Camping, Princess Style

[Smithy]

5 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Re elbow macaroni...I'm finding most of it too small to be forkable and have switched to cavatapi which is a shade longer and a bit fatter. Better for pasta salad or M&C

 

Oh, sure...now, as I'm trying to simplify my pasta inventory, you find another one for me to try? 😉

 

On a more serious note: does it come in various gauges and lengths? Any I should look for or try to avoid?

[gfweb]

45 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Oh, sure...now, as I'm trying to simplify my pasta inventory, you find another one for me to try? 😉

 

On a more serious note: does it come in various gauges and lengths? Any I should look for or try to avoid?

I'm happy with Dicecco #87. Ronzoni makes a smaller one which I haven't tried. Really is a nice noodle

[weinoo]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:22 PM, gfweb said:

I'm happy with Dicecco #87. Ronzoni makes a smaller one which I haven't

 

That cavatappi is nice for those 2 dishes (mac salad and mac n'cheese); I also like Barilla elbows for classic deli macaroni salad - it's got that nice twist...and ridges!

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

That cavatappi is nice for those 2 dishes (mac salad and mac n'cheese); I also like Barilla elbows for classic deli macaroni salad - it's got that nice twist...and ridges!

the rigati are the thing!

[Smithy]

It's starting to warm up now. Yesterday it was about 80F outside by late afternoon; inside the trailer it was closer to 90F in the dining room because of all the sunlight. We'll probably have to try out our shade cloth today.

 

We chose superburgers for dinner last night because they're dead easy and quick, and could be cooked outside over the camp stove. I didn't bother with pictures. For once, we'd finished eating by 8:30 p.m. We spent time last night and again this morning wondering why those burgers seemed much hotter than usual. Could the mix of hot Italian sausage and burger have been uneven when we made the last batch? We didn't think so. Our current idea is that the burgers kept more heat because they weren't cooked as thoroughly as usual. Neither seemed unsafely rare, but there was a touch of pink inside.*

 

What do you think? Does cooking somehow break down the spicy heat of red pepper? If the burger is cooked to a firmer consistenty, has it lost juice that contains the spicy heat?

 

Gratuitous flower collage included because I don't have any dinner pictures.

 

 

 

*(Yes, we have thermometers. No, he doesn't use them when he cooks burgers. Yes, the juices were running clear. No, I wasn't going to interfere with his cooking any more than that simple "spatula press" step when he claimed for the 50th time that he doesn't know what he's doing.)

 

 

[Shelby]

You know me, I'm not scientific at all, but I think our chili does that.  We like it super spicy and it is the first night we eat it, but then we freeze and reheat a few times and it gets milder.

[Smithy]

Remember the citrus juicer I bought a couple of weeks ago at the kitchen store? Now that I'm back from visiting my friends in San Diego I've had a chance to try it out.

 

You may recall that its label says "rotating reamer produces more juice". I wondered how far that reamer would actually move, and whether it would make much of a difference. How far could that reamer rotate, anyway?

 

 

The answer is that the reamer rotates maybe 10 degrees. What you do is, you rotate the grey reamer as far as it will go in one direction or the other, then start squeezing the lemon. Each grey triangle starts at the top of a notch in the bottom half of the press, and as you squeeze the triangles slide into the notches, thereby rotating the reamer. A whopping 10 degrees.

 

 

 

Is it really more effective than my tried-and-true Wear-Ever aluminum squeezer? Probably not. However, it's more compact and fits into a drawer where it's handier to reach. I do think it's more efficient than the handheld Mexican-style squeezer that everts the lemon halves.

 

 

 

It's also more convenient than that style, because it's only slightly larger but sits on the counter and contains the juice. I think someone with hand problems (I'm thinking of you, @Kim Shook) would find it easier to use because it takes less hand strength.

