While pie was the apparent first course for the entire visit with my houseguests,
we did engage in other activities...
...many of them involving bugs. Honestly, I don't understand the obsession...
...but some folks just can't help themselves when they see an unusual bug.
They have to get down to ground level to inspect and take photographs.
We visited the VLA (Very Large Array) on our way home from Pie Town.
It is a collection of enormous dishes that capture radio waves to monitor astronomical activity.
You may remember it from the movie "Contact," written by Carl Sagan and starring Jodie Foster.
Jodie's character was looking for extraterrestrial life...
Danni was looking for bugs.
The woman is obsessed. She commandeered my camera several times
and what did I find on the memory card? Bugs!
Lucy: I don't like bugs. She'd better not have any in her pockets.
Our cooking adventures extended beyond pie. Here is Danni slicing black olives for the salad
using a hard-boiled egg slicer, a favorite trick of mine invented out of laziness and a love for black olives.
Go forth and try it. It really works!
Quesadillas were on the menu, and somebody got it in her head that
it would be fun to try to make them from scratch.
Yet again, somebody needs to have her head examined.
Luckily, the bizarre shape of the tortillas did not affect their taste.
A dinner made and shared with friends is always special, and our last supper was no exception.
The only problem was we didn't save room for pie.
Egg slicer uses.....my dad likes Velveta on his tacos cut in tiny cubes. So I take the egg slicer cutting part and press it about 2 inches in the end of the cheese block...then turn it 90 degrees and do it again ...then lay the block down and slice it through from the side.......poof tons of tiny cubes super fast and easy! Works great to make cream cheese slices too.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had such a nice visit.
Lisa G in TN
Wouldn't it be great if that nice looking couple moved to New Mexico? All that sun, Danni!
ReplyDeletei love the bug photos.. but then i love all your photos... the mad snapping of bugs is how i got the name MadSnapper. hubby called me that because of all the bugs i snapped... still giggling over the small country in your fry pan....
ReplyDeleteGlad you and your friends had such a good time. You must be a good friend yourself, to have such good friends.
ReplyDeleteOh, thank goodness! I thought I was the only one who made odd shaped tortillas. Mine always come out looking like Texas. Or Florida...
ReplyDeleteI need a tortilla press.
I totally get the bug thing!!! Last night I had to save a 2+ inch praying Mantis from my dog, the great hunter of all things exoskeleton. Of course I took several photos. I've got some terrific (for me, I'm a terrible photographer) photos of a couple of beautiful luna moths from spring. Bugs are hidden so much of the time that when they come out into the light, so to speak, it's an occasion to remember.
ReplyDeleteLaurieB - georgia, where the bugs are endlessly interesting.
I like bugs too (unless they find their way into the house). I have a big , dead Palo Verde beetle hanging from my rearview mirror.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Danni and Tall Powerful Handsome Paul make the cutest couple.
What, no grasshopper quesadillas? Or how about Gusano (worm) pie? When are you going to start living off all that land you have? Wth aninterest in bugs and cooking, you have the making for survivalism.
ReplyDeleteGIve those bugs to the ladies. Now that's entertainment, LOL. Eeuwwww
ReplyDeleteIsn't it green chili season in New Mexico? I love the smell of those giant drums roasting chilis!
ReplyDeleteHa, the VLA brings back a wonderful memory from years ago when my mom and I adventurously packed up her older car, and began a week long tenting expedition, having rented all the tenting things. We started from Tucson and followed as many 2 lane roads as possible, finding ourselves in western New Mexico. From the map which only told us VLA, we didn't know what those letters stood for, so we headed for it because mom and I always took a challenge! Once there, we were the only living beings on the earth at that time, or so it felt!! That place is so huge and has a strange vibe from all those dishes pointed at the sky. Hummmmmmmmming. Eerie but very cool to visit.
ReplyDeleteWe did not see any VLBs, however the one that Danni found looks suspiciously like Hopper from "A Bug's Life"!
Mom passed away last year...she and I had many adventurous driving trips. Thanks for bringing this memory back.
I can understand the bug thing to a degree....a very tiny one. You know something, the reason why (and there are many) I love your blog is because you are not afraid to show a messy kitchen, where real people cook and it gets dirty, real dirty at times and you don't care, you photograph it, in all it's glory. You are for real. I have a thing about staged bloggers....they are hiding something or things in their closets...no telling what. Oh, the mess they had to clear from the room before the photograph could be captured. Happy HUMP Day!
ReplyDeleteGotta get me one o' them egg slicers..... can't think why I don't have one already.... hmmmm..... oh, yeh....I don't eat many boiled eggs... ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute couple of house guests you had. They worked, they cooked, they shared margaritas and they day tripped with you. Glad you had a great visit, good pie, a quiet garage door, even if the tortillas weren't perfect, I bet they tasted yummers. As to the bug thing......uh not so much but I can appreciate other folks' interests......at a distance.
ReplyDeleteNever thought of slicing olives in a egg slicer! I just use a chef's knife for everything! Good idea!
ReplyDeleteI tried making tortillas, but they didn't turn out. Do you have a good recipe that you would recommend??
The recipe I tried called for using a food processor with a dough hook, which I didn't have, so I faked it with a pastry blender. I think maybe the dough was too dry, but who knows? All the recipes I've looked at seem to have the same ingredients; the key might be finding someone ... or a youtube video ... who knows what the dough should feel like to teach us.
Deletep.s. Thank you for your daily comments. The thought of someone in Tokyo reading these posts every day really makes me smile.
A friend of mine use the egg slicer help when she storing mushrooms.
ReplyDelete