The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 02: A Comma (is a Restful Pause)

[Hypoxia]

That (all too) brief introduction to the Native American is fascinating; I've never heard anything like it (the original 'tribes' in England are a bit of a closed book).

"Don't worry, be Hopi!"

We had stopped at the Hopi cultural center; I think that was on Third Mesa. A guy parked in the shade had pottery displayed on the hood of his pickup. He said he needed to sell something to buy gas to make it home across the rez. We bought a nice mid-size olla, a polychrome rainbird pattern, for a modest amount. A few weeks later he mailed us a snapshot of him making that pot. Nice guy.

Turns out, Dee Setella is from a most prominent pottery family, descended from the illustrious Nampeyo -- and Indian ceramics are very much a family affair. A few years later, he was winning awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market. That's the big time. Our modest olla sits beside an sgrafito twin-neck wedding vase by his sister Gwen, who is more famous than him now.

Coffee status : too close to midnight. And in the morning we'll set off journeying across the northern Nevada wilds for a few days, likely far from wireless links. I'll leave out a pot of virtual java for y'all.

 

[TxRad]

Morning all, it be Friday,

Fresh coffee is available and the kettle is hot.

Mini powdered donuts for breakfast so far.

Off to do my morning writing.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Need an extra cuppa this morning. Apparently my Halloween story ending was too ambiguous. Oy vey.

 

[Handley_Page]

Need an extra cuppa this morning. Apparently my Halloween story ending was too ambiguous. Oy vey.

I'm having trouble sorting out the last-but-one bit of the story.
And I'm in a right dither.

 

[NotWise]

Tuscan tortellini soup for dinner. I think I'll go open some doors so I can cool off. Aside from the heat from cooking it, the soup came out a bit spicier than I anticipated.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Tuscan tortellini soup for dinner. I think I'll go open some doors so I can cool off. Aside from the heat from cooking it, the soup came out a bit spicier than I anticipated.

Spicy! Yum! I'm making do with someone else's cooking tonite. I was pounding away from early this morning to get my Halloween story done and submitted and I managed and its now in pending at last.

Off doing some Fall camping tomorrow morning and taking a day off so we can come back on Monday. Love camping out in Fall, the campfire is so much more enjoyable when it's cold outside. Got the sausages and the marshmallows and going to make some campfire bread tomorrow night and see how that turns out.

 

[NotWise]

Off doing some Fall camping tomorrow morning and taking a day off so we can come back on Monday. Love camping out in Fall, the campfire is so much more enjoyable when it's cold outside. Got the sausages and the marshmallows and going to make some campfire bread tomorrow night and see how that turns out.

Fall camping is the best. Good luck with the campfire bread. I didn't get it to work, but I was young and impatient at the time.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Fall camping is the best. Good luck with the campfire bread. I didn't get it to work, but I was young and impatient at the time.

Oh I'll need all the luck. I have a new cast iron Dutch Oven to take along and try out so I'm going to have fun experimenting. I have to dig up some recipes but that can wait till were on the way. Might have to get some ingredients en route but there's one decent supermarket on the way.

 

[colddiesel]

Damper

Campfire bread. Is that the same as Damper in the video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVWUKM3PRys

Try it with 'cocky's gold' (Golden Syrup) or molasses. Good stuff.

 

[NotWise]

Campfire bread. Is that the same as Damper in the video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVWUKM3PRys

Try it with 'cocky's gold' (Golden Syrup) or molasses. Good stuff.

That guy was really good at what he did., but that wasn't like the campfire bread I made, which was supposed to be just a baking soda bread in a covered pan over cool coals. Didn't mix it well. The coals were to hot.

How often do you have a great big mixing bowl, a huge work surface and a lot of extra flour while you're camping, like the guy in the video? I worked with a pan on my lap.

