Category: Uncategorized

I’ve had company three times at Emerald Cove. Somehow I don’t seem to remember to take photos and blog about it most of the time. So I tried harder to remember this time.

I think Terry & Jeri came here mostly because I said I was trying to make four days worth of food last seven days. Being good friends they came to take me grocery shopping. In the meantime, I did an actual inventory of my food and discovered I had more than I realized. Apparently I buy tuna and salmon every time I go grocery shopping. So as long as I’m willing to eat that or go to the bar here for lunch I’m fine.

But, I’m not sorry they came. Nor are they. They like this park enough to be considering extending their time here. And I’m sure they will come here again next winter when we are all in Arizona again.

Yesterday we went out for dinner and I remembered to take a few pictures. We went to Pirate’s Den just up the river on the other side.

Where Jeri chose a table right on the riverside so we could watch the traffic out there.

And I chose to sit with my back to the sun and put on my hat in hopes of not burning. Which put Terry and Jeri facing the sun and the water.

That cup sitting on the table has the Den’s slogan on it, “A sunny place for shady people.” Jeri had a margarita that came in that cup. Since it was happy hour and she said the cup was only half-sized she had a second one. 🙂

By the time I thought to take a picture of our food it was no longer pretty so I didn’t. We all had their Hawaiian Burger. If you’ve ever had the Bonsai Burger at Red Robin you know how much we enjoyed these.

And the view.

And the company.

It’s good to have friends.

TTYL,

Linda

Every now and then someone asks for more information on how I live in my RV such as what I have and where I stash it. So today’s blog is about cooking and eating gear.

My upper right cupboard in my galley looks like this:

On the right is my stack of Tupperware mixing bowls with their lids. Inside that stack are also some silicone muffin cups I can use for baking but mostly use to serve nuts. Next are two Corning baking dishes with glass lids. I bought these specifically to use in my RV so I kept the inserts that let the lids nest inside the bowls without rattling around. On top of that is my beverage carry-out tray for the rare occasion I go to Wendy’s and fetch both a soft drink and a Frosty Junior. Left of that are two Corning Grab-it bowls that I microwave single serving things in and in front of them are two small serving bowls I use mostly for measuring my detergent into when going to the laundry so I don’t have to carry the whole bottle. I may move them to the cleaning cupboard.

The upper left galley cupboard looks like this:

Messy, huh? But since most things in that cupboard are not breakable I just let them find their own places. That green thing in the lower left is the handle of the silicone vegetable steamer I’m still promising to use one of these days. The two red things above it are silicone baking pans–one 8×8 and one loaf. Inside them is some storage containers and a glass jar I’m keeping to put used grease in if I ever cook anything that requires that. The white thing on the bottom in the middle is my food scale which is protected by a clear plastic bowl that fits over it. Then there’s three red silicone lids which can go on most anything needing a lid at anytime. Then my microwave bacon tray–2 slices at 2 minutes is just right. The green thing is my collapsible strainer used mostly for washing grapes. The white pan on top is a tray leftover from some food I bought which I kept because I thought might be handy for taking to a potluck where I didn’t want to have to remember to bring my dish home. And on the right are two glass measuring cups separated by a washcloth to protect them while traveling. Behind all that where you can’t see them are some Tupperware iced tea glasses and some tiny Tupper cups just the right size for measuring out cold medicine to take during the night when you don’t want to wake up enough to measure more. Fortunately, I haven’t had to do that on this trip yet.

Under my counter I have two drawers. Well, there are three but the third one is my junk drawer so is not part of this post. The far most right drawer looks like this:

In the back left is my stack of Corning dishes. I have two each of dinner, luncheon, and salad plates, and cereal bowls. Next to them where you can’t really see them are my Tupperware cereal bowls that I use for occasional storage. In front of them are some storage containers that came in handy when Toni did all that cooking for me. And in the front left is my bin of everyday grooming tools since I do my grooming at the kitchen sink. The bathroom sink is too small to be of much use.

