Camping, Princess Style

[blue_dolphin]

That looks great!  I'd been waiting with bated breath to learn how the salmon and pecans were going to work out - looks like they got along splendidly!

[Smithy]

I took a cool-ish morning to bake pita.  The idea was to compare using the baking stone vs. the cast-iron griddle in the oven.  I found myself too preoccupied with getting the pita process right to try changing, er, horses in midstream, so the baking stone was used for the entire batch.  I'm working on a set of rules for successful puffy pockety pita.  Does anyone want to weigh in with their own pita-making rules?  I'll post my working hypotheses if there's interest.  In the meantime, here's a collage of the process.  The overlarge mutant-looking pita was a size experiment. 

 

 

Dinner: lamb meatballs with oodles of garnishes and condiments.

 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@SmithyI'd love to hear about your working hypotheses on pita-making.

 

It's a dish I have not made, but have interest in, and yours look very much like something I would love to make and eat.

[Smithy]

On 2/20/2016 at 1:57 AM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@SmithyI'd love to hear about your working hypotheses on pita-making.

 

It's a dish I have not made, but have interest in, and yours look very much like something I would love to make and eat.

 

A new day, a new batch of pita.  I think I have it down again.  Here are the factors I think affect the quality of the pita (in addition to the dough recipe).  I plan to elaborate on these in a dedicated pita topic, in hopes of reviving that discussion, so this may seem sketchy.  

 

• Smoothness and thorough kneading of the dough
• Dough ball size - I had best luck between 100g and 150g
• Thickness of the rolled-out disk of dough - mine were between 1/4" and 1/8" thick
• Dough ball moisture - too dry or too damp causes problems for forming and handling the rolled-out disk (not to mention the rising dough balls)
• Baking surface heat (my oven thermometer says it needs to be at least 440^oF)

 

This time I did roughly half the batch on the baking stone and the remainder on the cast iron griddle, so I can discuss the comparison also.  The ceramic baking stone seemed a bit more forgiving about temperature range - it wouldn't overcook the bread at 450F - but it didn't brown the dough.  The cast iron griddle actually browned the dough, but if it was too hot the dough cooked too quickly and came out with a flattened sear instead of a nice round puff.  That's visible in the center image in this collage.  

 

Feel free to ask questions or make comments here, but I'll be posting more detail in this topic, in hopes of more discussion:  Perfect Pita: The secret to thin pita with good puff.

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Smithy
Adjusted link (log)

[Smithy]

What a difference a week makes in the farm fields around here!  I'm a bit late posting the photos, but we made another trip to town and passed the same fields I showed you before.  Remember the bare field being plowed or disked for the next crop?  It already has green.  Other fields that were being prepared in the previous visit were in various stages of sprinkler irrigation and new planting.  I couldn't find anyone to ask, but it appeared that the erstwhile broccoli fields were getting a grassy crop next.  Tracts of sprinkler pipes were laid out and awaiting connection, or connected and operating, or, having done their job, were picked up and moved to another field.  We followed a flatbed truck carrying dozens of lengths of pipe for that purpose.

 

 

Now that it's too late for this trip, I've discovered the Yuma area agritourism program.  Had I started researching this sooner, I could have gotten a tour of the University's farm plot in which the tourists help harvest lettuce, dine on part of the harvest, and pepper a guide with questions.  The last such program for the season is sold out. Maybe I'll get a chance at it next year.

[Smithy]

It's a new season, and a new set of wheels. I'll miss the old kitchen, its appliances and storage - especially the pull-out spice rack.

 

 

For a variety of reasons, we traded the old Princessmobile for a new one this summer.  The new 'palace' is sturdier and slightly larger, with a separate room that serves as a dining room, a guest bedroom or a garage for our cycles, depending on how it's set up. The main living area is therefore smaller, and the kitchen is tiny. The kitchen will be a challenge.

 

I'll also miss the exhaust hood that vents to the outside.  Don't ever let someone convince you that a recirculating hood is as effective as one that exhausts outside.  Nonetheless, that's what we have now.

 

 

I'll miss having a dedicated dining table in the same area where I cook.  

 

 

This was our last meal in the old trailer: fried chicken from a grocery store near the trailer dealer, using paper napkins.  Everything else had been left at home - including, it turned out, the corkscrew!  I managed to buy a decent bottle of wine with a screw cap that night.

 

On the other hand, the new palace's extra room is sunny.  I'll show it another time.  I always wanted a separate dining room where I lived; I just didn't envision that it would be in our trailer instead of our house!

