Smithy

Our house-sitter gave us a jar of her homemade, home-smoked maple syrup. Today I made French Toast for the purpose. My, oh my. We aren't normally big breakfast eaters, but this could make converts of us both.

Is the recipe online somewhere that you can share it? Or is it something you made up and could write down here (hint, hint 😉)? I love falafel although I'm generally too lazy to make it. And what is the green sauce you put on it?

I love 'em! Fun to see things cycle that way. Do you remember roughly when you got them?

You've had quite the tribulations! It's good to see you back...and yes, you need to be cooking again. Soon. All that said, *I* want to know about the plate under this sandwich! I looks like a very cool design. Show more, please?

Hello and welcome! You'll find a lot of helpful and curious cooks (and eaters) here. Do you cook only for yourself, or do you have a family to please? If you need help finding your way around the forums, feel free to ask a host (I am one) by Personal Messenger (PM) or post a question in the Moderation and Policy Discussion forum.

I developed a quite-unexpected taste for mooshy peas while in England and Scotland. I never knew that they'd started from something other than fresh peas as I know (and dislike) them here. Somebody please educate me: what are marrowfat peas?

That looks wonderful. This part brought me up short: That right there would put dinner at our house back at least 2 hours! 😅

What seasoning or sauce would they do with eggs and cucumbers?

"Hidden wontons" suggests something far more exotic than wontons hidden under the greens. I can dream.

I keep forgetting that this is a blog about a trip already done. Did try making any of these national dishes during your camping trip? Cullen Skink, Stovies? (I know haggis would be difficult.) Any other local recipes or ingredients you experimented with?

When I was in Scotland in 1980, visiting castles was not on the agenda but eating, hiking and drinking were! I liked haggis the time I had an opportunity to try it, but you're coming up with foods I missed. Thank you for explaining and/or providing links to Stovies and Cullen Sink; they look like something I'd like to try. And how could one go wrong with fish and chips? "The Last Drop" isn't what I thought it meant, either! That's a very clever pub name. Good on you all for your creative adaptability!

We've never had such bad wind that we felt we needed to pull over, but we've been happy to wait at a camping spot a day or two extra until storms passed. Fortunately, the truck is heavy-duty enough that it manages the trailer well. As for the things left behind: they're just stuff. I can do without, have them sent, or find replacements. I've started a list for our housesitter to send along when she sends the first mail! I will be going to pick up pecans in an hour or so. I'd intended to do it on bicycle and stop by my favorite reuse and kitchen stores to see about replacing some of the stuff I forgot if possible. The skies have OPENED UP! Here's the view outside our window. Those are little fountains in the runoff channel. I can't put off the pecan picking-up, but I'll hope for better shopping weather tomorrow. Tuna sandwiches for lunch today. I mixed mayonnaise and hard-boiled egg with tuna, then split it into 2 batches. Miracle Whip for his, more mayo for mine, along with capers and pickle juice. No photos, unfortunately, but we were both happy.

Thanks! I think we'll be bypassing Columbus this time, but if we change our minds I'll certainly let you know!

@Katie Meadow, it feels to me like we were barely home! My darling would tell a different story. 😄 He's been agitating for months to get going. He noted, when we had a cold snap and snow in October, that maybe we should leave Oct 1 and come home on Memorial Day. I said something to the effect of "have fun, I'll catch up" and the discussion ended. For now. Breakfast this morning, since I've run out of Cooper's pinto beans for the moment: Keto Nut Granola, over yogurt. We discovered the Keto granola thanks to my darling's daughter who is gluten-intolerant and lactose-intolerant. She gets it at Costco. Once I found out how good it was, we made a run to Costco on her membership and I bought enough (maybe) for the winter. My darling and I are both lucky enough not to have food intolerances, but this is crunchy and delicious and not too sweet. Yes, I can make granola but no, I rarely do.

