Camping, Princess Style

[Darienne]

40 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I mentioned that it's too hot to cook inside in the afternoon and it might be worth climbing the stepstool to dig the Instant Pot out. In the end, it was too hot to do even that! The camp stove came into its own for cooking the pilaf with vegetables. 

Too hot to get out the Instant Pot.  How hot is that?

 

We still have snow.  Not a lot...but more than I want...which is any.  Today will be the first day walking in shoes...east side only.  West side is a veritable swamp.  It is every year...but I WANT to walk on bare ground in my runners.  End of report.

 

When do you expect to be home?  

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

Too hot to get out the Instant Pot.  How hot is that?

 

We still have snow.  Not a lot...but more than I want...which is any.  Today will be the first day walking in shoes...east side only.  West side is a veritable swamp.  It is every year...but I WANT to walk on bare ground in my runners.  End of report.

 

When do you expect to be home?  

 

I feel your pain with regard to the slop and wet and the long, long winter. When we get home, assuming we get home on schedule (on or around May 1) there will probably still be snow in the shady areas of our lawn, and we'll have to get used to mud again. I can (and do) kvetch about being too hot -- I HATE being hot -- but here we only have to worry about dirt getting tracked in, not mud.

 

Mornings are the best time for me to plan meals and get out any equipment that needs to be gotten out. It's cool, I'm cool, I'm full of energy and enthusiasm. So now is the time for me to dig out that Instant Pot, if I'm going to. Right now I'm leaning toward ceviche for dinner, and can't think of any uses for appliances to be fished out of their hidey-holes.

 

Hmm...I'm getting low on chicken stock. Maybe I just thought of a reason.

[Smithy]

It really was a good idea to make stock. Right after that last entry I propped up the overhead cabinet door and extracted the Instant Pot.

 

 

Then I rooted through the freezer until I'd found all the bags of chicken bones and vegetable scraps. I even threw in a couple of asparagus stem ends, but am saving most of them. I doubt, with all the other things going into that broth, the asparagus would be discernible. The bag of bay leaves is from the last time we were on the Texas Gulf Coast, about 5 years ago. They keep well in the freezer, but eventually I'll have to buy some unless we can get back there. This won't be the spring to do it.

 

 

It's already too darned hot in here: 87F inside and out. We may have to break down and turn on the A/C, but then it's noisy! (I know, this is a pretty small reason to whine.  I'll stop.)

 

I've been keeping cool and hydrated with iced hibiscus tea.

 

 

The shrimp for tonight's ceviche are thawing. My darling will be pleased to see me use up some of the tomatoes I've been hoarding.

 

 

[heidih]

Yes! On a hot hot day hibiscus (jamaica) rocks! I love it with some spice in the brewing  (star anise is my fave) and no sugar. You?

[Smithy]

5 hours ago, heidih said:

Yes! On a hot hot day hibiscus (jamaica) rocks! I love it with some spice in the brewing  (star anise is my fave) and no sugar. You?

 

So far, I just like it with a touch of honey (or sugar) to take the edge off the tartness. I have some star anise. Need to explore!

[Smithy]

Dinner tonight: shrimp ceviche with corn chips. He though it tasty but unexciting. I thought it tasty AND exciting, espcially in light of the easy cleanup.  Plating isn't shown because it's a chip-and-dip-and savor sort of snack dinner.

 

 

[MokaPot]

@Smithy  Shrimp ceviche & corn chips are one of my favorite kinds of meals. Your ceviche looks good to me with the avocado added in there. What was wrong with it ("unexciting")? Not enough lime juice and chile pepper (I don't see any jalapeno in there)? Not enough salt? How, how can ceviche be unexciting?

[heidih]

8 hours ago, MokaPot said:

@Smithy  Shrimp ceviche & corn chips are one of my favorite kinds of meals. Your ceviche looks good to me with the avocado added in there. What was wrong with it ("unexciting")? Not enough lime juice and chile pepper (I don't see any jalapeno in there)? Not enough salt? How, how can ceviche be unexciting?

