Camping, Princess Style

[Smithy]

35 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

How many poms did you need for that amount of juice? I'm curious about the amount of juice you get from each pomegranate, is it similar? It's been a while since I've juiced poms but I think it varied quite a bit. Your juicer looks awesome! 

 

It was 3 poms for roughly 500 ml. (I'm sorry, I just remeasured that glass jar. I was misremembering its size; it's only 250ml. I'll go back to edit and correct that post.) Poms do vary in size, but the ones that have been showing up in stores lately are pretty big.

 

The juicer is wonderful. It's a vintage aluminum juicer made by Wear-Ever, and I consider it a family heirloom. My mother rescued it from a Navy wife's trash when that family was getting ready to leave Okinawa in the early 1950's. We grew up using it to squeeze lemons in particular, for summertime lemonade or my mother's wonderful lemon meringue pies, but at some point she realized it was also great for pomegranates. 

 

 

If you ever see one in a secondhand store or online (they turn up on eBay from time to time), buy it. You won't regret it. I have one for the Princessmobile as well as one at home (I think The Heirloom is at home). I've bought several and given them to friends who like to cook. 

 

Edited to add, for anyone interested: there are several on eBay right now, at various price points. Make sure it comes with the strainer.

Edited January 25 by Smithy
Added eBay note (log)

[BeeZee]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

 

Nice ideas! How would I go about doing either one? I think the molasses is simply cooked down to thicken, but I might not be right. No idea how to make grenadine!

The molasses is simple, around 1/2 cup sugar mixed into 4 cups juice, plus 2 tbs lemon juice, simmer until reduced to a syrupy consistency, it will be around 1 cup when it’s done. I scale down for much smaller batches, since I didn’t have that much juice or a great antique juicer!

[Kerry Beal]

6 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

It was 3 poms for roughly 500 ml. (I'm sorry, I just remeasured that glass jar. I was misremembering its size; it's only 250ml. I'll go back to edit and correct that post.) Poms do vary in size, but the ones that have been showing up in stores lately are pretty big.

 

The juicer is wonderful. It's a vintage aluminum juicer made by Wear-Ever, and I consider it a family heirloom. My mother rescued it from a Navy wife's trash when that family was getting ready to leave Okinawa in the early 1950's. We grew up using it to squeeze lemons in particular, for summertime lemonade or my mother's wonderful lemon meringue pies, but at some point she realized it was also great for pomegranates. 

 

 

If you ever see one in a secondhand store or online (they turn up on eBay from time to time), buy it. You won't regret it. I have one for the Princessmobile as well as one at home (I think The Heirloom is at home). I've bought several and given them to friends who like to cook. 

 

Edited to add, for anyone interested: there are several on eBay right now, at various price points. Make sure it comes with the strainer.

I grew up with one of those.

 

I'm sure I got one at a thrift store a few years back - gotta be around here somewhere!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

15 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I grew up with one of those.

 

I'm sure I got one at a thrift store a few years back - gotta be around here somewhere!

Same here.   It is one of those classics that family members verbally fight over before you go.   Like, "The juicer is MINE!"    "No way!   I was using it before you were born!"    "Not true!   Anyway, I've used it a lot more than you."     And, yes, as I remember, cost $3 at a garage sale.  

[Smithy]

I'm not sure yet what I'll do about dinner tonight. He began agitating for pork roast. A large (3 - 4 lbs) pork roast came out of the freezer today, but no way will it be thawed in time. I remember that @Pam R, way back when, discovered Cooking a Frozen Roast Without Thawing but I don't think I'm going to try it today. So the pork roast is thawing for tomorrow, and I pulled some chicken thighs out for today. How exactly I'll cook them remains to be seen.

 

Strange...sometimes I can't wait to try out new recipes, and other times it just seems like too much work to read, process and follow a recipe. I've had Melissa Clark's beautiful book Dinner: Changing the Game (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) checked out from the local library for a while. I'll probably use her for inspiration instead of following one of the recipes I've bookmarked. This is, incidentally, a gorgeous book. I usually find Clark's recipes in the NYTimes to be reliable. I may spring for my own copy of this book, but it seems a bit silly if I haven't cooked from it in a month of ogling.

