Friday Family Fun: Minus the Family. And the Fun.

So I guess that means it was just a Friday. A Friday in which I drove 150 miles by myself to go here.

Boo.

Thanks to Dr. Google, I was pretty sure yesterday morning that the rash, pain, and general ickiness that had been coming upon me for a few days was shingles. 

My knowledge of shingles was exactly zero up until yesterday morning's self-diagnosing computer session. Except for the fact that I was pretty sure only old people got it, and I do not actually consider myself old at 38 years of age.

Turns out, more and more adults are getting shingles in their thirties. Nice to know I'm not alone, I guess.

Anyway, diagnosing myself online was all well and good, but getting the antiviral medication that is used to lessen and shorten the progression of the virus was another, more complicated matter. Because the nearest pharmacy is a 75-mile drive from our house. So was the doctor.

Thankfully, the clinic could get me in at 3 p.m., so I gave myself extra time in case of getting lost--seeing as I hadn't ever been to this small city, and I am very good at getting lost--and started driving.

At least I can always count on dramatic scenery.

I didn't get lost, and I did get there early. So I got to go to the grocery store before my appointment, which is actually unreasonably exciting for me*. I also, despite my less-than-stellar physical condition, kind of enjoyed the drive, if only because I was by myself. No kids demanding water bottles or anything. Just me and Johnny Cash rolling along in the wide open spaces.

I also treated myself to a Sonic milkshake while I was waiting for the crazy-busy pharmacy to fill my prescription. It was gratifyingly thick--I don't see the point in thin milkshakes; why not just drink flavored milk?--but the "chocolate" label was a bit misleading. Sonic needs to step up its chocolate milkshakes with some actual chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla with an anemic squirt of chocolate sauce.

Anyway.

I returned five and a half hours after leaving, in possession of the precious prescription. So now I just have to tough it out for a few days, at which point the doctor promised me the symptoms would be greatly reduced.

Here's hoping.

* If you are wondering how I manage to grocery shop and get perishables home when they have to sit in the car for hours: A giant marine cooler is always in residence in the back of the van, and a big bag of ice stays in the freezer to be put in the cooler when I leave. The cooler is insulating enough that the ice bag had barely melted after four hours, and so we just keep re-using the same bag of ice.

Friday Food: Randomness Abounds

I don't feel I was really at the top of my cooking game this week. Whatever that means. But we all ate, so that's a win.

Friday

Short version: Fajitas, green salad

Long version: I actually had bell peppers this time, which is why I made fajitas with my thin steak instead of just plain tacos.

And then, of course, the children refused to eat the onions and peppers anyway, so I may as well not have bothered.

Saturday

Short version: Party crashing food

Long version: There's a ranch in the vicinity that was having a centennial celebration and a big family reunion. Apparently, this is a small enough community that they ended up just inviting the entire population for the festivities. So there was a story-telling event where a bunch of the older people talked about the history of their families and ranches. Then there was a dinner catered by the local restaurant--featuring green and red enchiladas and spanish rice, among many other things--and then there was a street dance with a very good live band.

The band was in a tent, but the dancers were literally in the street. It was a small side street. I guess the dancers just stopped and moved aside if a car had to go by.

There was also a bouncy house, where our children literally jumped for two hours straight. Craziness.

Anyway. Upshot was, I didn't have to cook. Yay.

Random photo break!

Just hangin' out.

Sunday

Short version: Signature sausage skillet, sauteed zucchini/tomato/onion

Long version: Yeah. This was random. Some of that too-spicy sage sausage A. bought that I browned in a skillet with diced onion and garlic, then some tomato juice, then some of the chicken broth that didn't seal, then rice. I simmered it, covered, until the rice was cooked, then added some frozen green peas.

I don't know what it was, but everyone ate it. Even though it was still too spicy. I cannot subdue the New Mexico chili peppers, so we'd all better just get tougher mouths, I guess.

Monday

Short version: Scrambled eggs, leftover mashed potatoes with cheese, tortillas and cheese, cucumbers

Long version: We got back at 3:30 p.m. from our Labor Day outing. I spent the next hour cleaning out the van and cleaning up the remains of Charlie's vomit. And then it was time to make dinner.