The drawer to the left of that one looks like this:

The small bin on the right holds my scissors, potato peeler, meat thermometer, twist ties, and serving utensils. The one next to it holds my two sets of silverware, and the final one my two sets of measuring spoons one set of which is shaped to go into spice containers. The rest of the drawer holds my cooking utensils including an extendable wiener fork, pancake turner, hot pad that opens like a star, a can opener, silicone spatula I use as a cooking spoon, sharp knives in blade safes (the one you can actually see is empty because that knife is awaiting washing), dry goods measuring cups hiding under a jar gripper, chip clip, and a pastry blender that I use for chopping things like eggs for egg salad or deviled eggs.

Under the drawers is a double door cabinet only the top shelf of which stores kitchen stuff.

On the right you see the back of my toaster oven. The red slice next to it is the edge of my cutting board. Then we have my one pot with its lid sitting on a pizza pan, which is the biggest baking sheet that fits in my microwave/convection oven, then my induction burner with my tiny dish drainer sitting on top of it.

Across the aisle from all this is a tall cupboard that holds a few more kitchen tools as well as some groceries and paper goods.

On the top shelf is the rack from my oven holding two Corning pie plates with plastic lids. I use these mostly as dinner plates for reheating leftovers. Next to it is a MicroHearth–my new favorite appliance since it lets me grill meats in my microwave faster and with a lot less hassle than a real grill does. On the next shelf down is my big skillet and its lid with some non-slip mat keeping the lid in place. Down one more is my blender and my food processor and some beverage containers.

There you have it. Other than some paper plates and bowls and plastic silverware stashed elsewhere, these are the items I use for cooking and eating.

It’s not a lot but it is more than I need since I have not yet used everything in this inventory in the four months I’ve been living in this RV. How much kitchen gear do you use?

TTYL,

Linda

No, that is not a real word. It just popped into my head as I was sitting folding laundry and thinking I would need to open some windows soon. Suddenly I was having a smell memory of hot cotton.

When I was a girl, we were taught to iron by doing cotton handkerchiefs. I no longer iron my handkerchiefs but I was folding them in a hot RV when this memory hit me. I’ve always wondered about the advisability of starting your ironing lesson by doing handkerchiefs because they aren’t very big. But, I suppose you learn to be careful very quickly. Was that my first lesson in mindfulness?

Anyway, that smemory quickly led to others. The smell of hot cornbread and beans brought a picture of Grandma cooking. Which led to seeing her spreading her homemade noodles out on the table to dry although I don’t remember those having a smell other than flour.

But pumpkin pie! Suddenly a movie of nearly every holiday dinner  was playing in my mind. Which led to the cinnamon smell of Snickerdoodles, a cookie our daughter and I loved to make so much we didn’t always wait for a holiday as an excuse to make them. Then the sweetness of divinity which I never did learn to make but remember Mom and Grandma waiting for conditions to be just right to make it. And the slightly spicy smell of Arabian Date Nut Roll which was another treat we only got to have at Christmas time.

I spent a bunch of time lost on memory lane as smell pictures just kept coming back to me.

What smells trigger memories for you?

TTYL,

Linda

You all know by now that I am spending the winter in Arizona.

So there’s no frost, right?

Wrong.

My refrigerator is not frost free. On occasion I need to manually defrost it. I was about to go boondocking again so I wanted my electrical appliances to be at their maximum efficiency. That meant time to defrost.

So, I started eating my way through the food in my refrigerator.

Until my freezer looked like this:

Two steaks, two beef patties, one bag of broccoli, one bag of strawberries, and two trays of ice cubes.

And my fridge looked like this:

One carton with two eggs past their expiration date just waiting for the next trip to the garbage dumpster, some bottled water, two fruit cups, some condiments, olives, and butter.

