Camping, Princess Style

[Smithy]

So, it looks like I have another grocery store tour for you! I drove to town to get a prescription refilled, refuel the pickup, and make sure my 4-footed family has enough food to get home. I discovered a wonderful grocery store called Cosentino's Price Chopper. They have a gorgeous produce section:

 

 

...and although I didn't need much, I had wanted spinach for a project I'll show you later. 

 

Their deli counter has a wonderful mural.

 

 

If you didn't want to cook, or were pressed for time, you had plenty of options.

 

 

 

And look at these sweet treats! I'm not sure I've ever seen cannoli in the wild before. These were gorgeous and tempting, though I didn't buy.

 

 

There were some really good bargains on pork roasts. I thought of my darling, and how we'd probably have bought one or two of these if he were still around.

 

 

In another area, they had seafood and specials ready to grill. I certainly didn't need anything. 

 

 

But I'm camped! And I have a fire pit!

 

 

I bought a pound of shrimp. Frozen, peeled, deveined, good price.

 

And baby "power greens" rather than just spinach. They'll do as well for what I need.

 

[Smithy]

Yesterday morning, when I'd decided to stick around here, I thought to myself "Self, there are still 1-1/3 dozen eggs in the refrigerator. Time to do something with them." You see, I'd come from home with a dozen eggs...maybe more, I don't remember...and then not used as many as I'd anticipated. When my sister came to visit, we didn't get around to eating eggs either. 

 

@rotuts' comment about lavash making a good wrap has stuck with me. Somewhere since then, I'd seen a great-looking recipe online for spinach, feta and egg breakfast wraps. I couldn't find that recipe. What the heck. I decided to wing it. I got out 4 eggs, thereby emptying the 1/3 dozen from home, and whipped them up with a bit of half-and-half. I realized I had no spinach, but I did have broccoli florets. I chopped them finely. I pulled out some of that great Trader Joe's sundried tomatoes in olive oil and chopped them finely. The oil from the tomatoes would supplement the butter I planned to use for cooking.

 

I looked around for an appropriate cheese to add. Hmm, here's a luxury cheese from home. Impulse buy. Never fished out of the cheese basket. Maybe it was time to try it?

 

 

Nope. Hard as a rock. Really. For shame! I'll have to consult the "What to do with very hard cheese" topic for ideas. Better still, maybe someone reading this will chime in with ideas!

 

Okay, how about this Cotija?

 

 

Yep. Very nice. I probably could have crumbled it, but chopping was quicker.

 

Okay, all set to go except for the pan. I was working inside. Note to self: pack a smaller skillet or two into this Princessmobile! I left all the nonstick pans behind, except for the large ones. I was a bit leery of using my cast iron skillet, even though it's well seasoned. The nonstick wok would have to do.

 

 

It actually wasn't bad for this purpose, just bigger than necessary with the water-use excess that implies for cleanup afterward.

 

I learned anew that I still don't have the hang of putting together wraps that will hold together. It's as difficult for me with lavash as with a tortilla!

 

 

I made two wraps and gave them a bit of a sear in the skillet. That may have helped stiffen them, and definitely helped clean up stray oil in the pan.

 

Breakfast yesterday was messy but good.

 

 

The original article -- where the heck was that thing? -- had suggested these wraps as grab-and-go ideas, and I thought that sounded appealing for the rest of my road trip. The second wrap went into the refrigerator until today.

 

 

Still messy, still good after I'd reheated it. I don't like cold eggs except the occasional hard-boiled egg, usually in something. This was no exception.

 

It was even better with salsa. Definitely not a candidate for road food, though.

 

 

After all that was done, I stumbled over the original inspiration: a NYT recipe I'd filed away a couple of days ago! Here it is, in case you're interested. It called for baking a frittata in the oven, then cutting it into squares and wrapping it. I was way off base on my recollection, but I'm pretty happy with the overall results. Except for my wrapping skills.

 

(Incidentally, I've begun a running list of things to pack next time that I wish I'd brought, like a small nonstick skillet or two. There are a few things I'll be able to leave behind as well, but not many.)

Edited yesterday at 01:27 AM by Smithy
Spelling (log)

[Dave the Cook]

 

4 hours ago, Smithy said:

I've begun a running list of things to pack next time that I wish I'd brought

 

Your voyages are exciting and inspiring. It's heartening to know that there will be a next time.

[Maison Rustique]

OMG!! Cosentino's Price Chopper is near me! Where are/were you??? If you're still around, I have another market for you to visit!!