Uncharacteristically, I hadn't taken any meat out to thaw, so we had eggs. The mashed potatoes microwaved with cheese made the eggs much more exciting.

I mean, as exciting as eggs ever are. Which is not very. Especially for my children. Luckily, I had a giant bag of parade candy with which to bribe them into eating their unexciting dinner.

God bless America and giant bags of candy.

Tuesday

Short version: Pork steaks, potato chunks, pan-fried sweet potatoes, cucumber/tomato/asadero salad

Long version: The oven in this house has a literal broiling drawer. It's weird.

Low-down pork.

The broiler pan fits on a track in the drawer, and that's the only place with a broiling element. I find it disconcerting to be cooking my food at foot-level, but I suppose that's what people did with open fires for thousands of years.

I made some random zucchini and onions in the sweet potato pan after they were done because there was still quite a bit of olive oil, and we had a visit from Rafael earlier in the day. Thus, I had a LOT of zucchini on hand.

Also cucumbers. Two of which I put in the salad, leaving me with . . . still a lot of cucumbers.

People can joke all they want about too many zucchini and cucumbers, but those people probably don't routinely have a refrigerator that looks like this. There have been many times I would have given a lot for a zucchini in my refrigerator, and I'm sure there will be times in the future that I'll think wistfully of my glut of cucurbits.

Wednesday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and onions, cucumbers with salt and vinegar

Long version: Boy howdy, I sure do have a lot of time to do things with all three boys in school all day. On this, Jack's first day of school, I vacuumed, mopped, defrosted and cleaned the freezer, and made meatballs for dinner.

For the meatballs, I mixed together some of the overly spicy sage sausage with ground beef--about a third sausage with two-thirds beef--in an attempt to tame the spice. I also mixed the slightly-too-spicy Texas barbecue sauce with ketchup for the same reason.

The diluting of spice seems to be a recurring theme in my kitchen lately.

The meatballs were still a little too spicy, but not a single child remarked on it and they all cleaned their plates.

Maybe their palates are adjusting to their new, spicier environment? I can only hope.

I made the carrots because I realized I had two and a half bags of carrots in the refrigerator. Carrots are nice to have on hand in quantity because they last forever, but that seemed like an excessive quantity. So I roasted the half bag, leaving me with only two.

The cucumbers were mostly for Charlie, who refuses cooked carrots in any form. I wouldn't hold my breath on his palate changing that much.

Thursday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, hot dogs, fried leftover potatoes, assorted vegetables

Long version: I found the package of hot dogs when I was defrosting the freezer. A. bought them when he was here at the beginning of July moving most of our things into the house. I thought I should use them up. I don't like hot dogs--neither does Charlie--so I made the cheeseburgers too.

We all had different vegetables. A. ate the remainder of the leftover cucumber and tomato salad. The kids ate frozen peas. I finished the leftover zucchini, carrots, and onions.

It was a very customized meal. Which is, of course, a fancier way of saying random. Definitely this week's theme.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Jack's First Day

Three lunch bags.

Three backpacks*.

Three schoolboys (one of whom is being a jackass, as you can see.)

One brand-new preschooler.

Go get 'em, Jack.

* This was not meant to be an advertisement for L.L. Bean, but I obviously deliberately choose their products for my sons. The backpack Jack is using was Cubby's when he started school, and Cubby has the same lunch bag that is now going into its fourth year of daily use, so I can vouch that L.L. Bean school things hold up to boy abuse.

Bonus Family Fun: Labor Day Edition

Labor Day means a longer weekend and yet another opportunity for family fun. Today we went to a small village about an hour away that hosts a very large festival every Labor Day weekend.

They've been doing this for over a hundred years, and it features a beef and bean feed. They cook the food overnight underground in a huge pit at the rodeo grounds, then dig it up in the morning and feed the crowd that comes. For free.

Sweet.

Unfortunately, we kicked off the festivities with Charlie throwing up in the car literally as we were looking for a parking spot in the village. At least he managed to get it off to the side of his seat and not all over himself. And it was just car sickness from the windy mountain road, not a debilitating virus.

