Porthos

Welcome to eGullet. I hope you find this an enjoyable place to be. A general comment here about equipment. Try to avoid gadgets that are good for only one specific task -unitaskers was the term Alton Brown used to use - at least until your skills and interests grow to a point to where that item then makes sense. To the above-suggested items I would add: A pot or pan large enough to boil pasta and cook beans in. For one or two people a 3 qt size would be big enough. I cook for 4 adults and have a 6 qt pot for pasta. A colander/strainer large enough to drain pasta and other things in. A balloon whisk would be helpful if you're going to make omelets (quickly and easily whips the eggs), and for me they are indispensable for making sauces. Perhaps a heavy-duty sheet pan for the oven. I happen to prefer 1/2 baker's sheet pans. These are good for baking pizzas and other larger items. Or maybe a 9 x 13 (sorry, I think in inches) baking pan good for roasting meats and such.

Neither my DW or I are particularly clean-as-you-go people. When we entertain I try to have the dishwasher empty to help a little bit with this but only end up putting a few things in it, and nothing that was used to cook food in (too hot). By the way, I am the kitchen and dishes scullery maid. The interesting difference in locations is that when my DW and I are doing our Ren Faire cooking we, along with the rest of the crew, have to clean as we go. This catering-style cooking to feed 80 people requires a lot of cleaning up from one task before proceeding to the next. Since we deal with the raw proteins early in the cooking day thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing before we move onto veggies and starches is very important. We need everything clean again as the food goes out. Now we need the same space to plate the desserts.

I use dried leaves in stews and we like them in a barley dish we make in our Ren Faire kitchens.

You're right. My goal to not heat the house. I only lived in one apartment that didn't have some form of outdoor private space. I can, from that apartment, sympathize with you. I am used to cooking in the heat because of my Ren Faire cooking. Doesn't matter if it's raining or 100 degrees and humid, the feast must go on.

Sometimes I have to make a conscious effort to not go into my controlling mode. If I start moving too far in that direction my Sweetie has her own way of letting me know - for which I am grateful. My Sweetie did not learn to cook at home and she lived with her parents until we were married (of course I sort of robbed the cradle but that's another story.). When we married I had been putting dinner on the table for over a decade already. My biggest early failing was expecting that she just knew this or that. She is a excellent cook now and far outshines me in the desserts arena. I do have to stop and remember, occasionally, when working on the timing of the meal that her approach to cooking is vastly different than mine. I'm Mr High Heat let's-get-this-thing-cooked and she is low-heat-methodical. And she can multitask, a skill that has eluded me all of my life.

I've searched and if this has been discussed before I can't find it. I was reading Kerry and Anna's blog from 2012 and some banter was exchanged about not cooking with your spouse. My DW and I have been happily married for 36 years and have cooked together the entire time - not every day, not every meal, always cooking together when entertaining. We successfully did this in various apartments as well as in the house we have now occupied for 30 years. When the time came to buy a house we only had one major requirement - the kitchen had to be "right." They were not done installing the kitchen cabinets in the model home we chose but as soon as we saw that unfinished kitchen we knew. Are there other eGulleters out there who peacefully cook together? I'm curious.

I couldn't do an actual live blog of such a trip. One of the things I really love about where we go is that cell phones don't work and there is not internet either. That is why we have to take the TV/DVD player so that we can enjoy movies in the evening. My DW has been going where we go since she was 6. We have taken this trip with my in-laws for over 30 years. 20 years ago or so my wonderful MIL started bringing a small boom box so we could listen to music while we were preparing dinner. After she passed we added the TV & DVD to enjoy movies in the evening. I don't think of cooking on a vacation as a chore. I enjoy preparing food and sharing it with family far too pleasurable to consider not doing it. However, I am not interested in being a minimalist and that is why we have the vacation kit we do. As an aside, when I began cooking in the Ren Faire kitchen that I inherited several years later, I started added equipment to that kitchen within a few weeks of working there. At this point I have equipment that is used at both the southern and northern faires I do, so equipment just for southern and some equipment just for northern. It's a good thing we have a Ford Expedition with a car-top carrier. Because of personal stuff we also take to northern I had to add a shelf that attaches where the trailer hitch would go and put several Rubbermaid totes on that..

