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eG Foodblog: Flocko - Dining in the Desert


Flocko

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I forgot to expand on earthbag adobe. Basically bags of dirt are stacked for walls and calked and covered with adobe. There are several homes of this type in the Moab area, as well as ones of strawadobe, which is bales of straw similarly covered. The straw ones seem to have even better insulation, but the earthbag ones have more mass. Both are now code approved here.

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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It's been raining, with thunder and lightning all day..............It's monsoon season. I thought I'd drive up the river after work and see if any waterfalls were working. I went up about 6:30 but alas, it had stopped raining and was just overcast, and no waterfalls, but the river was "dirty" so you could tell it had been raining upstream as well.

gallery_8919_3572_83613.jpg

The overcast conditions precluded any bright colors. You can see from the black stripes on the cliff faces, called "desert varnish" where the waterfalls come and have come in ages past.

This is Negro Bill Canyon off the river about 3 miles up from Moab.

gallery_8919_3572_67723.jpg

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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Here are some "optional" cookbook photos :wink: . Most of my cookbooks are still in boxes awaiting some inspiration of where to put them :huh: . As Maggie and others in the "Cookbooks, How many do you have?" thread know, It took me about a year to find and move all my cookbooks from my large Moab house (The house of missing and mislaid books) to my larger SLC house. Now I'm back in a small house and must be creative about shelving to books :wacko:

gallery_8919_3572_122953.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_125578.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_32707.jpg

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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Pine nuts go great with apples.  I use them in apple/applesauce quickbreads and in place of other nuts in  any baked goods featuring apples.

SB (from the lush and willowy North Woods?) :rolleyes:

Ha, I wondered if that would get a rise out of you! But it's true! Well, it was true last month. :raz: We're closer to autumn than to summer and green willow smells now, aren't we?

Thanks for that tip.

What a wonderful house.  I started by admiring the interesting roof, and then I noticed the paintings.  Wow!   :cool:   Can you expand a bit on "earth bag adobe"?  What does that mean?

<snippo>

I too would like to know whether and how downsizing has affected your cookery.  Your kitchen looks spacious and nicely laid out.  Your grill outside looks as though you could handle a lot of tasks there, too.

Nancy, Hi:

Downsizing hasn't affected my cooking at all..........except in perhaps increasing my enjoyment of it. Though this is the smallest house I have ever lived in, it has the largest and, to my taste, the nicest, kitchen...........large amounts of counter space, room for a big cutting block, nice gas range. Even in my largest house, the kitchen was a postage stamp, and no counters at all. It is a pleasure to cook here. I have two large BBQs as well, the gas one and a big Santa Maria style one for oak logs or charcoal; and a little Smokin' Joe by Weber...............so I'm set :biggrin:

Sounds like my first house, which was even smaller than your present house. I bought it because of the kitchen (not nearly as large as yours, but the biggest room in in the house, with wonderful cabinetry) and the outbuildings (a really-o, truly-o, big Finnish sauna). I still miss the sauna, but the present kitchen is better.

Please show us the Santa Maria-style BBQ, preferably in use. I read about that a while back, courtesy of Russ Parsons and eGullet. I'd like to see it in action.

I forgot to expand on earthbag adobe.  Basically bags of dirt are stacked for walls and calked and covered with adobe.  There are several homes of this type in the Moab area, as well as ones of strawadobe, which is bales of straw similarly covered.  The straw ones seem to have even better insulation, but the earthbag ones have more mass.  Both are now code approved here.

What precautions do they have to take, if any, to ensure that the bag contents (earth or straw) don't settle? Does it not matter, once the adobe has set?

I remember some years back when Dennis Weaver :wub: built a house from used tires that formed the walls, with adobe in and out. It sounded very efficient, and a pretty cool design. That was down in New Mexico somewhere, IIRC. Have you seen anything like that?

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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We were posting at the same time, and I'm now seeing your cookbooks. I like them. Tell me, have you ever actually made anything from Sheila Lukins' All Around the World Cookbook? I keep thinking I will; it's one of the first books I got from the book club I'm in; but I don't think I've ever actually used the book. Every time I weed through the collection I look at it, think "I ought to set this one free", then look again and put it back in captivity. What do you recommend from it?

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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gallery_8919_3572_46022.jpg

Amazing house!

Are the countertops concrete?

A.

Daddy-A, Hi:

Yes, they are concrete. Alison poured them and rounded them with a swimming pool tool, then stained and marblized them. They are great. I also have them in the bathroom, stained black.

