Camping, Princess Style

[ElsieD]

Potatoes.

[curls]

I'm guessing potatoes were easier than onions.

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Potatoes. Onions release too much juice (and tears as a result).

[Smithy]

Well, those of you who guessed potatoes cut more easily than onions in that chopper were right. Like DesertTinker, I expected the potatoes to be tougher because of their tighter structure, and because of the difficulty in slicing them lengthwise with french fry cutters. My darling reports that the onions were tougher. Apparently their walled-and-water structure is stiffer, firmer than the potatoes' structure.

 

It's important to note that the potatoes were already sliced to get the right depth, so the chopper only had to deal with about 1/2" depth per slice. We have to slice the onions too, although maybe not quite so thinly.

 

Now that he's tried dicing potatoes this way, he says there's no going back. First, it's easiest for him; second, he much preferred the way the diced potatoes browned for his hash. He's always sliced them into half-moons before.

[Smithy]

I want to report on the bread I made back here. The buns that I made are okay, but tough on the bottom. The loaf, however, is a joy: flavorful, dense enough to slice easily, soft and moist enough to make good sandwich bread. It toasts nicely. Here's the money shot.

 

Now the question is how repeatable it is. Sure, I was using a recipe, but the choice of milk (I used mostly canned condensed, but not entirely) and flour (I'll be out of the stuff from Tucson) makes a difference. If it's repeatable, we'll be saying "Move over, Dave's Killer Bread!"

[ElsieD]

Thanks to you, @Smithy I'm still buying Dave's Killer Bread.  That stuff is good!

[Kim Shook]

I was buying Dave's until Mr. Kim when shopping alone recently and saw the price.  He says no more Dave's in this house.  He never does that, so I'm letting him have this one!

 

Smithy - I have one of those choppers and for folks like me with hand issues, they are a miracle.  I still use a knife for a quick job, but when I have a lot to chop (like for dressing) they really save my hands.  I hadn't thought of potatoes, but will do that soon!

[blue_dolphin]

28 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I was buying Dave's until Mr. Kim when shopping alone recently and saw the price.  He says no more Dave's in this house.  He never does that, so I'm letting him have this one!

I'd never try to foment marital discord, but what's Mr. Kim's price range?  Or does he bake his own?  Or depend on you to do so?  

Decent bread often seems to cost more than I expect, but the bottom line is nothing compared with meat, which I rarely eat.  So until I master bread baking myself, I go ahead and buy my $4 baguettes and $8 boules from Roan Mills. 

 

[Smithy]

On 1/7/2021 at 3:28 PM, FauxPas said:

 

Not at all! But we had a couple of new Fry's stores not too far away and they were both very large ones. They definitely had similiarites in store layout and product brands, etc. I had a bit of a love/hate thing for those stores - they would have baffling shortages of some products that no one could explain, even long before the virus issues. They would move things around in the store far too often and in ways that made absolutely no sense. And the quality of the produce was really inconsistent. I hope your 'local' is less frustrating! 

 

I think I've noticed the periodic random rearrangement of our local Fry's, but it hasn't been frequent enough to be an irritation for us. To be honest, I prefer it to the larger Foothills Fry's (what I call the East End) that I showed above. Although the selection isn't as good - and I can envision making a special trip for truly special stuff like that mustard - I find the smaller store easier to navigate. This collage shows the entire selection of rice and most of the shellfish at the local, smaller store.

 

 

Incidentally, I happened to be back at the East End Fry's today and noticed that they even had live littleneck clams at their seafood counter. (Note to @ElsieD: everything at the counter is "guaranteed sustainable" but no information is listed about the source. Hmm.)

 

Wednesday was our "stocking up" grocery day because senior citizens get a 10% discount on the first Wednesday of each month. That's on top of the savings from having a Fry's card. Thanks to that double discount we got some great prices, and spent more money than we might have otherwise. No doubt that's what they intend.

 

 

Since I wasn't alone I had less leisure to take photos, but I still managed to snap some of the produce area and deli counter. If you go back to my post about the other store you can see the size differences.

 

 

Unlike the larger Fry's, this one has an indoor eating area. It was utterly bare. I guess that answers the question about eating in!