Incidentally, here's another of my favorite green bean recipes: Green Bean Salad with Toasted Almonds & Feta is about as far from the old bacon-and-green-beans recipe, or the cream-of-mushroom-soup-and-green-beans recipe as you can get.

Road food. As I noted, we headed out the door later than usual and had no interest in making sandwiches for breakfast or lunch. When we stopped at a convenience store for fuel, I went inside and grabbed breakfast sandwiches: sausage, egg and cheese on biscuit for him, croissant for me. Not wonderful, not bad. (The bottom photo in this collage is of another sandwich, not the convenience store version.) In preparation for the trip he had cooked a ham and I'd cut it into slices for sandwiches. (We'd also made a couple of dinners out of it before leaving, and we have plenty for more dinners and sandwiches.) I'd also bought a selection of sliced cheeses, and some salami, and more of my favorite breads than I really should have. (But we won't be able to get these brands when we run out!) Here's a typical pair of sandwiches. He says they should just have Miracle Whip, mustard, meat and cheese. Hooey, I say: they also need greens and pickles -- and in my case, mayo rather than Miracle Whip. I leave off the pickles for him because they're messy, but I made sure he got some greens anyway. I stinted for him; my sandwich had more! I had bought two packages of commercially prepared empanadas as a quick meal before leaving, and then forgotten them when I needed them. We ate one package's worth on the road. This was when I discovered that I'd forgotten to pack the quarter-sheet pans, Pam and parchment paper! We were very unimpressed. The other package is chicken. I don't have much hope for it, but we'll see how it goes. The other road-food dinner has a back story. I came home one night to the distinctive smell of SCORCH in the house. It's a different smell than food merely burning, or an electrical fire, or wood smoke. The smell was even stronger upstairs. "It wasn't my fault!" he yelled. "The stove malfunctioned!" He had set a pot of chili on low and gone downstairs "for no more than 15 minutes" to tend the fire and play Solitaire on the computer. When he'd come back up, the chili was scorching. So was my beautiful, prized RevereWare stainless Millenial (or Centennial or Designer or whatever the line was) 8-quart stockpot: to the point that the aluminum disk had actually come unsoldered from the base of the stainless steel pot! I've had that pot for more than 30 years! My father picked it out for me! It was my favorite! Well, what could I say? I had done the same thing about 20 years ago to the pot's big sister, which I'd bought as a companion piece to Dad's gift. We cleaned up the stove. He picked out most of the scorched bits. We ate the chili that night, but had plenty of leftover, by design. We've been eating on it since. The tiny scorchy black bits actually add an interesting flavor and crunch.

I did it more than once, when I had access to good fresh oysters. I did it more than once because we liked it the first time! 😃

I've read that the commercial jars (like spaghetti sauce jars) shouldn't be reused because they may not be as strong as the official canning jars. Considering the treatment they receive during canning, packing and shipping, I have trouble believing it. I've never had a problem with them, and I can't see why they wouldn't be just as clean after good cleaning and sterilizing as official canning jars. They don't always have the same lid thread, of course, and that's a deal-breaker. If I'm missing something, somebody please set me straight!