He was recovered enough by the time the parade started about ten minutes later to chase down the incredible quantities of candy thrown from the floats.

I only got one photo at the beginning, because I spent the rest of the parade helping the children collect and store their ridiculous candy haul.

There were a LOT of political candidates in the parade, handing out campaign materials. (And more candy.) One of them, however, went the patriotic route and handed out little flags.

Patriotic Poppy.

After the parade, we wandered down towards the village park for the foot races. They had separate races for boys and girls in various age categories. So Jack ran with 3-5 year olds; Charlie ran with 5-7 year olds; and Cubby ran with 8-10 year olds.

I have no idea where Charlie learned this starting position, but he takes his races very seriously.

Charlie came in second in his race, and got a prize of two dollars*.

Cubby was very disappointed that he didn't place, but he was at the lower end of his age category, and the winners were all older and taller.

He got off to a good start, though. Next year.

After that, we went to stand in line for the food. We stood, and stood, and stood. We were in line for about 40 minutes. Luckily, we were in the shade most of the time, and the boys amused themselves with dirt, sticks, and rocks, creating pretend fires. Charlie tried to convince A. to light one of their fires with the matches one of the political candidates had handed out. A. declined. 

After we ate, we wandered back to the van, stopping so Charlie could buy a Coke with some of his prize money and so we could see the mobile museum the state of New Mexico drives around with exhibits in a big RV all about native people, plants, etc.

I have to admit that I did not have as much fun at this event as I usually do on Family Fun Days. It was just too many people, and too many vendors. I really dislike going to events at which I have to tell my children "no" over and over again when they ask if we can do or buy various things that cost money. And the crowds make it hard to keep track of three roaming boys.

But we got out of the house, and the boys had a good time, I think.

I guess I'm better off in the remote canyons. Luckily, there are plenty of those.

* I've never heard of cash prizes for children's races, but I think it's great. A couple of dollars is way more exciting to a kid than a useless ribbon.

Friday Family Fun: Descending Into Another Canyon

This is becoming a regular feature, apparently, because every Friday we have an adventure with A. Lots of exploring to be done in a new place, you know, and A. is not the man to sit around at home.

A week ago we went to a manmade lake at a state park an hour away. There was a perfect sand beach, clear water to swim in, pavilions for picnics . . . it was great. Unfortunately, the only photos are on A.'s flip phone, and for some reason, Blogger won't let me upload them here. So no pictures for you for that one.

But yesterday when we went into another canyon to go fishing? Well! You want pictures? I got SO MANY pictures.

Our destination this time was a little settlement deep in the middle of nowhere in a canyon. And when I say nowhere, I mean nowhere. We drove for thirty miles and saw maybe four ranch homes before we even turned off onto the dirt road into the canyon.

Can you see the tiny house way in the distance? That's where we were going.

There is a church still in this mostly abandoned settlement. The building is listing alarmingly and buttressed on one side, but still set up for services. It was locked, but we peeked in the windows.

The children announced their desire for food, so I got out some of the fruit and their water bottles from the cooler for a church-step snack.

Poppy was confined to her stroller, due to the unsuitably rocky, weedy, and hard ground surrounding the church. It was not crawling terrain. More snake terrain.

There was a ranch adjoining the church property, and a very bored horse wandered over to see what all the excitement was.

Or maybe just to eat some more.

Fortified by cherries, grapes, and water, we all got back in the van and continued down the somewhat washed-out road to the creek at the bottom.

If I were an Instagrammer, I would totally start an account featuring our van and all the crazy places it takes us.

There was some catfish fishing.

In the surprisingly large creek.

A. baited the hook with some salami and cheese from our picnic lunch. There were a few fish on the line, but the boys didn't manage to land them.

It was a much nicer spot than I was expecting, though. Most importantly for Poppy, there was a grassy area in the shade where she could sit and crawl around.

Of course, she crawls right into the sun, but at least there's shade to put her back in to.

I was there too, properly be-hatted this time.

And in the shade. And wearing sunscreen. There's no such thing as too much sun protection here.

We had our picnic lunch in the grass after everyone had had enough of fishing.