 

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'd never try to foment marital discord, but what's Mr. Kim's price range?  Or does he bake his own?  Or depend on you to do so?  

Decent bread often seems to cost more than I expect, but the bottom line is nothing compared with meat, which I rarely eat.  So until I master bread baking myself, I go ahead and buy my $4 baguettes and $8 boules from Roan Mills. 

 

You know, he's fine with all of what I'd call "specialty breads" - bread to eat with meals, bakery breakfast breads, etc.  I think that the sticking point is that this would be our daily toast, sandwich, PB bedtime snack bread and he just couldn't see it.  I could push it, but he's so easy with everything I spend that I just let him have his occasional irrationalities.  😁

[Smithy]

About this time last year, we got into a discussion about stuffed jalapenos. (Yes, I'm back to armadillo eggs and their ilk!) @FauxPas linked to this recipe, and perhaps made it. @blue_dolphin showed her results here. @chileheadmike showed his ABT's here, and @ElsieD showed her results from the linked recipe here. I finally decided to try the baked version of jalapeno poppers that blue_dolphin and ElsieD had done. I did this after thawing a bunch of bacon in preparation for wrapping it around the jalapenos. The spendwithpennies version has you slice the jalapenos in half, stuff each half, top with a panko/melted butter mixture, and bake. It sounded like a great Friday evening dinner.

 

Success! Instead of bothering with the bacon, I added finely-chopped Genoa Salami from a roll my sister had given us for Christmas. I'm beginning to the think the meat and stuffings don't need to be very specific, unless you're trying to roll it around a stuffed pepper. 

 

 

This treatment was delicious, and think the recipe must be very forgiving. Next time maybe I'll try the spendwithpennies verion of Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers. Maybe they won't be very different from chileheadmike's Atomic Buffalo Turds, although I notice something extra in the filling. @chileheadmike, what is that nestled between the cream cheese and the bacon in your photo here? 

[MokaPot]

I'll have to try Dave's killer bread. I don't buy that much meat, either. So I can probably splurge on this.

[chileheadmike]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

About this time last year, we got into a discussion about stuffed jalapenos. (Yes, I'm back to armadillo eggs and their ilk!) @FauxPas linked to this recipe, and perhaps made it. @blue_dolphin showed her results here. @chileheadmike showed his ABT's here, and @ElsieD showed her results from the linked recipe here. I finally decided to try the baked version of jalapeno poppers that blue_dolphin and ElsieD had done. I did this after thawing a bunch of bacon in preparation for wrapping it around the jalapenos. The spendwithpennies version has you slice the jalapenos in half, stuff each half, top with a panko/melted butter mixture, and bake. It sounded like a great Friday evening dinner.

 

Success! Instead of bothering with the bacon, I added finely-chopped Genoa Salami from a roll my sister had given us for Christmas. I'm beginning to the think the meat and stuffings don't need to be very specific, unless you're trying to roll it around a stuffed pepper. 

 

 

This treatment was delicious, and think the recipe must be very forgiving. Next time maybe I'll try the spendwithpennies verion of Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers. Maybe they won't be very different from chileheadmike's Atomic Buffalo Turds, although I notice something extra in the filling. @chileheadmike, what is that nestled between the cream cheese and the bacon in your photo here? 

I use a little smokie. Pulled pork works well too. 

Yours look delicious. 

[ElsieD]

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/pulled-pork-jalapeno-poppers-bacon-recipe.html

 

I can't remember if I posted this link before but this is also very good.  As odd as the raspberry sauce sounds, it works.

 

@Smithy  I asked about the shrimp because all we can get around here are frozen shrimp from various places in Asia along with some wild Argentinian shrimp.  I'd give my eye teeth for fresh shrimp, not frozen, not treated with anything.

[heidih]

4 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/pulled-pork-jalapeno-poppers-bacon-recipe.html

 

I can't remember if I posted this link before but this is also very good.  As odd as the raspberry sauce sounds, it works.

 Ha1 as I recall the ones from Smart & Final in the frozen section came with a packet of raspberry sauce. Must have been a "thing"

Yes I also only see the frozen wild Argentine shrimp except in season Santa Barbara live local spot prawns if we drive up the coast. A rare pricey treat.

