Smithy

I have a dim memory of those table hooks, but I was much too young (and not well enough behaved) to be a young lady! While I have your attention, @Nancy in Pátzcuaro: I'm about to go on a hunt for Mennonnite cheese. I've learned that it's a Chihuahuan specialty. You're considerably farther south than that, but I wonder how widespread that cheese is. Do you get other states' specialty cheeses? Does Michoacán have a specialty cheese of its own?

Thank you so much for that information! Now if I can only remember the word, next time we go there I can ask for a perchara for our table. Looks like my darling used it exactly as it was intended.

That's a good question. When I think of oilcloth, I think of something still a bit more fabricky, if that's a word, with a more obvious surface texture. However, I might be confusing it with oiled canvas such as was used in our family's early camping tents. If/when I get back there (I may make another trip before we leave) I'll check it out more carefully.

I mentioned before that the mariachis were playing. When I went into the restaurant area, I discovered that they were playing to a single large table rather than working the room as they usually do. I did a double-take. (No, it wasn't for me! But I chose to feel honored anyway. 😄) My darling had already settled into his chair and started working on the chips, salsa and pico de gallo. If I'd been there in time I'd have ordered guacamole also. He never thinks of it. The pico de gallo had a nice bite: sharp onions, just the right jalapeno heat. I'd have appreciated a bit more tomato in the mix, but it still tasted quite good...especially on a chip, and topped with salsa. We ordered more margaritas. The ones from the front desk are complimentary and come in plastic cups. These are somewhat larger. They're all delicious. I don't think they're very strong, but the flavors are perfect and we certainly didn't need to get snockered before going home! Like Shelby, I love huevos rancheros. Other dinner plates looked great too. In the end, I ordered what I think I've ordered there every time: chiles rellenos. The refried beans and Spanish rice finish out the plate. The plate is huge! The rice had a delicious tartness that I think must have come from the tomato sauce. I should try to make that at home. The cheese is "Mennonite cheese" and is very melty and rather tart. I need to go look for that at the local store before we leave. My darling claims to like Mexican food, but he never remembers what anything is and goes for the familiar stuff. He's never met a burger he didn't like, so he chose hamburguesa con rajas. Fries on the side. The rajas are small strips of sweated green chile. I didn't ask what type, but I suspect poblanos. They had a bit of heat, no sweetness that I could detect, and only a touch of the tart sourness that I associate with green (i.e. unripe) chiles. At any rate, his fries and burger were excellent although neither of us thought the chiles added much. As for me: well, my lunch was FABULOUS. I do love good chiles rellenos. I had a disappointing one a week or so ago, and wrote about it here. This chile was meltingly tender, filled with that delicious Mennonite cheese, and topped with a nice red sauce, pleasantly tart but not spicy-hot. There wasn't a trace of the skin that has to be removed after roasting. (I find that to be one of the more onerous parts of prepping roasted chiles.) This "taste" picture isn't the best, but the money shot simply refused to be shot. I swear it wasn't the margarita. The last time we came, my chiles rellenos seemed a bit perfunctory...almost like institutional food. If I hadn't had a reason to go back this trip, I might not have bothered going. I'm glad I did. These were wonderful. I asked the wait staff to tell the kitchen how good it was, and gave a good tip. I hope it's shared around. Here's more of the place. Want cut-paper flag strings like these you see along the ceiling? They're offered for sale, in nice flat bundles. I'd thought at first I was looking at cut-paper placemats when I saw them in the store. So are rolls of the plasticized tablecloth fabric. And see that funny stand holding something at an angle in the lower right corner of this picture? We don't know its stated purpose, but it was perfect for supporting my darling's yucca walking stick. We admired the huge dolls and the ambience (and the birthday sign) once more, and paid the bill. It looks alarming, but the exchange rate is 30 pesos to 1 USD. Well worth it, especially because I only ate one of my chiles and brought the other home for later. I do wish, however, that I'd remembered my "complimentary margaritas" ticket! It was in my wallet, but I'd forgotten it was there!