Then I remembered I have a small cooler bag that this would all probably fit into.

So I packed it all in the bag and defrosted my fridge.

Now I can go to the grocery store.

About time, don’t you think?

After all, a full refrigerator is more efficient than an empty one.

In more ways than one.

TTYL,

Linda

 

My membership at Emerald Cove RV Resort lets me stay free for two weeks. Then I either need to leave for a week or pay $95 to stay. This time I decided to leave.

First I went up north of Lake Havasu City to the BLM’s Craggy Wash area to join Doug & Toni there. The plan was Toni, who has a sewing machine on board, would hem my curtains. I also suggested that I would buy groceries if she would cook and she agreed to that plan, too.

So now my curtains are no longer unraveling in the wind.

And feed me she certainly did. The first night we had roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, steamed carrots, and ice cream. The second night we had ribs with homemade BBQ sauce, hand-cut French fries, and pumpkin pie. Toni asked if I wanted salad with that but I decided I’d rather eat more ribs. The third night we had lasagna, Caesar salad,  garlic/cheese toast, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. And I brought home leftovers every night so I am still eating well. I do miss the good conversations that went with the food when I was with them, though.

The morning I was scheduled to leave their rig developed an electrical problem. It let some smoke out. And we all know nothing works once you let the smoke out. So Toni brought two laptops to my rig to charge them and do her email stuff. That meant I didn’t leave quite as early as I might have otherwise. Which is a good thing.

Because just as Toni was finishing up, Doug came over with his binoculars wanting to know if we wanted to look. This is what we saw:

 

You’ll have to click to enlarge them. Then look along the ridge line in the center.

See them? Big horn sheep.

And those white rocks in the grassy area below them? Are also sheep. Although we couldn’t tell that until the rocks suddenly grew legs when they stood up.

When I left Craggy Wash it was to go south for a better internet connection so I could do upgrades. You already know how that turned. out.

But, it was also so I could test some new theories about how to make my systems last longer when boondocking.

One of the Escapee members recently posted information about making his battery charges last longer by turning off his refrigerator at night when no one is opening the door. It saved a lot of power without loosing a lot of cool so I wanted to try that. It works! I no longer have to go driving every other day to charge my batteries! Yay!

The other thing I wanted to try was making my black tank not fill up so fast. This part is not for the squeamish so if that’s you stop reading now. It’s also going to be way to much informations for some people so if you don’t want to read about bodily functions you should also stop now. OK, I warned you. I’ll use all caps to tell you when it’s safe to return.

The new rule is: put nothing down the toilet that was not first processed by your body except plain water. Yup. No paper. It goes into a zip top bag which gets put in the trash. Yuck, right? I had a hard time getting my mind around the concept. But, people put wet disposable diapers in the trash all the time. And people put dirty baby wipes in the trash all the time. And women put used feminine hygiene products in the trash all the time. How is used toilet paper different? There are countries in our world where it is customary to put the paper in a waste basket and they would be appalled if you put it down the toilet–which is basically a hole in the ground. So, I’m training myself to not put paper down the toilet. I don’t always remember. But I greatly extended the length of time I can go without having to dump my black tank so I will keep working on this.

OK, YOU CAN COME BACK NOW.

But you might not want to read all the comments this time, either.

The other thing I am doing on my week out is watching TV. No, I didn’t buy a TV. I watch on my computer. But, Dave figured out how to get Downton Abbey from PBS.org. So, I don’t have to wait until it comes out on Netflix to catch up with the rest of you. I’ve only watched the first three episodes of this season so far, though, so I may stay here another day or two to finish since I have a good connection speed here. Besides, there are going to be major wind gusts the next couple of days so I don’t really want to be driving then anyway. And I still have leftovers from Toni’s cooking to eat.

And nothing says I have to back to Emerald Cove right away now that my week out is up. Now that I know how to make my RV let me stay out here in the desert a little longer.

TTYL,

Linda