[Smithy]

Even when the weather cooperated enough for us to travel the Gulf Coast, the "fresh shrimp" we got at stores was almost always flash frozen. When I asked in one small shop about really fresh shrimp, the clerk gave me the "you've grown a second head" look. He explained that the shrimp was always flash frozen on the ships to maintain freshness. He stressed that it was vital to do that with the shrimp caught far offshore, like the Royal Reds.

 

That said, I have fond memories of spotting small trucks along the roadside with shrimp...truly fresh shrimp, just caught that day by a small local fisherman, still in the shells, possibly swimming an hour before. I could pay a little extra to have them headed and shelled, or do it myself. I don't remember the price differential, but for short-term expediency I think I went with the whole shrimp. That was the most work and the best flavor. It's been some years since we went that way, so I don't know whether those trucks are still around. I hope they are.

 

Hmm, maybe that's why my Shrimp Bolivar has never been repeatable.

[Porthos]

At ren faire we call stuffed jalapenos Dragon's Eggs and that's all I ever think to call them.

 

At Arby's they serve them with "Broncoberry" sauce, essentially raspberry sauce, and I like them that way.

[Smithy]

When we did our big stocking-up shopping last week, my darling simply couldn't resist a good price on his favorite...ham. Oh, boy. Another. Ham.

 

It isn't that I dislike ham, it's just a lot of food for two people: as has been observed here and elsewhere, there's the Dorothy Parker quip that "eternity is two people and a ham". 

 

Anyway, yesterday we cooked it for the first time. It was good. Possibly a touch overdone; we cooked it in a 250F oven, pulled it at an internal temperature of 140F and of course it coasted up. Next time (I'm sure there will be) we'll pull it at 130F.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the bigger hit was the green beans. I boiled them until just barely done, drained them, then tossed with butter, olive oil and Vivian Howard's Little Green Dress. Delicious. Forgot to get a closeup until this morning's picture of the leftovers. He liked them too! 

 

We both noted that the ham, potatoes and LGD-dressed green beans all complemented each other. It's not unusual for our dinners to be so eclectic that the various elements clash with each other, or at least compete for attention instead of working together. These were very complementary.

 

 

Venus and the rapidly-aging moon put on quite a show this morning.

 

 

It's been blowing like stink the last 3 days. We got out walking early today before the wind came up. I'll probably spend most of today hiding inside. I need to make fruit salad, and I'll probably take down the Christmas decorations (sob) and it's my turn to cook tonight. If I run out of steam it'll be ham; otherwise, I have several recipes to choose from for delicious chicken or fish treatments.

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Smithy
Spelling, as usual (log)

[Smithy]

Whilst looking through my pictures, I remembered a success of my own invention from a couple of days ago. I think I was too glued to the news to think about posting it then, but I was happy enough with it to want to share it: asparagus (fresh) with cherry tomatoes (sitting around too long, needed to go), lemon zest, fresh ginger, olive oil, soy sauce at the table.

 

 

We are in one of the major winter agricultural areas of the country, and I love the variety of fresh produce here (although, oddly, it has to be purchased at grocery stores). It would be to my benefit to celebrate vegetables far more than I have been. When we go to the grocery store I tend to overbuy on the produce, then scramble to treat it properly before it goes off. He's the same way about meat, although it doesn't present the storage challenge because it can be frozen. The upshot is that our dinners look huge and almost always yield leftovers.

 

The breaded and baked pork steaks were nothing new. The asparagus was. I wrote down what I did, for future reference. I'll be doing it again. 

 

[Porthos]

We've had way more really windy days this aeason. I can track this easily. Our north-facing home gathers all of the trash from the north-south street near us. Tracking is how many times I've had to pick up the trash that arrives via the wind.

 

Your green beans look to die for.

 

With the off-and-on usability of our kitchen (renovation-related, not usable right now) I've stopped buying fresh veggies. I just can't use them, and it kills me to toss spoiled food.

[Smithy]

It is dry, dry, dry here...and still windy.

 

 

These bushes were much greener at this time last year, and flowers were beginning to bloom. Only the creosote bushes have started sprouting flowers so far.