 

Moving out of the old trailer was every bit as arduous as clearing out of an apartment.  Why, I kept asking myself, did I have so much cookware?  Did I really need all those spices? Why couldn't we have planned last spring's arrival back home to have minimal food aboard, like those clever folks who exhaust their food supplies before moving?  As I cleared out the space, I donated things or threw things away or moved them into the house to be used.  It was ridiculous to have so much.  In future, I would be more realistic about what we could use, and how quickly. (That determination about food was reinforced during a summer power failure that threatened our refrigerated and frozen goods, although we survived handily thanks to a trealer generator.) I resolved that, in light of the limited kitchen area and storage space, I'd learn to make my cookery simpler.

 

Then my native optimism - some would say utter lack of realism - reasserted itself.  I acquired new toys.  I donated five dozen cookbooks to the Friends of the Library sale but added a dozen new-to-me books.  We discovered weekly specials at our favorite meat markets, and put my new vacuum packer to use.  (Who knew that a FoodSaver could be so much fun?)  The week before we started loading the trailer, this is what our household refrigerator freezer drawers (shelf rolls back to reveal a deep drawer) looked like. I ask you: does this look like the freezer drawers of someone who's downsizing?

 

The new travel season approached. I puzzled over where to put things in the new kitchen and what more to eliminate.  As launch day approached I gave up on elimination and began working out what else could be squirreled into the trailer and where.  Simplicity, shmimplicity.  I want variety, and my toys!

 

We have conflicting culinary goals on these trips.  On the one hand, we like to travel around, experience new foods and learn about them. On the other hand, we can't resist good deals and I, at least, am a hoarder.  Here's what the refrigerator and freezer looked like the day before we left:

 

That large tray of chicken thighs in the upper left compartment is also an extra barricade for the travel-day meals prepared by my darling.  When it is pulled away, here's the view: 6 (each) containers of his chili and his split pea stew.  They're easy travel meals: take a couple out in the morning, let them thaw during the day, and nuke them in the evening. That didn't stop us from going to WalMart on the first night out and buying Polish sausage for even quicker cooking; the first day's travel was nearly 12 hours of driving.

 

As we emptied out our household fridge I worked hard to shoehorn the perishables into the trailer fridge.

 

A day or two into the trip I realized that we'd loaded 2 partially-used quart jars of mayonnaise!

 

For easy lunches, I had braised a chicken and a tri-tip steak on consecutive days while we were packing and turned the leftovers into sandwich meat slices.  That chicken was braised with onions, preserved lemons and some other refrigerator orphans. It came out wonderfully flavorful, and after it provided a few sandwiches' worth of slabs the rest has become chicken salad with a lot of chicken jelly and mayonnaise. Chicken salad with preserved lemon - what a revelation! (The photo looks more like an exposé than a revelation.  I'll try to do it justice with another image later.)

 

I doubt this will be a real-time, full-time every-meal food blog.  We get busy doing other things; my photos (or the meals) may not come out; the food may be utterly uninteresting; what we're doing on a particular day may not be food-related.  Nonetheless I hope to show a few interesting things along the way, and show you a bit of the southern States as we ramble. If anyone else is living this mobile lifestyle, feel free to join in!

 

[Shelby]

YAY!!!!!!!  I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for an update   Trust me, your cooking and your travels are never ever boring.

 

I LOVE your new kitchen.  Very classy.

 

And, yeah, forget simple...you're on the road for half a year.  Take the stuff you love to cook with.  Bare necessities be damned.

[Anna N]

Really looking forward to this!  

[ElsieD]

Smithy, looking forward to the trip!

[IowaDee]

Oh just in time.  After all the politics, I'm so ready for a little R&R with you!  Been caught more than once with a corked bottle of wine and no way to open it.  Even went so far as to break the bottle  neck once.  Desperate times do indeed call for desperate  measures.

[suzilightning]

YEAH!!! and please include the kitties.......

We met a wonderful couple who had retrofit a smallish van when we hit OK earlier this year and went from MI to the southern areas .  Some of the best folk we have ever met.   Course I want to hit up Duluth from mid September through late October for the birds.   Spring was good but fall is better!!!!!

 

[Porthos]

So happy to see you on the road again. I also say, " Simplicity, shmimplicity."

 

I remember as a teenager needing to drain some noodles in my parent's camper. I told my mom that we needed to add a colander to the cooking gear. She told me I needed to learn to make do. I'm not much for holding a lid on a hot pan and cracking it just enough for the boiling water to escape.

