Xochitl10

On 3/8/2018 at 8:31 PM, ces1965 said:

When will the restoration be complete?

No idea. I no longer live in the DC area and won't be back to Georgetown until early April. Will update then.

Our five-month-old (whose first nickname, incidentally, was "the burrito" because of his tortilla-print swaddling blanket) isn't old enough to help, obviously. But I have worn him while working in the orchard and making various jams and liqueurs, and he's started eating some soft things: okayu (Japanese rice porridge), pumpkin pie filling, roasted sweet potato, pureed pears from the orchard.

The last batch of pear butter for the year is in the crock pot. There were three batches: one vanilla, one salted caramel, and one bourbon. The salted caramel pear butter is delicious.

To recap, the first year of canning/preserving at Flame and Glass Orchards resulted in one bottle of Nanking cherry liqueur, one batch of apricot jam, one batch of plum jam, three batches of pear butter, one bottle of plum liqueur, and a bunch of pureed plums and pears for the baby. I'm looking forward to next year, when we'll actually know what we're doing with the orchard.

Any new intel on downtown Memphis? I will be staying at the Napoleon and attending a conference at the Westin Beale Street in early November. I loved Automatic Slim's the last time we were there and will have drinks at the Peabody one night. I'm interested in South of Beale and Majestic Grille, possibly also Blues City Cafe.

Our visiting friend from Maryland requested "actual New Mexican food." So I made:
Tacos filled with ground beef, potatoes, and carrots, the way my Mexican grandmother made them
Calabacitas -- sauteed zucchini mixed with corn
Whole pinto beans

Well, the Nanking cherry liqueur was a success. I completely failed to put any spices in during the fermentation process because, well, newborn. But it has a lovely cherry flavor and makes a nice, if redder than normal, Aviation. I now have a batch of plum liqueur going.

I harvested the last of the plums, which I think are Ruby Queen, two weeks ago. Some went into the fermentation jar, some got roasted and pureed into baby food, and the rest went into two pints of plum jam. I'm now trying to harvest the most useful of the pears (organic orcharding is a challenge when: a) you move into the place after fruiting has begun, b ) you don't know what you're doing, and c) did I mention the newborn?) before they turn. Those will also get split into baby food and canned stuff, probably another batch of crockpot pear butter.

After finishing the plum harvest for this year, I made Marian Burros' plum tart with a handful of our bounty. My niece described it as being "like a cookie," which it kind of was -- dense, with a nice crunchy crust around the edges. It was simple and delicious and went perfectly with afternoon coffee and ice cream. I think next time, I'd make it with some almond flour and possibly some spices.

I can't confirm the Great Falls departure point, but I can confirm that the Georgetown section of the canal is closed for restoration.The National Park Service started the project last fall. They've removed "The Georgetown," the old canal boat between Thomas Jefferson and 31st Street and will replace it with one in better condition. I would love it if they could fix the towpath so sinkholes don't appear.

Steel-cut oats, brown sugar, walnuts, and ripe red plums out of our orchard. Man, I love the orchard.

Tots are a regular feature of dinner in our household. This was true even before the kid.

Oh no! I have many fond memories of hanging out at the bar here. Sad that I have one less favorite place to go on my trips back to DC.

Steel-cut oats topped with a chopped pear from our orchard, walnuts, vanilla yogurt, and raw honey

On 7/5/2017 at 11:46 AM, DonRocks said:

Yesterday at German Gourmet, I randomly bought two cans of sparkling water because I liked what the ingredients listed - one of them was cucumber, and the other was strawberry.

Having just worked out, I was thirsty, so I popped open the strawberry, took a gulp, and immediately said to my friend, "This is the best strawberry soda I've ever had." Then came the cucumber, which was just as good - there is essentially no sweetness, and no calories, in either one (the strawberry has 8 calories because of strawberry purée - the only other ingredients are carbonated water and lime juice).

Did you not think the cucumber tasted like pickles? I bought one at Dean & Deluca when I still worked in Georgetown thinking it would taste like cucumber water, and was nonplussed by the pickle flavor (Spindrift does use a little citric acid in the cucumber sparkling, which is likely the culprit). The blackberry variety, on the other hand, was delicious.

I made the first (and only for this year) batch of jam using apricots picked from our orchard. I used this recipe, which I cooked for 15 rather than ten minutes because my apricots were especially juicy and the jam hadn't thickened much at all by ten minutes. It really is a lovely, tart, fresh-apricot tasting jam.

The Nanking cherry liqueur base has been fermenting for about ten days. It's been sitting outside during Albuquerque's string of 100+ degree days and is starting to develop bubbles. I'll open it and put some spices in it mid-July and let it go for another month before finishing.