 

A couple of weeks ago my best friend's son cooked dinner for us all when I was visiting in San Diego. He cooked a couple of recipes from the New York Times: Grilled Sesame Lime Chicken Breasts and Cucumber Salad with Soy, Ginger and Garlic. (I know they're behind a pay wall. Sorry! Ask and I'll give the details I can.) Both dishes were delicious, and would have been relatively simple if I hadn't been feeling draggy yesterday. The marinade for the chicken and the dressing for the cucumbers are similar: soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, garlic. The chicken marinade gets lime zest and juice also. Fish sauce goes into the salad dressing. The cucumbers are to be sliced thinly, salted and set in a colander for 15 minutes to drain, then rinsed and pressed to eliminate the liquid. I, er, missed the 15 minutes part and left them sitting much too long, and never could get enough salt out. Some recipe comments have indicated that pressing between paper towels without salting does the job. I'll try that another time.

 

I used boned chicken thighs instead of breasts, as Jim had done. (Jim started with boneless/skinless thighs; as you can see, I kept the skin on.) We were going to grill over the fire outside, and when the time came just couldn't deal with lighting a fire, letting it burn down, and so on. We chose the easy way and I cooked the chicken on a rack in the oven.

 

 

The chicken would definitely have benefited from direct grill heat, but it was good. I think this could be done as kebabs. It was supposed to be served over rice, but I'd already eaten leftover rice and he doesn't eat as much as he used to at dinner, so we skipped that part. This crummy photo was taken before we piled cucumber salad or leftover green beans atop the plates.

 

 

The recipes are both good. I'll try them over fire next time. The sliced cucumbers led to an inevitable discussion / reminiscence about how his mother used to slice cukes and store them in vinegar with sugar, as a quick cucumber pickle. Maybe, he says, white balsamic vinegar would do the job too. Maybe it will. I've promised to do it for him next time I get cucumbers. 

[Anna N]

6 minutes ago, Smithy said:

The recipes are both good. I'll try them over fire next time. The sliced cucumbers led to an inevitable discussion / reminiscence about how his mother used to slice cukes and store them in vinegar with sugar, as a quick cucumber pickle. Maybe, he says, white balsamic vinegar would do the job too. Maybe it will. I've promised to do it for him next time I get cucumbers. 

Do you try the cucumbers in vinegar and sugar (or even the white balsamic)!  Very similar to my favourite Danish cucumber salad. I spread the sliced cucumber out onto a large dinner plate sprinkle with some kosher salt and then place a second large dinner plate over the top. I then pile a few cans on top of that. Leave for 15 minutes to an hour and then hand squeeze the cucumber. I drop it into a jar and then pour over the heated pickling brine. 

[ElsieD]

10 minutes ago, Smithy said:

It is dry, dry, dry here...and still windy.

 

 

These bushes were much greener at this time last year, and flowers were beginning to bloom. Only the creosote bushes have started sprouting flowers so far.

 

A couple of weeks ago my best friend's son cooked dinner for us all when I was visiting in San Diego. He cooked a couple of recipes from the New York Times: Grilled Sesame Lime Chicken Breasts and Cucumber Salad with Soy, Ginger and Garlic. (I know they're behind a pay wall. Sorry! Ask and I'll give the details I can.) Both dishes were delicious, and would have been relatively simple if I hadn't been feeling draggy yesterday. The marinade for the chicken and the dressing for the cucumbers are similar: soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, garlic. The chicken marinade gets lime zest and juice also. Fish sauce goes into the salad dressing. The cucumbers are to be sliced thinly, salted and set in a colander for 15 minutes to drain, then rinsed and pressed to eliminate the liquid. I, er, missed the 15 minutes part and left them sitting much too long, and never could get enough salt out. Some recipe comments have indicated that pressing between paper towels without salting does the job. I'll try that another time.

 

I used boned chicken thighs instead of breasts, as Jim had done. (Jim started with boneless/skinless thighs; as you can see, I kept the skin on.) We were going to grill over the fire outside, and when the time came just couldn't deal with lighting a fire, letting it burn down, and so on. We chose the easy way and I cooked the chicken on a rack in the oven.

 

 

The chicken would definitely have benefited from direct grill heat, but it was good. I think this could be done as kebabs. It was supposed to be served over rice, but I'd already eaten leftover rice and he doesn't eat as much as he used to at dinner, so we skipped that part. This crummy photo was taken before we piled cucumber salad or leftover green beans atop the plates.

