Smithy

I've seen vending machines like that, and fortunately managed to escape the burn. Your post reminds me of machines that I used to see somewhere I frequented that had playing card images on their designs. 4 cards were visible around the side; the 5th card was on the bottom. You could play poker with your mates while you drank the coffee! (Now I've forgotten how we'd keep our opponents from seeing the bottom card.) Ha! I think I'll be able to do it again, given the basis I began with. But then, I've said that before, haven't I? 😆

This doesn't look like much, but it's the source of one of the more spectacularly backhanded compliments my darling has given me. We liked Melissa Clark's recipe for Creamy Pan-Roasted Scallops with Fresh Tomatoes so much that I decided to riff on it with chunks of chicken instead of the shimp I used last time. (I wrote about that time here.) The seasonings were a bit different; I used berbere spice mix on the chicken, and white wine (which couldn't be flamed) rather than the VSOP brandy I'd used with the shrimp. I put it all atop some wild rice pilaf. It's possible that he was jonesing for ribs anyway and that's why he looked at the whole process askance. I dunno. But I kept tasting and adjusting, and was quite pleased with the result. It would have looked better with a garnish, I admit. I quote: "With all due respect...I expected to have just one bowlful and then go to bed... but this was...WOW!" as he went for another helping. He also got around to admitting that he was almost embarrassed to express such happy surprise, and said so again next morning. Backhanded compliment, indeed! 🙃

We had to go into Yuma one day for pickup servicing. The waiting area had a coffee / drink dispenser the likes of which I've never seen before. You choose the hot drink you want from the menu, tell which size, then watch as it mixes and dispenses the drink. I've only shown one page of the menu, but there was a second page as well. Then the status screen keeps you apprised of progress until the mixing and pouring is done. What an improvement over the pot of stale coffee getting staler and more intense as the day goes on!

The place we go to dump our holding tanks was originally a small store and community to serve a nearby gold mine. It's quirky and fun, and the grounds are loaded with artifacts found in the desert from the mining operations or, later, General Patton's training exercises. Their store is limited now to treats like ice cream bars. It's been a bit cool for ice cream, but I want to share this bit of culinary history / humor with you: (It's part of a still.)

I'm getting better at applying that philosophy, but I still occasionally succumb to the "shiny new object" syndrome. Even when it's a used copy!

Oh, what sad news. I loved her contributions to eGullet and missed her when she left. RIP, Maggie.

It looks delicious, despite the disaster.

Drought didn't 86 it in San Diego area, for sure. Funny, I thought the Sahara mustard was a more recent arrival, and that there was a mustard natie to this area. The Sahara mustard grows joyfully in the washes where we're camped. Hairy, bristly stuff. I haven't tried doing anything with it except pulling it up -- but I had thought there was another, native variety also growing here.

Haha! So much for my memory! Good thing I never tried the mallow buds! 😆

Oh, of course! We had it in abundance where I grew up too, though we never knew it was edible. I remember now that you have posted about pickling the buds as an alternative to capers.

I assumed they were bones, although I've never seen bones in cod filets before. These were very thick, though -- thicker than any I've purchased in a grocery store -- so probably cut from a very old fish as you surmise. Thanks for that insight!

Do you have any tips for (a) recognizing that the fish will be tough and (b) what to do with it? Grind it up and make fish balls? Chowder, as @heidih suggested is a good idea, I think.)

What kind of mallow, @heidih? Do you cook it? Eat it raw? Or simply enjoy the flowers?

It's become clear this trip that my darling really doesn't want fish unless it was flipped out of the water just a few hours ago, and I've struggled to find ways to use up the fish I packed along from our last Wild Alaskan shipment last fall. Surely, I thought, he'd like halibut and cod, even though he isn't crazy about salmon. There are some wonderful-looking recipes for fish in the Falastin book that use tahini sauce. I simply couldn't be motivated to mix the stuff in time to cook the already-thawed fish. Instead, I tried reproducing our "Roadway Inn Fish", named for the New Rodwan Hotel in Luxor (Egypt) that invented it. This is another one-off dish that we've made many times over the years and never gotten the same twice. The sauce is heavy on lemon and butter, has a touch of garlic and mustard, and delightful when done properly. Well. First off, we've never tried this recipe on such thick fish filets. I sliced the thickest in half to enable it to cook more easily, and gave the two thickest cuts a head start before adding the other two to the pan. I don't think it matters to the finished product that I tried a dusting of corn starch to assist in frying without spatter. We usually only brown the fish slightly, if at all; sometimes we cook it in the butter/lemon sauce without any preliminary browning. I won't try frying fish with a crust for this dish again; it didn't fit. Disappointment two: "Heavy" didn't begin to describe the lemon flavor! I know I was using Meyer lemon juice from the freezer, but I still used too much. Once it's in there it's difficult to cut down. Disappointment three: the Trader Joe's Aioli Garlic Mustard, a staple for this dish (though you'd never find it in Egypt) has been sitting, sealed, in the cupboard so long that it's lost its mellow amber color and gone dark brown. I don't think it affected the flavor, but the appearance was quite unappetizing. Actual disaster: the fish was TOUGH! How can fish be tough?? I've never had that happen. He was too disappointed by the sauce to detect the fish texture, but this is what makes me wonder whether the fish itself was partly to blame. I don't think it was overcooked, but later recooking didn't help. The best part about this dish was the wild rice pilaf from the freezer that I put it over. That's small consolation. The next consolation is that I'm done with the cod and halibut from that shipment. His "thumbs-up" was before he actually tasted the much-anticipated dish. He did, however, think the brussels sprouts were marvelous. Meanwhile, when it's been his turn to cook it's been hash on the campstove... ...or Superburgers on the campstove. Sometimes, simplicity is best. He certainly thinks so! (He wanted me to show the "money shot" to note the presence of chopped onions in our burger mix.) Edited to add, in case anyone's interested: here's a much earlier writeup on Roadway Inn Fish, complete with photo. We had no complaints about it being tough then, so this cod was a complicating factor.