Shelby, they ship. 😉

It would be a gross understatement to say that The Pink Store is a visually busy place. The instant you walk through the door, you're confronted with jewelry, pottery, clothes, hanging doodads, and a friendly clerk who says, "Hello and welcome! Would you like something to drink?" Of course we would. One of his helpers scampered away for our requested margaritas, and we began strolling. Actually, my darling wandered away to find a table at the restaurant before our margaritas arrived. I went to find him and deliver his drink, and took some good-natured teasing from some other Americans at the basket in my hand. "Looks like you're getting ready to load up!" I was, and said so: "And I haven't even started drinking yet!" But I was On A Mission. Being On A Mission didn't mean I couldn't enjoy looking at the various gewgaws. Want party banners or baubles? Here they are. Want some glorious and showy glassware or statuary? Here you go. The taller of the two blown glass vases had fairy lights inside it, but they don't show well in the picture. This checkered box, when opened, featured tightly wrapped coils of some sort of wood or paper strips (balsa?) that you can pull out in various ways to make decorations or decorative bowls. The one in my hand had been lacquered, so I assume it was sturdy. (I didn't try collapsing it to see.) More gorgeous glassware, including drinking glass and pitcher sets. I didn't take pictures of their clayware, or plasticized fabric suitable for tablecloths, or even dinner dishes. You'll see some of them in the restaurant photos. What I was after was a glass pitcher with a blue rim. A friend wanted one to match her drinking glasses. Come to think of it, I wanted one too! One thing I've learned from this store is not to take opportunities for granted. I have a large salad bowl that matches this pattern, that my parents bought in Mexico decades ago. About one decade ago I saw individual salad bowls here that matched the pattern. I didn't buy them, for some reason escaping me now. I've never seen them since. I wish I could find them. Anyway, I felt and inspected the pitchers until I had two that seemed well made (all of them did) and well balanced, with handles that weren't too large to feel comfortable. The salespeople very obligingly took my basket for safe-keeping while I was eating. I admired the large stars overhead, designed to take candles or lights (I've always wanted one of those, but have no clue where I'd put it) then settled on a couple of smaller ones. They open too but I'm not sure I could find a small enough candle to go into one. All the while, a group of mariachis was playing in the restaurant. I went in to join my darling, eat and enjoy the fun.

Palomas, Chihuahua is the border town just 3 miles south of our current camping spot. We don't know the town well, but have made a point to visit every time we've stayed here for a few days. It's easy: park for $5 in the lot on the U.S. side, walk across the border. Make sure you have your passport first! We're never checked when going into Mexico, but prefer not to test the effort required to get back into the U.S. without them. This memorial on the inbound side has changed since our last visit a year or two ago. When we first started coming, the memorial plaque was in Spanish. The poster at the base was probably added when the plaque was changed. On the outbound side, this beautiful sinuous plaque lines the wall. Some of the places mentioned have changed (Martha's Place in Columbus, for instance) but it was never intended as an actual map. I've been told that the reflection on the sidewalk when the sun is low is stunning, but I've never made the trip that late in the day to enjoy it. Here's an explanation of the artwork: There are other signs of continued cross-border harmony and cooperation. This isn't the place to discuss them, but it's nice to see. Our destination lay a few blocks south of the border crossing. It has a marvelous shop and a wonderful restaurant. I'll show you the interior of both later, but here are photos of the menu. Sorry one of them is so fuzzy, but you should be able to read the bold print. What would you have ordered?

It's windy here: red-flag warnings, several days in a row. No campfires, even though we were hoping to cook outside. Before I forget, and before I launch into something long, I'll show you another of my use-it-or-lose-it-despite-being-tired dinners. I don't remember exactly when I decided I had to do something with the brussels sprouts lurking in the crisper drawer. It was a good time to dispense with the bratwursts whose mates hadn't impressed us, and augment it with bacon. The sprouts needed trimming, of course. I also had cherry tomatoes on the verge. After the meat had browned and mostly cooked, I added olive oil and let the meat finish cooking while the halved sprouts browned. A bit of good balsamic vinegar for liquid, then on the lid went as the sprouts steamed. Once the lid came off, our remaining and withering cherry tomatoes went in to get plumped and warmed. (There's a chopped Campari or two in there also.) Just before serving, I added shavings of that good English cheddar and tenkasu, and tossed it all together. Tenkasu. Tenkasu. Yeah, that's kinda fun to say too. Topped the dish with more cheddar shavings and spätzle/tenkasu, and served. Well worth the minimal effort, and it used up some things that needed using up. The leftovers were good too; he had them for lunch the next day.