And then we continued on the dirt road to an even more remote settlement where there were actually irrigated fields at the bottom of the canyon. We didn't spend much time down there, nor did I take any photos. That sort of tiny, remote place is not the place to be nosy. It was very cool, though.

I also harvested some prickly pear fruits to experiment with, but that will be its own post. Get excited.

Friday Food: The Week of Chicken Delays

Friday

Short version: Pork chops, tomato rice, sauteed mushrooms and onions, green salad

Long version: I had a few tomatoes that were not looking too perky, so I diced one up and cooked it with some diced onion to cook the rice. Plus I added the remainder of the pork juice from the pork shoulder. That's some flavorful rice.

Saturday

Short version: Ground beef with potatoes, sauteed zucchini with tomato and onions, cucumber slices

Long version: I had very virtuously prepped a beef roast for dinner, along with a pot of potato chunks. But then we spontaneously went somewhere right before dinner, and I didn't have time to make the roast when we got home at 5:15.

Plan B: Browned ground beef from the log of it in the refrigerator I hadn't yet frozen, plus diced onion, diced tomato, garlic, lots of paprika, salt, pepper, and thyme.

I was boiling the potatoes while I was cooking the beef, and when the potatoes were done, I dumped them into the beef and let them cook for awhile in the meat juices. We were eating half an hour after walking in the door.

So gourmet. And actually, surprisingly good. Everyone liked it.

The zucchini came from Rafael, who delivered not only zucchini, but a ton of cucumbers. More refrigerator pickles, coming right up!

Sunday

Short version: Roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted zucchini/onion/bell pepper

Long version: The beef roast waited patiently in the refrigerator until it was time to put it in a very hot oven late Sunday afternoon. It was heavily seasoned on the outside with salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano. I roasted it at 450 degrees for about twenty minutes, and then at 400 degrees until it got to 140 degrees internally.

My biggest meat cooking challenge is always not over-cooking. I succeeded this time. After resting, it was a perfect medium. Yay me.

I had roasted it in a cast iron skillet, so when the meat was done, I just poured off the seasoned fat onto the roasting potatoes and made a sauce in the skillet with water, Dijon mustard, and heavy cream. It was very, very good, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Monday

Short version: Eggs, bacon, chorizo, bread and butter, green salad

Long version: I had a big bag of chicken pieces out thawing for dinner, except they, um, didn't thaw in time. Eggs it is!

There was more chorizo in the package I had opened a few days previously, so I made that with scrambled eggs for A., plus bacon and fried eggs for the kids and me.

Salad with chopped fried eggs and bacon in it is really extremely good. Yum.

Tuesday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, rice, sauteed zucchini/tomato/onion, steamed carrots

Long version: The chicken was actually thawed, but I was pretty over the kitchen after making and canning peach jam in the morning. So instead of the chicken enchilada casserole I had planned on, I made cheeseburgers from the ground beef in the refrigerator that I hadn't yet gotten around to freezing.

They were fine, as was everything else.

Look! Peaches in a colander!

Wednesday

Short version: Chicken enchilada casserole, baked zucchini, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: The chicken could no longer be ignored. As soon as I got home from walking Cubby and Charlie to school, I put the chicken pieces--drumsticks and thighs--in a big pot of water with onion, carrot, celery, and a bay leaf. This way, I could cook the chicken and make stock at the same time. (Stock that did not get successfully canned. NOT THAT I AM BITTER.)

After the chicken was pretty tender, I pulled the meat off and shredded it, adding the mostly stripped bones back to the pot of liquid to simmer some more.

The shredded chicken went into a skillet with sauteed onion, garlic, and some "mild" Hatch chile salsa.

I put "mild" in quotes, because it is not mild, not at all. I have already learned never to trust New Mexican salsa labels. I've tried about four local mild salsas by now, and they are never mild by my definition of mild.

Thus, I also added sour cream and a bunch of shredded cheese--cheddar and asadero--to mitigate the definitely-not-mild burn of the salsa.

Jack helped me layer the chicken with more shredded cheese and tortillas in the casserole dish. He very much enjoyed this.

The excess of dairy didn't actually succeed in making the casserole particularly mild. The spiciness was noted by the children, but not in an accusatory way, and everyone ate it all. They might make good New Mexicans yet.

