C. sapidus

Tuna salad with kimchi, spicy pickles, and cucumber

Shrimp, zucchini, and Poblano chile breakfast tacos with habanero chile, onion, garlic, and Mexican oregano

Have you tried the RV Parky app? That’s what Mrs. C uses

Teddy Roosevelt National Park is spectacular. We stopped there last summer. Glad you were able to get roadside assistance, and I hope you have safe and happy travels for many years to come.

In the spirit of travel, here was our latest adventure. Blew a rear tire on the van, which immediately fell down onto the rim. Mrs. C was driving and did a great job of bringing the van to a controlled stop. The tire explosion blew off the rear quarter panel, and we saw pieces of tire fly out the front of the van at 70 mph. 🤯 After 4 hours on the shoulder of I-65 we were back on our way. Had both rear tires replaced today, and the spare is back in place for the trip home. Van projects when we get home: 1. Get a 10-ton cylinder jack and attach it securely. 2. Practice tire changes in the driveway.

We stocked up on Gulf seafood from a local market. BIL made the most delicious fried oysters. Apparently the key is to take your time drying up the liquid before coating and frying. Just a thin coating of spicy rub. Best fried oysters I’ve ever had. I made Gertie’s crab cakes with lump crabmeat. Mayo, mustard, Old Bay, Worcestershire sauce, crushed saltines, and an egg. We were short on oil so I shallow-fried in a mix of oil and butter. Spicy tartar sauce with mayo, mustard, S&P, Old Bay, Tapatio salsa, and spicy pickles. Rather than bread we ate the crab cakes in iceberg lettuce wraps. I will do that again. Edit: Oh, and baked sweet potatoes with butter. Apologies to the local seafood joint, but I liked our homemade (VRBO-made?) meal better. Sorry, no pics.

I am so glad to see your travels continue. I hope you continue to enjoy roaming to your heart’s content.

Nice! Do the shelves have a lip on the front edge? I think I would want that for open shelves.

Sorry to hear that, @SLB. Our Bluestar range top is still going strong after 20 years or so. The igniters need replacing every once in a while, but that is just one screw and a plug-in. A couple of burners have needed adjusting but that is also easy - just pull off the knob and adjust with a thin screwdriver.

Nice library, @Tan Can Cook Do you have favorites?

Clean-out-the-crisper turkey keema with peas, Napa cabbage, and chayote. Other ingredients included brown-fried onions, jalapenos, ginger, garlic, and turmeric, finished with cilantro, garam masala, and lime juice. Nontraditional but tasty. Mrs. C's sourdough bread with honey butter to go with.

Laab gai, from 'True Thai' (copyright 1995, so not the last word in Thai cuisine). Ground chicken poached in boiling water for about a minute, then removed with a slotted spoon and tossed with the remaining ingredients. Remaining ingredients: Mint, cilantro, sliced lemongrass, scallions, red Hatch chile powder, toasted rice powder, fish sauce, palm sugar, and a mix of lemon and lime juice. This is a very good, very easy recipe. Served with butter lettuce and coconut rice.

Larb gai - details in Larb Laab Larp (clicky) Served with butter lettuce and coconut rice. House guest had never enjoyed larb before, licked the plate. 😉

Slow-scrambled eggs with roasted chile Poblano and a leftover Super Bowl brat. Onion, garlic, chile habanero, cilantro, and feta for flavor. It is nice to be home.

House guest used to own a bakery and greeted us with jalapeno and cheddar bread and honey butter when we returned from our trip. Bread was very tender with a nicely crispy crust, and pleasant kicks of cheese and chile heat every few bites.

Welcome @MissTaurus! Always nice to see summer bounty in our winter, and vice versa.

Last dinner in Puerto Vallarta: Foreground: Seafood enchiladas with Mexican flag sauces. Background: Aguachile (mostly consumed) with bay scallops, avocado, cucumber, red onion, and mango habanero salsa

Santos Mariscos for more seafood. Started by sharing seafood-stuffed avocado and cream of crab soup. Pina coladas and Negro Modela. Camarones cucaracha, salmon with apricot sauce, and a seafood skewer with bacon. Camarones had a spicy coating and were eaten shells and all Shared flan for dessert

Tacos: Al pastor x 3, chorizo, bistek. Recommendation from a random Mexican gentleman we met at the fish market.

Dinner at Marissimo in Puerto Vallarta. Delicious seafood in a surprisingly empty restaurant. Everything was shared, so everyone could try everything. 😃 The meal started with a small bowl of intense seafood broth, which was delicious. Fruity cocktails around the table. We ordered all the tacos, variously stuffed with shrimp, octopus, grilled marlin, fried onions, and grilled pineapple, with a variety of sauces based on Serrano chiles, cilantro, and/or avocado. The “shrimp pastor” with grilled pineapple was the favorite. Smoked marlin tostada. Smoked marlin must be a local thing, I have never run across it before. Quite delicious and meaty, almost like a fishy BBQ pork. Ocean City, MD bills itself as the “white marlin capital of the world”, but they could learn a thing or two about preparing marlin. Chile del mar, a poached chile Poblano stuffed with octopus, shrimp, and scallops, and served with a creamy cheesy chile guajillo sauce. The key ingredient was a smalll jar of “salsa macha” (“man sauce” - not pictured), which tasted like a dried chipotle-based chile crisp. Yum.

Smoked marlin burritos, enjoyed within 5 minutes of the airport at Puerto Vallarta

Welcome @Hudson!

Three separate recipes, names and source as described in the post. Sorry, I don’t have links. 🙂

Dinner from Madhur Jaffrey's 'Quick and Easy Indian Cooking' Chicken in a cilantro, spinach, and mustard sauce (hare masala vala murgh): Fry bay leaves, green cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and dried red chile. Sear skinless chicken thighs and simmer with yogurt, yellow raisins, cayenne, s&p. Blend jalapeno, ginger, cilantro, and spinach, mix with grainy mustard, and simmer with the chicken until done. Good stuff. Indian mashed potatoes (mash aloo): boiled red potatoes mashed with half-and-half, butter, minced jalapeno, garam masala, s&p, lemon juice.

Me neither. I try to wear a shirt that matches the color of the sauce. 😉