Camping, Princess Style

[Shelby]

No one knows for sure

 

Last but not least

 

(the second one had me stumped for a minute)

[Smithy]

 

1 minute ago, Shelby said:

No one knows for sure

 

Last but not least

 

(the second one had me stumped for a minute)

 

Yeah, I had to work backward from the knot on that one to work out that it was a lass at the upper left!

[Shelby]

3 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

 

Yeah, I had to work backward from the knot on that one to work out that it was a lass at the upper left!

Me too!

[Smithy]

I wrote last fall about the terrible flooding along the Llano River that prevented us from visiting then. The park where we like to stay was badly damaged. I'm happy to report that most of the trailer camping facilities have been repaired, so we were able to visit for a few days, get our fill of barbecue, and see how the town fared. I have been enjoying Cooper's pinto beans for breakfast for the last couple of days, and it's a good way to fortify myself for walking tours.

 

 

The Inks Bridge that connects the northern and southern sides of the town actually had water over it at the worst of the flood. It wasn't damaged, but the river bed has been scrubbed down to the rock. On the downstream side of the bridge, there are two photos that show the "before" so you can see how much that flood affected the vegetation.

 

 

I walked across the bridge and admired the sculptures that have gone up in another riverfront park. (Note the flood debris high in the tree's branches!)

 

 

 

 

I walked on into town, and by sheer dumb luck discovered that there's a Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings!  I went to the Courthouse Square to see what they might have. I walked around two corners of the square before I found it: 3 stations, only. Well, this was the first weekend of the season for the market.

 

 

 

One woman was selling vegetable plants that wouldn't appreciate being asked to flourish where we live. Another woman was selling baked goods. The third vendor was a man selling hand-woven cloths.

 

 

To the left of the spinning machine were some plain, soft cotton napkins; the cloth to the right was woven of linen, or maybe linen and cotton. I had never seen a spinning machine like this, but the style dates back to Mahatma Gandhi's day. Lest this veer off into politics, please see this link for more information. This vendor is making his own yarn from cotton, but the cloth I bought as a table centerpiece is made from purchased yarn. It's luxuriantly soft.

 

 

You'll see it in use at the table before we get home...but not when we're eating something messy! The weaver assured me that it's been washed many times, and that as cotton it's quite washable. Still, I don't think I want to risk it with barbecue sauce.  

Edited April 21, 2019 by Smithy
spelling (log)

[Smithy]

More sights from my walking tour. I did not buy the cute cookie jar, nor any of the very large apothecary jars (bargain-priced), nor any of the other pretty jars, nor the stiff wooden basket large enough to double as a crib, nor even a pressure gauge.

 

 

Nor did I buy (or even try to fit into) the vintage cowgirl outfit, for that matter.

 

Later in the day we went to Miller's Smokehouse & Market. They have a great selection of fresh and smoked meats, sausage-making supplies, preserves and a few "normal" groceries. Here's a very small selection of their offerings:

 

 

We bought some of their sausages, the massive chicken breasts I showed in the sous vide post earlier, and a selection of their stuffed peppers: jalapeno poppers, armadillo eggs, gator toes and brisket poppers. The brisket poppers are supposed to be the local favorites; having sampled some, I can see why. We baked them in the oven at 325F or 350F until the bacon wrapping was brown. They were good!

 

 

We also bought pork steaks. It seems as though most areas that we travel favor thinly-sliced pork - something appropriate for quick frying, but not satisfying for the breaded, oven-baked version my darling prefers. These overcompensated: each steak was immense in thickness as well as area. We decided to share one. I couldn't finish my half.

 

 

Lest you think we're only eating meat and potato salad in Llano, let me tell you about the green beans I cooked from @JAZ's new book, The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook for Two. (Disclosure: I was one of several eGullet recipe testers for this book, and Janet was good enough to send me a free copy by way of thanks. I'll also say that I liked the recipes I tested so much that I bought a copy of the book for my best friend when it hit the presses.) My copy finally (finally!) caught up to me in the roving mail, and it's bristling with sticky-notes for recipes to try. For this dinner it was the Warm Thai-Style Green Bean and Tomato Salad. Simple, from start to finish, and delicious. I didn't tell my darling it contained cilantro. He loved the salad as much as I did. 

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by Smithy
Grammar (log)

[Smithy]

This one probably isn't too tough...

