Smithy

I'm not in a position to SV anything right now, but I bought some corned beef briskets on sale and put them in the freezer. I look forward to trying the sous vide technique later. Thanks for your detailed discussions about it.

I'm at a music festival this weekend. It's a WONDERFUL change of scenery for me and my animal companions: open space, where we're camped! It's been raining off and on, and the moisture is nice too. A few flowers are starting to bloom. I'm told that just happened within the last 2 days. Last night we had a potluck dinner. Eek! A potluck! What could I bring on 1 hour's notice? I brought chips and salsa. There were plenty of other dishes: potato salad, beans, fresh vegetables, lots of other chips, plenty of desserts including 4 pies. (It was, after all, Pi day. One of the musicians recognized it with a charming song about pie and how it can cure many ills.) Burgers were the main feature. I didn't do photos. This morning they started breakfast at 8. I didn't. I'm not much of a breakfast eater under most circumstances, especially at that hour, and decided to pass although I'm sure there was plenty of good cooked food of a type I rarely have any more. I went instead for a good long walk with the dog, who romped as he hasn't been able to for weeks. Right now I'm finishing my own breakfast before heading over to the festivities. Pursuant to the question of Key limes vs. Persian limes: When I make the soup in a few days I'll find out just what it takes to juice those little babies, and maybe have a few choice words on the matter.

...and if rolling up the awning in your rig is a manual operation, it must be a real challenge. I remember all too well how much heavier sails are when wet!

Do keep in mind that these are Key limes: significantly smaller than the Persian limes we usually think of. I'll post a photo in a day or two when I have time. Still, these were a bargain!

The chefs who made the soup and stew I so admired from the Returned Peace Corp Volunteers of San Diego's "Taste the World" feast have been good enough to give me their recipes, along with permission to post the recipes! I'll be doing so, and giving them credit, and sending them links to my posts, when I get to cooking the dishes in question. Yesterday I began the search for key limes, required for this particular version of Sopa de Lima. I struck out at Fry's. Today I went to Albertson's. I'd forgotten just how nice this particular grocery store is, until I walked in for the first time this year. You're greeted by the ready-to-eat (or reheat and eat) section. If you don't want to cook, there are plenty of offerings without visiting the freezer section. Someday, if I get tired of cooking, maybe I'll remember it. This is a very small sample of their offerings. Beyond that is the produce section, which was my main destination: They have good-looking fruits and vegetables, both organic and not. I was intrigued by the size variation amongst the asparagus spears. Then I hit pay dirt! Look at that price! My recipe calls for 20 key limes. I bought 40. I also bought green onions, kale, jalapenos, a bunch of spinach, and fresh herbs for the sauces and tabbouli I want to make when I leave my current parking spot. I wandered over to the egg section, to see what's happening there, in light of the current uproar over egg prices and availability. (I'm still carrying the dozen I bought from a farming neighbor before I left home.) Yep. Big gaps in the stock, and the prices are about 50% above what I'm used to paying for the brands I buy when on the road. Ouch. Because I'd found the key limes and other ingredients I needed, I revisited the ready-to-eat section for cooked chicken. Sure, I could roast or poach an entire chicken if I wanted, but these recipes didn't indicate that was critical. I was after (relatively) easy. Albertson's claimed "rotisserie" chicken (according to one sign) and these were the offerings, for $8.99. On the other hand, this was sitting in the "ready-to-eat" section: I went for easy, and came home with my plunder. I got home...and opened the refrigerator...and remembered the hot Italian sausage, sitting thawed in the refrigerator lo these many days, waiting for me to find time to cook it. Oh, er, yeah! I've been planning to make the Smitten Kitchen's Pizza Beans! Either version 1 or version 2. Really, that hot Italian sausage needed to be cooked. I chopped an onion, some garlic, and about half the kale I'd bought (with Smitten Kitchen in mind) and got going. In addition to those items my version of the dish included a can of canneloni beans, a can of diced tomatoes, a bunch of tomato paste, a LOT of shredded cheese of various types, and about a cup of frozen corn because I am determined to get that stuff out of my freezer and my life. Finished, in the pot (the plating doesn't bear showing): It would be excellent on garlic bread, as they suggest, but this was more than plenty. Quite good, though I can taste the age of the sausage. I'm glad I didn't wait longer to cook it. Now, I just have to work out where to put the planned-overs! (The freezer is about as fully packed as the refrigerator.)