I'll be curious to see what you think. Amazon says they're now temporarily out. You must have started something!

Interesting about the mushroom idea. I really need to play with mushrooms more. But isn't surimi a form of fish?

Catfish chunks. I thought of @Shelby when I saw that, but I'm sure this wouldn't measure up to hers.

Our neighbor across the way stopped over yesterday. "I gotta show you something." He showed me a photo on his phone. That's our rig in the picture. Look closely. See Bigfoot looking into the bed of our pickup? He said it took the longest time to figure out what it really was! Here it is, in better light and as seen from our campsite. I'd love to see it draped in white for Hallowe'en. Boo!

We drove to Deming, about 35 miles north, yesterday for some prescription refills and (what else?) groceries. Pepper's Grocery Store has a beautiful motif representing the local Native American tribes and artwork. We only needed "a few things" but that didn't stop us from strolling the aisles and looking at their wares. I was surprised at the variety of barbecue sauces, mustards and other condiments. No Creole mustard that I could see, even though there were a lot of Louisiana-influenced spice mixes and basting sauces. They had frozen fish offerings I'm not used to seeing... and an excellent collection of parts from beef butchering. That's tripe in the lower right corner of the collage. They also carried the usual overpriced beef that we admired but wouldn't (and didn't need to) buy. I remember when chuck steak was a cheap cut!! They also had racks of pork ribs, at pretty good prices, but we still have some in the freezer. There's a good selection of Hatch green chiles already processed, with different heat grades, as well as red chiles. Their alcohol section is in a small, enclosed area. There's a pretty good selection of wines, beer, and hard liquor. I'd thought we were out of Kilt Lifter country, but found more there. This wine bottle intrigued me, although I didn't buy it. I love the name and label! I couldn't help perusing the flour aisle to see what I could find. No Bob's Red Mill white rice flour, though they offered his brown rice flour. But lookee here! Look at the price! @Dave the Cook was right: this is significantly cheaper than the Bob's Red Mill stuff. Here's some of what I bought. I forgot to photograph the frozen chile pulp before stowing in the freezer. On the way out of town, I burst out laughing and made my darling pull over so I could take pictures of the "Shed Superstore". The fine print under "WE SELL SANITY" lists "He/she sheds" along with "Hobby Sheds" and something else.

The Amerind Museum is on my wish list, and I suppose we could take one for the team and stop to see The Thing some day, too. 😉 Our main issue is that once we hit the road we want to cover ground. Our rig isn't very conducive to setting up camp and breaking the next day, for reasons I've discussed before. We both have said that there are places we'd like to see that we aren't seeing. On the one hand, I don't particularly like riding every day, although he does; I like to settle in and establish a social life where possible. On the other hand, with a more nimble rig we'd feel freer to simply stop when we saw something interesting. I'll have to look for a likely camping spot in or near Texas Canyon. It does look pretty from that roadside rest area.

Yup. This one has the spiky thingie insert I remember, although I believe hers was the green yours showed. It's hard to believe my mother ever would have purchased something like that, given her thrifty nature. Maybe it was a gift.

My mother heard about it and we tried it at home: whack the whole head, core first, on the counter or sink edge. It was supposed to knock the core loose so you could pull it out. Now that you mention it, I think she had a "lettuce storage" bowl with a conic center to hold the cored lettuce head in place. Is some Tupperware recommendation where she learned that trick, I wonder?