When Azami and I moved back to New Mexico in the spring, we expected to buy a place whose yard we'd need/want to xeriscape. What we did *not* expect to buy was a place with no fewer than seven mature rosebushes and a smallish orchard. We've got three varieties of apples, two of pears, and one each of plum, nectarine, apricot, sweet cherry, and sour cherry, plus our realtor gave us a Sierra fig tree. The only varieties we know we have are Nanking cherries, Red and Golden Delicious apples, and a Williams pear. We harvested a boatload of Nanking cherries this morning, most of which are in the freezer now. I'm planning to make liqueur with some of them and haven't decided whether to make jam from the rest or a tart. Not sure I have enough for both. . .

Mother's Day brunch for Azami's fabulous mom, who (along with Azami's dad) is gracious enough to let the middle-aged couple expecting their first kid (and their dog) stay with them until they can move into their new place:

Potato and mushroom frittata with Jarlsberg and fresh thyme
Strawberries and mango macerated in orange flower water and a bit of sugar
Gluten-free blueberry muffins for her, Frontier rolls for the rest of us

I'm extremely snooty about my okonomiyaki, so thank you for confirming that I was right to skip it when I was there a couple of weekends ago. The salmon tacos and a ginger limeade were satisfying.

I've been catching early flights out of Albuquerque the past couple of months and relying on Black Mesa Coffee Co. near Gate A9 for breakfast. Their yogurt parfaits are pricey ($7.75), but have plenty of granola and good fresh berries to make them worthwhile. The "loaded" oatmeal, on the other hand, is seriously underwhelming; tasty enough oatmeal, but a scant teaspoon each of dried cranberries and walnuts. They make several types of breakfast sandwiches (including some on bagels, which: no. I love you, Burque, but bagels are not your specialty.) and at least one breakfast roll-up as well.

ABQ

Kaz offers uni as either nigiri or sashimi, if you want to get its cleanest flavor. I don't care for uni because I don't like either the texture or the iodine flavor, so if either of those is an issue for you, I'd recommend trying it in a composed dish.

Not helpful here, but the last uni I ate before leaving Japan was in this wonderful chawanmushi flavored with yuzu. I still think about it, and that was almost eight years ago.

On 1/27/2017 at 9:40 AM, DanielK said:

Street rumor is that American is going to follow the ultra-low-cost Spirit/Frontier path, and their lowest published fare will no longer include a carry-on bag.

You're correct. I just flew American and their basic economy fare now allows only a personal carry-on item. You can get the carry-on bag if you purchase a higher fare and/or Main Cabin Extra.

They've also changed their boarding system. They used to do pre-boarding, the various types of priority, then Groups 1-whatever (last group depends on aircraft size), beginning with Main Cabin Extra. Now, they're Groups 1-whatever, which means MCE folks end up boarding in Group 5 and having no overhead space near them. People in MCE ended up sticking their carry-ons in bins way, way behind our seats, which really jammed up deplaning. >:( I'm not a fan of the new system and will be booking on Southwest for my return flight.

Aw, thanks all! Azami and I are thrilled to finally be moving home, and even happier that our first child will be born a New Mexican like his parents. And if I didn't leave DR.com when we went to Japan, I certainly won't be leaving now.

Joined a couple of friends here for happy hour as the first stop in my farewell tour of DC (hello, beautiful homeland of New Mexico!). Gougeres were as delicious as ever right out of the oven, less delectable as they cooled off. The bartender made a lovely sparkling lemonade with a bit of mint for me as a nonalcoholic alternative to the sauvignon blanc and white sangria with blueberries that my friends were drinking. I hadn't been to Central in years, and while it's not looking as polished as it was when it first opened, I was just as happy there for a drink and a snack as I was back in the day.

I have to give American's customer service people kudos for being helpful and cool over the past couple of weeks. I've had to first change, then cancel, a return ticket to Baltimore. Both times, the customer service agent was patient and helpful, clearly explaining my options. So much better than the last time my mom had cancer and I flew American out and needed to change my return flight. They screwed up the ticket during the change so that I lost the free checked bag, Group 1 boarding, and free adult beverage (and dammit, I needed that free adult beverage!) that I purchased in the fare for my original ticket, and then told me my only recourse was to take it up with corporate when I got back to Maryland.

Baked potato topped with green chile sauce, sliced chicken, and cheddar

Simple dinner for the cancer patient (Mom) and her pregnant lady caretaker (me) after a tough post-surgery week: Trader Joe's BBQ pulled chicken, baked potatoes with butter, peas.