Thanks for explaining that! It really does look like the hands are hovering over a couple of grill bars. 🙂

I would never, except perhaps at gunpoint, order coconut cake, but I'm surprised and disappointed on your behalf that even the dark chocolate ice cream wasn't worthwhile! Too bad about the rest of the meal too, but as MaryIsobel notes above you generally seem to do well. This helps us see that you aren't prettying things up for our benefit. 🙂

It seems so unlikely that an auto factory would have 'a handful of skilled employees' (I paraphrase) making sausages, I presume in the same factory, according to a secret recipe. Original Equipment!

Thanks for that article. I had no idea VW was associated with sausages of any sort! (My father did used to refer to his as a Spam-can, but that had to do with his size relative to the car. 😉 )

It's raining!! Oh, happy day! I've even heard a bit of thunder along with heavy rain! I realize that many of you won't think that rain is wonderful. You've seen enough already lately, thankyewverymuch. But I've been kvetching about how very dry it is here. If this keeps up it may help revive my (our) beloved boondocking spot. I'm on an odd cookery/eating schedule these days. After that huge breakfast I worked (paperwork, chores, nothing interesting) and then decided along about 3 pm that I needed to eat something before going out to my 4 -6 pm music event. I made a sandwich: turkey, salami, cheese, pickle, mayo, mustard, lettuce. One slice of sourdough bread -- granted, a largish one -- cut in half. I got home at 7 pm, wandered around the block as a leg-stretcher, got back at 8 pm. Still not hungry. Should probably eat something. That's the last of the latest batch of green bean salad. Tomorrow, social activities or no, I'll need to do something with other green vegetables that are in the fridge. I also have the ingredients thawed and ready to cook for a recipe I want to try. They've been thawed, with my good intentions, for several days now. Yet tomorrow is a late-afternoon potluck and Thursday is a midafternoon party, and Friday I move. It's going to be a challenge to fit in that cooking project! (The rain sound is almost deafening. This will be a good test of the new Princessmobile's seals!)

Well the food looks good even though it took forever. Is that an actual stiltwalker, or just a good statue / sculpture beside the "Sails Beachside" sign?

Those prawns have beautiful coloring. I may be misconverting: is that rather expensive for shellfish in your area?

When you get around to it, please post about it in the sous vide topic! I'll be curious to know whether the fat renders the same in that closed environment. I'm sure someone here knows what temperature it takes to render pork fat (and maybe you already do), and your sous vide rig will need to be at least that high. Then there's the question of where the fat will go and how you'll crisp the bacon steak. What an exciting project!

