traveling for food

[Ramblin McPete]

If you make it to New England definitely look for grade B maple syrup. It is darker and richer in favor perhaps with a touch of smokiness. The best.

Also, the pizza here can be amazing. Still lots of small shops, and both the Italian and Greek styles are good.

Good luck on your travels, and I hope you are able to complete your Vanlife cookbook ideas.

 

[vanbrat]

Oh yes! On my to do list...

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Sockeye Salmon straight from the rock!

this is my fave since, even in my small-town, I can get Wildcaught Sockeye from our Grocery Outlet almost year-round.  From some company called Alaskan Seafood.  I hope you don't know anything bad about them because this is all I can get here, that I can afford! LOL! Denise

 

[vanbrat]

I like Grocery Outlet. They always have interesting stuff. Including canned crab for crab cakes, I like fresh best, but I don't think I could carry that in my van for long.

Hubby likes fresh caught salmon or frozen or any kind of salmon for that matter, but me nope if it tastes like fish, nope not for me. Fish and chips I love as long as the breading hides the fish taste.

Shrimp and crab, clams and muscles yum, but hubby hates clams and muscles, he says they look gross. I have gotten spoiled though because the worlds best rated muscles are farmed out here about 5 miles from my house. And of course 90% of the restaurants out here make VERY VERY good muscle dishes. If anyone ever gets out to Whidbey or Port Townsend Get some fresh muscles and have a good boil.
The clams have been very good this year too. Some years it is hard to get good ones or there is a red tide which makes clams toxic. But this year they are good. Time for some chowder.
Don't know if I could survive long very far from the ocean. I got to much salt water in my blood. Visit yes, lots I want to see. live nope need my salty air.

 

[vanbrat]

It's cherry season! My mom is is heaven. She wants to go get some we are talking flat head lake or something. Son just got back from Walla Walla with a bunch of onions. I love this stuff!!
Next will be more peaches and Plums!

 

[vanbrat]

Went to Eastern WA and got my peaches for this year. Now time to make jam!!!
To D$%# hot over there. To much smoke.

 

[user 30781]

The best peaches I ever had were grown in Western WA! I don't remember exactly where, but when we lived in Fall City the grocery store would often get in local produce and fruit and they had the best peaches on the planet one year.

And I agree, it's too damn hot over here.

 

[vanbrat]

I have a neighbor kid coming over to "help" make jam. his mom is kinda pushing him to, as he said last time he ate my jam that it had to much fruit and we just added fruit to jam from the local grocery store and and and....
He was surprised when I told him nooooo I get real whole fruit and put pots and pans on my stove and cook it from scratch. He doesn't really believe me even though he knows I do so much of my own stuff from scratch. I even taught his class how to cook stuff from scratch...... His mom is a busy lady and most of her cooking is frozen or precooked and such.

Not sure if I am looking forward to this or not... I feel a lot of eye rolls are in store for me this afternoon.

I do lots of semi homemade stuff and such. Hubby was grumbling about how much 'stuff' we had in the van this last trip so we had frozen TV dinners a couple nights.
He prefers real cooking now and only wants the TV dinner things if really needed.

 

[RoamerRV428]

I read your first post and liked it travel for fresh food and that is your draw around how you wanna live your days and find what suits you and enjoy the heck out of it while on the road. love it....you are on a mission LOL

I read a couple that was traveling SOLELY on a 'map' to visit every single Guy Fieri's restaurants on Diners DriveIns and Dives and that was their mission....to try the darn place he mapped out and they just travel and follow and are were having a heck of a time doing just that and then blogging if he was 'right or wrong' on just how good that place was and it was nice seeing people out having a good fun time doing what they enjoy like you are doing...cool

 

[vanbrat]

Fresh, tree ripened, peaches. Next trip out it will be fresh caught seafoods and the trip home more fresh picked filberts. I am hoping that there will be some fresh artichokes too but don't know.... We have to be back in time to pick our own stuff. Not as good as Eastern WA apples and pears but good enough for me. My afternoon with the teen ager was funny he didn't like the heat the steam or the stirring but he sure liked the tasting. He asked if he could take home the first whole batch and could he hide it from the rest of his family. I only made 20 jars. Not really enough cause every time either son or mom comes out they go out to the storage cupboard and take at least one with them. And this year I did not get the strawberries I usually get .....

 

[crofter]

That is so funny. I think you have created a jam monster. I mostly just can plain foods, but making jam is a truly creative adventure. I used to make something called Peach Honey with the odds and ends that weren't pretty enough for the jar. Yum.Apricot pineapple jam need I say more, even better if the apricots are a little tart.
-crofter

 

[vanbrat]

My next 'canning' project is the red pears growing on my trees. It is so good to go to the pantry in January and pull out a big jar of spiced pears. Pears I made myself. Also the spiced pear vodka. I'm out from last year. Then the applesauce and apple butter. I'm ok with apple butter, but one son and Mom like it better then jam so if they can steel that and leave me more peach jam I guess I will make apple butter. Either that or I need to hide my jam. I have not found a good source of apricots.... Blackberries soon as I can pick them, usually hubby does that, he likes 'free fruit'. Maybe I can con/bribe the teens. They like blackberry jam too.
OK with me if I create jam monsters nice to pass the skill along. Their Dad keeps trying to get me to find and make something his Granny made, but I don't know what it was made with and he doesn't either. Something called tuti fruti jam. But he doesn't know what fruit was in it. So if anyone knows let me know. He always is willing to work at just about anything we need help with and it would be nice to surprise him.