Mother Nature flipped the switch during my absence, and we've shot from desert winter to late desert spring: winds have died, and this morning the air carried a "hot" smell that I associate with smog...something I rarely see or smell around here. As I write, a mockingbird is embroidering the silence of the nearby wash with his musical variety show, and I've heard a couple of mourning doves. Spring is here. You have to look and listen closely to see it, though: there's been so little rain in our pocket of the world that the usual flowers have been late to bloom and difficult to find. I saw the first prickly pear blossom just yesterday, and usually they come out in February. While I was in San Diego last week, my best friend threw a dinner party and served wonderful composed salads of lettuce leaves topped with shredded cabbage, shredded chicken, mandarin orange segments, chopped walnuts, and probably a few other things I've forgotten. It was an Asian-influenced salad so we made a miso vinaigrette based on a copycat recipe for Karen's Double Sesame dressing, something we both adored and could buy in grocery stores in the '70's. I wish I'd taken a photo of the salad plates, but we were a bit busy making THREE versions of the dressing: one for a guest who is gluten-intolerant, one who is allergic to garlic, and one for the rest of us. You can see the ingredients and the finished product in this collage: The miso paste provided me with a bit of irritation. I had bought it last month when I visited her, then squirreled it away somewhere. A pouch that size is very easy to squirrel away, and very difficult to find later! It took several trips through various hidey-holes in the Princessmobile before I found it. The toasted sesame oil was easier, since I'd just bought it during this last trip. We speculated that ginger would also be good in the dressing, but didn't put it in then. I forgot about it today when I mixed up the dressing, but it will be easy to add it. We both also thought it might make a good cole slaw dressing, and I tried that today for lunch. Not bad. The toasted sesame oil may be a bit heavy for simple cole slaw. I think I'll try it next on a more substantial salad. It'll keep in the refrigerator beautifully. Since I've been home I've also been exploring Falastin: a Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), thanks to @blue_dolphin's demonstrations of some of its dishes. It's an interesting, beautifully photographed and written book loaded with recipes I want to try. Trouble is, I've been suffering from low ambition when it actually came time to start cooking. Today I made their version of tahini sauce. It's good. I think tahini sauce is fairly bombproof, provided you start with good tahini, and the Holy Land brand I can buy in Minneapolis is wonderful stuff. Now I'll be able to put it over vegetables, or fish, or in breads: all things I aspire to before I have to return the book. I had a fish disaster a couple of nights ago, possibly due to the fish itself no longer being good, but perhaps also because I didn't have tahini sauce ready for use and did something else altogether. I'll tell about it in a separate post, lest this be too long.

I like that wine glass, sir!

The short answer is "no, they aren't a direct substitute." @heidih said it well: Meyers are less acidic and more floral in flavor than "regular" lemons. My sister and I loved them; my mother hated them as insipid. You'd never confuse a Meyer lemon curd tart with a "regular" (i.e. Lisbon or Eureka) lemon curd tart, but they're both good. I like Meyers for their milder taste in something like a sauce over fish, although last night's dinner proved that it could still be overdone. Incidentally, if you were to explore Middle Eastern cookery (well, maybe North African) you'd be well advised to use Meyer lemons because they're closer to the Daq lemons found in those areas. This information comes from Paula @Wolfert, who used to frequent these forums. It also matches my experience in Egypt.

The zest freezes beautifully in strips. Do be sure to leave the pith behind, but I think you already knew that. (I actually don't find lemon pith to be as bitter as orange pith, but I think I'm an outlier.) I just put the strips of zest, cut using a vegetable peeler, into a freezer bag, squeeze out the air, and freeze. I can't think of a reason that blending the bejeezus out of the flesh and juice (definitely minus the pith) and then straining it would be a problem, although it's an extra step you might not appreciate since you'll have to remove the pith first. I've always just squeezed the fruit, after collecting the zest if I was a mind to do so, but a blender should work too. Good idea to freeze the juice in ice cube trays. I keep saving it in 1-cup and 1-pint containers, then having trouble getting a small amount out later. Last night's fish with Meyer lemon juice was a case in point. That sauce had pucker power!

The roasted basa fish looks delicious. Please elaborate on the cold fish skin salad. I had to read that twice to be sure of what I was reading!

I love the flavor of tamarind, but found dealing with those pods to be a great deal of trouble. Maybe I didn't have truly fresh pods, or maybe my technique was poor. How do you use / work with them?

Those look delicious! Is this the recipe you used?

I have one like that with a wooden handle. It's been in the family as long as I can remember, and I use it regularly. It isn't good at opening bottles, though: anything as small as a pop bottle will need another tool. It looks as though your longer implement would work for those. I've never seen one of that design.

@Shelby: me three on the nopales. I confess: I bought a package of frozen chopped nopales (ready to cook!) once. A few years ago. I think they're still in the freezer.

Beautiful photos, as always! I liked the comment in the menu above: "Loved your meal? Buy the kitchen a 6-pack for $20" -- that's an innovative way to tip. 🙂

😉 I'm certainly not done with shrimp, or deep frying, but it's likely to wait for a week or so. I'm leaving him to his own devices, starting next Sunday, and returning the following Wednesday. As preparation we're emptying out the strays from the refrigerator and, I suspect, will be making loads of pre-planned meals for him before I go. Bring on the ideas, please! I flinched at the idea of frying inside the Princessmobile, but it actually wasn't bad last time around.