Camping, Princess Style

[gfweb]

22 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I think I'd get on a plane and fly there!  I could clean out the store!

 

Take the train to SE PA/Delaware. Prices are at least as good here at Food Loin  Lion.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Five cents for a lime!  I just ordered 12 at 29 cents each.  I thought I was getting a good deal.

 

[Smithy]

16 hours ago, Shelby said:

The price on the limes is almost enough to make me get in the car and drive there.

 

15 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Me too.

 

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Five cents for a lime!  I just ordered 12 at 29 cents each.  I thought I was getting a good deal.

 

 

Do keep in mind that these are Key limes: significantly smaller than the Persian limes we usually think of. I'll post a photo in a day or two when I have time. Still, these were a bargain!

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

On 3/11/2025 at 9:39 PM, Smithy said:

It's raining!! Oh, happy day! I've even heard a bit of thunder along with heavy rain!

 

 

I realize that many of you won't think that rain is wonderful. You've seen enough already lately, thankyewverymuch. But I've been kvetching about how very dry it is here. If this keeps up it may help revive my (our) beloved boondocking spot.

 

I'm on an odd cookery/eating schedule these days. After that huge breakfast I worked (paperwork, chores, nothing interesting) and then decided along about 3 pm that I needed to eat something before going out to my 4 -6 pm music event. I made a sandwich: turkey, salami, cheese, pickle, mayo, mustard, lettuce. One slice of sourdough bread -- granted, a largish one -- cut in half.

 

 

I got home at 7 pm, wandered around the block as a leg-stretcher, got back at 8 pm. Still not hungry. Should probably eat something.

 

 

That's the last of the latest batch of green bean salad. Tomorrow, social activities or no, I'll need to do something with other green vegetables that are in the fridge. I also have the ingredients thawed and ready to cook for a recipe I want to try. They've been thawed, with my good intentions, for several days now. Yet tomorrow is a late-afternoon potluck and Thursday is a midafternoon party, and Friday I move. It's going to be a challenge to fit in that cooking project!

 

(The rain sound is almost deafening. This will be a good test of the new Princessmobile's seals!)

One of my favorite things is to hear the rain on the roof of our little van. Such a cozy-feeling sound. All I can think is, "Thank goodness I'm not in a tent!" However, rolling up the awning when wet is no fun. Once it took us several days before we got to someplace warm and could unroll it. 

[Smithy]

59 minutes ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

One of my favorite things is to hear the rain on the roof of our little van. Such a cozy-feeling sound. All I can think is, "Thank goodness I'm not in a tent!" However, rolling up the awning when wet is no fun. Once it took us several days before we got to someplace warm and could unroll it. 

...and if rolling up the awning in your rig is a manual operation, it must be a real challenge. I remember all too well how much heavier sails are when wet!

[Smithy]

I'm at a music festival this weekend. It's a WONDERFUL change of scenery for me and my animal companions: open space, where we're camped!

 

 

It's been raining off and on, and the moisture is nice too. A few flowers are starting to bloom. I'm told that just happened within the last 2 days.

 

 

Last night we had a potluck dinner. Eek! A potluck! What could I bring on 1 hour's notice? I brought chips and salsa. There were plenty of other dishes: potato salad, beans, fresh vegetables, lots of other chips, plenty of desserts including 4 pies. (It was, after all, Pi day. One of the musicians recognized it with a charming song about pie and how it can cure many ills.) Burgers were the main feature. I didn't do photos.

 

This morning they started breakfast at 8. I didn't. I'm not much of a breakfast eater under most circumstances, especially at that hour, and decided to pass although I'm sure there was plenty of good cooked food of a type I rarely have any more. I went instead for a good long walk with the dog, who romped as he hasn't been able to for weeks. Right now I'm finishing my own breakfast before heading over to the festivities.

