Camping, Princess Style

[blue_dolphin]

19 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Pretend you're watching a Quentin Tarantino movie.

🤣🤣🤣

Love seeing the desert photos, especially the flowers.  Thanks for sharing.  In the last few days, I noticed recent newspaper reports of small earthquakes and dead birds due to avian cholera at the Salton Sea.  

 

24 minutes ago, Smithy said:

How do you go about deciding in advance whether various dishes will enhance?

If I'm planning a meal to share or cooking something entirely unfamiliar, I'll often consult the Flavor Bible or Vegetarian Flavor Bible.  

 

[heidih]

I love broccoli with fish sauce and an acid and garlic. Although I adore tomatoes raw I do not care for them with green veg, Since I like intense flavors I usually keep "hot, sour, salty, sweet in my head as my preference unless it is a creamy with dairy prep. 

[Shelby]

Definitely making your broccoli recipe as soon as I get some!

[FauxPas]

Salton Sea is such a quirky place with such an odd history. How long do you stay there? 

[gfweb]

On 1/23/2019 at 12:35 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I also find balsamic a natural pairing for Brussels sprouts.  Sadly I once calculated the price per drop.

 

Or reduce the balsamic to a light syrup first. Great on sprouts and cheeses

[heidih]

23 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Or reduce the balsamic to a light syrup first. Great on sprouts and cheeses

 

Exactly. For a crucifer like broccoli I find the cheap Trader Joe balsamic even straight makes an impact. 

[kayb]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

The broccoli recipe is wonderful. The dressing is made of lemon juice, garlic, anchovies (don't tell my darling), sun-dried tomatoes (I used some of the oven-roasted batch from our freezer) and olive oil, all whirred together in the food processor until smooth. A bit of grated parmesan is stirred in. The whole lot goes over steamed broccoli.

 

 

This is delicious, and we'll be doing it again. I think the same dressing will work well on other vegetables.

 

I will be trying this, but I'll roast my broccoli instead of steaming, because I just like it better. I bet it would also be killer on sauteed  Brussels sprouts, or roasted cauliflower. 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

1 minute ago, kayb said:

 

I will be trying this, but I'll roast my broccoli instead of steaming, because I just like it better. I bet it would also be killer on sauteed  Brussels sprouts, or roasted cauliflower. 

 

I was thinking the same thing about the dressing this morning, during our walk. I also mused on meat dishes that might go with it. Something stronger, I think...perhaps the right type of sausage? Then I said aloud, "maybe smoked turkey leg or a smoked pork shank".

My darling squinted at me. "But I like smoked pork shank with sauerkraut!"

Me: "Sure, but does it have to be done that way every single time?"

He: "Yes, why mess with success?"

 

*Groan* Another meat for which, in his mind, there is only One True Way to cook it. 😞

 

[Smithy]

 

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Love seeing the desert photos, especially the flowers.  Thanks for sharing.  In the last few days, I noticed recent newspaper reports of small earthquakes and dead birds due to avian cholera at the Salton Sea.  

 

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

How do you go about deciding in advance whether various dishes will enhance?

If I'm planning a meal to share or cooking something entirely unfamiliar, I'll often consult the Flavor Bible or Vegetarian Flavor Bible.  

 

We didn't notice any of the recent earthquakes. We were here for a 4.6 about 12 years ago, with the epicenter about 10 miles south, at Bombay Beach. I forget how far down it was. That one woke us up. I thought at first someone was trying to get into the trailer, then realized it was more like a giant hand shaking the trailer. Wind? No. We worked out what was happening, and the next day were able to get the details.

 

Thanks for those book recommendations. I'll see whether I can check them out from my library to scope them out more carefully. Would one of them be useful for matching a finished dish (like this broccoli recipe) to another finished dish, or is it more of the match-single-ingredients algorithm that would have prevented my mixing brussels sprouts and tomatoes in the pasta dish a few nights back?

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

Salton Sea is such a quirky place with such an odd history. How long do you stay there? 

 

We've stayed as little as overnight when we were in a hurry to maybe 2 weeks, depending on weather and our schedule. Impending rain drives us out in a hurry, as the campground turns into a clayey mire when it gets wet.

 

The Salton Sea area is indeed interesting, and is/was a birder's paradise. In the 1950's and '60's it was also a boating and sport-fishing paradise and it's had its share of oddball cults around the area. The water level has been declining due to high evaporation rates and low water input. When we first began visiting here, tilapia were still abundant but the other fish had disappeared due to the increasing salinity. In the last two years, I understand even the tilapia have stopped reproducing.  It's going too far from food to say much more, except to say that the water level is dropping and salinity rising even faster because the local agricultural runoff no longer comes in. As far as I know the farms to the north and south are still able to get enough water. However, the runoff is collected and sent to San Diego, to make up for Colorado River water that is no longer going to San Diego. (Water is a complicated issue in this state.) For more information about this particular issue, please see 12.31.2017 | Salton Sea Now!

 

For several years running, state and federal agencies collaborated on a "Pelican Days" festival here at this time of year. There were food stands, food tours and presentations on the natural history, indigenous populations and biologic importance of the area. The purpose of the festival was to spark the general public's interest and provide education about the problems it faces. I learned a lot (and ate well). The festival disappeared a couple of years ago but revived this year under another name. We missed it by a week.

