quiet1

Do you only stay at campgrounds and use their dump station and water? We’ve been dumping sometimes at truck stops and overnighting at Walmart/rest areas/etc. when on the way to somewhere, and finding potable water is proving to be quite frustrating.

Yeah, even if you filtered it back into a jug it’d be annoying to have to store a whole extra bottle of oil. Storage is a constant issue in our RV.

I was going to recommend Calibre also.

We’ve only been doing delivery/take out. I’m high risk due to medications so we’re just being extremely cautious. I feel like we’ll never be able to just go to a restaurant again at the rate things are going. Seems like every time things start to get better people throw all caution to the wind and we have another surge.

‘You’ve got a lot of company with that struggle. We haven’t been out to a restaurant since before the pandemic hit.

Pseudo-Indian today - roasted cauliflower tossed with oil and garam masala* and cucumbers dressed with Greek yogurt, and a butter chicken/palak paneer inspired chicken dish over rice. * - AFTER I got everything ready I realized we were out of garam masala at home, so I found a recipe online and made a similar blend using what we had. (Which was everything except coriander seeds, so it tasted ok.) I need to place a Penzey’s order ASAP.

Tacos tonight with chicken cooked in a tomatillo/poblano/onion/garlic sauce. The taco tray might go to the RV as it proved very useful for assembly and keeping everything from spilling all over. To test it we ate outside on the porch. 😄 Tomatillos are a newer ingredient for me - I’m finding them a bit unpredictable sweetness-wise - sometimes they’re pleasantly tangy then every so often it seems like as they cook they go quite sweet. There’s some sauce leftover - I can’t decide if I want to do another round of tacos or get some nice steaks and just serve it on the side. Or perhaps mash it up well with cheese in quesadillas?

I am intrigued by this baked ricotta concept.

I’m not sure I can be convinced that mosquitoes are worth it. (They find me especially tasty.)

Now if someone could tell me what the “one spice” is in shelf-stable packet Indian meals that tastes nasty, I would love to know. They all have the same note and it isn’t present in freshly cooked Indian.

We have the smallest frying pan because Cute and we only use it in the RV really - it’s a good size to put on one bit of the grill to sauté a few onions or keep things warm, or to do just a couple of eggs for the dog’s dinner if we’re having something he can’t have, like spicy chicken. The only reason we’re thinking of a couple little baby paellas is my SO loooooves Raclette and melting it over some potatoes in a pan in the oven is quicker for doing multiple people than using a mini table Raclette grill, plus means we don’t have the single-use Raclette grill taking up storage space. (Sometimes with Raclette sitting around cooking it slowly is a big part of the fun, but sometimes you just want fast comfort food for everyone, y’know?) I imagine we’d use them for other individual-ish-portion things also if we had them, like maybe a pot pie, or making a single meal sized fruit crumble? So they’d be more useful than the Raclette grill and take up less space. But for normal cooking without RV/camping related issues, I think they’d often be too small? ETA: We do have a larger paella pan (I forget what size) at home and honestly it’s one of my most used pans. I don’t usually toss stuff by the pan handle due to arthritis so I tend to reach for the paella pan over the similarly sized frying pan because the handles don’t get in the way of the other burners, etc.

My SO and I were JUST discussing getting a set of the tiny paella pans to use for doing raclette in the RV toaster oven… How did they know? 🤣

Let’s see if this works this time… Kind of, let me edit… I have several meals because I was having trouble posting images from the RV. So: Yesterday’s tofu stir fry with butter-soy mahi mahi. First time trying Mahi Mahi, I think I overlooked it a bit but it was good. Asparagus frittata with a salad First meal back at home instead of in the RV, I had a random craving for something Loco Moco-esque. Stir fried Napa cabbage on the side. One of my RV experiments - quick riff on butter chicken in the instant pot. Turned out okay but a bit too much tomato. RV chicken and asparagus risotto in the Instant Pot - overcooked the asparagus because I had to mess around a bit to be able to release the pressure without getting steam everywhere, but I have a system in place now. RV tacos cooked on a butane camping stove outside - this campsite had a lovely view of Lake Erie so the annoyance of cooking using only a tiny table and my lap was worth it.

Yes. The wheat were called rava Dosa, I think? Thicker and lacier and a bit crunchy in bits. We got chatting with another RVer (safely distanced) and it got too late to cook, so dinner was tacos from a local chain. Not very picturesque, and there was some flavor I don’t care for, though my SO didn’t mind it. The dessert empanada was good though.