 

I'm still benefiting from all the washing and chopping of broccoli, onions and cauliflower I did last week. I had tossed the cauliflower and onion chunks with oil, turmeric, cumin and salt in preparation for Melissa Clark's cauliflower shawarma, then not used all of it. Some of the remaining uncooked vegetables went into a pan dish last night, along with coins of Polish sausage and yet another simmering sauce.

 

 

Thanks to @rotuts' questions, I looked this time at the sodium content of the simmer sauce and the rice package.

 

 

The sauce had a fair amount of sodium, but the rice had none! I noticed the other day when I was shopping and looking at the Ready Rice packages that some at least have no salt added. Their basmati and jasmine both are salt-free.

 

 

I wondered how my darling would like a coconut curry korma sauce, and whether I'd like it with Polish sausage. We both were happy.

 

 

Last night, before I began cooking, we saw the Wolf Moon rise. This morning, we had a good clear shot of the sunrise. 

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

I'm glad to hear the rice was unsalted, not that I'm ever likely to buy it. 

 

In much of Asia, certainly in China, rice is served unsalted. It is intended to be a neutral background to the flavours of the accompanying dishes. Same in S.E. Asia.

 

The first time someone saw me salting rice I was preparing for dinner, they thought I had gone mad. I've never done so since.

 

Possibly a good test for the 'authenticity' of your local Bamboo Garden!

 

[blue_dolphin]

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

I've had Melissa Clark's beautiful book Dinner: Changing the Game (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) checked out from the local library for a while. I'll probably use her for inspiration instead of following one of the recipes I've bookmarked. This is, incidentally, a gorgeous book. I usually find Clark's recipes in the NYTimes to be reliable. I may spring for my own copy of this book, but it seems a bit silly if I haven't cooked from it in a month of ogling.

I'll offer a thumbs up for Dinner:Changing the Game. It offers a great bang for the buck. There are recipes suitable for any meal - breakfast, lunch, dinner or nibbles and lots of them. It's one of the most recommended books whenever people ask for suggestions from the cookbook group I participate in. As you say, her recipes are pretty reliable and I also find them riffable if you want to tweak them to your own taste. The Kindle version is currently $5.99 on Amazon. Not crazy bargain territory, but a fair price for a really solid book. 

[Smithy]

15 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I'm glad to hear the rice was unsalted, not that I'm ever likely to buy it. 

 

In much of Asia, certainly in China, rice is served unsalted. It is intended to be a neutral background to the flavours of the accompanying dishes. Same in S.E. Asia.

 

The first time someone saw me salting rice I was preparing for dinner, they thought I had gone mad. I've never done so since.

 

Possibly a good test for the 'authenticity' of your local Bamboo Garden!

 

 

You raise a very good point. When I cook rice from scratch I don't salt it either, so why would some of those pouches contain salt? I'll have to see if I can find a pattern to the salt/no-salt packages.

[Smithy]

45 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'll offer a thumbs up for Dinner:Changing the Game. It offers a great bang for the buck. There are recipes suitable for any meal - breakfast, lunch, dinner or nibbles and lots of them. It's one of the most recommended books whenever people ask for suggestions from the cookbook group I participate in. As you say, her recipes are pretty reliable and I also find them riffable if you want to tweak them to your own taste. The Kindle version is currently $5.99 on Amazon. Not crazy bargain territory, but a fair price for a really solid book. 

 

Thanks for that recommendation. I'll bite, so to speak, particularly because I'd like to see Ms. Clark get some money from me for her hard work. Granted, the Kindle version (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) won't give her much, but it'll ring something at the cash register.

[Smithy]

Last night's dinner wasn't inspired by anyone's recipe: I just wung it. Chopped chicken thighs seasoned with Italian herb mix, chunks of potato, onion, and bacon; a jar of Trader Joe's marinated grilled artichoke hearts, and a few cherry tomatoes. Not bad, but it needed...something. I put the last of my tahina sauce on it (a Clark recipe, there) but it needed something more. We won't have any trouble finishing the leftovers, but it wasn't one of those dishes where he said "I hope you wrote down what you did!"