 

[Hypoxia]

Oy, another unavoidable delay. Current fantasy: leave in the morning to travel America's Loneliest Road - the real one, US-6, not that imposter US-50. Sure, they overlap in places, but not around Area 51. We spent an anniversary there but weren't abducted or probed by aliens or anything fun.

Anyway, we hopefully have endurance for a few days out. Alas, we've already missed a lot. Like the free day when a certain Nevada highway is closed for general traffic so the speedsters can wail. Wanna see how fast your short is? That's the place.

What, it's dark already? Coffee in the morning, then. Have a slurp.

 

[colddiesel]

That guy was really good at what he did., but that wasn't like the campfire bread I made, which was supposed to be just a baking soda bread in a covered pan over cool coals. Didn't mix it well. The coals were to hot.

How often do you have a great big mixing bowl, a huge work surface and a lot of extra flour while you're camping, like the guy in the video? I worked with a pan on my lap.

I used to have an elderly aboriginal lady living with her family on my place in the bush. She used to mix the dough up in a size 12 square ended shovel, then set the shovel with the dough on the hot embers and cover with some ash and more hot embers. When it was finished she pulled the shovel out tossed the bread in the air, slightly to one side - to get rid of the ashes, turned the shovel through 360 and caught the bread back in the shovel.

That old lady would have got a Michelin star for shovel cooking, breakfast, barbecues, you name it, out would come her shovel. Good memories.

 

[Handley_Page]

I used to have an elderly aboriginal lady living with her family on my place in the bush. She used to mix the dough up in a size 12 square ended shovel, then set the shovel with the dough on the hot embers and cover with some ash and more hot embers. When it was finished she pulled the shovel out tossed the bread in the air, slightly to one side - to get rid of the ashes, turned the shovel through 360 and caught the bread back in the shovel.

That old lady would have got a Michelin star for shovel cooking, breakfast, barbecues, you name it, out would come her shovel. Good memories.

Ah, 1960s Race Days in wild Wiltshire.
The smell of bacon & eggs cooking in Castrol R on a shovel.
Unforgettable !

But for now - Coffee.

 

[TxRad]

I've cook many things, many ways but never on a shovel and never with Castrol. I didn't trust Castrol in my motor, much less in my stomach.

Way too early so I'll make a fresh pot of coffee and set a new kettle on the side. The rest is up to you. I'm going back to bed. The house guest from down the road spent the night with us, so I need to regain my strength.

Lates Gators.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I've cook many things, many ways but never on a shovel and never with Castrol. I didn't trust Castrol in my motor, much less in my stomach.

Way too early so I'll make a fresh pot of coffee and set a new kettle on the side. The rest is up to you. I'm going back to bed. The house guest from down the road spent the night with us, so I need to regain my strength.

Lates Gators.

Me too, went to bed early, heading off camping today and woke up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep and the big guy is snoring ...... Too many night shifts lately I think. Time for a midnight snack and curl up with a book for an hour and then back to bed....

Cooking on a shovel? I've done it (cooking) on a flat rock with the embers, and with aluminium foil, but never on a shovel. Never had to but hhmmmmm

This one seems staged to me.....

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OxPlU2aA3mw/hqdefault.jpg

 

[ChloeTzang]

Now this is what I plan on trying this weekend - south african potjiekos - got a dutch oven so potjiekos really suits. I've got most of the ingredients, just not the warthog so I'll go with cubed beef instead and use ordinary honey.

https://michaelolivier.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Savannah-to-Sea-Slow-roasted-warthog-potjie-copy.jpg

Potjiekos literally translated means ‘small pot food’ and is a traditional South African stew prepared outdoors. It is usually cooked in a round three-legged pot over a wood fire. This is an all-in-one dish served straight from the pot with some rice or even fresh bread to soak up the delicious rich sauce. I’ve used warthog for this recipe, but any venison or even beef will do. Dukka is an Egyptian spice mixture, delicious in stews or on its own mixed with olive oil as a dip.