 

Will you make it out to the west coast on this trip?

[blue_dolphin]

I'm delighted the new iteration of the Princessmobile is on the road and I look forward to whatever you can share of your adventures.

Save travels!

[Smithy]

Thanks for the enthusiastic welcome-back, everyone!  I'd thought this topic might be getting old, so encouragement is nice.  @suzilightning, you really should arrange to come visit us in Duluth during the hawk migration some year.  @IowaDee, I hear ya.  If I hadn't had a corkscrew last night I'd have been up to bottle-breaking myself.  @Porthos, yes, we plan to get into Southern California again, not sure yet when.

 

@Shelby's lovely compliment on the kitchen is a great lead-in to some of our challenges.  Yes, we like the looks of it, but check out these cupboards:

 

Notice how few shelves there are?  Most of the cupboards are 12" wide and either 12" tall or 26" tall (with no shelf).  Some of the 12x12 cupboards that aren't shown here are 23" deep.  We've had to resort to a lot of tubs and containers to store things.  There are 3, count 'em 3, small drawers for flatware, prep tools and the like, so things are hanging or stored in unlikely spots.  It does look nice, but I still feel as though I'm playing a memory-concentration game : where the heck did I put xxx? Did I forget to pack it?

 

We spent a few days at Horseshoe Lake, a conservation area in southern Illinois.  When I think of the Land of Lincoln I generally think of Chicago, and think of Illinois as a northern state.  However, this state is quite long, and by the time you're near Cairo you're very close to the Old South.  We saw our first magnolia tree for the trip, and this cypress swamp:

 

For dinner one evening I pulled out a package of shrimp from the freezer - as in, shrimp we'd bought in Texas last spring. (I really do hoard too much food.) There was wild rice from our northern area, and the last of the tomatoes that we'd harvested before leaving.  Some of the tomatoes had ripened; some were still green.  All got chopped up to go with the shrimp.  As I started to cook I ran into another memory game.  "I KNOW I packed garlic, at least 9 heads!" I stormed, as I opened and closed every cupboard - more than once - in vain. Finally it came to me: the garlic was in a basket.

 

 

...this basket...

 

which has squash as well.  The other basket, buried in the shadows, carries onions.  In case it isn't clear, these are high ceilings.  We have a small step stool in the kitchen and a 3-step tall folding ladder in the garage.  I won't be needing a stairmaster in this trailer!

 

The shrimp and rice, cooked:

 

and plated.

 

 

It was worth the exercise.

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

@Smithy  

 

your wheels put some of the apartments Ive live in to shame.  

 

I can see why some Cats  want to Ride Along.

 

keep them safe 1

Edited November 9, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[Porthos]

That drip, drip, drip sound you hear is me drooling with envy. Even with it's challenges it looks like a very nice home-on-wheels.

 

I always appreciate the photos. It makes me feel like I am there sharing the experience with you.

 

I would assume that somewhere along the line you will find a way to add shelves to the 26" high cupboards.

 

I hope that your time in So Cal doesn't happen while we are in Florida for a pseudo-wedding. Our daughter and SIL wed in a court clerk's office 3 years ago and are doing a destination wedding (vow renewal) at Disney World in a few weeks.

[Shelby]

I also love the floor in the kitchen.  We had carpet in our camper that stayed nice for like the first 30 seconds we owned it lol.  I'm sure you've probably thought about this already, but could you put a lazy susan somewhere for additional storage?  Also, may I make another suggestion?  I love your cabinets and I love the baskets on top--I have similar cabinets now in my kitchen.  Because they don't go to the top of the ceiling they are grease and dirt and hair magnets.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have put some kind of protection on top that I could take down and wash or replace.  Like a piece of plastic or cutting board or even foil...or a towel.  The tops of mine will never be completely clean because they are unfinished and are like a plywood top and are very rough.  Maybe yours are finished and smooth and easy to clean.

 

Nah, you're not a food hoarder.  You purchase great quality things and freeze them for later use when you're in a place that you can't get such great quality things  .  

 

Your shrimp look wonderful.  

[Porthos]

27 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Nah, you're not a food hoarder.  You purchase great quality things and freeze them for later use when you're in a place that you can't get such great quality things  . 

 

[Smithy]

Shelby, I like the way you think!  Let me add your name to the list of enablers among our membership.  Thanks for the reminder about the grease atop cabinets.  That happens at our house, but I hadn't thought to protect the tops of these.  The very topmost center cabinet actually has lighting along the top that may not be amenable to being covered, but the two basket-shelf cabinets can accommodate some plastic protection. 