 

Is it a keeper? Yes. Easily worth the $13 I paid for it. Would it have been worth the original $26 asking price? Well, I dunno. I'm glad I don't have to think about that.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Smithy
Spelling, minor word adjustments (log)

[rotuts]

@Smithy 

 

nice

 

very nice

 

some time ago

 

this sort ofnpress

 

in some vid or not

 

suggested to put the citrus

 

upside down,  from the usual manner 

 

that seems to make sense

 

as you have done

 

should you get the hance

 

might you try 

 

the inverse

 

ask see why happen ?

 

put the sk8n side up

 

on the 1/2 cut citrus  \\ans see what happens ?

 

many thanks

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

Remember the citrus juicer I bought a couple of weeks ago at the kitchen store? Now that I'm back from visiting my friends in San Diego I've had a chance to try it out.

 

You may recall that its label says "rotating reamer produces more juice". I wondered how far that reamer would actually move, and whether it would make much of a difference. How far could that reamer rotate, anyway?

 

 

The answer is that the reamer rotates maybe 10 degrees. What you do is, you rotate the grey reamer as far as it will go in one direction or the other, then start squeezing the lemon. Each grey triangle starts at the top of a notch in the bottom half of the press, and as you squeeze the triangles slide into the notches, thereby rotating the reamer. A whopping 10 degrees.

 

 

 

Is it really more effective than my tried-and-true Wear-Ever aluminum squeezer? Probably not. However, it's more compact and fits into a drawer where it's handier to reach. I do think it's more efficient than the handheld Mexican-style squeezer that everts the lemon halves.

 

 

 

It's also more convenient than that style, because it's only slightly larger but sits on the counter and contains the juice. I think someone with hand problems (I'm thinking of you, @Kim Shook) would find it easier to use because it takes less hand strength.

 

Is it a keeper? Yes. Easily worth the $13 I paid for it. Would it have been worth the original $26 asking price? Well, I dunno. I'm glad I don't have to think about that.

 

I'd keep my Hamilton Beach 932 Commercial Juicer even if I were living in an outhouse.  The Hamilton Beach takes no hand strength but it does require at least one working arm.

 

 

[Smithy]

I saw the first mallow blossom of the season. There are several different varieties of mallow in this area, and although the leaves have been rehydrating, if you will, we haven't seen any blossoms until yesterday. Here's the blossom, and below it is last year's remains of a seed pod from a nearby mallow.

 

 

When we bought that beautiful pork shoulder in Calipatria a couple of weeks ago, I reserved some of it for souvlaki. Yesterday was going to be the day. My intent had been to skewer it and cook it over the campfire, along with a melange of fire-grilled steamed potatoes, asparagus and some too-long-neglected cherry tomatoes. During the afternoon, before it got too warm in the trailer, I did all the prep work and let the pork chunks marinate in oil, lemon juice, garlic and herbs. The tomatoes went into the marinade as well. I mixed tzatziki sauce and put it in the refrigerator until dinner time came.

 

We haven't been doing nearly as much campfire cooking this year as in previous years. How much of that is the cooler weather, and how much is increased laziness? We don't know. (I firmly deny that it could be aging!) When it came time to cook there was no interest in cooking outside, so it all became a sauteed salad over pilaf.

 

 

Dinner, before the tzatziki went onto the plate:

 

 

I was delighted. He wished I'd done another pork roast! 😐 He thought the pork too chewy this way. Would the flame grilling have made a difference in the flavor or texture? I don't know. The meat wasn't overdone, but it was more firm than a low-slow roast would have been. I know I'll enjoy the leftovers.

 

When we married nearly 24 years ago, we promised to be each other's best friends. We didn't promise to agree on all things culinary. 

[Kim Shook]

On 3/6/2021 at 2:12 PM, Smithy said:

It's also more convenient than that style, because it's only slightly larger but sits on the counter and contains the juice. I think someone with hand problems (I'm thinking of you, @Kim Shook) would find it easier to use because it takes less hand strength.