 

I think that is what attracts people to the Peruvian twist with cooked yam and ginormous crunchy corn. -more textural and flavor variety. 

[Smithy]

9 hours ago, MokaPot said:

@Smithy  Shrimp ceviche & corn chips are one of my favorite kinds of meals. Your ceviche looks good to me with the avocado added in there. What was wrong with it ("unexciting")? Not enough lime juice and chile pepper (I don't see any jalapeno in there)? Not enough salt? How, how can ceviche be unexciting?

 

29 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

I think that is what attracts people to the Peruvian twist with cooked yam and ginormous crunchy corn. -more textural and flavor variety. 

 

I wish I'd thought of jalapeno! I have 2 in the refrigerator, and that would have given it a nice kick. In addition, I have some of that ginormous crunchy corn squirreled away - bought specially after I learned about it in a cooking class back home last fall. It's somewhere in this Princessmobile. Didn't think of either of those possibilities last night.  I need to unearth that mais chulpa.

[heidih]

You flashed me back to my first ceviche experience In 1985 in Cancun chartered a small fishing boat to go to Isla Mujeres. We treated the crew guys to lunch and the tall gorgeous captain ordered just ceviche. I told him he could order whatever he wanted. It was a super simple clean prep with....saltines as the scooper!  They did dive for conch. I have one of the shells somewhere. They tossed them hard into packed sand to dislodge the muscle. I wish the story continued with a beach fire and cooking - no stupid us sent them home with the goods (and the tuna). 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

You flashed me back to my first ceviche experience In 1985 in Cancun chartered a small fishing boat to go to Isla Mujeres. We treated the crew guys to lunch and the tall gorgeous captain ordered just ceviche. I told him he could order whatever he wanted. It was a super simple clean prep with....saltines as the scooper!  They did dive for conch. I have one of the shells somewhere. They tossed them hard into packed sand to dislodge the muscle. I wish the story continued with a beach fire and cooking - no stupid us sent them home with the goods (and the tuna). 

 

Great story, not so great ending! With a gorgeous captain I'd have preferred the beach fire and cooking and...well, I like the occasional romance novel.

 

I've only had conch once or twice, but I reallly liked it.

 

I asked my darling again this morning what he thought of last night's dinner. This time he said, "It was okay. I didn't much like the chips with it." Surprise! So maybe saltines would be a better choice. I was all hot to trot to try it again tonight, with the jalapenos and mais chulpa. Then I remembered that I'd exhausted my supply of limes last night. It will have to wait.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Smithy
Formatting, rewording (log)

[Smithy]

It fascinates me to see how water is managed here. It's more like the irrigation I grew up with in the San Joaquin Valley than like what is done now. At least, citrus there is now irrigated by fine misters or sprinklers rather than running the water down furrows. It saves a lot of water. It may be different in nut groves.

 

Here, the pecan groves get massive amounts of water. This went on all yesterday, and now the water is turned off again. The pecans are just beginning to leaf out. I wish I could find someone to ask about water supply, costs, and management systems. There must be a lot of evaporation loss.

 

 

I'll admit, though, that the water flowing through the supply canals is cool and clear and great fun to wade in.

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Smithy
spelling: "fascinates" for "fascinated" (log)

[heidih]

The water thing is really interesting. Another food back story we rarely are exposed to. Shall we talk almonds in central California... https://newrepublic.com/article/125450/heres-real-problem-almonds Nothing happens in a vacuum

[rotuts]

and then there is Goliath . season 3 :

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_(TV_series)

 

water issues everywhere .

Edited April 4, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

The water thing is really interesting. Another food back story we rarely are exposed to. Shall we talk almonds in central California... https://newrepublic.com/article/125450/heres-real-problem-almonds Nothing happens in a vacuum

 

I've always wondered where the "1 gallon of water per almond" claim originated. Do you know its source and veracity, Heidi? It seems awfully high - which is, of course, the point of the claim.