I think the Chi-Cheemaun is the ferry from the island to the mainland.

I use a plastic steamer in the microwave for steaming veggies. I also thaw/re-heat brown rice in the Ziploc bag I stored it in. Most everything else is done in glass or ceramic just because it is already the right vessel to use - such a reheating coffee in a coffee mug. This is actually the number one use of our microwave. Just remembered that I defrost meats in the Ziploc bags they have been stored in. I just don't worry that I am exposing myself to high concentrations of bad chemicals. Breathing the air in southern California is a much worse thing to do but not breathing has rather immediate drastic results.

My deepest thank you to you, Anna, and to Kerry for this thread. I thoroughly enjoy following your time on the island. Is is many things: comfortable, informative, inspiring, a happy place to be reading. edited a typo.

I'm not much for cooking proteins in a microwave. I recently posted to this http://forums.egullet.org/topic/121812-how-to-manage-to-cook-in-high-temperatures/ thread about setting up an outdoor kitchen to cook during this hot summer season. I'm still cooking full dinners for 4 adults, just not in the house.

That hurts to hear.

FauxPas, thank you for the links. After seeing Dave's tackle box I thought I would post a bit of info on my "system" of doing things. I have three 66 qt totes that are dedicated to vacation. Excluding the spices, pots & pans and my knife rolls what you see goes into to one tote. A second tote has the stereo speakers, extension cords, toaster (the supplied toasters are notoriously unreliable) and other small doodads. The third tote is only about half full of extra stuff and a couple of large items. This tote gets the "needed for this trip only" stuff. A fourth large tote not dedicated to vacation carries the pots and pans. Yup, we do not travel light. Also, depending on the length of the trip it can take up to four 60-70 qt coolers for the cold and frozen stuff. Since the spices and oils and such are also for my Ren Faire kitchen they are kept separately from the vacation stuff. The spices have their own small tote and there is a different small tote for the oil/vinegar/other liquids. I want dry and wet separate. We also have a microwave to take up. Some of the cabins have space for it so it goes only when it can be used. Its job in life is reheating and thawing. I use detailed packing lists to make sure I have everything I need.

I failed to mentioned that the spices, oils and vinegars (not all pictured) are what we supply for our Ren Faire kitchens. Since faires and our High Sierras trips never happen at the same time we take them all along. The small and large parmesan shakers are our kosher salt shakers. The small one is handy for a quick final seasoning adjustment, the large one for when I am prepping maybe a 12 lb beef roast. Last year I found a Griscer-Brand hand-cranked shredder/slicer (think the KitchenAid shredder/slicer attachment). We didn't need it for any recipes this year so it stayed home. We do take a box grater.

Kerry mentioned this thread in another thread. I had mentioned in that thread taking our own cooking gear to the housekeeping cabins we rent in the High Sierras. The kitchens are not fitted with equipment for people who take their cooking seriously. I thought instead of trying to list the stuff we take I would take a picture of it: A few notes. There were a couple of items that I didn't get out of a different tub, the S/S sieve and the loose leaf binder. All menus are planned for and purchased for in advance. The menus and any recipes we will need go into the binder. There are 2 steamers pictured. The larger steamer nicely doubles as a pasta pot. I didn't dig out the fish poacher for this picture. The compliment of pots and pans varies each year based on the menus. The shelves that the spices are on do not go with us. That unit is the spice shelving for my southern Ren Faire kitchen. The small green knife roll at the top of the large knife roll is for paring knives. Because I also provide the knives in my Ren Faire kitchens I carry six paring knives. The loose knives are cheap serrated-edge knives that my wife likes for certain tasks. They will never find their way into one of my knife rolls. I personally detest them. There have never been wine glasses in the cabin and "old fashioned"-size glasses for cocktails are hit-or-miss so we added the old-fashioned glasses to the compliment this year. Besides these cooking items we take another creature comfort: a flat-panel TV with built-in DVD player that also plays CDs and an external stereo speaker setup with an internal amplifier. The speaker/amplifier can be connected to the TV or my phone which is loaded with music. edited for clarity.