80 ml vegetable oil
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 leeks, washed and sliced
4 celery sticks, washed and sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch fresh thyme, chopped
a few sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 whole star anise
1 kg warthog or venison of choice, cubed
250 g chorizo sausage or bacon, cubed
2 cups port or dry red wine
2 cups beef stock
4 Tbsp rooibos honey
6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
100 g dried apricots, sliced

Dukka spice
30 g toasted hazelnuts
30 g unsalted pistachio nuts
4 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
2 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp fine salt

Make the dukka spice ahead of time. In a small blender, grind the hazelnuts, pistachios, sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, fennel, pepper and salt together, then store in a sealed jar.

Prepare a small wood fire and clean out a No. 3 size potjie.

Heat the oil in the potjie and fry 4 tablespoons of the dukka spice. Add the carrots, onions, leeks, celery and garlic, and sauté for about 10 minutes. Stir in the thyme, rosemary, cumin, coriander and star anise.

Add the meat and chorizo and brown the meat. Deglaze the pot with the port, stock and honey. Simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Add the potatoes and apricots, then simmer for a further 30 minutes, adding more cooking liquid if needed. The meat will be very tender and starting to fall apart. Serve hot with askoek, or crunchy bread.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Morning, folks. Waiting to see whether last night's fever was just the start of yet another cold or if the munchkin has a sinus infection. Oy, vey. It never stops with this kid. Anyway, eggs and coffee. Not feeling very ambitious but I'm going to finish that story this weekend. Too much I want to do this month to just wait until I "feel like it."

 

[TxRad]

No warthog in the freezer but I do have some wild hog left. It is not real gamey but.... It's still too warm to start on the soups and stews yet.

MP, my condolences on the kid. Hopefully, she will grow out of this cold and flue thing shortly.

I had breakfast in bed this morning so.... On to coffee.

 

[NotWise]

I'm not writing anything right now. That actually feels good, but in the back of my mind there lurks a tale of Yellow Woman.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Had to get groceries so I made a pit stop at the local watering hole for a half hour of uninterrupted writing while the husband unit watches the munchkin. I WILL submit a second story to the contest. I hope.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I made the last of the year's ripe tomato spaghetti sauce yesterday so today I'll can it. The next two 'preservin's' will be salsa verde and sliced green tomatoes for the winter's fried tomato side dishes. I also have some major infrastructure improvements to make for next spring's plantings. A gardener's work is never done.

 

[NotWise]

A gardener's work is never done.

Yeah, I'm cleaning out a couple unused beds. I'll plant garlic there later today.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I'm looking forward to next year's growing season already, but enjoying the gorgeous color of the trees here today - oranges and yellows.

Just wrote the romantic finale for my second entry. Now I just have to get them there through a harrowing ordeal.

 

[Handley_Page]

My late wife said she liked a "yellow" rose and 'put one in the garden for me'.
So I did. The Mk 1 rose plant survived for 10 years or so; then snuffed it.
In went the Mk 2.
But this year has not been very rose-friendly in my garden (the Mk2 yellow rose is looking very straggly).
So I have bought another (the Mk3) plant which will go in next week (it's being protected by a plastic bag at present).

Green fingers I do not have.
Cross you fingers for me /it, please

Time for a cup of tea, I reckon.

 

[MagicaPractica]

My late wife said she liked a "yellow" rose and 'put one in the garden for me'.
So I did. The Mk 1 rose plant survived for 10 years or so; then snuffed it.
In went the Mk 2.
But this year has not been very rose-friendly in my garden (the Mk2 yellow rose is looking very straggly).
So I have bought another (the Mk3) plant which will go in next week (it's being protected by a plastic bag at present).

Green fingers I do not have.
Cross you fingers for me /it, please

Time for a cup of tea, I reckon.

Evening HP. I do love a yellow rose as well and I've bought a few over the years, floribunda, tea and others. Strangely enough, all for other people. Maybe next year I'll correct that.

Just had my afternoon coffee, a bit late. Going to try to write for a few before starting dinner.