Beans for breakfast. Cooper's beans, to be specific. We're in Llano, TX! We had 4 long days of travel, covering something over 1300 miles. This is the first stop where we've opened out and had all available room again, going from this: to this: There isn't an obvious difference in the kitchen area, but if you compare the "living room / sitting" area you can see that with the Princessmobile closed up we have to use a folding table in front of the easy chairs. When we're opened out, the back area through the doorway stops being a garage (look carefully at the doorway in the left picture) to a full-blown dining room. (Sorry about the light imbalance. I shot that right-hand photo before the sun started shining into the room.) This has been a trip already of firsts and mosts: warmest days before we left (it was above 60F on our departure day); latest departure hour (09:30 rather than our usual 08:00); 4 solid days of driving into a strong headwind; most things forgotten! Among the things we (that would be 'I') forgot to pack: our silicone ice cube trays, still sitting in the home fridge with ice in them and awaiting placement in this freezer; all quarter-sheet AND eighth-sheet baking pans; broiler pan with a grate (and I need it tonight!); my darling's electric pepper mill; the 6" diameter silicone lid for covering bowls - I have other sizes, but this one is most used and got left behind; parchment paper and Pam; 11" cast iron griddle that I keep in the oven for temperature control and bread-baking; detergent sheets I've been experimenting with: no plastic jug, just an envelope full of sheets that dissolve in the laundry; maybe half of the charging cords for our electronics (I'm still looking for them); and 2 stainless steel nonskid, nontip dog bowls. Some of these things can easiy be replaced along the way. Some can, if necessary, be forwarded by our house-sitter. But it's a sign of just how disorganized we were this time around. Things tossed willy-nilly into any cranny we could find, because the garage was packed early and access to storage hatches was blocked. Too many of a few things. (I think we have enough shampoo and conditioner to last the full 6 months!) What happened was that I worked much later into our preparation time than normal, and that took precious time away from packing and planning. in addition, we're slower than we used to be, as are all our friends. Finally, we have a full-time housesitter this year whom we trust, but is new to the house and had to be shown where everything is and how to take care of it. The headwind cut our fuel mileage immensely, and added to the general noise level on the drive down. I don't think the wind was ever less than 25 knots; sometimes, it was a crosswind rather than a direct headwind, and we were singing about the trailer "rockin' and a-rollin', rockin' and a-reelin'." We still won't name her Barbara Ann. That wind continued all the way to Llano, where despite the 80F+ weather we had to keep the doors and windows closed the way we could actually put things down and keep them in place! One reason we pushed so hard was to get ahead of storms that were to go through the country along our way. Our haste paid off. That night, after one of several road-trip dinners and considerable beer, we sat out enjoying a light show playing out to the northeast near Mineral Wells, TX, where we'd spent the previous night. The rain and tornadoes in our wake made us glad we'd kept going. It was a grand light show from where we sat. The beer made it even better. This cup is from my favorite local brewery at home. There was a festival earlier this year for which they made special aluminum cups to give away, and I scored several. Aluminum isn't a great cold retainer, but the cups are a festive reminder of a fine, fun evening in August.

@lemniscate i too am curious about the pomegranates. At first I thought you were showing dried slices, but now I think I'm looking at seeded slices...is that how you process them? What do you do with the seeds then?

I know you've said before that you often get kitchen toys, play with them a while and then pass them on. It looks as though the A4 Box Induction Cooker is a keeper for you? I keep being tempted....

Yes, new lids are needed but they're cheaper than the entire jars. I've successfully used quart jars from, say, pasta sauce, by using new canning lids and functional rings.

Thanksgiving Dinner is a long and provoking subject! It's well worth revisiting each year to see what people's plans are, and to report back afterward on successes and failures. The many Thanksgiving topics we've had over the years may also provide some inspiration and reminders. Feel free to search for yourself on "Thanksgiving" in topic titles to see what I mean. These two are particularly relevant right now: Green Vegetable Side Dish for Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Side Dishes Those who wish to kvetch about the rigidity of Thanksgiving menus, or insist on the rigidity of Thanksgiving menus may wish to laugh, cry or participate in these topics: What Absolutely Positively Has To Be On Your Thanksgiving Table? Thanksgiving's Day Traditions Finally, here's an oldie from 2005: The Funniest Thing About Your Thanksgiving

Regarding green vegetables: one of my favorite green bean treatments is Lynne Rosetto Kasper's Green Beans with Lemon, Garlic and Parmigiano Gremolata.

Most of us know that it is a major PITA to move. That said, I hope you'll share the culinary decisions and activities with us as time and energy permit. "Before and After" or "Here and There" for instance. At any rate...good luck with the move!