfortunately, it's at home and I'm on the road at present. It'll be there when I get back to it. Thanks for the recommendations on Ed Woods' books, and the source Sourdoughs International.

Toasting the wild rice...I've never thought of that before. Sounds like a great idea.

That does sound tasty. Thanks for the tip!

Thank you! We're headed west toward the Big Bend country, where coverage is spotty. Posting may be difficult for a few days.

Whoops. Last night I reported that we'd had "barbecued prime rib". It was smoked before we bought it. Not barbecued. Never confuse the two, at least not here in Texas.

Ahh, Texas barbeque. Even though we aren't in the BBQ Capital of the State, we found some good stuff, and we put it to good use for Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving feast was for just the two of us. That didn't prevent me from having lots of fun in the kitchen...even though this kitchen is on wheels. I brought some sourdough starter from home, and have been feeding it sporadically - that means about half as often as it should be fed. It's just so badly buried in the refrigerator that I forget it, poor thing. Last night I hauled it out onto the counter, measured some out, fed the rest, and let it sit. This morning I started mixing batter for sourdough bread. I should say here that "batter" and "sourdough bread" in the same sentence make cognitive dissonance for me, but the instructions seem to run along this way. The sourdough batter looked happy and healthy. I mixed in the requisite flour, salt, sugar, and (it says here) yeast (because this is a quick version), mixed per instructions, and got a wonderful upper-body workout trying to get the dough to a properly "alive" and "stretchy" status. The loaves I formed looked good, but upon baking you can see that one of them split badly. I really think I'm making loaves that are too big, but if some reader has a better idea, please chime in! The rest of our feast wasn't difficult, just time-consuming. I am perpetually in awe of folks who can pull together an entire feast, along the lines of a Thanksgiving feast, without losing track of their helpers, their plans or their wits. Our feast, all told: that exquisite bbq'd prime rib, cut into slices we could barely manage; horseradish sauce on the side (my sinus-clearing activity for the day) Braised baby potatoes and carrots,with dill and parsley Steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce Good fresh butter, and slices of the bread mentioned at top of this thread. There were things that could have been done better: the bread, for instance. But the foods ranged from "okay" to "I'd go out of my way to have this again!"..So we figure we've won out, even before counting our ordinary blessings. And we have many. Happy Thanksgiving/Hannukah/Thanksgivukah, everyone!

Cold storage too long, picked too early, packing house too rough: all those things affect citrus flavor. My parents raised oranges and, later, added minneolas; we also had pet trees with lemons and satsuma mandarins. We always lamented the fact that people didn't really know what those fruits should taste like. Dad used to say that the best place to store an orange is on the tree. I suppose it's the same for most produce; I have friends who live in Africa who won't touch a banana in the United States. Lest this topic drift too far afield (but I am keenly interested in the citrus question and what those fruits might be, Andie): I'll add that my latest "new ingredient" is sourdough starter. I began it from a package and have been trying to keep it alive and use it. The results have been good, but the recipes from which I'm cooking are a bit, er, vague for this beginning bread baker.

Actually, I don't think they could. Because everybody in Texas already knows that the Barbecue Capital of Texas (even officially so proclaimed by the Texas State Legislature) and (in my opinion, anyway) therefore Barbecue Capital of The Whole Entire Planet Earth, is Lockhart. http://www.lockhart-tx.org/web98/visitors/bbqcapitaloftexas.asp If Llano ever tried such a cheeky thing, believe me, they would just piss everybody off. There's a lot less competition (heated competition anyway) to be "Deer Capital" than there is to be "Barbecue Capital." You know? , Jaymes, you've just given us a reason to put Lockhart on our itinerary sometime. We noted that they have a state park, but haven't explored the area. Thanks! ...and no, I'd rather not piss off a Texan. We get a bang out of their anti-litter motto: "Don't Mess With Texas".

...and here I am, with the sourdough bread batter barely started. Y'all are waaaay ahead of me. The bread looks wonderful, Norm! Great way to break in the new mixer!

Andie, what do you think of them? Do they have good flavor? Lots of juice? They almost look like a lime hybrid from the photos...which isn't necessarily bad, but changes their flavor profile.

It was lovely to see the sun again. The air was cold (that is, it never reached 50F) and the wind blew briskly much of the day, but we felt like we needed to don sunglasses along with our hats and gloves. I think we've had 3 weeks of fog and overcast. Tonight's dinner was a haphazard affair. I set out to do a stir fry of vegetables and some center-cut pork steaks with a szechuan sauce, then realized I'd waited too long to make the sauce. Maya Kaimal to the rescue! The ingredients came to be a pork tikka masala curry instead, over rice. Let's hear it for convenience foods. Does anyone else here like Maya Kaimal's jarred sauces? Just down the road, the city has their "Starry, Starry Nights" display of Christmas lights set to go in the park. We figure they'll open the gates tomorrow evening. This evening, with the historic downtown area in the background, at least I could get a preview: