Smithy

So...lately we've been eating pork, and ham, and sausage, and pork ribs, and yet more pork. If we don't change things up soon I think we'll start communicating in grunts and squeals. There's a lot of catching-up to do, but first I'm going to go back to dear old Llano, Texas. That was in early November! The park along the riverfront gets decorated every year for "Starry starry nights in Llano" with lights twined around hoops defining the walkway, and lighted decorations along the path. It wouldn't start until after we left. Here's a very small sample. This year I realized that they had a display series for "The 12 Days of Christmas." I think it's new this year. At the bottom of this collage you can see the Partridge in a Pear Tree and one of the 8 Maids a-Milking. Sometimes I think we should stick around just once so we could experience it as it's meant to be seen, but that would mean staying until December. We prefer to be farther west by then. Besides, this park has a 7-day limit on stays. We've never tested to see whether it can be stretched, although we suspect it can. There are several reasons we prefer to be farther west. Weather is one of them. We were treated to a BEAUTIFUL thunderstorm/light show one night, off to the east and passing over Mineral Wells, TX where we'd spent the previous night. It wouldn't have been a good time to still be there; in fact, we'd considered skipping Llano altogether because we weren't sure of the storm track. I was glad when we decided Llano would be safe; I had plans that involved food and other shopping there. One of the food-related reasons, of course, was Cooper's Old-Time Pit Barbecue. We got food from there several times: beef ribs, beef brisket, and even once some pork ribs. Mineral Wells has the better pork ribs. Cooper's has the better beef. I'm not sure what to make of this car in Cooper's parking lot. On the first night, we very much wanted beef ribs and knew they sell out quickly, so asked them to set some aside for us. When asked, they'll set aside the requested amount, wrap it tightly and keep it in a warmer until you come for it. As you can see, the ribs looked a bit overdone by being held that way. After that, when we wanted ribs we simply went earlier and wrapped / held them ourselves. Still, the ribs were delicious as you can see above. No complaints here! Every time I visited, I stocked up on beans, barbecue sauce, and pickles. Soft white bread a couple of times, too. That helps ameliorate the overall cost of the dinners, but mostly gets things that I don't yet know how to make as well. (Note the optimistic "yet"!) I'm going to have to start trying to make something like their barbecue sauce myself. I'm already almost out of what I stockpiled, and with all the pork we've been eating it will run out soon. I've worked out that it's a vinegar-based red sauce rather than the sweet stuff he prefers. That comes from Mineral Wells. Oh, and while we were there we tried to hook up with a mobile repairman to figure out why our freshly-serviced generator was leaking oil. Ended up figuring it out for ourselves, at our next stop.

I'm afraid you're only half right. Yesterday I started sniffling; today I used home tests (from 2 different production batches) and tested positive both times. My darling doesn't seem to have it; at least, his test came back negative and he shows none of the symptoms. i'm not in bad shape, but not as energetic as I might be -- and I'm certainly put out about the kink this throws in our social plans!

I suspect that I'm not the only one to be reading at least some of the 'Best cookbooks of 2022' articles that pop up in our online newsfeeds. I don't remember now which particular article of 'Top 10 favorites' led me to these choices, but I simply had to take a look at them. I put in a request at our library, expecting to have to wait weeks. Nope! They all came at once, within days of my asking! @blue_dolphin has been doing a wonderful job of discussing and showing off I Dream of Dinner (so you don't have to) (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) but if she ever talked about the charming chapter names I missed that part. Here are some examples: Under the Pasta section, the contents listing says Many recipe titles and dscriptions are equally charming: "Godmother's Egg Salad" is described as "Egg salad meets the Godmother, the mother of all Italian subs from Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica, California." Near the back she has a section titled "Recipes by cravings, mood & realities" -- a very pragmatic approach! I very much like the layout of the book, although I haven't cooked from it yet. Heck, I haven't cooked from any of them yet but thought they were worth mentioning here -- with a shout-out to efficient libraries! The other books have barely been touched, too: opened, yes, cooked from, no. On the Himalayan Trail (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) promises to be as much travelogue as cookbook for me. At a quick glance it has many ingredients I'm not likely to source without a lot of effort -- and these days, I have other priorities. Still, it's a beautiful book and will teach me about Kashmiri cuisine and a part of the world I've never seen. Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is written by the USA's first Puerto Rican food columnist, according to the writeup, and it in many ways is a love story to her family. The fact that there's an entire chapter devoted to fritters makes me think I need to delve into this one when the weather gets warmer (for outside frying) and before I return the cookbook. I am a sucker for Arabic food, and Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is calling out to me. I haven't been baking bread much, but it has recipes for various kinds of Arab breads. Just now when I opened the book I spotted "Roasted Whole Chile-Spiced Fish with Citrus-Tahini Sauce" and "Winter Tabbouli with Orange and Fennel." Both of those are on my must-try list, along with their version of toum: a garlic dip that's the Lebanese answer to aioli. This also is a sort of family cookbook, although not nearly as personal as Diasporican or as Linda Dalal Sawaya's Alice's Kitchen: a Lebanese Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), one of my all-time favorite cookbooks both for its recipes and its family stories and pictures. How much I'll get around to posting about cooking from these books is anyone's guess, but I'm certainly enjoying looking through them!

My recent fun stuff: My sister sent us a box of Harry & David's Royal Riviera pears. This used to be a Christmas tradition during my parents' later years: buy boxes for families and friends, and one for all of us. After they both died, we stopped. It's a nice flash of nostalgia. If I can actually get them while they're ripe and not gone mealy, it will be even better! (I picked out the first one this morning, and it was a bit firm yet.) A friend down the road gave me this great set of potholders, oven mitt and towels: I love the sentiment.

Sorry! Yes, we're well (a bit sniffly at the moment) but have been busy getting ready for holidays. Since you've asked, I'll restart this. Thanks for asking!

There's a bit more discussion over here about the Asian version of this "forever soup": Asian-style Master Stock

Wow, @Porthos! Congratulations! It looks terrific, even with unpacked boxes!

@haresfur, is that an electric oven, or gas-fired? It looks lovely.

That's a great idea, thanks! I drive past that Sprouts fairly often and can check there. I did get my most recent jar of duck fat at a Sprouts, although it might not have been that one.

Not that I've found so far. Good suggestion, though - and with this population size maybe I haven't looked properly.

50% off appeals to me more than "buy 2 for the price of 1" since I can't think who else I could get one for. That said, I don't know where I'd put one if I got it! So I'll probably still pass although it looks like a really fun gizmo. Not being able to get the extra trays is a factor also. I got the light grey email too. I don't think it looks nearly as pretty as the current, pearlescent finishes, but someone apparently thinks there's a market for it.

@Senior Sea Kayaker, it looks lovely -- the food and the scenery (especially because I didn't have to deal with that snow or the power failure). Please tell more about those blueberries and tomatoes. Blueberries commercially grown? They look too big for wild. Can you get them "fresh" at your grocery store, or were these frozen? What about those tomatoes and that lettuce? It all looks very summery, and a delicious lift from winter darkness.

Oh, how I want some of that! Right now! I think I'll have to go on a search for duck...smoked or otherwise...but I also think it will be pointless in my current location.

A4 Box just sent me a "Buy 1, Get 2" holiday sale. Now I'm really tempted. The code is "BOX1GET2". The email shows the blue and white versions, $249 each. I haven't looked to see whether the sale also applies to accessories. Once again, code is BOX1GET2

*bump* I love the Moulinex that I bought as a result of this topic! An interesting thing about it is that the cheese shreds come off in long strands if the chunk of cheese being grated is long. It doesn't work that way with my box grater, because of the back-and-forth motion of my hand.

I had no idea Saltines would strike such a nerve! The pro/con Saltine crowds may be even more polarized than the Miracle Whip vs. mayonnaise crowds! Last night's dinner was therapy for an allgoneaphobe: several items finished off, an excellent meal out of it, and leftovers. In the Allgoneaphobia topic, @Katie Meadow and @liamsaunt wrote about keeping lots of pasta around, and buying more than one package at a time. In particular, this comment from liamsaunt caught my eye: Oh, that's my excuse at home, but it simply doesn't work in the Princessmobile. Well, I do have multiples of a lot of stuff here, but with so much of everything I have trouble finding anything. For that reason I have specifically been trying to reduce the variety of sizes and shapes of pasta. I had it pared down to 2 or 3, then @gfweb introduced me to cavatappi. Gotta have it. It's THE best thing, we think, for mac 'n' cheese. Last night I finally used the last of my penne by the simple expedient of mixing it with cavatappi, giving the penne a head start for cooking. It worked. The last of my preserved tomato harvest went away in this dish: oven-roasted tomatoes (you can see the process) saved in olive oil. The lighting in the picture is lousy, but I can't re-shoot the photo. I had to supplement it with a jar of sun-dried julienned tomatoes that I unearthed from the easiest cupboard. Somewhere hidden around here is an entire stash of items like that from Trader Joe's -- purchased last spring and forgotten as I hoarded them. I have to find them again. I'm perilously close to finishing off the garlic that I bought at home and brought along. Last year I had a braid of garlic that lasted almost the entire season. I couldn't find those folks this summer, but I stumbled over this and immediately bought a bunch of packages: There's a very sad but also inspiring story here. Paul was a great kid: quiet, pleasant, and the apple of his father's eye. They took an aviation ground school from me when Paul was about 15. When he was 17, he was murdered. (The details aren't relevant to this post.) His parents fell apart, understandably, but realized that his sister also needed love and support. Eventually they pulled themselves together. They planted an apple orchard in his memory and began selling the apples. As you see, now they're also growing garlic. I'm not sure of the variety, but it's good. I wish I'd bought still more. But garlic doesn't hold well, and I don't want to waste this. I finished off a half-wedge of parmesan with the nifty Moulinex I bought thanks to this topic. I still have 2 more wedges, so this was a room-maker but not a clearing of the hoard. The living herbs I bought came into play, although I didn't finish them -- nor do I want to. The basil especially needs trimming at times to keep it healthy. (The parsley isn't rooted, but this seems to be a good way to keep it.) The cooking steps and finished bowls: Ohh, it was good. And we still have more, and we'll probably hoard the leftovers!

Now that one old topic has been revived, it's time to link to another. @Kerry Beal introduced us to the illness allgoneaphobia some years back, and oh boy am I a hoarder. Last spring, when I was near a grocery store that carried my favorite sausage, I bought something like 5 pounds of it, wrapped it carefully in smaller packages, and have been doling it out grudgingly. I don't know when or whether I'll be able to get more. This morning I decided that the final pound needs to be used. It's been kept frozen, in a plastic bag wrapped in the original butcher paper, and taking up a fair amount of space in the freezer. Alllgoneaphobia struck. Maybe I could use just half a pound of it and save the rest. I unwrapped the package to see how easily I'd be able to separate the sausages. Well, no. These are still usable, but judging by their juices and aroma it's time to cook them lest they truly reach the last results of allgoneaphobia: saved to the point of uselessness. It'll be pasta tonight! Lots. With leftovers.

I just had some belly-laughs reading through that topic, even as I too mourned the loss or disappearance of so many members. This story in particular cracked me up. I am pleased to see that there are many fellow butter-on-saltines and saltines-with-chili aficionados. I also see some pretty good suggestions for other ways to eat them. Thanks for the link, @blue_dolphin!

Oh my, yes to @BetD: thanks for bumping this topic up! So many good ideas, and several belly laughs for me. I'm glad you didn't incinerate your crackers the way @JAZ did all those years ago. I'm going to have to look for one of those metal tins. Haven't seen them in ages; haven't thought about them (or the fact that they used come in perforated squares of 4) in as long.

I'd forgotten about the twofer packets of Saltines at coffee shops! That used to be a thing in the Northern Minnesota coffee shops too. It's been so long since I ate at one I don't know whether it's still true. I loved, loved, loved Saltines when I was a kid. Slather a bit of margarine (yes, really -- that's what we used back then) on a Saltine and I was happy although I usually wanted several. Peanut butter occasionally was the topping of choice. Then in the 80's or 90's I realized there were much, much better crackers out there and lost my taste for Saltines. My darling still prefers them to the "fancy" crackers as a rule, partly because they're cheap and partly because they're comfort food for him. I keep "fancier" crackers around (usually Club) as well as Saltines. I was surprised the other night at just how good the Saltines were with that chili.

I just realized that my previous answer didn't address the photo and the point of your question. Sorry! He usually likes his toast browned somewhat, although the dry crunch is the main criterion. In the picture above that you asked about, the toast is really too pale because I was jumpy after the near-fire. I'd turned the toaster down ALL THE WAY until I could be sure that the scorching was due to jammed toast rather than a malfunctioning toaster.

We did occasionally have rolls with dinner. I think those were reserved for the special dinner occasions (holidays, or special guests over for a roast beef dinner) but I'd forgotten that until you brought it up. Thanks! I honestly don't know what Texas Toast is. I see croutons with that label sometimes, and they seem thicker than regular toast. I've never seen it at the Texas barbecue places we've visited.

He likes it to be dry, for the crunch; he isn't picky about the color. The whole wheat bread he prefers has some honey in it, so caramelizes and browns more than the sourdough bread I prefer. Either, on the same toaster setting (i.e. not jammed and burning) works for him. eta: this was a nonsense answer, once I looked at the post again. A better answer is down a few posts.

Last night was a cracker night instead of toast. It was rainy and cool, with enough wind to rock the trailer; chili seemed an excellent choice. We still had 2 freezer containers of the chili he made before we left home. (I wrote about this batch of chili, and the wreckage of my favorite pot, back here.) It's funny how the charred bits added textural interest without ruining the flavor. I had a bad moment, though, when the microwave cooking began to release aromas. "The toast is burning again!" I yelled as I rushed into the kitchen. Then I realized that we weren't toasting anything. 😆 Saltines actually are pretty good with this.

My father's father always wanted toast or bread, I forget which, with dinner. In a time when white bread was the thing to do and we generally had Rainbo bread (cheap version of Wonder Bread) my mother would splurge when Nana and Papa came to visit: it had to be whole wheat. Roman Meal was the thing then. As I recall, we children felt rather put-upon after Nana and Papa left, because we had to put up with that whole wheat bread until it was gone! All our tastes changed sometime in the '70's or '80's. Dad also wanted toast, or maybe just bread, with his dinner. It never caught on with the rest of us, except for garlic bread with pasta. For my darling it must be toasted so he has some crunch, as well as something with which to sop up sauces. I do quite as well simply collecting the sauces on the meat, pasta or vegetables, thankyouverymuch. 😉