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Maison Rustique said:

OMG!! Cosentino's Price Chopper is near me! Where are/were you??? If you're still around, I have another market for you to visit!!

 

I'm pinned down by rain today near Lyndon, Kansas; and weather permitting will be leaving tomorrow, so the market may have to wait. But what and where is it? I'm hoping to come back through here again!

 

(It's very loud right now, but I bet it's even louder in Wichita, to my south!)

 

[Shelby]

It's been very loud for most of the night.  Poor Scout is terrified by thunder.  It's almost 9 in the morning and I can't get her to go out and potty.  I know she has to be bursting.  

[Smithy]

18 minutes ago, Shelby said:

It's been very loud for most of the night.  Poor Scout is terrified by thunder.  It's almost 9 in the morning and I can't get her to go out and potty.  I know she has to be bursting.  

 

Yes. Sooner or later, PJ will need to go out although he seems to have an iron bladder. When he goes out, so will I...that's part of the deal...and then I'll have to deal with a wet dog when we get back! Still, it's just rain here. There was thunder and lightning in the wee hours, but not right now.

[Smithy]

<Cue Allan Sherman, singing "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah">

 

I decided to stay here in order to sit out, rather than drive through, expected rainy weather. Now that it's actually here, I'm wondering if I could have stayed ahead of it! But this is a nice place, and the die is cast, so I'll just plan on rainy-day activities. I'm glad I did my running around before the rain hit.

 

I've never seen the campground this full, but my darling and I never were here -- or any other developed campground -- on a holiday weekend. Yesterday and the day before, it was lush, green and mostly sunny. The green spaces have been filled with people playing: disk golf, baseball or other forms of catch, volleyball (one man holding a toddler in one arm and making excellent hits with the other!) and other activities. Kids learning to bicycle or ride on scooters. Folks out on the lake, fishing or simply paddling and enjoying the sunshine. Folks fishing from the shore.

 

 

Some sites have elaborate cooking setups. Some spaces have 3 trailers set up, with long picnic tables and multiple gas griddles. The cooking smells have been wonderful. I, having planned to only be here a couple of days, didn't bother pulling out the camp stove. I planned to use the campfire setup instead.

 

And on 2 nights I've gotten a fire going, with one of my darling's superburgers thawed, only to have my kind neighbor come across the way with surplus food from their dinner! The first night it was breaded and fried catfish and hush puppies, with a nonsweet tartar sauce. Delicious. He showed me a picture of the catfish he catches and keeps. I think he said it's yellow catfish, as opposed to the channel catfish. He showed me a picture. Those things are huge! 30 pounds is a small one. He likes to go out and fish in the local streams after the rains, because the rain washes nutrients into the streams and the "cats" swim upstream to feed, then are stopped by the dams.

 

 

I learned a bit about catfish from my neighbor, and why they may or may not be good eating. @Shelby often showcases fried catfish and makes it look good. The first time I ate catfish it was at a restaurant, and it was the last time I tried it for years. Nasty, muddy flavor. Tasted like a muddy bottom feeder and I couldn't see the attraction. Eventually I tried it again and found it wasn't necessarily bad. According to my neighbor, one has to clean the catfish carefully and remove not only the interrnal organs but also the dark meat surrounding the body cavity; that dark meat contains fats that will cause an off-flavor to the cooking oil. He says he still gets about 20 pounds of meat from a 40-pound catfish. 

 

Yesterday I built a fire again, had it going, and my neighbor came over with more food! He'd cooked an entire rack of ribs, and beans, and a potato dish, and it was just him and his wife. (Their kids had already gone home.)

 

 

Again, delicious. He came over after I'd finished eating, while his wife was off at the shower, and we shared some wine and conversation. Maybe I'll get to that burger tonight, but it will have to be inside cooking I'm sure.

 

Only one party was disappointed by yesterday's dinner.

 

Edited Sunday at 03:45 PM by Smithy
spelling, as usual (log)

[Maison Rustique]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I'm pinned down by rain today near Lyndon, Kansas; and weather permitting will be leaving tomorrow, so the market may have to wait. But what and where is it? I'm hoping to come back through here again!

 

(It's very loud right now, but I bet it's even louder in Wichita, to my south!)

 

 

Well, Liberty, MO. I didn't realize Cosentino's had any stores that far into Kansas. My sister is in Topeka and they don't have them there. And I'm not sure of locations in Kansas, but I was thinking of HyVee. The store very near my house is huge and wonderful. As you near Kansas City metro, there are many Asian markets that you might enjoy browsing. Just not sure how your route is taking you--when the storms pass. Pretty sure they are supposed to be here through the day/evening.