I'd thought Tupperware was a thing of the past until last summer, when I ran across a Tupperware sales booth at a Farmers' Market. I was surprised to see how their products had changed as far as sturdiness and design. I was also surprised to learn that they had some sort of return / exchange program in the name of sustainability. If I could find some of my mother's older pieces that I no longer used, regardless of their condition, I could return them and get some sort of exchange credit for newer items. I didn't follow through and have forgotten the details, but it was an interesting idea. I wonder how much that added to their debt load when they couldn't afford it.

I forgot to mention above that usually, by the time the lemons are too old, they've started to rust the interior of my canning jar lid! Not that I pressure can them, but I often put them into canning jars.

@ElsieD, FWIW I often use the pith too. As @blue_dolphin said, it's useful for boosting the flavor of a sauce. As she and @Margaret Pilgrim said, the pith and peel become one. You can't really separate them. I don't think I've ever had mine mold, but I have kept them too long to the point where they'd oxidized, turned dark, and begun to smell more like bad furniture polish then lemons. That's when I've pitched them. I don't think you need worry about food poisoning, either with the homemade or commercially preserved lemons, for reasons blue_dolphin gave above. The worst that's likely to happen is that the food won't taste good.

That looks delicious. Have you posted a recipe above? If not, can you point to a recipe?

The next morning, we fueled up and went inside the Mercantile. I needed a few pet supplies. We added junk food and chatted with the owners, who had recognized our rig (and dog) when they'd opened up in the morning. We admired and laughed at their sign. "We should sell copies of this," said one of the workers, "we'd make a fortune!" I guess everyone likes that sign. New Mexico has a peculiar attitude toward oversized truck loads. There's this beautiful Interstate Freeway (I-10) along the southern portion of the state, with multiple lanes and not much traffic. Do they allow oversized loads to use them? No. They insist, instead, that oversized loads use a state highway that's only 2 lanes, one each way, and the lanes are narrow at that. It was only 90 miles to our next campground: plenty of time to get off to a leisurely start, and still arrive before noon. That was actually way before check-in time, and the previous occupant hadn't checked out yet. However, it wasn't difficult to cool our heels until they left and we could set up camp. What WAS difficult was actually unloading everything and setting up camp. We've gotten so unused to stowing things in their proper locations, or unstowing them when the time comes, that getting everything set up was a real chore. We took time to do a bike ride anyway and enjoy the flowers, but thought we'd take the easy way out and finish our chili from the night before. Then I remembered the green beans. Two pounds of them. Already trimmed, but not cut. Bagged in a cellophane bag. Sitting in the refrigerator for over a week. Not gonna last much longer. I really must stop buying so much produce at once! Dinner last night was truly a triumph of will over won't. I really, really love the Cookie & Kate recipe for Green Bean Salad with Feta and Almonds...and once I'd done the grunt work of cutting the beans it wasn't much time before dinner was ready... ...and that was "all she wrote", as my family says, for the night.

On Easter Sunday, when most normal people would be sharing feasts with family and friends, we were moving on into New Mexico. There isn't much to say about the drive. The terrain and vegetation changed. The best part, for us, was that once we got past Tucson we were into what we consider more civilized roads: 2 (occasionally 3) lanes each way on the freeway, and few crazy lane changes or congested roadways. I don't seem to have taken any pictures of the Tucson freeways, but even on a Sunday morning there was plenty of traffic. They all seemed to depart southbound, toward the Mexican border, at a freeway split. One rest area has fascinating granite boulders and a beautiful view of the valley to the south (top of collage below). The bottom photos of that collage are of a tourist trap that I never have stopped to see and may never, based on my cynical age and what I've read. For dozens of miles leading up to every Bowlin'TM truck plaza there are signs advertising handmade Indian jewelry, pottery, knives, sarapes, and so on. I've been in them before; in fact, we were parked across from one the previous night. Their wares don't impress me and their fuel is quite expensive. This particular place, though, always intrigued me because of its unique signs. What is "The Thing?" they ask. Some signs show a sketch of an alien head, suggestive that Area 51 isn't the only place to find UFO wreckage. Others show other teasers. When I was a little girl and we drove past that place, I hounded my parents. "Please stop!" I begged. "I wanna see The Thing!" "Oh, honey," they'd reply, "it's a tourist trap." Besides, we were towing our boat and camping gear, headed for parts east (or for home). At last, thanks to Google, I found a description of the whole show. Google it if you're interested ("The Thing on Interstate 10" should do it). It reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode. I've always wondered whether the writer of that episode had this Thing in mind. We arrived at our destination for the night some 240 miles later. It was just an overnight stop in the parking lot of a mercantile store in Animas, New Mexico. They were closed but have always been accommodating about letting us stay, for free; we always buy fuel and usually buy hardware or other goods from them before we leave. Commercial trucks were also parked there, awaiting permits to travel into Arizona with their loads. It was HOT that afternoon: up into the mid-80's, and with the sun shining right through our windows it was into the 90's inside. We napped until the heat let up a bit, then went for a walk, chatted with a trucker, and played some music. Our Easter dinner, such as it was, was chili. I tell you, prepared meals are the way to go on days like that. Sour cream in mine. No topper for his, but he used crackers. We each had half a container and called it a night.