 

 

This morning I've broken into a jar of rabbit rillettes I bought at a favorite restaurant at home before we left. Pretty good stuff, but quite rich. I think I'll cut it with something...green onions, perhaps? Chopped parsley?

 

 

Quick! If you're a cake baker, wouldn't you love to be able to put a finish like this on your chocolate cake?

 

 

It's actually mud drying and flaking in a nearby puddle. I can't help thinking it looks like chocolate curls atop chocolate glaze.

 

 

 

Edited January 27 by Smithy
Edited to add Italian seasoning on the chicken (log)

[Smithy]

Some of last night's leftovers for lunch. The stuff is dry, probably because the potatoes soaked up the bacon grease and moisture. It's also bland.

 

 

Or it was until I added kimchi. That's livening the dish up! But I don't think it's really the desired flavor profile...at least I'm getting in some fermented food.

[NadyaDuke]

I know this isn’t the Sunday Beans thread, but I was inspired by you and @DesertTinker to use the recipe to cook up a bag of RG Buckeye beans that had been hanging around. We just got a new standalone freezer to augment the small one in our fridge and I’m excited to be able have room to say  freeze precooked beans. I don’t have your skills at freezer Tetris, obviously! 
 

Bases on y’all’s warnings I cut back the salt and the result was great. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

Edited January 28 by NadyaDuke (log)

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, NadyaDuke said:

I know this isn’t the Sunday Beans thread, but I was inspired by you and @DesertTinker to use the recipe to cook up a bag of RG Buckeye beans that had been hanging around. We just got a new standalone freezer to augment the small one in our fridge and I’m excited to be able have room to say  freeze precooked beans. I don’t have your skills at freezer Tetris, obviously! 
 

Bases on y’all’s warnings I cut back the salt and the result was great. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

 

I'm very glad you tried the recipe and reported back! I like it when people try something I've written about, whether it's my own invention (quite rare) or someone else's. Besides, your link prodded me to go back and find where @lindag had said I could subscribe to her emails. I've done so. 

[Smithy]

I've mentioned before that pork is probably my darling's favorite meat. He's been jonesing for a pork roast...old-fashioned pork roast, the way he likes it. We've had one from home in the freezer, vacuum-packed, about 3 pounds. We finally hauled it out and cooked it the time-honored way: atop a layer of potatoes that had been nuked to give them a head start, covered with Lipton's Onion Soup mix, and cooked low and slow until the meat was done. Oven temperature was around 275 - 300F, which is as low as I can get on the bottom rack. We let it go a few hours until the meat reached 165F, then turned the oven off (it stays warm due to the pilot light) and let the meat coast until we were ready to eat.

 

 

I have been quietly working to shift our meals toward more vegetables and less meat, but I must say this was FABULOUS. Unctuous. Delicious. Yes, fatty. Note that there were a few vegetables, but they weren't the focus of last night's meal.

 

 

We carved the meat off the bone this morning and sliced it. The potatoes are in another container. We figure we have at least 2 meals each, maybe more. Since we still have leftovers from previous dinners as well, I don't think there will be much proper cooking going on for the next few days. Oh, except I need to cook more beans!

 

Last night's sunset:

 

 

 

[Smithy]

The clouds this predawn look like contrails from aerial dogfights. Don't know whether that's what's going on, but there is a Marine Air Base nearby.

 

 

As I'd planned, and as suggested by @DesertTinker, I made another pot of The Homesick Texan's Sunday Pinto Beans using the same seasonings but omitting the salt entirely. The aroma was maddeningly good all day -- as good as the previous day's pork roast! When the beans were essentially done, I put the previous batch of beans in, added a bit more water, and put them back in the oven to get to know each other better.

 

 

 

They look dry in the photo, but with a good stir their texture was fine. Still too salty, though! So I think as long as I'm using Morton fine sea salt I'll use 1/4 of the amount called for in the original recipe.

 

We had taco salads, of a sort. He used chips to push his around, and I used a spoon.

 

 

 

I have a lot of these beans remaining, for quick dinners or snacks. Maybe i'll have a breakfast burrito!

[Smithy]

In the last few days we've been working on leftovers, or what @Anna N would have called "planned-overs": pea stew, pork roast and potatoes, perfunctory vegetables of some sort. We're trying to work our way through the refrigerator and freezer contents, because next Wednesday is Old Farts Day at the local grocery store. We know ourselves well enough to know that we'll come home loaded! Gotta empty the refrigerator and freezer so we can stuff them again! 😄

 

Yesterday I tried my red cabbage sauerkraut for the first time, and was quite pleased with it. I posted more about that here in the Preservation topic.

 

 

Last night I got around to cooking some bacon and chunks of ribeye steak that were sent home with us in a freezer package last fall after our great-grandson's first birthday party. The family loved the skewered meats and vegetables, but we were assured that they wouldn't cook it for themselves. Okay, then. We came home with it, and last night I cooked it in the oven, on a baking sheet. I sneaked mushrooms into the mix too. My darling thinks he doesn't like mushrooms, but he doesn't seem to mind them when they're wrapped with bacon. 🙂

 

 

There's a tomato or two in there also. Cherry tomatoes stuffed into the pit of the mushroom, before wrapping the ensemble with bacon, work better but we're out of cherry tomatoes. I was going to add jalapenos but got lazy.

 

I used the package of Ben's Original Ready Rice, the Whole Grain Medley for a base layer. This is a package I bought because of the grain mix, but hadn't noticed the sodium content until @rotuts asked about it. I won't get it again because I have unsalted options that are just as convenient, but we had no other complaints about it.

 

 

Overall it was a delicious and easy dinner. And there are planned-overs!

 

 

To the west of us, they're worrying about rain and more rain. We're supposed to get some, but not as much; we're out of the expected path of the Pineapple Expresses headed for the West Coast. Still, the clouds have made for beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

 

 

 

[Smithy]

The desert's starting its spring. The photos don't fully capture the green carpet beginning to velvet the landscape, but here's an attempt.

 

 

My experiments with fermented foods continue -- I was going to say "apace", but I bought cabbages last Wednesday and still haven't shredded them for the next round of kraut! So the experiments continue at a crawl.

 

I decided I like having kefir as part of my morning routine enough to get a dedicated vessel for it. $7 later at Target, I had found a flask of the right size and geometry. The plastic milk jugs I've been using have too many ridges and are difficult to clean. The glass milk jug I bought milk home in had too sharp of shoulders to allow me to clean it thoroughly, so I returned if for its deposit. Here's my new setup:

 

 

After I get going on kraut, I'll be trying to make my own kimchi, maybe -- although it's pretty easy to find at grocery stores. Of these two varieties, I preferred the spicy version. I've worked my way through enough of them to combine the two jars. I like kimchi mixed into a tuna salad! This particular batch also has a bit of my red cabbage kraut in it.

 

 

I've been eating green salads a few times a week. A few days ago, the remnants of the steak-mushroom-bacon sheet pan dinner graced a late lunch.

 

 

Yesterday I was going to make something from Deep Run Roots, but ran out of motivation. Instead I cooked the Green Beans, Toasted Almonds and Feta salad from Cookie and Kate (using walnuts instead of almonds). I was sorry to read that Kate had lost her friend Cookie last year. Rest in Peace, pup.

 

Aside from the green beans, it was a couple of Jalapeno Polish sausages from Miiler's in Llano last fall. We finally finished off a package!

 

 

His dinner plate looked like mine, except that he had toast and skipped the sauerkraut.

 

More spring color:

 

[MaryIsobel]

4 hours ago, Smithy said:

The desert's starting its spring. The photos don't fully capture the green carpet beginning to velvet the landscape, but here's an attempt.

 

 

My experiments with fermented foods continue -- I was going to say "apace", but I bought cabbages last Wednesday and still haven't shredded them for the next round of kraut! So the experiments continue at a crawl.