 

 

Pursuant to the question of Key limes vs. Persian limes: 

 

 

When I make the soup in a few days I'll find out just what it takes to juice those little babies, and maybe have a few choice words on the matter. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Mr Google suggests microwaving for 10 seconds then rolling them on a hard surface-> more and easier juice 

[KennethT]

@Smithy One thing to keep in mind is that key limes have seeds.  The way they're juiced all over SE Asia (that's pretty much the only kind of lime they have there) is to make 3 vertical cuts, basically cutting the cheeks off - all the seeds should be left in the core and each cheek should squeeze really easily.  You can also squeeze the core, but, you know, seeds.  Another way I've seen is just to cut straight into the lime, vertically, about halfway through and squeeze while leaving the knife in the cut (which tries to block the seeds).

[Smithy]

I've been shopping again. Worse yet, I've been buying.

 

My best friend, who has known me for more than 50 years, would not be surprised at the way I'm packing things into the formerly-sparsely-equipped Princessmobile. Nor would my darling have been. I am rather surprised at myself. I suppose that just means I'm still not realistic about my weaknesses.

 

The first big purchase was a bunch of herbs and seasonings from Penzey's. I wrote about it here, complete with a money shot. My motives were good: I wanted certain spices and mixtures for recipes I plan to cook soon, starting with that lime soup. I'm almost ready to try making it. Of course, I saved money by buying a selection of herbs and spices I don't need yet! That package arrived in the mail today.

 

Oh, heck -- I might as well show the money shot here too. 🙂

 

 

Then I went to the grocery store for the ingredients to make Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake. I've been invited to a "soup and dessert" party in a couple of evenings, to celebrate the birthdays of March friends. The idea is that the hostess is making 3 soups to give us a selection, and we each bring a dessert to share around. Whatever doesn't get eaten goes back home with the person who brought it. Given the contents of my larder(s) and the way I eat these days, I was inclined at first to bring a fruit salad for dessert. But I've been wanting to try that cake. I once had a chocolate stout cake at a favorite restaurant in Duluth, and it was fabulous. Will this recipe be close? Only one way to find out.

 

So off to the store I went. I have cocoa powder. I had some flour but not enough; no sugar; no cream cheese; no Guiness; no cake pan.I have everything else (sour cream, baking soda, butter, eggs, cream). The recipe actually calls for confectioner's sugar as well as superfine sugar. I plan to just pulverize the heck out of the sugar I bought; confectioner's sugar also contains cornstarch and I see no need to use it.

 

The first surprise was flour prices. I very much like King Arthur flour, but at first only saw their organic all-purpose. It was a bit spendy! Maybe I'd have to go with Gold Medal, for the smaller package size and price. Finally I spotted the KA non-organic AP flour. Whew.

 

 

The cream cheese was the real eye-opener, though. I've always preferred Philadelphia Neufchatel for its slightly lighter flavor and lower calories. They didn't have it, unless this was it: "Philadelphia Original 1/3 less fat". Hmm. If it's the original and they aren't calling it Neufchatel, what's in it?

 

 

Seems like a lot of gums to hold it together. I looked at the Original Philadelphia Original.

 

 

Well, it only has carob bean gum...no guar or xanthan gums as the lower-fat version had. (Cue the Monty Python "spam" sketch.) Has this stuff always had those gums and I just never noticed?

 

I looked at a newcomer.

 

 

I have a winner! I'll let you know how it tastes.

 

I had to go to a beer and liquor store to find Guiness. I'd have settled for another stout if necessary, but Fry's had none and this store only had the one type. I suspect Yumans aren't into really heavy beers.

 

On the way home I remembered that I'd forgotten a cake pan. I stopped at a Family Dollar store and got a cheapo. The recipe calls for a springform pan, and I left mine of the right size at home. Wish me luck getting the cake out of this...at least I have parchment paper!

 

 

As for the soup -- well, I STILL don't have everything I need! I think it'll be quesadillas tonight. I bought tortillas at the store, and heaven knows I have plenty of cheeses and vegetables.

 

[C. sapidus]

Good luck with the Guinness cake. It has always surprised me that Guinness feels heavy but contains < 5% alcohol.

 

I love Mexican oregano. It is the only kind I stock lately. Usually comes in big pieces, so I rub them between my palms and the aroma is so lovely.

[liuzhou]

4 hours ago, C. sapidus said:

It has always surprised me that Guinness feels heavy but contains < 5% alcohol.

 

That depends on which version of Guinness you buy and where. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is up to 7.5% ABV.