 

I'd love to have that!  It actually looks like it gets a lot more juice out than the regular squeezy-types.  With those, I find that the cut edges curl down into the pulp and prevent all of the pulp from being juiced.  It looks like that one really reams the lemon.  

[Smithy]

17 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I'd love to have that!  It actually looks like it gets a lot more juice out than the regular squeezy-types.  With those, I find that the cut edges curl down into the pulp and prevent all of the pulp from being juiced.  It looks like that one really reams the lemon.  

 

I have to get more lemons to try a comparison, but I think you're right. When I get more, I'll post photos and results, and test @rotuts' hypothesis above while I'm at it.

[lemniscate]

Lime/Lemon squeezing is almost crossing over to the "absurdly simple but necessary cooking questions thread".

 

Yeah, the cut side down/pointy end up in the hinged juicer is how all the margarita-hardened bartenders do it around here.  This way.

 

Another way I've seen in the agua frescas counters is cut the ends off both sides of the lime, cut in half, put it wide side up in the hand juicer and squeeze.  The juice then shoots through the cut end of the lime straight down.  This video shows that technique starting at 4:15 mark.

[Anna N]

29 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

Another way I've seen in the agua frescas counters is cut the ends off both sides of the lime, cut in half, put it wide side up in the hand juicer and squeeze.  The juice then shoots through the cut end of the lime straight down.  This video shows that technique starting at 4:15 mark.

Thank you.  That is quite impressive!  

[Shelby]

@Smithy  I haven't checked your weather at your non-mobile house.  Have you guys made any plans to start back?  It's already warming up here although it will be highs in the 40's next weekend but after that it's supposed to be full-fledged spring (I think lol).

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

@Smithy  I haven't checked your weather at your non-mobile house.  Have you guys made any plans to start back?  It's already warming up here although it will be highs in the 40's next weekend but after that it's supposed to be full-fledged spring (I think lol).

 

We plan to be back around May 1 if the snow is gone by then, but probably not sooner than that. We'd like to take a few weeks getting home as usual so we can see some other areas, maybe even get to the Gulf Coast. Our timing and route will depend both on weather and vaccine availability. We've had #1 and hope to get #2 before we leave. 

 

Here's how I know we won't be heading home for a while yet.  A friend sent me a video from a fly-in chili feed that he attended yesterday, and I've taken a screen shot. That's Mille Lacs Lake, in the middle of the state. No way will my darling consider heading home while it looks like that! 😄

 

[kayb]

Well, if you're coming through Eastern Arkansas, give me a call!

 

[Smithy]

We're having a windstorm today, the first in quite a while. With gusts predicted as high as 40 mph, the farmer's market in town was cancelled. The upshot is a quiet day at home in the Princessmobile, and time to defrost the refrigerator. Usually by this time in the trip I would have defrosted once or twice already. This year's weather has been enough cooler and, apparently, drier that I've beeh able to hold off. Still, it needed to be done. I suspect the power consumption will go down now. And look: there's actually some empty space in there!

 

 

Yesterday we were in town for a medical appointment (not vaccine #2, alas) and stopped at the nearby Burger King for Whoppers. I have to commend the staff for their careful observance of COVID-19 protocols. Even cash can't be passed directly from hand to hand. The restaurant was painfully empty - a common and unfortunate sight - although the drive-through was doing steady business. I studied the operation while awaiting my order, and was surprised to see the updates in electronics. I feel like such a hick! Note the tickets displayed on their screens (I enlarged that photo)...no more paper tickets hanging from a rack!

 

 

The burgers were good although they'd cooled too much by the time we'd driven to a scenic spot to eat them. It's been a while since we've eaten BK burgers. We think they're far better than the Carl's Jr burgers we've had lately. I still haven't gotten him to try In`n`Out, but the line is so long at their single Yuma store that I'm not willing to wait either.

[Smithy]

I'd forgotten this aspect of wind storms: every counter surface is gritty now. We won't talk about the floor. At least the refrigerator is clean!