Urrp. I just finished the last of my last Goûter panettone, the classic version I bought back in December. It's more than I normally have for breakfast, and much higher in carbs. Still, I'm glad to finally have the panettone box off my counter. The box is from the other panettone I'd ordered, and I finished that some time ago. The box is now stowed where I hope I'll remember it when/if I need a gift box. It's too cool to just throw away. Now, in order to stave off a food coma, I'll update this story to the degree I have anything to say! Yesterday I turned one of the chicken breasts from last week's supermarket roasted chicken into a chicken salad with loads of mayonnaise and some fine salted capers. These are the last of a large jar's worth that I bought 5 years ago. Last summer I thought I'd run out, and these were not available. What I bought instead isn't nearly as good. I was pleased to find this stash when the former Princessmobile was emptied. Wonder of wonders, what I bought in 2020 is back in stock! Sanniti Spanish Capers Non-Pareille in Sea Salt, 28.2 Ounce (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). Now I just have to decide whether to have a fresh jar shipped to me here or at home. (Home, I think. I shouldn't exhaust this supply in the next couple of months, and it will simplify unloading when I arrive home.) In case you're wondering why I'd buy them now, when I haven't run out: it's because when I do run out they may yet again be unavailable. The chicken salad was pretty good. It appears I only took a photo of the sandwich before closing it up, and none at all of the salad. Sorry. It's only a tasty memory now. I finished the rest of that chicken salad last night for dinner, along with some of the green bean salad with almonds. Yesterday morning I had breakfast with the friends across the road: French toast with sausage, and apple juice. Another morning food overload, but good company. We had places to go afterward so I had no opportunity for food coma then either. This location is convenient for social reasons: about 5 miles' drive to engagements rather than the 35 - 40 miles from our boondocking site, but the convenience is overshadowed by noise, crowding, and less-than scenic surroundings. I am enjoying the plants in folks' yards but you can see my own views in the background to the panettone box, and here: I'm looking forward to a change of scenery in a couple of days!

Hello and welcome! It looks like you'll find a lot of kindred spirits here, and I certainly like the looks of your food! Please tell more about that slab bacon. Did you cut it yourself? Cure it yourself? It looks quite thick. We have a fair contingent of members up in your area. It's nice to see another one join. If you have any questions about how to use the forums or where to post something, feel free to ask a host (I am one) by PM. We also have Help Articles although it looks as though you already understand how to post tempting photos. 🙂 And yes, there are quite a few food-data collectors and posters among us.

Thank you very, very much.

Note to self: do not plan to do an entire day's worth of dishes all in the evening. Never mind about saving water, or holding tank space. If more than two meals (or their preparation) are involved, break it into parts. There simply isn't enough counter space for the washing-up. (At least, that's how it feels right now!)

They really do look like sausages! 😉

That worked! Thanks! And you're right about it getting tough again. Actually, I think I should have put the foil-wrapped loaves atop a wire basket atop the sheet pan, so that there was circulation around the loaves. From the moment I cut into each, I needed a big knife to get through the bottom crust. The rest was good, though. It's funny how dinner (or any meal) preparation can be a chore, or meditation. Today, nearly everything I did was more chore than meditation, and that included food prep once I'd had that salad. Truth to tell, I really just wanted bread for dinner -- toasties with cheese, specifically -- but I kept thinking about those darned green beans and how I didn't want them to go off. I told myself I needed more greens. I argued with myself that I'd had that massive salad only a couple of hours ago and that was plenty of greenery. Then I thought about the leaf lettuce I bought the other day, and the green beans, and broccoli, and asparagus all in the refrigerator. I sighed, then got busy: trimming, washing, and cooking. Same recipe as before. I do like that recipe. This time, I had feta sprinkles because I'd bought them last week. It just felt like work. (It helped to listen to The Mason Williams Ear Show, one of his many albums that have been in my library since I was in college.) (It was while I was considering what movie to watch while I cooked that I realized I still haven't rigged the CD / DVD player I bought before I left! If I can't stream it or get something over the air waves, I can't watch / listen to it. Until I get going on that connection. Yet more work. I put it off. Again.) Anyway, here's dinner. Delicious. There are leftover beans, and a lot of bread left over that will probably become a panade from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. For those of you yearning for spring, here's some local color. I doubt anything is blooming in "our" usual camping spot. No rain has fallen there since last August, and it was drier than I've ever seen it when I left.

Thanks for that. Let us know how it works out! How old are these children, and how adventuresome are their palates?

I'm curious about the duck sauce because it sounds interesting. However when I was a child the first sauce (salad dressing, really) that I ever liked was Thousand Island. I think if I'd been exposed to Ranch I'd have liked that too, but I didn't encounter it until I was somewhere in my teens.