 

 

The recipes are both good. I'll try them over fire next time. The sliced cucumbers led to an inevitable discussion / reminiscence about how his mother used to slice cukes and store them in vinegar with sugar, as a quick cucumber pickle. Maybe, he says, white balsamic vinegar would do the job too. Maybe it will. I've promised to do it for him next time I get cucumbers. 

 

I'm about to look those recipes up but wanted to comment on the pickled cucumbers.  My mother used to do what your husband's mother did - slice cucumbers thinly and marinate them in vinegar and sugar.  I was very fond of that dish.    I do a slight variation of that and use white balsamic vinegar or one of the flavored balsamic that I have.    I am doing a  cucumber salad tonight to go with our dinner - cucumbers, red onion, red pepper, cilantro, lime juice and Thai sweet chili sauce.

[heidih]

@Kim Shook gave a good description of her cuke habit here https://forums.egullet.org/topic/105832-its-cucumber-time-ideas/?do=findComment&comment=1579190 I vary the vnegar with tart citrus juice at times. cuz they are staring at me from the trees. If you are avoiding excess sugar Splenda works as the vinegar baffles any oddness.

[Smithy]

...And the Wind. Continues. To. Blow.

 

I know, most readers are stuck inside because of lousy weather and/or pandemic issues. I have no room for complaint. I generally have no sympathy for sufferers of ennui. Get up! Go do something! Go learn something! I think to myself, although I'm too polite to say so. But yesterday, the sameness and the wind (and the news, and computer aggravations) all got to be too much for me. I decided to hide out for yet another day, except for the morning walk and afternoon bicycle ride, and do something about all the greens in the refrigerator. I had romaine hearts, a bunch of spinach, a head of leafy lettuce. My darling prefers romaine hearts, chopped with a knife, for his salads. I like that well enough, but I also like variety. 

 

 

He now has a large tub of chopped romaine hearts (with the stem ends, because he likes the crunch). I have all the spinach and leaf lettuce washed and wrapped in towels, stored back in the refrigerator, for my own uses.

 

Midway through this particular process - which was one of several for the day - there was a tremendous crash in the dining room. The wind had blown out several of the removable panels from our screen doors.

 

 

Fortunately, nothing broke. I'm glad we got fairly thick-gauge polycarbonate rather than the thinner Plexiglass.

 

 

I made salad dressing of my own favorite style: lemon and a touch of white wine vinegar, garlic, salt, olive oil. I'd been working my way through a "spicy balsamic" salad dressing that I made from a recipe in Schlesinger and Willoughby's cookbook, Lettuce in Your Kitchen (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). It was good the first time or two, but I was thoroughly sick of it before I finished it. My darling was no help; he's strictly a Good Seasons Italian Dressing (from the package mix) guy.

 

I also worked on the filling for spanakopita hand pies based on this recipe. I'm using puff pastry rather than phyllo, and plan to make the triangle version rather than an entire pan's worth. 

 

 

I tell you, doing a fine dice on an onion by hand is a great way to work off aggravation, if your hands can take it. I got lazy and resorted to the food processor for chopping the parsley and mixing it with the onions and garlic, though.

 

I didn't finish the spanakopita yesterday. I got sidetracked by computer issues - specifically, trying and failing to set up appointments for Covid-19 shots - and lost all interest in kitchen projects. I stowed everything, washed the dishes I'd dirtied (a nontrivial quantity) and took my bike out so the dog could get a good run.

 

 

We sat outside by a campfire last night, then used the campstove to cook superburgers. For fun, we tried warming his burger bun in the skillet. It worked pretty well: got the bun halves warm, and soaked up the extra grease, for those who like that sort of thing. I didn't want bread. I gloried in a salad as accompaniment.

 

 

(I think my plate looked better than his  but we were happy with our respective choices.)

 

It really is much of a muchness here, and will be until the desert starts to bloom, but there is one clear change: the days are getting longer, and the sun has begun its northward travel. Here's how much it has shifted since the Solstice:

 

 

It's almost as good as Stonehenge.

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by Smithy
Corrected spelling of "spanakopita" (log)