I took a photo last night but our internet has been wonky so I can’t get it to properly upload. It was tacos, though, cooked outside on a little butane burner. We were at a campsite on Lake Erie with a lovely view of the lake so I had to cook outside. Tonight I found a restaurant called Dosa Place which is predominantly South Indian which is one of the SO’s most favorite things, so we had a sampling from there but by the time we got everything set up so we could eat we were far too hungry to pause for photos. They had Dosa made with wheat which our local South Indian doesn’t typically do, which was an interestingly different texture. Weirdly many of the flavors were essentially identical to our local place back home - I’m used to there being some variation just because not everyone makes things exactly the same, people tweak things. I’m wondering if there is a connection that isn’t advertised.

RV cooking: what can I do all in one pot? Last night it was piergoies and onion and leek and bratwurst. Simmered in the instant pot until done, with strawberries for dessert.

I can imagine that wouldn’t be very good for the moose OR the boat. So far everything interesting is “oh, wait, Canada.” But we didn’t really plan it so much as decide to just follow along the edge of Lake Erie and that’s about where we will have to turn around.

Yep, that’s what we found. I was really surprised.

Not well enough to convince anyone I’m just a beaver that got a bit lost. Or a moose. Do moose swim? It can’t be more disappointing than our recent stop in Erie where the only place we could find that was open near us was a chain pizza location. Not even a greasy spoon diner sort of thing to be had.

My SO and I are on an RV ramble and will find ourselves in the Niagara Falls area in a couple of days. Are there any places we should really try to pick up a meal from? US side only due to Covid restrictions at the border. (Last I heard us Americans have to keep our germs on this side. 🤣 Which given vaccination rates in some states I quite understand.) Failing restaurants any farmer’s markets or other interesting shops?

Quality control is a tough job but someone has to do it! 🤣

Anyone have a preferred mail order source? We’ve been eating a lot of chili verde recently and I want to try with fresh home roasted peppers. I also want an excuse to play with my grill. 😄

Once again forgot photos, though in my defense it was insanely hot so by the time I was done cooking I just wanted to sit in front of a fan and wilt. (No AC, old house.) Dinner last night was penne with chicken and vegetables (asparagus, broccoli, snow peas, little bit of carrot, grape tomatoes) in pesto. (We use Costco brand fresh pesto, it’s very good and a good price.) Very tasty, although the tomatoes weren’t as sweet as they usually are which put off the flavor balance a touch. Also it was saltier than I’m used to from the pesto so I’ll have to remember to check next time and maybe not salt the pasta water if the pesto is extra salty. For some reason when I was buying the stuff for the pesto I had a brain hiccup and also got stuff that I’d use to make leek risotto (celery, leeks, onion) so I’ll probably chop it all up and bag it and put it in the freezer ready for when I feel like making risotto, which I’m not likely to do this week. I was wondering about taking it all the way to the sautéed rice stage and freezing it then, so to make risotto I just have to defrost and add stock and throw it in the Instant Pot for an RV meal - anyone know if that’d work or if it’d be best to do the sautéing ‘fresh’ at time of making the risotto?

Today I learned hostas are edible. And very pretty. The whole plant or just the flower stalks?

Forgot photos again but did indeed make tacos on the grill. I tried a marinade I’d done previously just on beef on both beef and chicken and it worked but the last time I marinaded the beef overnight and I think it needed the extra time. The chicken was fine though. So something to make note of. (It’s basically citrus and garlic and cilantro. Next time for chicken I might add some cumin.) Made another fruit salad but everyone ate so many tacos it’s going to be for breakfast tomorrow instead. 😄 Only problem was the charcoal I have atm seemed to burn quite quickly, faster than I really wanted, and the vent on my grill broke so I couldn’t close it. I hate cleaning up after dealing with raw meat so while I had everything out I cut up chicken breast and tossed it with some jarred pesto for dinner tomorrow with seasonal vegetables and pasta. I’ll try to remember photos. After the pasta we’re doing several days of experimenting with meals from Trader Joe prepped ingredients to test what to take on our upcoming RV trip when we’ll be boondocking (so limited water and power) and want to minimize clean up, see if prepped stuff does actually help. I dunno if I should take photos of those meals?