 

The pork saga from a few nights ago has a couple of funny follow-up stories. After I wrote that story he told me that the entire dish had been unpalatably cold. This was news to me: mine was warm and the plates were heated, and he hand't mentioned it the night before. It turned out that he'd covered the entire serving with the cold tzatziki sauce (I hadn't noticed) and it had cooled everything down. No, that wasn't how it was supposed to go, I told him.

 

We ate microwaved leftovers for lunch, with the sauce on the side to add at each bite. Ah, he said, much better. He liked the meat and veg dish. He liked the tzatziki, especially when he learned that its base was yogurt rather than sour cream. BUT, he said, those two dishes don't go together! (I didn't try convincing him that they're a traditional partnership. Heck, AnnaN had to remind me of that last year. Strangely, he liked the combination then. What can one do, but laugh?)

 

The rest of the story I think I'll call pork revenge. There was still a clod of pork shoulder left that I hadn't cut to use yet. I'd intended it for something like a stew or stir fry, or properly skewered kebabs when we wanted to cook outside. Nope. He wanted comfort food: breaded and baked pork steaks, cut the thickness we prefer. I obliged to make up for the souvlaki trauma. These are nearly 1" thick. I did a good job slicing, didn't I?

 

 

We got 2 meals each out of this.

 

 

We may make another run to Calipatria before leaving this area. It's so hard to see the last of that fine pork shoulder! And I still want to do things other than breaded/baked or roasted with it!  

 

The sunset before the wind began. Stormy weather brings its own beauty.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Smithy
Formatting and minor word changes (log)

[DesertTinker]

24 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I'd forgotten this aspect of wind storms: every counter surface is gritty now. We won't talk about the floor. At least the refrigerator is clean!...

Welcome to the year round desert dweller’s world. No matter how “tight” you think your dwelling is,  there’s still grit! 😱 

[DesertTinker]

Don’t forget to “thump” your pillows before bed. There’s nothing like a gritty pillow!🤣

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

The sunset before the wind began. Stormy weather brings its own beauty.

 

What a gorgeous photograph of a gorgeous sunset. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

We're having a windstorm today, the first in quite a while. With gusts predicted as high as 40 mph, the farmer's market in town was cancelled. The upshot is a quiet day at home in the Princessmobile, and time to defrost the refrigerator. Usually by this time in the trip I would have defrosted once or twice already. This year's weather has been enough cooler and, apparently, drier that I've beeh able to hold off. Still, it needed to be done. I suspect the power consumption will go down now. And look: there's actually some empty space in there!

 

 

Yesterday we were in town for a medical appointment (not vaccine #2, alas) and stopped at the nearby Burger King for Whoppers. I have to commend the staff for their careful observance of COVID-19 protocols. Even cash can't be passed directly from hand to hand. The restaurant was painfully empty - a common and unfortunate sight - although the drive-through was doing steady business. I studied the operation while awaiting my order, and was surprised to see the updates in electronics. I feel like such a hick! Note the tickets displayed on their screens (I enlarged that photo)...no more paper tickets hanging from a rack!

 

 

The burgers were good although they'd cooled too much by the time we'd driven to a scenic spot to eat them. It's been a while since we've eaten BK burgers. We think they're far better than the Carl's Jr burgers we've had lately. I still haven't gotten him to try In`n`Out, but the line is so long at their single Yuma store that I'm not willing to wait either.

 

If you want to detour home through New Jersey you are welcome to come defrost my freezer.  My bathtub could use cleaning too.

 

[Porthos]

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

 I still haven't gotten him to try In`n`Out, but the line is so long at their single Yuma store that I'm not willing to wait either.

Here in Southern California the lines at In n Out are always long. I think they have the best burgers by far, but I only buy them occasionally. Most of the time I don't want to have to wait.  We eat drive-thru food quite a bit, especially with the kitchen still not finished.

[kayb]

 

"Red sky at night, sailor's (campers'?) delight!

 

Just beautiful. Thanks.