[Porthos]

Wolfe's. I drive by it fairly frequently but have never stopped there. They also used to have a spot at the Los Angeles County Fair, but disappeared several years ago. I'll have to check their hours and see if I can stop there for a sandwich.

 

Maybe if timing works next year your could squeeze in a visit with my DW and me on your way to Claremont.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, gfweb said:

Or reduce the balsamic to a light syrup first. Great on sprouts and cheeses

 

Out of the bottle it is a heavy syrup.

 

[FauxPas]

6 hours ago, Smithy said:

Me: "Sure, but does it have to be done that way every single time?"

He: "Yes, why mess with success?"

 

My husband tends to take this approach as well. I just go ahead and do it differently if I feel strongly enough about it. The only problem is that we often do agree that the original method/pairing was indeed superior.   😣

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Out of the bottle it is a heavy syrup.

 

 

Not the stuff I buy. Cento is liquidy.

 

You must get the good stuff

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

 

Not the stuff I buy. Cento is liquidy.

 

You must get the good stuff

 

Hence the cost per drop.

 

[kayb]

21 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I was thinking the same thing about the dressing this morning, during our walk. I also mused on meat dishes that might go with it. Something stronger, I think...perhaps the right type of sausage? Then I said aloud, "maybe smoked turkey leg or a smoked pork shank".

My darling squinted at me. "But I like smoked pork shank with sauerkraut!"

Me: "Sure, but does it have to be done that way every single time?"

He: "Yes, why mess with success?"

 

*Groan* Another meat for which, in his mind, there is only One True Way to cook it. 😞

 

 

Ooohh. I bet it'd be good on pork tenderloin. And I have three in the freezer, as they were on sale at Aldi t'other day.

 

14 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Out of the bottle it is a heavy syrup.

 

 

My grocery carries a balsamic "glaze" as well as balsamic vinegar. The glaze appears to be a reduced, heavy syrup.

[chromedome]

21 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

*Groan* Another meat for which, in his mind, there is only One True Way to cook it. 😞

 

 

My late wife was bad for that, too. Admittedly I buy smoked hocks *primarily* to cook with sauerkraut, but I do enjoy them other ways as well.

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

Ooohh. I bet it'd be good on pork tenderloin. And I have three in the freezer, as they were on sale at Aldi t'other day.

 

By all means, let us know how it works if you try it. It occurred to me yesterday that the dressing might not do well with brussels sprouts for the same reason the tomatoes and brussels sprouts didn't compliment each other in my pasta dish the other night. Roasting the sprouts might bring out enough toasty / Maillard notes to stand up to the dressing, though. Maybe it would be the same for the pork tenderloin.

[heidih]

I think steamed/boiled and roasted are such different flavor profiles. Almost like a different vegetable. I like both. I'd roast the 'maters and use the sauce on pasta and be happy.

[MelissaH]

22 hours ago, Smithy said:

Thanks for those book recommendations. I'll see whether I can check them out from my library to scope them out more carefully. Would one of them be useful for matching a finished dish (like this broccoli recipe) to another finished dish, or is it more of the match-single-ingredients algorithm that would have prevented my mixing brussels sprouts and tomatoes in the pasta dish a few nights back?

What I'll sometimes do with these books: look up each ingredient, and compare the lists. (The lists will note if there are classic combinations or combinations that are really good, and sometimes they'll note if there are ingredients to avoid.) If there are list items in common for the ingredients in question, that's obviously a direction to explore. If the lists don't share any items exactly but have things that could be (tightly or loosely) thought of in the same balloon, there might be a way to put them together. And if the lists are widely divergent or explicitly listed as fighting with each other, I won't go there.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, kayb said:

My grocery carries a balsamic "glaze" as well as balsamic vinegar. The glaze appears to be a reduced, heavy syrup.

 

Probably less than 50 cents per drop.

 

[Anna N]

On 1/25/2019 at 2:30 PM, Smithy said:

Thanks for those book recommendations. 

 I see a book in somebody’s future that has not yet been written. I think it would be much more useful to have a book that says “these things don’t ever go together”. 😂

[Shelby]

I've kept my mouth shut about this because I didn't want to be outed as weirdo.  But just now I realized that you guys have known how I truly am for a lot of years now. 😂

 

I love brussels sprouts and tomatoes together.  I often pop open a jar of my tomatoes and dump them in with the sprouts after they've browned for a bit in the skillet.

 

 

[heidih]

I think it is personal and that is why the "Flavor Bible" rule stuff does not interest me. And since it is "all about me" as a singleton that is all that matters. I've jarred some friends with combinations but it often expanded their flavor palate.

[chileheadmike]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

I've kept my mouth shut about this because I didn't want to be outed as weirdo.  But just now I realized that you guys have known how I truly am for a lot of years now. 😂

 

I love brussels sprouts and tomatoes together.  I often pop open a jar of my tomatoes and dump them in with the sprouts after they've browned for a bit in the skillet.

 

 

 

Sounds good to me. 

I cook green beans with tomatoes and garlic.