I made an interesting discovery about the Englsh Coastal Cheddar from Costco that I've been enjoying. It's very flavorful, but also very crumbly. However, if I cut it finely enough it curls, more like cheese shavings. I'll have to put this to some good use, on pasta or a salad, before I finish it all.

Our 2-week maximum permitted stay at the campground came to an end. We packed up the outside kitchen on Friday, but because the grill basket rides in the bed of the pickup we could indulge in one more campfire in the grill. I am very glad I discovered the Kiolbasa brand of Polish sausage. Most Polish sausage to me is very one-noted: too much garlic, perhaps? Whatever it is, by the time I've finished one sausage that single flavor note is dominating everything else, like the whine of a dentist's drill during a symphony. Kiolbasa is nicely balanced. The flavors play well together, the texture is good. I hope I'll find more on the way home. The next day, we finished packing up and moved on. On such days I usually make sandwiches for the road. I also packed a couple of hard-boiled eggs. Many of the newer freeway overpasses and interchanges have decorative bridges and walls. They're all different, usually thematic. Nut orchards are starting to leaf out. The roadside vegetation continued to impress and please us. These mallows were waist high! By design, we didn't go far that day: only a hundred miles or so. We'd considered trying to get in at Tucson Mountain Park for a few days, and there was always a chance someone would be leaving on Easter Sunday. (It didn't happen, but it was worth asking.) We stayed at a wide spot across the road from a truck stop near Picacho Peak, about 50 miles west of Tucson. The beauty of the spot was that it is free, and there was plenty of room. The truck stops across the road also had space, but we decided we'd rather be next to the railroad than next to the freeway. And we were close to the tracks! We'd taken chili out of the freezer to thaw for dinner that night, but neither of us was very hungry. Instead, I decided to finish the cauliflower I'd already cut up some days before for this dinner. I gave the same treatment to some broccoli florets to see how well they'd hold up. The treatment this time: toss with tahini, Berbere spice, olive oil and lemon, then roast at 425ish until crunchy. The broccoli held up well. I dressed my roasted treats with yogurt and the last of some chopped parsley. He finished the last of his barbecued beans. As we were drifting off to sleep, I commented that it was lovely to hear a cardinal singing again. It's the first time this year. He replied, "Of course you're hearing a cardinal now. It's Easter weekend." 🙂

One more comment on the battered salmon, and then I'll move on to our moving on. I ate all the fish leftovers, over the space of a few days, and we were both happy with that action. Here's the last piece: small, but plenty big as a breakfast snack 2 days running. It seems I didn't take a picture of the interior. There was a chunk of salmon nestled inside this, of course. By the third day, when I finished the last half, I couldn't really taste the fish. But it made an excellent fried dough ball. Not as sweet as a donut or cruller, but not truly savory either. I'll be interested to see what modifications come up to make this a better fish batter, but the batter itself isn't half bad!