 

 

 

[Maison Rustique]

I had no idea Tillamook was making cream cheese now. I wonder how hard it is to make yourself? I might have to take a look at that. I've been avoiding even looking at spices because I've got so many I don't know what to do with all of them! I swear I don't know how you fit everything into that RV!!

[C. sapidus]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

That depends on which version of Guinness you buy and where. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is up to 7.5% ABV.

 

 

 

 

Yup, I prefer the Foreign Extra Stout. But would that be worth buying for Guinness cake?

[liuzhou]

11 minutes ago, C. sapidus said:

 

Yup, I prefer the Foreign Extra Stout. But would that be worth buying for Guinness cake?

 

I guess it depends how much you like Guinness cake! I'd rather drink it! 😂

 

 

[Smithy]

Brrr. I simply must try harder to check all the windows before going to bed.

 

 

It's 52F outside and 62F inside. I know that's warm by most USA locations right now, but it's uncomfortably cold for me without turning on the heat, and I don't want to do that when I was too foolish to close all the windows last night! This is at least the 2nd night in a row that I've thought I'd closed them all and discovered my mistake in the morning.

 

Incidentally, this is the view outside now. I don't like it. The neighbors are fine, I just prefer scenery that isn't loaded with buildings and pavement. (I do like my amaryllis, though! It was part of my sister's Christmas present to me.)

 

 

I have reasons for staying here at least a month, but I'll have to spend a lot of time going elsewhere or else ignoring the outside and taking care of business inside and around the trailer. Baking and cooking are part of it, of course.

 

Following up on some of yesterday's posts: @liuzhou and @C. sapidus commented on Guinness Stout and its various strengths. Yesterday I was rather fuddled by all that in the beer store. They did have a draught version, nitrogenated, at something like 6.9% alcohol. I wasn't sure I needed the extra alcohol, and I'm not sure I'll get the desired effect in baking from nitrogen instead of the usual (in bottles, at least) carbonation. So I went with this:

 

 

It's true, 5.6% isn't a very high alcohol content. Shouldn't matter much to me!

 

In reviewing yesterday's post, I noticed this fine print on one of the boxes I showed above:

 

 

They do, actually, still call it Neufchatel. I hadn't noticed yesterday. I still think all those gums are a good reason for trying the Tillamook, which doesn't have them. @Maison Rustique wondered how difficult it is to make one's own cream cheese. I hadn't thought of that! According to Mr. Google, there are lots of recipes out there for making it, all claiming that it's easy. Since I trust Bon Appetit, here's their story on it: Make Your Own Cream Cheese. Maybe I'll try it...but for right now, I'm glad to have the Tillamook to try. 

 

I cooked quesadillas last night, using some of the tortillas I'd bought and a hodgepodge of stuff from the refrigerator: some of the shredded chicken I bought last week for the soup; some sliced turkey; slices of cheese; pesto from a Trader Joe's jar; even some lettuce. The cast iron pan mentioned up here when @SLB asked about it was perfect for them. 

 

 

The quesadilla on the right looks greasy because I'd used all the oil cooking the flour-tortilla quesadilla at the left. I'd thought there was enough oil to cook the next one, using corn tortillas. I was wrong. I ended up pouring a little oil on the tortillas and then flipping them, but still didn't get them to brown the way I'd expected. Does anyone know whether corn tortillas need more oil, heat, or both than flour tortillas to brown? Or had I simply mismanaged the oil?

Edited March 18 by Smithy
Clarified that I flipped the corn tortillas after oiling them (log)

[ElsieD]

Is that an animal in the first picture?

[rotuts]

looks a bit like a fox .

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

Is that an animal in the first picture?

 

56 minutes ago, rotuts said:

looks a bit like a fox .

 

It's one of a pair of coyote statues near the back wall.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

 I LOVE them!    Am reminded of an art installation in the Palais Royale, Paris, circs 2012:   a dozen or so wolf statues.  