 

Whether it's exaggerated or not, the water usage is a big deal. It's harder all the time to be a small farmer in the San Joaquin Valley, thanks to the large corporate interests. Thanks for the article link.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

I've always wondered where the "1 gallon of water per almond" claim originated. Do you know its source and veracity, Heidi? It seems awfully high - which is, of course, the point of the claim.

 

Whether it's exaggerated or not, the water usage is a big deal. It's harder all the time to be a small farmer in the San Joaquin Valley, thanks to the large corporate interests. Thanks for the article link.

 

This 2019 paper, Water-indexed benefits and impacts of California almonds, doesn't specifically address the 1 gal/almond claim, rather they use a measure called "water footprint" but they use the same metric across a large range of California crops to compare water usage vs nutritional value vs commercial value and also compared the water usage of almonds grown in different areas of the state.  As to how those water usage values were derived, they cite a 2011 paper, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, which goes into much detail on the mathematical formulas used to calculate the water footprint values they present in the voluminous tables in the paper.  Kinda interesting. 

Obviously, I don't have enough to do 🙄

[Smithy]

Thanks so much for that reference! I'm ready to go down another rabbit hole...as soon as I get tonight's broccoli salad made. I'm microwaving the bacon right now, grateful to have been taught that trick last season since it saves me from cooking in this heat. I'm glad we aren't low on paper towels...or bacon grease!

[Smithy]

Bacon finished, and broccoli salad complete. I've never tried adding cauliflower to the salad, but it seemed a logical way to expand the salad.

 

 

It turned out to be very easy to find the Inca corn. There it is, right next to the star anise I'll need for my tea!

 

[chromedome]

In my tired brain, "mais chulpa" is oddly like "mea culpa."

 

I do not see or imply any significance to that...it just amuses me.

[Anna N]

19 minutes ago, chromedome said:

In my tired brain, "mais chulpa" is oddly like "mea culpa."

 

I do not see or imply any significance to that...it just amuses me.

Strangely I had exactly the same thought. 

[Smithy]

I'll make sure to use maxima chulpa when I get around to using it.

[heidih]

17 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I'll make sure to use maxima chulpa when I get around to using it.

 

NO that would be more confusing, You are good. Let the others deal.

[catdaddy]

14 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

This 2019 paper, Water-indexed benefits and impacts of California almonds, doesn't specifically address the 1 gal/almond claim, rather they use a measure called "water footprint" but they use the same metric across a large range of California crops to compare water usage vs nutritional value vs commercial value and also compared the water usage of almonds grown in different areas of the state.  As to how those water usage values were derived, they cite a 2011 paper, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, which goes into much detail on the mathematical formulas used to calculate the water footprint values they present in the voluminous tables in the paper.  Kinda interesting. 

Obviously, I don't have enough to do 🙄

Please let me know if I'm interpreting wrong.....Although almonds, and other tree nuts, use a lot of water there are few crops as nutritiously dense and economically significant. So you get lots of bang for your buck with almonds.

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, catdaddy said:

Please let me know if I'm interpreting wrong.....Although almonds, and other tree nuts, use a lot of water there are few crops as nutritiously dense and economically significant. So you get lots of bang for your buck with almonds.

 

That's what I'm getting from that article. I suspect the "bang for your buck" would change at some point, when the market saturates or demand drops. If the entire Valley switched to growing almonds (where they could be grown) then the picture would change.

 

I'm surprised at how much lower the water footprint is for citrus than for nuts...and for olives, of all things!

[Smithy]

Superburgers are supposed to be his thing to cook. It's easy and (supposedly) straightforward. Yet they've been consistently overcooked for the last several times. Last night he asked me to cook them. I used the camp stove. I flipped, monitored, adjusted the heat -- you know, all the things you should do instead of cooking by rote. Cook until done.

 

 

They still aren't photogenic, not with his slapped between two pieces of plain toast and mine sitting next to the last splat of mayo out of the squeeze bottle. But they were juicy and flavorful - in fact, almost too hot. (The spicy heat must be carried in the juices that are usually cooked out of the meat.) They were definitely done right. 

 

I think I've been outfoxed. One more cooking job for me instead of him! Think I can break him of the rote-cooking habit?