 

Porthos, you're right about shelves, although neither of us is enough of a carpenter to do it well.  One of my nephews has been busily outfitting his family's trailer with shelves (he thinks shelves are left out to keep the weight and cost down) but he is a master carpenter. When I asked whether he'd take on our trailer he made it plain that we'd have to leave it with him in Minneapolis for an indefinite period of time while he worked on it.  We settled for tubs. At some point I'll show the fully-loaded cabinets and the stacking and arranging that goes on.

 

My darling's daughter was responsible for some of our convenience foods; her family came to help with wood-cutting chores before we left, and nothing would do but she had to do all the cooking.  She cooks enough for an army, and does it well, and her family refuses to eat leftovers!  So the night before we left Horseshoe Lake, when I wanted to minimize dishwashing, I pulled out a package of frozen stuffed peppers.    

 

Those of you who detest green bell peppers may wish to avert your eyes.  They aren't my favorite either, but in this context they were good: stuffed with rice and ground meat and (she swears) Italian seasoning, although the seasonings taste far more Mexican than Mediterranean to us. The shredded cheddar topping is a good finishing touch.

 

This nice little Corning dish was a treasure I picked up for 50 cents at a garage sale this summer.  I'd never seen a small rectangle like this; it's perfect for our 2-person meals. When push came to shove I was NOT going to leave it behind this trip, so I shoved it into a cupboard cranny.

 

Lest you think we've abandoned fruit, I'll show the breakfast fruit salad that usually accompanies his cereal.  (I'm more of an apple-and-avocado person, myself, but it isn't as pretty.)

 

I'm not sure either of us ate anything so healthful today, but that's another story.  Humbug.  Pass the wine.

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I'm late to this topic but want to chime in. We have a class B van--Pleasure-Way--that we have enjoyed for years. A two-burner cooktop, a microwave-convection oven that only counts if we're plugged in, a small fridge with a tiny freezer, and a pantry. Cooking under those circumstances requires one to be (a) creative and (b) flexible. Sequencing is vital. It requires me to keep things simple and uncomplicated.  A jar of pesto, garlic, pasta, onions, chicken breasts, sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, good olive oil, fresh vegetables--put those together in various combinations and you have dinner. I'm a big fan of stir fries.

 

I've always felt that it's cheating to call this "camping." I grew up backpacking and now that I no longer want to sleep on the ground I've become accustomed  to a decent bed and an adjacent bathroom, and hot water to wash dishes. But now I have no qualms about being comfortable and I'll call it camping if I want to!

 

There's always a bottle of wine in our fridge, and a bottle of tequila and a set of dominos for after dinner entertainment. We play for the great monuments of the world. I just recently won the Brandenburg Gate.

 

Safe travels and good cooking--

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

Shelby, I like the way you think!  Let me add your name to the list of enablers among our membership.  Thanks for the reminder about the grease atop cabinets.  That happens at our house, but I hadn't thought to protect the tops of these.  The very topmost center cabinet actually has lighting along the top that may not be amenable to being covered, but the two basket-shelf cabinets can accommodate some plastic protection. 

 

Porthos, you're right about shelves, although neither of us is enough of a carpenter to do it well.  One of my nephews has been busily outfitting his family's trailer with shelves (he thinks shelves are left out to keep the weight and cost down) but he is a master carpenter. When I asked whether he'd take on our trailer he made it plain that we'd have to leave it with him in Minneapolis for an indefinite period of time while he worked on it.  We settled for tubs. At some point I'll show the fully-loaded cabinets and the stacking and arranging that goes on.

 

My darling's daughter was responsible for some of our convenience foods; her family came to help with wood-cutting chores before we left, and nothing would do but she had to do all the cooking.  She cooks enough for an army, and does it well, and her family refuses to eat leftovers!  So the night before we left Horseshoe Lake, when I wanted to minimize dishwashing, I pulled out a package of frozen stuffed peppers.    

 

Those of you who detest green bell peppers may wish to avert your eyes.  They aren't my favorite either, but in this context they were good: stuffed with rice and ground meat and (she swears) Italian seasoning, although the seasonings taste far more Mexican than Mediterranean to us. The shredded cheddar topping is a good finishing touch.

 

This nice little Corning dish was a treasure I picked up for 50 cents at a garage sale this summer.  I'd never seen a small rectangle like this; it's perfect for our 2-person meals. When push came to shove I was NOT going to leave it behind this trip, so I shoved it into a cupboard cranny.