[Dave the Cook]

17 hours ago, Smithy said:

Then I went to the grocery store for the ingredients to make Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake. I've been invited to a "soup and dessert" party in a couple of evenings, to celebrate the birthdays of March friends. The idea is that the hostess is making 3 soups to give us a selection, and we each bring a dessert to share around. Whatever doesn't get eaten goes back home with the person who brought it. Given the contents of my larder(s) and the way I eat these days, I was inclined at first to bring a fruit salad for dessert. But I've been wanting to try that cake. I once had a chocolate stout cake at a favorite restaurant in Duluth, and it was fabulous. Will this recipe be close? Only one way to find out.

 

We made this cake  for St. Patrick's Day. It's really good. A few notes:

• The nitrogen doesn't matter. I guess most of it fizzes off in the pour; what's left is claimed to contribute to a creamier texture. I don't drink beer, so can't really evaluate those claims.  In any case it doesn't affect leavening, if that's a concern. Leavening comes from baking soda.
• There's another recipe for Guinness cake on Leite's Culinaria. It doesn't use eggs, if that matters. Or sour cream. It's still quite rich.
• Both cakes are good, but the Leite cake has an edge in its frosting, which is made with browned cultured butter. We made Nigella's cake, but Leite's frosting.
• The cake will probably sag a bit in the middle. I assumed we'd screwed up when this happened, but one of the photos on the Leite site show a bit of a sunken center.
• I don't know where this fashion of only frosting the top of a cake came from, but I think it's stupid. The New York Times says it "resembles a frothy pint of Guinness." I call BS. We just made 1-1/2 recipes of frosting,  let us frost the sides of the cake, as it should be.

[Smithy]

9 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

 

We made this cake  for St. Patrick's Day. It's really good. A few notes:

• The nitrogen doesn't matter. I guess most of it fizzes off in the pour; what's left is claimed to contribute to a creamier texture. I don't drink beer, so can't really evaluate those claims.  In any case it doesn't affect leavening, if that's a concern. Leavening comes from baking soda.
• There's another recipe for Guinness cake on Leite's Culinaria. It doesn't use eggs, if that matters. Or sour cream. It's still quite rich.
• Both cakes are good, but the Leite cake has an edge in its frosting, which is made with browned cultured butter. We made Nigella's cake, but Leite's frosting.
• The cake will probably sag a bit in the middle. I assumed we'd screwed up when this happened, but one of the photos on the Leite site show a bit of a sunken center.
• I don't know where this fashion of only frosting the top of a cake came from, but I think it's stupid. The New York Times says it "resembles a frothy pint of Guinness." I call BS. We just made 1-1/2 recipes of frosting,  let us frost the sides of the cake, as it should be.

 

Thanks for all that, Dave! Including the comment about frosting only the top. I'm with you on that one.

[Smithy]

7 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

I had no idea Tillamook was making cream cheese now. I wonder how hard it is to make yourself? I might have to take a look at that. I've been avoiding even looking at spices because I've got so many I don't know what to do with all of them! I swear I don't know how you fit everything into that RV!!

 

I responded earlier to this with a link to bon appetit's instructions that make it look easy. One thing to note, that may make things not so easy: the recipe specifies the need to avoid ultra-pasteurized milk and cream, because they won't curdle properly. I don't know your shopping situation, but I often find it difficult to avoid the ultra-pasteurized products in the places I shop.

[YvetteMT]

I'm anxious to hear about the Tillamook cream cheese.  I love Tillamook (they have a sea salt honeycomb ice cream that I'd go to blows over!).

[Smithy]

Well...I dunno about this cake. The grand opening, so to speak, will be in a few hours. This is a preliminary report. With stories, of course.

 

Story the first has to do with making sure I had all the ingredients...and then discovering that I didn't, or that I had to work to find them. I've already noted, I think, that I had the cocoa powder (etc.) but not Guinness, a cake pan, enough flour, or sugar. So I got those. Yesterday I realized that I also had no baking soda! So I grabbed some while I was out doing more errands. I really hadn't wanted to go into a grocery store again, but there it was...I had to. Okay, so I had everything. I thought.

 

Today I started assembling ingredients. Large eggs, check (a dozen brought from home). Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, butter, check. Uh-oh. Where's the vanilla? I know I packed vanilla! But it wasn't in the spice cabinet! It wasn't in the pantry!

 

Oh.

 

 

Ahh! No need to agonize over a substitution, or another trip, or a change of plans.

