Camping, Princess Style

[C. sapidus]

Shame about the aji de amarillo, but that is a lovely mural. 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Very impressive mural.

Thanks.

 

[rotuts]

@Smithy

 

hope you try the Dona Maria pastes

 

I used to use them in California .

 

think  Patel Indian pastes , but Mexican.

[Shelby]

I haven't eaten there in forever, but I've always liked Olive Garden.  The salads that come with the meals ARE really good.  Since we eat so many salads now I am always on the lookout for new- to -us dressings.   I can get this  at Dillons which is a Kroger store.  Good stuff.

 

[C. sapidus]

17 hours ago, Smithy said:

After that late lunch I staggered off to a Mexican market in hopes of finding Aji de Amarillo (Peruvian chile paste) for the purposes of making Aji de Gallina. I've received the recipe from the chef who made it for the RPCV "Taste the World" event last week, and she assured me that the chile paste is very particular: it must be Aji de Amarillo for the dish to taste right.

 

 

Stopped by our local H-Mart this afternoon and it has a whole Peruvian section with lots of aji amarillo (mild or hot!). Sadly, not close to where you are.

 

Edited Friday at 09:34 PM by C. sapidus (log)

[Smithy]

38 minutes ago, C. sapidus said:

 

Stopped by our local H-Mart this afternoon and it has a whole Peruvian section with lots of aji amarillo (mild or hot!). Sadly, not close to where you are.

 

 

If only I'd known! We went to an H-Mart in San Diego last week after the RPCV dinner. We were in a collective hurry -- but if I'd known, I could have looked for it there.

 

Oh well. My jar is supposed to arrive in about a week.

[Smithy]

This very late lunch will probably be my main meal of the day.

 

 

I had an apple earlier in the day, starting at around 9 and finishing at noonish as our group played music and tried to convince people to buy things at our yard sale. We may be our own best customers! I came away with some storage containers, some musical equipment, and the nut meat picks that I contributed that didn't sell. Afterward there was the cleanup, and carting items to the donation place. Then I had to run a couple of errands.

 

By the time I got back I was plenty hungry. The salad was the main course; the dressing is the same dressing I used on the green bean recipe back here. I had to nuke it to get it to soften quickly. You know what? That dressing, hot, is even better than at room temperature!

 

The chicken is no better today. I think the rest will go into a chicken salad, or maybe a stew of some sort. It actually tastes a bit old...not so much so that I'd try taking it back, but it makes me think this was an old "fresh" chicken that they roasted to avoid losing it altogether.

[YvetteMT]

@Smithy I am so happy to see you posting here again.  I'm sure there are bittersweet moments and am grateful to see you sharing your travels. 

[FrogPrincesse]

On 3/5/2025 at 11:42 AM, Smithy said:

I've spent the morning in a futile effort to find a mobile RV service that will come pump my holding tanks. There's a sewer hookup here, but it's so far from the trailer that I'll have to go buy (a lot of) extra hose to reach it. That means there will be (a lot of) extra hose to clean, rinse and store. But the alternative seems to be to take the trailer to a trailer dump. My darling and I used to do that periodically, at our desert camping spot. I'd rather expected I could avoid it given my current location. So it goes.

 

While I make phone calls and rest between chores, I'm having a sandwich....

 

 

This would definitely be better grilled, and I do wish I'd packed the panini press. That said, there's nothing but sheer laziness to stop me from pulling out a pan and cooking it on a stovetop.

 

The sandwich involves my usual favorite sourdough bread. However, I have other choices now thanks to my San Diego trip.

 

 

I've sliced into the Kalamata loaf already. It has a lovely flavor and open crumb.

 

 

I probably should put both of these loaves into the freezer, given the slow rate at which I eat bread these days. So far, they're out on the counter in their bags.

 

 

 

 

Nice to see Bread & Cie make an appearance! They are one of the reasons I have “survived” all these years in the US .

 

I don’t know if you are familiar with their history. They celebrated the 30th year of the bakery last year. There are more bakery options these days, but they were bread pioneers in San Diego, for sure.

 

I am sharing here if you would like to learn more!

 

https://breadandcie.com/about-us/an-interview-with-our-founder/

 

 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, FrogPrincesse said:

Nice to see Bread & Cie make an appearance! They are one of the reasons I have “survived” all these years in the US .

 

I don’t know if you are familiar with their history. They celebrated the 30th year of the bakery last year. There are more bakery options these days, but they were bread pioneers in San Diego, for sure.

 

I am sharing here if you would like to learn more!

 

https://breadandcie.com/about-us/an-interview-with-our-founder/

 

 

 

Thanks for that link. I like the interview and the associated story. Incidentally, the delicious bread at the RPCV "Taste the World" event was donated by Bread and Cie! So I've had occasion to sample several of their loaves. They've all been delicious.

[Smithy]

So far, I've managed to take that pitiful chicken from a couple of days ago, use it for a couple of dinners, strip the meat from the bones, and have a couple of breasts left. I simmered the bones to make broth yesterday.

 

 

There's nothing special about what's going on there, but I like the wisps of steam in the picture. 🙂

 

The finished product looks pretty milky. I often find that to be the case when I start with roasted (or otherwise cooked) bones, as these were. All freezer bones went into the mix also. The flavor is all right, not great, but certainly usable.

 

 

It even thickened a bit by the time I'd finished cooking it down, but it won't pass for chicken jello.

 

If you look carefully, you can see a few chunks of breast meat in today's salad, along with olives, tomatoes, very tough croutons from Whole Foods (I won't get them again), and the last of my spinach. Oh, and part of a stellarly-good avocado from last Wednesday's shopping trip. I've been waiting patiently for those avos to ripen, and I'm being rewarded now!

 

 

I had to make salad dressing today, having finally used up all the dressing I made before moving into town and leaving for San Diego. That was here, when I had to deal with green beans. (I have more to deal with before they go off!)

 

This time, as I was juicing the lemons, I realized that I might as well zest them and save the zest for other purposes. That led to a search for my little plastic condiment cups -- you know, those cups with lids that contain salad dressing or other items from take-out? I looked in the plastics storage drawer at floor level (see bottom arrow). Nope. Found a lid, no cups. That would be too simple. If I had any, it had to be in one of the upper cabinets. 

 

But which one? I didn't want to haul out that stepladder. But finally, after exhausting other sensible possibilities, I did.

 

 

Found them tucked away inside my bread pan, along with a couple of funnels. Of course! Where else would those little condiment cups be?

 

Now, the lemon zest is tucked away in the freezer in one such cup.

 

 

I also finally emptied one of my mustard squeeze bottles. I have more mustard in the cupboard and the overflow coolers in the belly box. I'm trying to get the refrigerator stock down. I think I'm down now to an old jar of Trader Joe's Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce. I'll probably open something without garlic, at some point, but for now it's nice to be whittling down the condiment creep.

 

 

Speaking of letting things go too long without attention: does anyone have tips for reviving artisan bread that's sat out so long it's gone stiff? I may have to take a hatchet to the beautiful loaves I bought in San Diego, and turn them into croutons or bread crumbs, but I'd like to be able to cut slices and eat them as bread if possible. It's a shame...my maxima culpa...I really should have frozen them, as I noted here. I didn't do it. 

[rotuts]

@Smithy

 

I dont think you can bring older , dried bread back to what you are looking for .

 

consider French Toast as another possibility .  soak longer if drier .