[Smithy]

@Maison Rustique, thanks for that! We've been to a HyVee or two in past years, I think in Iowa. I agree that they're wonderful stores. As for Asian stores near the metro Kansas City area: that sounds like fun, but I'd have to be a lot closer to the metro area and not pulling the Princessmobile.

 

It's confession time: even though I made it into and out of the L.A. Basin with the Princessmobile, the idea of towing it through major metropolitan areas -- even on freeways -- still gives me the heebie-jeebies. There's a sweet spot for me that I'm still trying to learn to predict: which routes and times will have good roads but not too much traffic. The other day, on my way here, I took a series of county and state highways in order to avoid the Oklahoma City metro area. I got off onto the streets of a small town, thanks to conflicting GPS information  and missing several turns. "Turn left on Main Street" and "Turn Right on Main Street" from 2 different voices is not something one wants to hear! 

 

My darling still could top it with one of his early trucking experiences in his 20's: somehow, he got going the wrong way on a one way street on Manhattan Island! Fortunately, it was the middle of the night. Fortunately, the police were helpful. Fortunately, the population of this country was less than half what it is now and traffic was never as heavy. But still...! It was quite the adventure, and he loved telling the story.

 

It looks like a lot of people are clearing out today. I suppose, for those who don't have far to go, making a break for home would make sense. I think I'll have a spot of lunch: some of last night's ribs, I think. It's nice to have electricity so I can use the microwave oven.

[Smithy]

I was on my own for dinner tonight; it's so windy and cool that I chose to stay in. My neighbors, hardier than I, ate outside but kept to themselves except for pleasant visits during the day. I had given him some of my homemade salsa yesterday, but have no idea whether they've opened and tried it yet.

 

I dithered over how to cook the superburger I'd thawed, intending to cook it, two days ago. Finally I decided on Papa's pan in the oven, in hopes that the burger would cook nicely without spattering all over the kitchen. I still had to turn on the exhaust fan and ceiling fan, to keep the smoke / CO2 alarm from going off, but they shuffled enough air to calm the alarms quickly.

 

This unglamorous shot shows the raw burger, on the left, and the finished burger, on the right. I flipped the pan once, over the sink, and didn't make too much of a mess.

 

 

This even less glamorous shot shows dinner. A sublime salad and a ridiculous burger before I slathered it with mayonnaise. I really didn't want all the burger trimmings (bun, lettuce, tomato, pickle). A good food stylist would have, oh, put the burger atop the salad and drizzled the whole thing with some lovely sauce. I've looked around the Princessmobile. Can't find a food stylist anywhere!

 

 

For the record, that method of cooking the burger in Papa's pan in the oven (at around 400, maybe 450F) worked pretty well. Not as well as over a campfire, but better than in a stovetop skillet.

[Smithy]

On 2/21/2025 at 12:43 PM, ElsieD said:

@Smithy i just put in an order with Gouter.  It included a Strawberry and White Panetonne.  I've taken to spreading a miniscule amount of butter on a slice of panetonne, putting it into a dry frying pan and warm over not too high heat until both sides have browned up a bit.  Delicious.

 

Elsie, did you ever report back on this particular Panetonne? If you did, I missed it. How were the strawberries and white chocolate with that?

[ElsieD]

No, i never did report back.  But we liked the chocolate one a lot better than the strawberry one.  We found the strawberry one not very flavorful, but the quality of the cake was excellent.  I'd buy the chocolate one again but not the strawberry.  I liked the traditional fruit one too once I picked the citron out of it.  John won't eat what he calls gumdrops  so it was all mine.  

[Smithy]

I extended my stay here another day due to rain. Eventually I'll have to move, rain or no rain, but I got soaked just going out on my morning walk. Rain hitting me at, oh, 2 mph is quite different than rain hitting the windshield at, oh, 55 mph. So I had a relaxing day here, puttering around in the trailer, doing what I could to pack up, going out on walks and getting wet. Oh, and admiring the flowers and greenery. The desert already seems so long ago! It's nice to see milkweed about to pop. The milkweed vines in the desert never managed to bloom where and when I was this year.

 

 

Since I had a gift of time, I decided to deal with a lot of stray foods in one cooking project. And boy, there were a lot of strays!