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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I see you have a Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery in your collection!

I got one of those as a gift from my Dad after I headed off to college. It's a quirky collection--you will find different recipes for the same dish in different volumes--but I like it.

(Trivia question: Woman's Day was originally published by what supermarket chain?)

Sandy Smith, Exile on Oxford Circle, Philadelphia

"95% of success in life is showing up." --Woody Allen

My foodblogs: 1 | 2 | 3

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I see you have a Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery in your collection!

I got one of those as a gift from my Dad after I headed off to college.  It's a quirky collection--you will find different recipes for the same dish in different volumes--but I like it.

(Trivia question: Woman's Day was originally published by what supermarket chain?)

I love that set. I got mine in 1972. A good friend from college had an earlier edition back in 1968. That's where I first saw them.

Don't know about the supermarket chain :unsure:

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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Tonight I grilled some elk steaks

gallery_8919_3572_87608.jpg

I marinated them for a couple of hours in red wine, olive oil, onions, pomegranite molasses, and worstershire

gallery_8919_3572_138678.jpg

I grilled them and served them with some canned :huh: beans sauteed in bacon fat with bacon, chopotle tobasco, and a sprig of rosemary from the bush outside my front door :smile:

gallery_8919_3572_28614.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_4743.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_19623.jpg

It was very good :smile:

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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Tonight I grilled some elk steaks

gallery_8919_3572_87608.jpg

I marinated them for a couple of hours in red wine, olive oil, onions, pomegranite molasses, and worstershire

gallery_8919_3572_138678.jpg

I grilled them and served them with some canned :huh: beans sauteed in bacon fat with bacon, chopotle tobasco, and a sprig of rosemary from the bush outside my front door :smile:

gallery_8919_3572_28614.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_4743.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_19623.jpg

It was very good :smile:

It sure looks it.

But what does elk taste like?

Did you hunt the animal yourself, or is there a butcher in Moab that carries unusual meats?

Sandy Smith, Exile on Oxford Circle, Philadelphia

"95% of success in life is showing up." --Woody Allen

My foodblogs: 1 | 2 | 3

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Yet another use for my new bottle of pomegranate molasses. Wonderful. There is buffalo in one of the markets here that I could try that marinade on - close enough.

I can't help but picture a posse of indian scouts on horses racing pell-mell along that river or out of those canyons with cavalry in close pursuit - or the other way around. :cool:

"I took the habit of asking Pierre to bring me whatever looks good today and he would bring out the most wonderful things," - bleudauvergne

foodblogs: Dining Downeast I - Dining Downeast II

Portland Food Map.com

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gallery_8919_3572_46022.jpg

Thank you for telling us about the counters. I was also wondering about the floors. They're the color of saltillo tiles but are not tiles... Is it a tamped down earthen floor or something else?

I've seen many adobes in New Mexico and your's is particularly unique and special as well as the setting near the cottonwoods. A wonderful kitchen too. Thank you for sharing it with us. The petroglyphs were very special as well; the birthing one was amazing!

I really liked elk the few times I've had it (in New Mexico). I guess I'd be hard pressed in trying to describe the taste other than a more complex beefy flavor. It would be interesting to taste it directly alongside venison for comparision. Your dinner last night looks great!

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Please show us the Santa Maria-style BBQ, preferably in use.  I read about that a while back, courtesy of Russ Parsons and eGullet.  I'd like to see it in action.

Tonight I grilled some elk steaks

I grilled them and served them with some canned :huh: beans sauteed in bacon fat with bacon, chopotle tobasco, and a sprig of rosemary from the bush outside my front door :smile:

gallery_8919_3572_28614.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_19623.jpg

Thank you. That's a great-looking grill, with food deserving of the treatment.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Hi Steve:

I've never tried them with apple related things..................sounds good..........Thanks :smile:

The Pietown Cafe in... (where else?) Pie Town, NM has a Green Chile Apple Pinon pie that is quite amazing.... Here's a mouth-watering photo, despite the Costco paper plate (note the pine nuts on the bottom and flecks of green chile throughout):

gallery_12424_3550_178535.jpg

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

"You can't taste the beauty and energy of the Earth in a Twinkie." - Astrid Alauda

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Food Lovers' Guide to Santa Fe, Albuquerque & Taos: OMG I wrote a book. Woo!