 

 

[IowaDee]

I've had it up to here.  

[Smithy]

30 minutes ago, IowaDee said:

I've had it up to here.  

 

Yep! (Taken out of context, that sounds rather uncomplimentary.  )

 

OK, here's the other one for the day:

 

[IowaDee]

write off.  

[liuzhou]

Right on!

[Smithy]

10 hours ago, IowaDee said:

write off.  

 

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Right on!

 

Right you both are!

[Smithy]

Texas is far behind us now, but I have another post or two to share from there.

 

We would like to have visited Laird's B-B-Q & Catering one more time, but they finally managed to sell after some years of trying. More power to them, they wanted to retire! The pits were sold to an outfit in Austin. I understand that Kenny is thoroughly enjoying retirement and Esther is selling her art in a local gallery. The old place is now a private residence.

 

That meant that our last hurrah for our 'cue season was back at Cooper's Old-Time Pit Barbecue, which was no hardship. It's an easy walk from the park where we stayed. I've written about it before, and if you want to see a previous entry you can look here. 

 

The pits had the usual tempting selection of meats.

 

 

I had made arrangements in advance to get a small piece of cabrito (kid goat). I've never had it. It's supposed to be delicious, but it always sells out quickly. It turned out that I could ask someone to set some aside for me. I also selected brisket.

 

In addition to the meat, there are desserts and sides to be ordered, if one wishes. The macaroni and cheese didn't make it into this picture.

 

 

I got some hickory-smoked bacon, and more potato salad. Once I'd paid for the purchases, I went to get one last large serving of their wonderful pinto peans and barbecue sauce. You've seen those before, so instead I'll show their award plaque and part of the dining area.

 

 

Once I got home and we were ready to eat, I unwrapped my prizes (you've seen brisket; this is cabrito shoulder)...

...and discovered that there was no way my darling would let cabrito pass his lips. It isn't a question of flavor, but rather a question of cuteness. He has a soft spot for them because of the way his Bedouin friends in Egypt treated them: never to be eaten directly, but instead to be sold in order to buy essentials such as cloth and foodstuffs. He knows it isn't rational, but there it is. So he had brisket, and I had cabrito.

 

 

(That's his preferred barbecue sauce - Jack Daniels #7 - instead of Cooper's sauce on the brisket.)

 

Some miles outside Llano, on our way north, we passed under this banner.

 

 

"Oh, no!" he groaned, "I can't get away from it!"

[Shelby]

Did you enjoy the goat?  I've never eaten it, either.

[blue_dolphin]

So, what did you think of the kid?  A dining companion ordered a roast shoulder of kid at a restaurant in Barcelona and that's the only time I tried it.  I was somewhat taken aback at the small size of the bones but I always want to try things and it was very good!,

[Smithy]

7 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Did you enjoy the goat?  I've never eaten it, either.

 

5 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

So, what did you think of the kid?  A dining companion ordered a roast shoulder of kid at a restaurant in Barcelona and that's the only time I tried it.  I was somewhat taken aback at the small size of the bones but I always want to try things and it was very good!,

 

I like it. (I'm still working on leftovers...) I think it has a distinctive taste - not strong, but you wouldn't confuse it with beef or pork. It reminds me slightly of lamb, but that could be the power of suggestion from my mental association of one animal with the other. It's also lean. I think it would be easy to dry out, but this isn't / wasn't. 

[rotuts]

as far as I can tell

 

Kid or Cabrito , ie a goat that is way less than one year

 

is a TX thing and very difficult to get else ware

 

its delicious  and although it has its own taste

 

< 1 year is quite mild.

 

I can only get Goat here , Fz  from some ethnic groceries , on the decline as

 

WF is gobbling up their real estate for the Gentry Swells

 

[ ed.: FD  I own a very small number of AMZN shares.  Go AMXN ! ]

 

I do hope you enjoyed it , and it sells out for a reason in TX

 

Do not , in any way , confuse Kid or Cabritto for Goat.

 

" Goat " is very very full flavored  

 

" Aged BarnYard" might be a pointer for you 

 

have you ever been near a Billy Goat ?

 

a bit like that and more.

 

that's why its always curried in Jamaica

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by rotuts (log)

[Shelby]

My step-daughter had a billy goat for a couple of years.  He was a pill....and he didn't smell too good, but she sure loved him!