 

Lest you think we've abandoned fruit, I'll show the breakfast fruit salad that usually accompanies his cereal.  (I'm more of an apple-and-avocado person, myself, but it isn't as pretty.)

 

I'm not sure either of us ate anything so healthful today, but that's another story.  Humbug.  Pass the wine.

 

 

I have a Corningware dish like yours, though a different pattern...not cornflower.

 

[Smithy]

8 hours ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

I'm late to this topic but want to chime in. We have a class B van--Pleasure-Way--that we have enjoyed for years. A two-burner cooktop, a microwave-convection oven that only counts if we're plugged in, a small fridge with a tiny freezer, and a pantry. Cooking under those circumstances requires one to be (a) creative and (b) flexible. Sequencing is vital. It requires me to keep things simple and uncomplicated.  A jar of pesto, garlic, pasta, onions, chicken breasts, sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, good olive oil, fresh vegetables--put those together in various combinations and you have dinner. I'm a big fan of stir fries.

 

I've always felt that it's cheating to call this "camping." I grew up backpacking and now that I no longer want to sleep on the ground I've become accustomed  to a decent bed and an adjacent bathroom, and hot water to wash dishes. But now I have no qualms about being comfortable and I'll call it camping if I want to!

 

There's always a bottle of wine in our fridge, and a bottle of tequila and a set of dominos for after dinner entertainment. We play for the great monuments of the world. I just recently won the Brandenburg Gate.

 

Safe travels and good cooking--

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

 

Your creativity and flexibility do you credit.  We started out with a camper on the back of our pickup, and like you had a tiny fridge and stove.  We had a camp stove to set up an outdoor kitchen if we were to stay longer.  I go through phases of stir-fry, but am married to a burgers-or-hot dogs sort of guy, who professes to love the stuff I cook but frequently chooses the Large Hunk O' Meat or a crockpot stew.  We're in one of those phases right now.

 

Please add some of your travel food and photos!  We can be glamping together in different countries!

 

[Smithy]

It's been a month or two since I made bread.  Two days ago I decided it was time, since we'd be 'home' and I had time to putz in the kitchen.  This was my first test of bread-baking in the new trailer oven. I would expect a gas oven to maintain a more steady temperature than an electric oven.  My baker's oven thermometer suggests that I'm wrong about that, but we were pretty happy with this loaf.  The crust was soft - I'd like to get the hang of the crackle and haven't got there yet - but it made a good accompaniment to an otherwise disappointing dinner.

 

 

Sourdough rosemary olive oil loaf. (Yes, I brought along my starter.)

 

 

Hmm, I hadn't realized just how blurry that photo was until just now.  Symbolic of how the night went, I fear.

 

The next day - yesterday - most of that loaf became sandwiches.  Here's some of the chicken salad and the braised tri-tip I wrote about earlier.

 

 

 I made a sandwich of each type, and we split them.

 

I'll tell about our trip to town in another post.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

24 minutes ago, Smithy said:

It's been a month or two since I made bread.  Two days ago I decided it was time, since we'd be 'home' and I had time to putz in the kitchen.  This was my first test of bread-baking in the new trailer oven. I would expect a gas oven to maintain a more steady temperature than an electric oven.  My baker's oven thermometer suggests that I'm wrong about that, but we were pretty happy with this loaf.  The crust was soft - I'd like to get the hang of the crackle and haven't got there yet - but it made a good accompaniment to an otherwise disappointing dinner.

 

 

Sourdough rosemary olive oil loaf. (Yes, I brought along my starter.)

 

 

Hmm, I hadn't realized just how blurry that photo was until just now.  Symbolic of how the night went, I fear.

 

The next day - yesterday - most of that loaf became sandwiches.  Here's some of the chicken salad and the braised tri-tip I wrote about earlier.

 

 

 I made a sandwich of each type, and we split them.

 

I'll tell about our trip to town in another post.

 

 

I know space is limited - but I wonder if some sort of cloche - be it cast iron, a pizza stone with an overturned bowl, clay - might help regulate that temperature somewhat and help with your crust formation.

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

I know space is limited - but I wonder if some sort of cloche - be it cast iron, a pizza stone with an overturned bowl, clay - might help regulate that temperature somewhat and help with your crust formation.

 

Good idea, thanks.  Would a stainless mixing bowl discolor in the oven heat? Otherwise I have some cast iron that may fit.