Poppy had yogurt for dinner, because I think she would not have appreciated the authentic New Mexican spice level of the chicken.

The zucchini was just sliced zucchini salted and drained to get rid of some liquid, then seasoned with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt, and baked. Never let a zucchini-cooking opportunity pass. Especially if Rafael lives nearby.

Thursday

Short version: Pork, mashed potatoes, cucumber salad

Long version: Finally, the last of the lean pork loin chops. I chunked them up, browned them, cooked onion and mushrooms in the pan, added dry vermouth (what I use when I don't have wine, which is almost always), then some of the large quantity of stupid chicken stock that didn't seal (STILL NOT BITTER, THOUGH), a little heavy cream, and some cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

While I was in the kitchen doing that, the kids were in the living room doing this:

Poppy was in jail for robbing the doughnut store. Maybe she was tired of yogurt.

The cucumber salad was a pretty lame salad. Sliced cucumbers with thinly sliced onion and some of the ranch dressing from the previous day. Tasted pretty good, though.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

And Now, For Words

I took the trouble to take all these photos and got them downloaded and everything, so I guess I might as well put them here. Of course, that requires words, too. I'll do my best.

I decided to make peach jam with all those peaches we were given, mostly so I could give some peach jam to the peach-givers. I didn't have any pectin, though, and the nearest store that carries it is I think about fifty miles away. I have a recipe that calls for two Granny Smith apples to use as a natural pectin source, but I didn't have those, either.

When I mentioned that to A., however, he reminded me of all the random apple trees on abandoned properties all over the village. (There are quite a few abandoned properties here.) Oh yeah.

I was going for a wan* yesterday morning anyway, so I took a route through some of the village streets and sure enough, I found an apple tree with small green apples at an abandoned house. No one was there--if someone had been there, I would have explained and asked for some apples in exchange for jam, of course--and I didn't even have to leave the road to pick the apples, so I figured a few green apples wouldn't be missed.

As soon as I got home, I put Poppy down for her morning nap, and Jack and I got to work.

I put the peaches in boiling water, then in ice water. Jack took them out of the ice water and peeled them for me.

He was actually quite competent with this.

I pitted and diced the peaches, then put them in a pot with sugar to cook for awhile. While they were cooking, I cut up the apples, putting the cores in a cheesecloth bag, as per instructions.

Seriously. A cheesecloth bag of apple cores. This gives you an indication of what a pain in the ass this recipe was.

After the peaches had gotten soft, I strained out the juices and put the juice back in the pot to boil with the apples and cores, until it had reduced and gotten syrupy. Then the peaches went back in the pot with some lemon juice. Thankfully, I had just purchased lemons with no particular purpose in mind for them and had just enough for this recipe.

It was supposed to boil until a dab of it was thick on a chilled plate. I hate this instruction. I can NEVER figure out if jam or jelly is done with the chilled plate method. Thankfully, the recipe specifically stated that the jam never actually gels, so I just boiled it until it seemed thick to me.

Just as I was finishing up the jam and getting ready to can it, Poppy woke up. So the canning was done with her crawling around on the floor.

And Jack stationed by the stove in his chair. Not so helpful this time.

Start to finish, it took three hours. For three pints of jam. 

Worth it? Jury's out.

Well, we also peeled the remainder of the peaches and mashed them up with honey to mix with yogurt, so that was another quart and a half.

And it is really good jam.

Then today when I had to cook chicken to make an enchilada casserole, I realized I would not be able to freeze the resulting stock. Because the only freezer I have is the one above the refrigerator, and it's jam-packed with meat.

So I had to pressure can the stock. 

I did, and let the canner properly come down to 0 PSI and let everything decompress. But when I took the jars out, two of them spit and on one, the lid and ring flew right off.

What the hell?

The stock didn't spray everywhere, and luckily no one was nearby at the time, but I was still unhappy. Only three quarts of the five actually sealed.

Dammit.

I don't have pictures of that, though.

The end.

* I just made this word up. I walk as much as I run, so I'm gonna call it a wan. Get it? I know. My cleverness amazes even me.