 

I decided I like having kefir as part of my morning routine enough to get a dedicated vessel for it. $7 later at Target, I had found a flask of the right size and geometry. The plastic milk jugs I've been using have too many ridges and are difficult to clean. The glass milk jug I bought milk home in had too sharp of shoulders to allow me to clean it thoroughly, so I returned if for its deposit. Here's my new setup:

 

 

After I get going on kraut, I'll be trying to make my own kimchi, maybe -- although it's pretty easy to find at grocery stores. Of these two varieties, I preferred the spicy version. I've worked my way through enough of them to combine the two jars. I like kimchi mixed into a tuna salad! This particular batch also has a bit of my red cabbage kraut in it.

 

 

I've been eating green salads a few times a week. A few days ago, the remnants of the steak-mushroom-bacon sheet pan dinner graced a late lunch.

 

 

Yesterday I was going to make something from Deep Run Roots, but ran out of motivation. Instead I cooked the Green Beans, Toasted Almonds and Feta salad from Cookie and Kate (using walnuts instead of almonds). I was sorry to read that Kate had lost her friend Cookie last year. Rest in Peace, pup.

 

Aside from the green beans, it was a couple of Jalapeno Polish sausages from Miiler's in Llano last fall. We finally finished off a package!

 

 

His dinner plate looked like mine, except that he had toast and skipped the sauerkraut.

 

More spring color:

 

We like that green bean salad, make it for almost every family gathering.

 

[Smithy]

The sunrise has moved north of the nearby mountains now. Days are noticeably longer, although still relatively cool.

 

 

I'm pretty happy with the current air temperatures in the high 60s to mid 70s, especially given the way the Princessmobile heats up on sunny days. My darling is anxiously waiting for what he considers proper warmth (temps in the 80s). When that happens I'll be whinging about the heat, and he'll be ecstatic. Maybe we'll be interested in sitting outside by a campfire, anyway. For a variety of reasons that hasn't happened yet this season.

 

Vivian Howard has a great-looking recipe in Deep Run Roots (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) for Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak with Cucumber and Charred Onion Relish. Fortunately, I have the Kindle version here and fortunately, Eat Your Books pointed me to it when I was trying to work out what to do with a flank steak in the freezer. It turned out that the flank steak was a flatiron steak, but never mind. I used that recipe anyway. 

 

As so often happens these days, the prep started one day and the cooking happened a couple of days later. I'd already peeled, cut, salted and started draining the cucumbers. Her recipe calls for grilling onion slices to char them; I cooked them in a hot oven on a baking sheet instead. I had to do some substitutions with the other ingredients: I didn't have all the fresh herbs she wanted, but it's a pretty forgiving relish. I used all the parsley and cilantro taking space in the refrigerator.

 

 

The spice rub is a mixture of cumin, paprika, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I mixed according to her proportions and have a jarful left over; that's a good thing, since the rub is tasty. The steak sat, rubbed, overnight in the refrigerator. When it came time to cook, I preheated a cast iron skillet in the hot oven, threw the steak into the skillet and put it back in the oven. Flipped it after a minute or so, did the other side. Sliced and served. The relish went atop a simple lettuce salad with oil and balsamic vinegar, and the steak chunks went onto that.

 

 

I thought it all quite good. He thought the meat was too tough -- despite being cut into bite-sized chunks. We both loved the salad and relish, and are glad to have more of it. The relish and spice rub, at least, are keepers. The flatiron steak was a bargain experiment anyway, so I'm not much fussed at the prospect of leaving it off our shopping lists. 🙂

[Smithy]

And now for something completely different: I went to a restaurant yesterday! (No, it wasn't Monster Tacos although I may make time to try that place too.)

 

I spent the day in town and had a gap between appointments, so decided to check out this new restaurant. Shawarma Vibes caught my eye when we arrived in Yuma last November. It turns out they've been open since last August.

 

 

I love Middle Eastern food, but in most places we hang out I have to make it myself if I'm going to have it. There was a Middle Eastern market and deli here a few years ago, but they didn't last long. I was sorry to see them go, partly because they were a good source for the boxed Egyptian feta cheese we like but also because of their food...when they could be bothered to serve it. Whether the place failed due to its spectacularly poor service or due to a lack of market in Yuma I never learned. I hope that it was the poor service, and that Shawarma Vibes fares better. 

 

The place offers takeout or dine-in, and offers both indoor and outdoor dining. I opted to eat indoors, and was promptly brought a menu, a cup of lentil soup, and pita chips.

 

 

Let me tell you: I'm not usually one to rave about lentil soup, but this was marvelous. Smooth, warm, quite delicious. I forgot to ask what the broth base was. While I enjoyed that, and ignored the fact that it would have been quite enough lunch for me, I perused the menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So many delicious-sounding options! While I dithered, the waitress pointed out the day's special: chicken or beef shawarma wrap with fries and a fountain drink. The whole shebang was $8. I ordered the chicken wrap.

 

 

This was a very generous plate! I was a little surprised at the chicken chunks rather than shavings from a gyro, as I normally see chicken shawarma. That's probably a safer bet for a fairly small operation than having the rotating stuff waiting to be shaved. 

 

 

I was also a bit surprised at the pita wrapped around the lot and grilled. I think I prefer a thinner wrap (Babylon Market in Tucson uses tortillas and grills them) for its tenderness, but I'm not going to quibble. The flavors were good, and there was a lot. In fact, I brought most of it home. I also ordered a large serving (about a pint) of lentil soup to bring home.

 

If you've looked at the prices on the menu, you can see that the place isn't really cheap...but all that food, and a tip, ran me $23. My darling and I spend about that much buying 2 Whoppers and fries at Carl's Jr. I'd say this is a much better deal.

[rotuts]

@Smithy

 

thank you for the menu's  

 

I could move into that place right now

 

and stay for a while.

 

at least for 3 or 4 full plate servings.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

If you've looked at the prices on the menu, you can see that the place isn't really cheap...

On the pricing, I rarely go out to restaurants so I'm no judge but I think everything has gotten really expensive, especially for small places that can't take advantage of big corporate purchasing contracts. 

I recently saw a mention of a new Korean restaurant in Ventura and was sort of shocked at the menu prices.

A "small bite" kimchi pancake: $13.45. Kimchi fried rice: $15.75 plus $4 if you want to add beef or $3.50 for pork.  Fruit drinks like mango-ade: $8.25.  Adds up!

Edited to add that it's a "fast-casual" place where you order at a touch-screen kiosk and pick up your food and utensils at a counter in the back. 

Edited February 13 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Smithy]

24 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

On the pricing, I rarely go out to restaurants so I'm no judge but I think everything has gotten really expensive, especially for small places that can't take advantage of big corporate purchasing contracts. 

 

I think you're probably right about everything getting expensive, and the small-business disadvantage makes sense. When 2 burgers and fries, without drinks, cost $22 at a fast-food chain that's quite an indication of price hikes. We've also been noticing it at the grocery store.

 

Thanks for the link to the Korean place! You're right -- those are wildly high prices. Fun to look, though. "K-Fried" chicken made me do a double take. Does the "K" stand for Korean, or are they trying to suggest the Kentucky Colonel without copyright infringement?

[blue_dolphin]

19 minutes ago, Smithy said:

"K-Fried" chicken made me do a double take. Does the "K" stand for Korean, or are they trying to suggest the Kentucky Colonel without copyright infringement?

 

Yes, Korean fried chicken.  I understand that it's often called Korean Fried Chikin for the reason you mention!  They seem to have gone half way, calling it "chiken" 🙃

[Porthos]

On 12/23/2023 at 1:13 PM, Smithy said:

Dessert time for my darling (and later for me): a bit of Christmas self-indulgence.

 

 

The Yuma Optimists Club has its annual fundraiser selling See's Candies from a stand. For the last year or three I've bought a big box for the badly-overworked, underappreciated staff in our post office. They know us, even though we're only part-timers! This year I got particular thanks because they feel so overwhelmed and mostly hear complaints.

 

While I'm at the stand, I buy a small box for us. Hey, the money goes to a good cause. 😉

 

 

 

Ah .... See's.  🥰