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Tonight I grilled some elk steaks

gallery_8919_3572_87608.jpg

I marinated them for a couple of hours in red wine, olive oil, onions, pomegranite molasses, and worstershire

gallery_8919_3572_138678.jpg

I grilled them and served them with some canned :huh: beans sauteed in bacon fat with bacon, chopotle tobasco, and a sprig of rosemary from the bush outside my front door :smile:

gallery_8919_3572_28614.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_4743.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_19623.jpg

It was very good :smile:

It sure looks it.

But what does elk taste like?

Did you hunt the animal yourself, or is there a butcher in Moab that carries unusual meats?

Sandy:

The elk taste similar to venison but better, less gamey...........like very good lean beef with a slight difference.

This was given to me by a friend. I still have some hunting contacts...........no longer the cops, necessarily. More like the "other guys" :unsure: ....They hunt too :biggrin: . One of my "better" :huh: clients just brought me some moose, and another brought me some great salmon fillets.............That's why I need a bigger freezer.

This morning these guys were down in the creek to greet me and Fred for breakfast:

gallery_8919_3572_9247.jpg

I felt pretty having eaten the elk the night before, and having this in my back door way:

gallery_8919_3572_50975.jpg

An elk skin given me by another client :huh::sad:

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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gallery_8919_3572_46022.jpg

Thank you for telling us about the counters. I was also wondering about the floors. They're the color of saltillo tiles but are not tiles... Is it a tamped down earthen floor or something else?

I've seen many adobes in New Mexico and your's is particularly unique and special as well as the setting near the cottonwoods. A wonderful kitchen too. Thank you for sharing it with us. The petroglyphs were very special as well; the birthing one was amazing!

I really liked elk the few times I've had it (in New Mexico). I guess I'd be hard pressed in trying to describe the taste other than a more complex beefy flavor. It would be interesting to taste it directly alongside venison for comparision. Your dinner last night looks great!

Ludja, Hi:

The floors are adobe...........just the mud..........cured by drying.......just like on the walls you can see the little pieces of straw embedded therein :wink: . It has been sealed and thus is pretty impervious. I clean it with a substance called "Floor Milk" that I get at the Natural Foods market, and seal it every few months with another Floor Milk" product that has coconut wax in it. It feels almost as hard as concrete, except with a more natural, softer feel and look. It has hot water pipes in it for heating.

Bill

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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Hi Gang:

What a night and day. Last night there was a thunder and lightning storm here that literally knocked me out of bed about 2:00 AM. I was afraid the sand in the walls was going to shake loose :shock: . Then the rain came, and the creek came up. I got back to sleep fine though. However this morning, though beautiful, showed us how damaging the storm was.................It knocked out our internet, phone, and cell phone connection to the world :huh: . Therefore no blogging, no reading e-mail, no phone calls, etc.

So, at our office building we had a barbecue in the alley :biggrin:

gallery_8919_3572_149935.jpg

Jim, a software designer, and Samantha, a video producer, supervise the cooking of the burgers.

Jim, aka, Emeril, applies the cheese with a BAM :wacko: !

gallery_8919_3572_97471.jpg

A good time was had by all :biggrin:

gallery_8919_3572_75764.jpg

And here is my office, in stark contrast to my adobe abode:

gallery_8919_3572_146347.jpg

So, since I couldn't really work, or blog.....................I went home and took a nap :unsure:

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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The elk looks great.  Did little Fred join you during cooking?

And, AGAIN with the Fiestaware!

The cookbooks pix are very inviting.  What books have you relied on the most in your cooking life?

:huh:

Hi Priscilla:

My most used cookbooks over 40 years of cooking have been: A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Mary and Vincent Price; the Time/Life Foods of the World series; River Road Recipes, by the Baton Rouge Junior League; Cook Until Done, by_______ (I can't remember......It's still packed in a box :huh: ; China Moon; Mastering....., by Julia; Craig Claiborne's collection of columns from the NY Times.....4 volumes, and many others :unsure:

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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Hi Steve:

I've never tried them with apple related things..................sounds good..........Thanks :smile:

The Pietown Cafe in... (where else?) Pie Town, NM has a Green Chile Apple Pinon pie that is quite amazing.... Here's a mouth-watering photo, despite the Costco paper plate (note the pine nuts on the bottom and flecks of green chile throughout):

gallery_12424_3550_178535.jpg

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

God, Andrea :shock::biggrin::wub::wub::wub:

That pie looks great! I want it. Gotta try to make that with the chiles and the pinons

Bill

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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Pine nuts go great with apples.  I use them in apple/applesauce quickbreads and in place of other nuts in  any baked goods featuring apples.

