Margaret Pilgrim

Many years back we met friends to camp on a small river. No vehicle or tent. Our city dog had never been camping. DH set up s cot for me, which the dog immediately appropriated. I retook it. DH cleared an area of rocks and set up an air mattress for himself and lay out the dog's quilt. Crawled into his sleeping bag. Dog stood on the quilt for a few minutes, then started that dog action of kicking small rocks backward with his hind feet...into DH's bed. Finally got him settle down. Friends were camped 25 yards away. in the middle of the night, dog was sure he heard a bear, actually snoring. Snore, bark, snore, bark snore.... i can't remember which stopped first. in the morning, DH chided friend husband about his snoring. Guy snorted and tattled that it was his wife. As I remember, that was a long weekend. Dog never did take to camping.

So you received a carton of pink styro and love. My mother used to send me artichokes instead of Easter eggs, but they are pretty indestructible. And I sent our son a (one layer) frosted chocolate cake, regular mail, West to East coast for his 19th birthday, with instructions to refrigerate it before trying to remove the top Saran. Kinda worked!

@Ann_T Bravo! Fabulous crumb!

At a country estate sale, idly picked up one of these books and was advised, "All books are free today." Well, I need another cookbook like a.... But you can't be insulting! I owned this one long ago but passed it on relatively unopened. Reading it on the way home, I found it fascinating. Today we talk about nose to tail eating, This is root through cob and tassel eating. Wonderfully ingenious soups and jellies from what we would consider compost. And of course, some pretty rich and sumptuous plates as well. And Heartland takes us into MidWest villages, fairs, events, yearly rituals and all of the associated foods. A tremendously interesting read about places we've probably flown over or driven past. What we missed!!! I

Huh! For no intellectual reason, I have always automatically kept them this way. I never put them in the fridge, and don't put them with other ripe fruit. And we keep tomatoes for several weeks. As I wrote above,, in season my favorite source is farmstand OVERRIPES! The tomato i showed and others we are enjoying t the moment are from a box of overripes I bought on August 2! Thanks for the validation and for instruction on how to go forward.

@ElsieD, I was thinking just minutes ago that if I were younger and dumber, I would try to buy up some of these incredible peaches and offer them here for cost + shipping. But that falls under the caption of impossible dreams. Do know that I was thinking of you...

Still recovering from digestive bout, and 97F is too hot to think about food. DH settled on a small "hamburger" steak, garlic bread and tomatoes with truffled goat cheese. You can figure out who the undressed slices are for! These huge, 4" beefsteak tomatoes are from our "tomato man" in Lodi, CA. I buy (what he calls) overripes, an 18lb flat for $10. They last at home, unrefrigerated, for over a week. Works for me.

Don't deprive me, Elsie. It's taken me 20 years to find these! :)

So juicy, soooo good... So PEACHY!

No, but we plan to stop on the way home and see if they have more and if the stand is manned we will ask. It's close to an o'Henry. Great texture, round sugar and acid balance.

Edited to correct mileage. It had over 250 thousand miles when we gave it up. We took to Montana for a month. If decent weather, we grilled a lot. If not, probably burgers and such on a camp stove. Fresh fruits and salads. I don't remember its feeling crowded, our son was under 5, but sheepdog was large!

Just came upon this thread. Wow...this is indeed Princess travel. We had a VW van in the '60s. The back seat folded down into a double bed. Large dog slept on the floor. There was an attachable hammock over the front seats for our son. A fridge. Can't remember a freezer. Pull up table, room for 4. I'm not sure this counts.... But it had over 250 thousand miles on it when we said goodbye.

I had almost given up on finding a real peach. One that oozed peachiness. Not a any farmers market or fruit vendor this year, and not awfully successfully in the last 5 -10 years. So we're on Victor Road east of Lodi (CA) and see a sign, "Peaches from 30 year old trees." "STOP THE CAR!" A flat of beauts on a table under a shade tree at roadside. Stash of used plastic bags and money jar. $.50 each. Big! Bought 6. The real thing! Like the family jigsaw puzzle, we are keeping a bowl of sliced peaches on the table with a fork. Summer!

@liamsaunt ,,,,crab cake banh mi Wow! That has long legs in my book... Thanks for the inspiration.

Since I sent the aforementioned giant (or baby) zucchini home with DS and DIL, I am sending them your photo as inspiration.

See yours and raise you by 2/3. My nephew arrived at a family party yesterday bearing a "gift" of a 30" x 3" zuch. "Well, er, thanks you so much!"

Ah, just had another idea. David Libovitz wrote several years ago about eau de vie de cacao. As far as I can trace, it's not made by anyone at the moment. So DH and tried our hand at making our own faux version. Simple vodka + cocoa nibs, combined in a bottle and left to marry. Our product is, if I say so, quite lovely. I used a healthy splash in a dense chocolate sherbet and it was divine. T There should just be time for this to work by the holidays. NOTE: this is obviously NOT like creme de cocoa. It is an alcohol that tastes strongly of chocolate, could be used also in a savory. Like calvados.

Is cauliflower mac and cheese casserole just what it says? I could sell that!

Even coming to it late, this has been an extraordinary ride, drop-jaw surprises around every corner, nature's seasonal joys every day, Thank you both so very much! So what are we doing next year? We're already starting to pack. ✈️ 🚕 🚲 🚏 🚤

Homemade marshmallows are a fabulous idea. They are really singular since even artisan marshmallows are difficult to find and often not too great. I remember some hauntingly good mocha ones given us one year. May have to try to make some myself.

A funny thing happened on the way to the compost. I tucked this back in the fridge and got back to it two days later. Hmmmm, pretty good! And the next day, even better. Finished it off today and have to say that it was really delicious. I learned something here, but i'm not sure what, That goulash and or paprika dishes benefit from a day or so of aging?

I loved the one liner "I never buy zucchini because I don't want the checker to know I have no friends."

Thanks, all. Altho I am hooked on local meyer lemons for most tartness, using verjus in lemon desserts sounds worth a shot. Will report back.

Was prepping a tomato plate for DH when he came in and starting picking at it. So, no basil, no purty little blue borage flowers, no EVOO, no vinegar...Chow time! Hamburger puck, charred brussels, and by my personal request buttery mashed potatoes.

Tell us more. I hack back nasturtium leaves weekly. I've used them in salad but not used them in cooked dishes. My cooking at the moment could use a dose of "killer"!