 

The cheese that was too hard to do anything with a couple of days ago got a microwave softening treatment described more fully here. 

 

The baguette my sister had brought was only half-eaten and brittly hard.

 

 

I wetted it and wrapped it in foil, then stuck it in the oven (300ish?) for about 20 minutes, then was able to (very roughly) dice it. Once again, I thank @FrogPrincesse for that trick.

 

An onion, neglected during my sister's visit because she doesn't like 'em, was starting to sprout and turn soft.

 

 

I had a salami from a lovely bereavement gift package sent me by dear friends last summer after my darling died. It had gone unopened so far.

 

 

There was a pint of chicken broth in the freezer, left over from the last time I had enough chicken carcasses to make broth. I was tired of its falling out every time I opened the door after moving. There was a partial jar of the Trader Joe's Sun-dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil.

 

The only new or fresh things that went into this dish were some of the baby greens I bought a couple of days ago, some broccoli florets, and a couple of Penzey's spices from my shipment a month or two ago:

 

 

The Outrage turns out to be as hot as its name implies, and very little of it was used in the sweating stage of this dish. I was pretty generous with the Italian Herb mix.

 

 

Then the layering began.

 

 

Eventually I had that little souffle dish filled to the top, with everything compressed, and broth added to about the 2/3 mark. 350F, covered, for about 45 minutes, with periodic checks on doneness and additions of more broth.

 

 

I love the way panades swell as the stale bread soaks up the liquids! I did top this one with a bit of freshly shredded Gruyere ("best by" date of February 2025).

 

 

I'm calling it Panade Perdu.

 

[Dave the Cook]

I'm impressed with your fortitude and your inventiveness.  What's the difference, if any, between a panade and a bread pudding?

[Smithy]

5 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

I'm impressed with your fortitude and your inventiveness.  What's the difference, if any, between a panade and a bread pudding?

 

That's a heck of a good question! My flip answer is that bread pudding sounds dreadful and panade sounds exotically good. But that just means I've never knowingly had bread pudding. (I have the same knee-jerk reaction to the idea of rice pudding, and I know some people adore it.)

 

As I understand it, a bread pudding is more likely to be a dessert (sweet) dish and a panade is more likely to be savory. A very quick, unscientific scan of recipes on my part also suggests that bread pudding is more likely to involve eggs and cream (or milk) whereas the panade is more likely to involve broth. Beyond that I won't go, since I'm talking through my hat. Maybe someone else will chime in who knows the difference. 

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, Dave the Cook said:

I'm impressed with your fortitude and your inventiveness.  What's the difference, if any, between a panade and a bread pudding?

 and panzanella and stuffing, for that matter.

 

I'd say that a panade is something mixed into a ground meat dish so as to be homogenized. And everything else isn't.

 

It may be a matter of ratios and of application.

[Smithy]

8 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 and panzanella and stuffing, for that matter.

 

I'd say that a panade is something mixed into a ground meat dish so as to be homogenized. And everything else isn't.

 

It may be a matter of ratios and of application.

 

I have learned over the years that "panade" has at least 2 senses. One is what you mean: the bread mixture added to, say, meatloaf as a binder. The other sense of panade is the one I mean, that I first learned from Judy Rodger's Zuni Cafe Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). Here's what she had to say:

Quote

A PANADE, LITERALLY, A “BIG BREAD THING,” IS A FLUFFY, GRATINÉED CASSEROLE of stale bread and stewed onions, moistened with broth or water {made with water, it might be tagged acquacotta, an Italian relation}. Enriched with cheese and layered with greens or tomatoes, this primitive peasant gratin becomes an affordable luxury dish.

 

[Maison Rustique]

I'm no expert, but in my mind, bread pudding has eggs and milk. Panade has no eggs and has broth as opposed to milk, though the one I love to make for holidays also has wine. Again, that's my own personal opinion.

[blue_dolphin]

I’m very impressed at the resurrection of the cheese and at all the little odds and ends you were able to put to good use in that panade!  
I need to check out that Zuni recipe!

[Smithy]

One of the (presumably) obvious things about traveling solo in the Princessmobile is that preparation and setup take roughly twice the time as when there were two of us. For example: in the Good Old Days, he'd be doing outside prep chores while I was making lunches. We'd share some exterior duties, like hooking up the trailer, stowing the Anaconda (that's the massive 50A power cord that weighs half as much as I do), doublechecking that nothing is left behind and everything is working properly. Now it all falls to me. I learned, among other things, that the serious disadvantage of camping under a tree is all the debris that drops onto the glides and has to be swept off. Sure, the tree protected the Princessmobile from hail, but instead dropped wet leaf litter and seed pods. Ah, well. 