SB (from the lush and willowy North Woods?) :rolleyes:

Ha, I wondered if that would get a rise out of you! But it's true! Well, it was true last month. :raz: We're closer to autumn than to summer and green willow smells now, aren't we?

Thanks for that tip.

What a wonderful house.  I started by admiring the interesting roof, and then I noticed the paintings.  Wow!  :cool:  Can you expand a bit on "earth bag adobe"?  What does that mean?

<snippo>

I too would like to know whether and how downsizing has affected your cookery.  Your kitchen looks spacious and nicely laid out.  Your grill outside looks as though you could handle a lot of tasks there, too.

Nancy, Hi:

Downsizing hasn't affected my cooking at all..........except in perhaps increasing my enjoyment of it. Though this is the smallest house I have ever lived in, it has the largest and, to my taste, the nicest, kitchen...........large amounts of counter space, room for a big cutting block, nice gas range. Even in my largest house, the kitchen was a postage stamp, and no counters at all. It is a pleasure to cook here. I have two large BBQs as well, the gas one and a big Santa Maria style one for oak logs or charcoal; and a little Smokin' Joe by Weber...............so I'm set :biggrin:

Sounds like my first house, which was even smaller than your present house. I bought it because of the kitchen (not nearly as large as yours, but the biggest room in in the house, with wonderful cabinetry) and the outbuildings (a really-o, truly-o, big Finnish sauna). I still miss the sauna, but the present kitchen is better.

Please show us the Santa Maria-style BBQ, preferably in use. I read about that a while back, courtesy of Russ Parsons and eGullet. I'd like to see it in action.

I forgot to expand on earthbag adobe.  Basically bags of dirt are stacked for walls and calked and covered with adobe.  There are several homes of this type in the Moab area, as well as ones of strawadobe, which is bales of straw similarly covered.  The straw ones seem to have even better insulation, but the earthbag ones have more mass.  Both are now code approved here.

What precautions do they have to take, if any, to ensure that the bag contents (earth or straw) don't settle? Does it not matter, once the adobe has set?

I remember some years back when Dennis Weaver :wub: built a house from used tires that formed the walls, with adobe in and out. It sounded very efficient, and a pretty cool design. That was down in New Mexico somewhere, IIRC. Have you seen anything like that?

Nancy:

Here is the Santa Maria BBQ. My former father-in-law, who lived in Cuyama, up in th e hills from Santa Maria had it made for me.

gallery_8919_3572_61210.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_61039.jpg

It looks a little worse for wear, but after 25+ years of cooking, so do I :raz: . The crank on the side raises and lowers the firebox by means of a timing chain (some Santa Maria BBQs have a chain to raise and lower the cooking grate instead. There is good ventilation by the vent at the side, and more red oak logs (which is unavailable here :sad: ...........I uses whatever hardwood I can get) can be added through the doors at front.

P.S. I've seen Dennis Weaver's house of tires. It's in Ridgeway, Colorado.....about 2 hours due east of us...............just over the mountan on the way to Telluride....Pretty neat. One fellow tried to build one here about 10 years ago, but couldn't convince the building inspector to approve it. I think it would pass now, perhaps.

Edited by Flocko (log)

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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When I got up from my nap this afternoon, the internet and phones were still down...........so nothing to do blogging-wise, so why not eat.

I went to The Desert Bistro. I didn't have reservations, but with the Moab Music Festival in full swing, I thought I could get in, but it was very crowded inside. I was able to score a table on the porch for my companion and myself:

gallery_8919_3572_133410.jpg

gallery_8919_3572_33256.jpg

We each started with the special appetiser, which I have had before and love: ahi tuna tartare with a ponzu like marinade:

gallery_8919_3572_81900.jpg

Then I had a special of bullalo roulade, marinaded, wrapped around a cornbread stuffing and mozzarella cheese, on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, with anaheim chiles, in a quite hot ancho sauce..........Great and spicy:

gallery_8919_3572_56458.jpg

My companion had another special of striped bass with chiles and asparagus on potatoes. It was also said to be terrific:

gallery_8919_3572_49620.jpg

For desert my companion had a fresh raspberry sorbet:

gallery_8919_3572_137273.jpg

I could't pass up the fresh Utah blackberry Napoleon:

gallery_8919_3572_38751.jpg

Great dinner, as usual; great service; great view of the Colorado River Portal.....where the river re-enters the narrow canyon after just leaving it for about a mile in Moab Valley:

gallery_8919_3572_23571.jpg

Bill Benge

Moab, Utah

"I like eggs", Leon Spinks

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