Smithy

Fascinating! At this remove I don't remember what brand of tots we were using at any given time, but I'll look for Taterbites or Tater Bites or even TaterBytes (sounds like a computing unit) next time I want to try them. Or maybe I'll try gfweb's version up topic, here. Regardless of which I try, I'll be sure to use the shallow-fry method you pointed out to me, with reinforcement from Toliver fans, a year ago in the posts you linked.

Thanks for that information! I kinda thought Gebhardt sounded familiar, but couldn't place it. I've probably seen some of their offerings in Texas. For sure, now that I'm aware of it, I'll see it jumping off the shelves at me. (Yes, I was speaking of Gebhardt. Tampico is all over the place where we live and shop.)

A friend of mine in Senegal just posted a photo (on Facebook) of reddish-colored fried insects and labeled it "Snack attack!" I asked him what they were and how they tasted. He said he's pretty sure they're grasshoppers. They're crunchy - fried through and through - and served with a dipping sauce. He also said he had to take off part of the back legs because they stuck in the roof of his mouth. Aside from that difficulty, he liked them. They sound to me like a less-processed version of any of the salty crunchy snacks we keep around here: potato chips/crisps; tortilla crisps/chips; Chex Mix. I'll try them sometime, if/when I get the chance.

We've changed the scenery and the trailer orientation. It's much greener here in western Arizona, a couple thousand feet higher and a couple hundred miles east of where we've spent the last few months. The sunrise has to be viewed out our back windows now. It's strange to see city lights again: still distant, but close enough to be distinct. I was disoriented when I got up last night and looked out my window and saw lights where the railyard some miles away has been for the last few months. "Why all those lights at this hour?" I wondered, "was there a derailment?" Then I remembered that we'd moved. Breaking camp was a bit of an adventure. After staying in one place for so long, we'd forgotten exactly where things go and how to fit them together. An observer would have been amused to see us puzzling over how to fold a camp chair enough to go back into its sleeve: with a Ph.D. and M.S. between us, it still took 15 minutes to get it right! At least we could laugh about it. With all that going on, we didn't take time for the usual breakfast. I made sandwiches for our breakfast and lunch, and we ate as the fit took us. After we got settled into our new digs we walked, visited with the camp host, and struggled to stay up past sunset. Neither of us was interested in elaborate dinner preparations: too tired, and not interested in a fuss or much cleanup. This is where the precooked, frozen dinners we make in batches come into play. "Chili it is!" we said. We had found his last batch lacking something -- exactly what, we weren't sure (I blame the tomatoes) but had decided to buy a bunch of fresh spices during this shopping expedition. Among the spices we purchased were a package of "mild chili powder" and a bottle of Gebhardt chili powder. We'd never heard of that brand before, and had decided to try it out. Both chili powders were good. We thought the Tampico blend might be slightly sweeter; I think it's also saltier but can't read the label well enough to be sure. For me, sour cream was the final touch to bring out the good flavors of the chili and the spices. Lesson learned: get rid of the old chili powders in my cabinet! I know the stuff goes stale; I just don't know how quickly.

That's what Dave said, but since he and JAZ had settled on rice flour I thought I'd try that first if possible.

Thanks for that. As I recall, my Bob's Red Mill rice flour (still at home) is granular, not powdery. Given my current travel circumstances, I'll settle for whatever I can find...and Asian isn't in it around here. I'll have a chance to look around tomorrow, I think, at the local Mexican market.

I've never tried that. Does it change the flavor, from what you have noticed? What does it do to the zest?

I thought of M.F.K. Fisher based on what you wrote above. By golly, Adler refers to Fisher's style as a guideline for her own. I just bought the Kindle book.

A Mexican market is not far from our next stop. I'll look there for the rice flour.

I think of myself as an adventuresome eater, but I'd have to be very hungry -- or else up for a strong dare -- to try those mealworms. Maybe if they were fried and sauced...or else boiled and sauced and passed off as vermicelli? I have read that fried grasshoppers can be very good, with the classic "crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside" description. I'd try those, if I were to see them, but as noted above the price point needs to come way down. Here are the scorpion suckers that I dimly remembered and Heidi remembered more clearly. I've already forgotten the price: $3 US?

One final thing, for now: yes, you can freeze the juice. I generally freeze it in largish containers (1 cup, 1 pint) but that can be a mistake unless your labeling is very good. I once mistook a pint of juice for a pint of chicken broth because the label had fallen off. That was a VERY tart pilaf!

@Kim Shook, I've also made this Taste of Home recipe for Lemon Curd Chiffon Pie and been delighted with it. Lemon curd keeps very well, and is wonderful stuff to spread on toast or crackers, or dollop atop another dessert. @JAZ's recipe in one of her Instant Pot Cookbooks is the best and simplest I've ever had. And in the savory direction: don't forget about the Greek soup, avgolemno! Delicious!

@Kim Shook: Lemon Meringue Pie. Lemon Curd. Lemon Curd pie. (Dorie Greenspan has a fabulous recipe, for example.) I'll keep thinking...but don't you love tarts and cakes? And lemon cookies. Edited to add, since nobody has responded to this yet: Here's a link to Dorie's Lemon-Lemon Lemon Cream Recipe.

Getting back to @Mjx's question: I haven't even seen insects for sale in grocery stores, except for novelty candies like chocolate ants. A place I'm going to tomorrow has, or used to have, small scorpions in clear candies for a couple of US dollars. If they're still there and I remember, I'll snap a photo. I'll have to watch more closely in the stores. Perhaps I'm overlooking them.