 

It would have been a bit quicker if I hadn't bothered to document my road-food sandwiches, but I decided to take pictures. I made 2 sandwiches so I won't have to do it tomorrow. Both are generous: one on the Prairie Los Angeles Heritage bread, and one on sourdough bread I've had stowed in the freezer.

 

Here are the meats and cheeses:

 

and the evolution of the sandwiches themselves:

 

(Incidentally, with these sandwiches I finished off a small jar of pickle relish and a large jar of pickles. I'm making headway in the refrigerator.)

 

I'll tell you what: the storage containers that Wolfe's used for enchiladas are coming in very handy now.

 

As it turns out, a less obvious disadvantage to solo travel is navigation. I had 2, count 'em 2 GPS systems. One kept cutting out. The other hasn't been properly updated. Eventually they both agreed on what to tell me to do, when they were both talking, because I'd known more or less which route I wanted to take and kept going that way until they capitulated. That is, I thought they had capitulated....

 

Remember I said I really, really wanted to avoid Kansas City?

 

I found myself taking the Turnpike eastbound, right to the edge but slightly north of Kansas City. Road closures. Construction. Breathe, Smithy! And near the end, there I was looking at "Liberty, Missouri". 3 or more exits worth. Right where I'd told @Maison Rustique I didn't want to go. 🙂

I waved a silent, and general, hello to her, not knowing exactly where she was, and eventually got out onto open freeway again.

 

The other thing that doesn't work as smoothly is eating. Sure, I had those great sandwiches. In the Good Old Days the passenger would have  opened the cooler, fished out a sandwich and napkin for the driver, and the driver would have had a leisurely meal when driving on non-busy roads. Nope. I had half of one sandwich at a rest area, and pressed on. The rest is all in the refrigerator for tomorrow, or the next day.

 

I made it to my intended destination in southern Iowa: the Lakeside Casino, formerly known as Terrible's. In past years we've been here a month earlier. This year the goslings in the flotilla are larger than in past visits, having grown somewhat larger than puffballs with legs.

 

 

I was Very Hungry by the time I went through the rigmarole of establishing a reservation (required even though the RV park is mostly empty) and setting up. Of course I could have had leftovers, or another half-sandwich. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to the restaurant, since my darling and I had almost always gone there to dine on our way home and there might be painful memories. I decided to chance it.

 

If you're interested in seeing their entire weeknight menu, take a look here. In most years past, I've opted for their "Awesome chicken sandwich" and it has sometimes been awesome, sometimes more average. This year, I was more inclined to try their fish and chips. Then I noticed that they had a prime rib sandwich (until supplies run out). I asked about it. Turns out the prime rib in the sandwich is shaved, or shredded, or some such. Nope. For just a few dollars more, I could have this:

 

 

We never splurged to that degree here. My darling always felt that his (our) home-cooked ribeye steaks couldn't be beat, and he wasn't interested in risking money or calories on a lesser product. Besides...in his later years he always claimed to prefer pork.

 

I ordered a draft beer, the first I've had in a very long time. It came, and I sipped and pondered, then ordered. What the heck. I'm almost home. It's almost a special occasion, and also a sad one. (Last visit, we were together. Two or three visits ago, Iowa Dee was still alive. I don't like the trend.) I ordered the 12-oz prime rib, medium rare, and prepared myself to sip and enjoy and remember.

 

Well. Before I could say "Sam Adams" the dinner was delivered!

 

 

I really hadn't intended to have beer with that dinner, but I wasn't even a quarter of the way through the lager. It wasn't a bad combination, just not the wine-and-beef I'd had in mind. No matter. The rib was good. The horseradish sauce and "au jus" provided were excellent with it, and the sour cream quite good on the potato. The vegetables were, well, "filling" is the best I can say for them.

 

I took a few bits of the prime rib and enjoyed them immensely.

 

 

I ate about half the potato and all the vegetables, and brought the remainders home to the Princessmobile. So now I really, truly won't have to do any food prep before I get home. I may buy something anyway, but if I do it will be because I simply can't resist. Or obligation in a Walmart.

[Maison Rustique]

Glad you made it safely through the metro congestion and road work, but so sorry we didn't get to visit. Next time!!! I'm looking at a new house today, so I may be out of Liberty next time, but not that far!! I'll keep you posted.