 

[gizmotron]

Don't miss out on Hood River Valley and Mosier for their Apples, Pears, and Cherry harvests. That's out in the heart of windsurfing country in the Columbia Gorge. The trick is to figure out the recipes for the great food attractions. They come from 100's of miles around to get the Christmas Chili sauces (Red or Green ) in Santa Fe, NM. There's this hamburger stand on the main drag that sells a green chili burger. That's the one they flock to. I asked the guy what he was putting on the chilis when he made my burger. And to my surprise, he told me. It's the secret to using roasted chilis on meals in Santa Fe. First they get their hands on roasted chilis sold by the chili venders along the highway. These are roasted in a tumbling drum with a gas flame under to char the chilis. When you get them they are hot to the touch. So the vender places them in a plastic bag so that they will sweat. In about 30 minutes this allows you to slide the skins off of them with a paper towel, like in seconds. A small amount a charring is left behind. You keep that and dice the chilies after stripping the veins and seeds from the inside. Now the trick that almost everyone misses. While you are cooking your burger on the flat griddle you put a hamburger's portion of green diced chilis on the same flattop, to the side. That chef puts a little garlic salt on the green chilis as he heats them up. It's the second cooking and the garlic salt that sets it all off. The hamburger is assembled and the chilis are dropped right on top of the meat. These are New Mexico "Hatch" chilies. You can substitute roasted Anaheim Chilis if you can't get them. It's not about the heat. It's the roasting, the second cooking, and the garlic salt. Now you can have them anywhere. That trick works for making your own salsas too.

 

[vanbrat]

Roasted chilis sound good.

Now I'm wondering if I can roast some myself... Maybe I can find an old something to roast them in and a something to sweat them in...

I think first though I need to go there and taste them.

 

[gizmotron]

Roasted chilis sound good.

I don't have a tumbler either. The trick is to know when enough is enough. You really blister them and there are lots of black spots in the blistering. From their, while they are still hot, you place them in a one gallon freezer ziplock bag. I use tongs on a propane gas grill. You just keep turning them as they get more and more ready. You take them straight from the flame to the bag. They seam hot enough to melt the bags. But they aren't. Still you don't want to dry out the outsides of a chili enough to get ambers that are visible. That would be too hot. So remember to keep them sweating for 30 minutes in the bag. That's what loosens the skins. You then take them one at a time and pull the skins off with paper towels. If done right the skins will just slide off.  Don't wash them off. You will wash off the remaining char, about 10%, and you will wash away the smoky flavor that this is all done this way for.  At this point you can devein and knock out most of the seeds. You can dice them or use them in a blender to make salsa. You can do the same thing to jalapeno peppers too. I'll try to find a video.

I found one video but it does not show putting them in plastic bags or peeling them.


Here's a video that shows the charring better. He uses a different technique to peel them. He also uses a grill too.

 

[vanbrat]

So just got back from our coastal trip. I was hoping for some fresh filberts, but to early. Found a few good ice cream shops and now have added that to my trip agendas... There is a good little shop in Newport Or. They make small batch stuff. Dark chocolate with hazel nuts and blackberry sauce swirls. Crescent City has a new cheese factory got some good stuff there. Found a good ice cream shop in Sanoma, did not get any wine but maybe next time. Found a few good brewery places. And some good restaurants. Pumpkins are almost ripe in the Williamite valley also the other goodies. But we didn't get much. Made crab cakes. Made muffins. To cold in to many places for much else....
Had waaaay to much McD's hubby loves them.
Next trip we go east.....

 

[crofter]

Santa Rosa plums, only got a couple pounds this year.
Last sighting at farmers markets in July.
-crofter

https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Santa_Rosa_Plums_9877.php

 

[vanbrat]

We didn't get as many plums this year either. Only enough for 2 batches of jam.....
I have not had Santa Rosa plums, I will have to watch for them.

 

[Cammalu]

I bought a bag to sweet tango apples today. You only see them once a year and these are fairly early. They are by far the most delicious apples that I have eaten.

I made about eight jars of pawpaw/peach/raspberry preserves today. I did the half sugar recipe.

 

[vanbrat]

I so want to try a pawpaw! I tried to grow a pawpaw tree once, but it didn't grow sooooo. Your preserves sound yummy. Now that is something to travel for. One of the things I like about making homemade jam is the flavors that ya just can not ever buy.