@Shelby, that isn't a derailment at all! I hope you do try it again, and report on it. I just added a bunch of bulk foods to the trailer for baking experiments, and rice flour is not among them, so my attempts will have to wait a while.
As much as I love the ocean and my extended family, it was a relief to move away from the coast, into less populated land. I had a photo sequence of the changing scenery: from the very green (this winter) hills to the drier, more brown interior hills, then over very dry brown hills, until we came into the San Joaquin Valley with its irrigated fields. Somehow those photos have been purged. It never fails to thrill me, though, when we get close enough to see the Sierra Nevada on the eastern side of that valley. This winter, the snowpack made them stand out more clearly than they have for several years.
We stayed again with the friends who are buying my parents' ranch. I was concerned that this new trailer would not fit into the usual space, but there was space after all. That allowed time to visit them (and other friends) and take care of some business in the area. We also had time for bicycling when the weather was warm enough to do so. Look! Roses in winter! Once upon a time I took that in stride; now, after many years of living in Minnesota, I think it's extraordinary.
Our first night's just-the-two-of-us dinner was a celebration of not being hemmed in, and of being able to putter in the kitchen without any particular schedule. Nonetheless it was a simple dinner: skillet-fry of sausages and vegetables we'd picked up at the grocery store.
We wandered the groves freely and ate our fill of oranges.
I went on a baking binge and made sourdough rosemary loaves for all of our friends, as a Christmas/thank you present. Then I made a batch of pita. It's such fun, watching that stuff puff up, and we love to eat it. Still, this is a lot of bread for 2 people:
The problem with freezing it is that it dries out. Why hadn't I made a half-batch? Lack of foresight, I suppose. I decided to seal half of it using the Foodsaver, then freeze it.
That was fun too, but I don't recommend it as a way to save pita bread. I finally opened that package last week; some of the bread bits were permanently stuck together. It became pita chips.
Our friends gave us olives that will make an appearance later, and a 5-pound box of walnuts! Those will also appear later.
We filled two coolers with oranges, minneolas, satsumas, lemons and Mexican limes, all carefully cleaned to eliminate bugs: enough to last us for a while, but never seeming enough, given how much I love to cook with and eat citrus. We're nearing the end and I'll miss it when it's gone. It's never as good coming from the grocery store.