Looks beautiful.

Anna, you have inspired me. My DW asked for the piece of beef I'm cooking for dinner tonight to be done in the crock pot. I got this Dutch oven as this year's "bonus item" that comes with Camp Chef stoves, at least the ones sold at Costco. I did a lot of finagling to replace the stove I already had but this replacement stove has a built-in igniter (the old stove will stay up north for the other ren faire we do). The built-in igniter is so much nicer that using the HotShot et al butane lighters to light the burners. Back to dinner, I have never used the new Dutch oven so I will make dinner in it instead of the slow cooker. My DW told me what she was looking for in the meal and this will work well AND I can brown the meat in the same vessel as it will be cooked in. One less item to clean up. The pain of working away from your kitchen resonates. When we go on our annual high Sierras fishing trip we rent a house-keeping cabin who's kitchen is furnished with Walmartesque mark-down kitchenware. We take our own pots & pans, my traveling knife roll and gadgets. We clear out the drawers of their junk (carefully stored - I do take care), put our stuff in, and are much happier. We also bring the herbs & spices and that we use in our ren faire kitchen, We may be at 7200 feet on the edge of a lake but we still want to cook well.

One of the local chain markets puts pork cushion meat on sale frequently. I have never purchased any because I have no idea what it is beyond pork. Can anyone tell me what it is and what is is used for? I have always just ignored it but my DW added it to our shopping list as something to look at.

I have the Lodge L8SGP3, used it once and set it aside. I found it a pain to clean. At this point it is rather rusted up and would take some effort to clean up and re-season. The Lodge Pro-Logic P12SGR3 , based upon the lack of high sides, looks like it would be easier to clean.

Kerry, yay for chromed wire shelving! It is my friend. I like the boxes that give you a flat surface for the bottles.

My electric bill seems to indicated that I average 23 cents a KWH. Too many tiers to keep track of. The highest usage day of the billing period was the day after my DW and I left on our annual fishing vacation. We have since talked with our daughter and son-in-law about using less power where feasible, and my DW and I are trying some new small ways of cutting back.

After I pick up some yeast I am going to try James Beard's recipe in Beard on Bread.

I forgot to mention that adult #1 doesn't like raisins so as much as I like golden raisins in my couscous while my daughter and son-in-law are part of this household I omit them. I made too much couscous to go with the lamb on Sunday so I will cook chicken tomorrow, make a little more couscous and make a cold chicken & couscous salad as that night's main. It will have toasted pine nuts and a small amount of green onion in it. Would some green peas for color be out of place?

The weather coopperated so I was able to take the toaster oven outside. I added Italian - style bread crumbs and butter to top it. Everyone enjoyed it. Tomorrow my daughter and her husband will have to fend for themselves. My daughter cooks so this is not a problem.

I think I should mention the challenge of dietary restrictions and dislikes. Me: I don't care for anything very acidic. At almost 61 I'm not expecting this to change and it doesn't do my GERD any favors. I detest, REALLY detest, yams and sweet potatoes.I'm not much for most cabbage dishes. A German red cabbage dish we make is the exception. When my lovely MIL was still alive I could eat her coleslaw. I'll eat beets but I just don't get them. They seem bland. Wife: No tomatoes. She LOVES sweet potatoes. We when do our ren faire cooking I buy sweet potato fries for her and the other members of our guild that like them. I simply do not eat them. She has had gastric bypass surgery and that serious affected her sensitivity to chili-types spices and also now she needs a protein-centric diet. Other Adult #1. Doesn't like melons. Will not touch dishes with raw onions except those with very small quantities of green onion, cooked onions are ok. Almost no seafood. Grill tuna steaks she likes. Canned tuna is the work of the devil. Other Adult #2. No seafood. Allergic to some melons, avocado, bananas, wine and other things I can't remember now. Some of these cause anaphylactic shock. No raw celery, only cooked to very soft. These are not complaints, just illustrations of what limits my creativity a bit. I will probably go with the mac'n'cheese tonight, just not baked. Green Salad. Maybe the rest of the red grapes. I think I'll need to get more lettuce.