I had no idea! I do remember that during our last population explosion of "army worms" in northern Minnesota someone was experimenting with making wine out of them. He may even have called it "revenge wine". I read that it was...interesting...but it didn't look like a cottage industry sprung up as a result. What does the black ant wine taste like, liuzhou? Does it have a formic acid kick?

Well, who knew?! Not that we have any room in the refrigerator, but it's interesting to see the updated information. Thanks.

We made our (realio, trulio) last trip to Yuma and purchased our (realio, trulio) last batch of groceries before we move camp. Couldn't find rice flour. I remember this problem some years ago, when I was determined to make Dutch Crunch (aka giraffe, or leopard) bread. Perhaps I was too pressed for time, but I couldn't find it in this well-stocked store. Cornstarch it is. Or will be, in a few days. I bought a fresh container to be sure I'd have enough. And I bought beer! Hey, any port excuse in a storm.

Interesting about the potatoes. Anyone who has been reading this topic for a while knows that my darling LOVES potatoes cubed and crisped, in his version of hash. The thing is, he can't always get them to get crisp in the frying pan. We've attributed it to small variations in the oil:potato:skillet proportions, despite measuring...except...a year or two ago, we stored the potatoes in the same cooler as a bunch of citrus and the potatoes had a noticeably yellow cast. They stubbornly refused to crisp up by his usual methods. We stopped storing potatoes in the same cooler as citrus, but maybe there are other factors at work too.

I feared that might be the case. I'll wait to buy rice flour, or else use corn starch (of which I have plenty). Thanks.

That apology gave me a good morning laugh. Thanks!

Next question: do you have a link to, or would you please describe, the JAZ Technique™? I haven't found it in the forum posts. I am seriously jonesing for frie that look like that. And sorry for being picky, but when you say ... ...do you mean by weight or by volume? Or doesn't it matter much in this case?

Many thanks, Dave! Yes, I hope to be frying fish in the next few days, and there's still shrimp in the freezer. Of course I have questions... 1. If I can't find rice flour (it may be at home) what would be the substitution amount for cornstarch? Same weight? Same volume? Or neither? Or should I add rice flour to our shopping list 🙂 ? 2. By "plus a couple tablespoons for dusting the food" do you mean after it's been pulled from the oil? (Why?) 3. About what size did you cut that fish to? 4. Did you cook the potatoes in the same oil, but without the coating? 5. What accounts for the slightly more substantial nature of the second coating? The extra carbonation from doubling the beer? The only other difference I see is the amount of salt. Edited to add: so far I've found garbanzo flour in the Princessmobile. Do you have any ideas about how it would work in place of the rice flour?

So did I! 😄

We went to the grocery store yesterday in a vain attempt to make it the final shopping trip before we leave here. (We already know some things we missed!) I haven't shown you much of this store chain's stock this year. It's too late to start now, but I did snap a couple of photos to show how well their "loyalty card" program pays off: in other words, how much money one can save simply by letting them track the purchases. (There's also a gas/diesel disount based on money spent.) We didn't buy either of these huge chunks of meat -- no room, no need, no crowds to feed, and they're still expensive. Still, look at the price difference! If you were planning a party, the Fry's loyalty program would be A Good Thing. If you weren't planning a party, you could go broke saving money. He's been complaining about the chili powder we have with us: too bland, and somewhat bitter to his tastes. We explored the spice aisle. Fry's carries at least 5 different brands of spices in neat bottles, and they were on "buy two get a third free" sales, but they still were more expensive than the bagged spices. We came away with a variety to try. (We always keep cumin and paprika around, but these bags are convenient for refilling bottles.) We also went to the barbecue sauce section so he could get more of the Kinders Hot BBQ Sauce, his current favorite. I decided to try another version. Haven't opened it yet, but there will be opportunity in the next couple of weeks. Once we got home, we had to find a place for everything. Our vows to keep the inventory down so we can find things has lasted about as well as a drunken New Year's resolution. Spring is finally, finally! arriving...just as we're about to leave the area. Boo! These blossoms are about a month late. On the bright side, I'm not whinging about the heat.

Last night I took another crack at Shrimp Bolivar. I'd purchased peeled and deveined shrimp from a good grocery store on Monday. I already had the rest of the ingredients. I've noted before that it's one of those never-quite-the-same dishes; always good, but never as good as we remember the original. I looked around for my binder with recipes; unfortunately, that binder has become 3 binders and the one with Shrimp Bolivar notes is at home. So I had to look back at this 2015 post to see if I could get back to basics. Here's part of what I wrote: I skipped the dried herbs (maybe I shouldn't have) and used a mix of butter and olive oil. I confess to snitching quite a few of those shrimp before they got mixed into the pasta; they were delicious on their own! The finished dish was good too. This time, the dispute was that he remembered and wanted short pasta. Egg noodles. Macaroni. Anything. I swear he's moving to spoon foods! I have never done this dish with short pasta. He swears I have. We got into a semantic discussion. He asserts that his memory is correct; I know it isn't (and have pictures to prove it from some of my efforts). To which he responded that I can't possibly know what's in his mind, and only he knows what he remembers! Well, that much is true. 🤷‍♀️ 🤣 It's probably a good thing we can't really read each other's minds. In other news, yesterday evening's cloud formation was fascinating. High winds, front coming through.