So far, I've managed to take that pitiful chicken from a couple of days ago, use it for a couple of dinners, strip the meat from the bones, and have a couple of breasts left. I simmered the bones to make broth yesterday. There's nothing special about what's going on there, but I like the wisps of steam in the picture. 🙂 The finished product looks pretty milky. I often find that to be the case when I start with roasted (or otherwise cooked) bones, as these were. All freezer bones went into the mix also. The flavor is all right, not great, but certainly usable. It even thickened a bit by the time I'd finished cooking it down, but it won't pass for chicken jello. If you look carefully, you can see a few chunks of breast meat in today's salad, along with olives, tomatoes, very tough croutons from Whole Foods (I won't get them again), and the last of my spinach. Oh, and part of a stellarly-good avocado from last Wednesday's shopping trip. I've been waiting patiently for those avos to ripen, and I'm being rewarded now! I had to make salad dressing today, having finally used up all the dressing I made before moving into town and leaving for San Diego. That was here, when I had to deal with green beans. (I have more to deal with before they go off!) This time, as I was juicing the lemons, I realized that I might as well zest them and save the zest for other purposes. That led to a search for my little plastic condiment cups -- you know, those cups with lids that contain salad dressing or other items from take-out? I looked in the plastics storage drawer at floor level (see bottom arrow). Nope. Found a lid, no cups. That would be too simple. If I had any, it had to be in one of the upper cabinets. But which one? I didn't want to haul out that stepladder. But finally, after exhausting other sensible possibilities, I did. Found them tucked away inside my bread pan, along with a couple of funnels. Of course! Where else would those little condiment cups be? Now, the lemon zest is tucked away in the freezer in one such cup. I also finally emptied one of my mustard squeeze bottles. I have more mustard in the cupboard and the overflow coolers in the belly box. I'm trying to get the refrigerator stock down. I think I'm down now to an old jar of Trader Joe's Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce. I'll probably open something without garlic, at some point, but for now it's nice to be whittling down the condiment creep. Speaking of letting things go too long without attention: does anyone have tips for reviving artisan bread that's sat out so long it's gone stiff? I may have to take a hatchet to the beautiful loaves I bought in San Diego, and turn them into croutons or bread crumbs, but I'd like to be able to cut slices and eat them as bread if possible. It's a shame...my maxima culpa...I really should have frozen them, as I noted here. I didn't do it.

Welcome! Since you've decided to de-lurk, you probably already know that there are a lot of artisan chocolatiers here, willing to share their experiences and help each other learn. I'm just an admirer of the work. 😀 There's a lot of other culinary discussion around here too. Feel free to poke around, contribute where you can, and enjoy the company!

I expect them to have been included with the flatware and other basic essentials...but @liamsaunt will have to say whether it's true. There's also the question of quality and variety of knives.

I belong to the Naked Wines Club. Name notwithstanding, it doesn't specify how I must be clothed (or not) to sample their wares. As far as I know it also doesn't say anything about the wineries' clothing habits. What it does do is offer a more direct sale to consumers, and -- more to the point, for me -- offer a guarantee that if I don't like something I can get a refund. No questions asked. I don't abuse the privilege, and I suppose if too many people do it will be the end of that marketing strategy, but for now it allows me to try new wines without fear. Today's wine: It's nice enough. I won't go out of my way to order it again, but I'll have no trouble finishing this bottle. My earlier discovery, and I've been a fan of theirs now for over two years, is Arabella Wines out of South Africa. I should have snapped a photo of their Shiraz a couple of days ago. It has body. It's juicy, a bit of spice and tannin. It compliments food, but sips well by itself. Heck, it even lends itself to guzzling if one is in such a mood. And that's just their Shiraz. They also put out a beautiful Sauvignon Blanc and a delightfully interesting and tasty Shiraz/Voignier blend. I'd never in a million years have tried that, but they sent it to me on a flyer and I keep ordering more.