 

I started pulverizing the sugar, since the recipe called for superfine sugar for the cake batter, and confectioner's sugar for the frosting. I hadn't wanted to buy a bag of confectioner's sugar for this recipe. Surely I could get the granulated stuff fine enough.

 

 

Eh, not bad. It isn't as fluffy as proper powdered sugar, but it should work.

 

I mixed the ingredients and put together the cake batter per directions. Let me tell you, that batter has a wonderful taste by itself! Very promising! I did wonder whether my cake pan was too small, though. I put a parchment paper collar around the rim of the pan, in addition to the circle I'd put on the bottom, and put the whole thing onto a baking sheet as a spill guard.

 

I had fun figuring out how to get the oven racks where I wanted them. They should adjust easily, but I'd fit the topmost rack into the topmost slot and had a tough time getting it out again. It took a flashlight to figure out why: that slot is designed differently because of the oven light and temperature probe. I'll post pictures if anyone's interested.

 

Then I dug out my oven thermometer -- first time this trip -- and tried to get the oven set to the requisite 350F. What an operation! I think of gas ovens as being more steady than my electric oven at home, but this one took the better part of an hour to get it adjusted right: too cool, too hot, too cyclic. As it happened, i was gathering other items and trying to get some organization into my thoughts and processes, so the oven adjustment added to the confusion but didn't delay anything.

 

I had a pretty good mise en place before I started to mix anything; it's the best way I know to not get stuck looking for something at the last minute. But it can dirty up a lot of dishes. Each time I emptied a bowl or finished using a spoon or spatula, I dropped it into the dishpan. When the cake was baking, I washed all those dishes and then got going on the frosting.

 

 

(As a side note: my trailer tank gauges say that one grey water holding tank is full and the other is somewhere above half. They're labeled Grey 1 and Grey 2 but I can't find any plumbing diagrams or labels telling me which is which: whether Grey 1 is the kitchen, or the bathroom sink and shower. Based on my water usage, the kitchen sink tank is likely the "full" one, but the only way I'll know is when that sink refuses to drain. So I'm playing "chicken" with it. I also know that I may find out the hard way that it's the shower that won't drain because I guessed wrong and it's the bathroom grey tank that's full! I'm hooked to the sewer, ready to dump, but I hope the Moment of Truth happens at more or less a convenient time. Every time I dump the dishpan, I wait to see whether the sink will drain. It's a puzzlement.)

 

The frosting was an interesting process: stir the "powdered" sugar to break up any clumps; stir in the cream cheese and work them together until smooth. This Tillamook cheese was a bit more crumbly than I'm used to, probably because it has no gums, and I wish I had a "before" photo of it sitting atop the sugar. I was too busy at that point to think about pictures. In this collage below, you may be able to make out a slight graininess at the left that's gone by the time I took the right-hand picture. That sugar just dissolved into the cream cheese; everything smoothed out. Then I added the heavy cream and stirred to get it smooth again.

 

 

The time came to take the cake out. Looks like that collar was a good idea. Look at that rise! It also looks as though maybe the cake baked too quickly (oven too hot) or else the pan is simply too shallow. The recipe does specify a springform pan but I didn't want to buy one; I have a good selection of those cake pans at home already. 

 

 

Hmm, there's also a crack in the middle. As I worked on another batch of dishes, the crack became a crater.

 

 

I hadn't made a double batch of frosting, because I only had enough ingredients for a single batch, but there's enough here to cover the top and sides anyway. I fear it's going to come off almost like a tunnel cake in the center -- I filled that hole with frosting! -- but so it goes. That frosting also doesn't look anything like the foam head of a pint of Guiness, and I don't think it would even if I'd only piled it on top.

 

 

Well...a food stylist I'm not, and I'm sure they all know that. I hope I can get this over to the party without any sudden stops. I'm trying to figure out what I can carry it in / on.

 

If I get a chance, I'll take a money shot to post later. Maybe if I feed everyone enough Guinness they'll like this cake!

 

[lemniscate]

22 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Well...a food stylist I'm not

I like it.

It has the look of a cumulus cloud, or the foam from a crashing wave.   

And it looks delicious.