[rotuts]

the aroma of the Billies is not that they are dirty-ish

 

after all , the BardYard animals rarely visit The A Spa

 

the male goat aromata is hormonal and secretory

 

I can't say what female goats smell like

 

they do produce excellent milk for cheese  ...............

 

[Smithy]

We've polished off the last of the stuffed-pepper appetizers. Now that I've had several different types, I think I'll be ready to try making my own "gator toes" or "armadillo eggs" or other variants of jalapeno poppers. The best probably were the ones that included Miller's brisket. Hmm, maybe I should try cabrito...except that I won't be trying to do these before we get home, and the cabrito won't last that long.

 

 

Last night for dinner I did the Chorizo and Green Chile Breakfast Casserole from @JAZ's Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook for Two. I noted above that I tested a few recipes for this book. This breakfast casserole was one of the tested recipes. We like it a lot.

 

 

One thing I didn't consider was that I don't have a 1-quart casserole dish in the Princessmobile that will fit into our 3-quart pot. The springform pan I generally use in this IP is okay for cheesecakes, but not leakproof enough for this recipe. There was a bit of cleaning-up needed in the Instant Pot insert. Not a big deal, but it's something I'll rectify when we get home.

 

The showy Texas wildflowers...

 

...have given way to earlier-spring Kansas flowers. Still showy, but smaller. 

 

 

We'll be here for a few days, then make the push home.

[ElsieD]

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/pulled-pork-jalapeno-poppers-bacon-recipe.html

 

Some seriously good poppers.

[Smithy]

42 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/pulled-pork-jalapeno-poppers-bacon-recipe.html

 

Some seriously good poppers.

 

That looks perfect. Thank you!

[Smithy]

Our cheese slicer broke a while back, and we've been having trouble finding a replacement. I went to Charlie's Store, sure that they'd have the right item among their kitchen wares. Charlie's has been a regular stop for me when in Llano. I've always come away with something: cool kitchen ware, a cookbook, once a mattress to replace ours that was failing after only 1 season of travel. (They delivered.) For once, I struck out. They had a cheese slicer, but it was larger than I wanted and I decided to wait. I still enjoyed strolling the store, admiring their goods and visiting with Kim, the owner/manager. Then I noticed something: there were no cookbooks! They were all on the sale shelves in the back room. (I didn't see any that appealed to me.) I asked Kim about it. "They never move," she lamented. "It's sad, because I really love cookbooks. I like to read them for fun. But nobody buys them any more." This seemed odd to both of us, but we agreed that it isn't good business to stock something that won't sell.

 

Our conversation was an echo of a conversation I'd had at an earlier stop, when I'd visited the library at Fort Davis and checked out ther book sale room. It was a tiny room, and the cookbook selection was huge. "Nobody takes them," said the library assistant. We both marveled at the apparent lack of interest in cookbooks that were essentially free. I groaned when I saw a copy of "Seasoned With Sun" in great condition. I bought that secondhand just before our trip began, for - what, $8? and here was a copy marked $1. I almost bought it just to see if someone here on eGullet wanted it, but I didn't.

 

So why is it that the cookbooks aren't moving? Two data points don't necessarily make a trend, but it does make me wonder.

 

Of course, *I* am a fine counterexample. I don't need any more cookbooks! I keep telling myself that! But I came away from the library book sale with 4 new-to-me books, and that was after setting aside a few others that caught my eye.

 

 

 

Then in Llano, although for once I purchased nothing at Charlie's, I went around the corner to the antiques/secondhand store, and found this:

 

 

Six bucks. Yes, I bought it. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Our library sells used books of course, and the cookbooks fly off the shelves.  (Some don't make it as far as the shelves.)

 

[heidih]

23 hours ago, Shelby said:

My step-daughter had a billy goat for a couple of years.  He was a pill....and he didn't smell too good, but she sure loved him!

 

Oh the smell. We had on a trail - Oreo (black with a big white band in his med section). Had to hold breath riding past. Heaven forbid if the dog rubbed on the fence - Pungent does not quite capture it. The one up the street used to pin my sister against the stable wall when she was pet-sitting. She almost strangled him once to escape. Los Angeles has a strong bunch of goat speciialized restos and yes a spicy flavoring is most common. I like it.

[ElsieD]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Our library sells used books of course, and the cookbooks fly off the shelves.  (Some don't make it as far as the shelves.)

 

 

Gee, I wonder where a lot of them end up?😃