Cooking in a Campervan - Part 2

Back to the food of the honeymoon.

Not actually something I cooked.  Rather it was something we found at Reefton, at the horse races.  A hamburger patty on a slice of bread with some grilled onions and tomato sauce.

Of course, had to get some chips and a soda.

Doug being annoyed again at such a tiny handle. Look at his giant man fingers! How is he supposed to pick that up?!

Lets give BeaNZ a chance.  (Turns out we've had better baked beans)

Mmmm.  Steak with caramelized garlic and red wine sauce.  Seeing this picture again makes me think I should be on the hunt for good steaks and a bottle of red wine.

Our last Farmer's Market.  Onions, avocado, bell pepper, zucchini, banana, mushrooms, and pirate ship coffee.  Their claim to fame was that they actually roasted their beans on a boat.  The coffee was alright, but not the best we had in NZ.

Just what is an "American Hotdog?"  Answer: a corndog.

More chips.  I love chips.

Roasted garlic and roasted garlic salt.  I'm not sure if we ripped this guy off or if he ripped us off, but the original deal was two bags of smoked salt, a head of smoked garlic, and a salt shaker.  I asked to exchange the salt shaker for an extra bag of salt and ended up walking away with four bags of smoked salt, two heads of smoked garlic, and no salt shaker.

One of the wineries did olive and olive oil tasting with their wine tasting.

Pretty tasty wine.  I asked if I could buy a glass, but they said they didn't have any to spare.

Another winery.  Had a great conversation about New Zealand with the woman who owned the place.  The conversation was so good she accidentally bagged a bottle of Pinot Gris for me instead of a bottle of Riesling.  Though the Pinot Gris was good, it didn't have the lemony finish of the Riesling, which was my favorite part.

Doug sniffing the smoked garlic.  I think he even told the clove it was to become dinner.

Oy! My lettuce is alive!!

A tiny plant.

Breakfast outside, the camper is getting cramped.

Easiest cleanup? Grill ALL THE THINGS.  Grilled onions, zucchini, bell pepper, and of course, LAMB.  All with a healthy sprinkling of that tasty smoked garlic salt.

A fancy last meal for the campervan: cup noodles and a glass of white.

Holy Giant Bread!

So, back to that starter I started 3 weeks ago...

 After 24 hours it was already starting to bubble nicely.  I think it helped that I put it in the oven over night with the light on.  It gets nice and warm in there with just the light.

For the next few days I continued to put it in the oven over night with the light on.  But on the 4th day it started looking flat.  It would be nice and bubbly after adding the 1/4 flour and 1/4 of water, but by morning all was still.  And when stirred it was very soupy.  So for a couple of days I skipped the water and only added flour.

That seemed to perk it up a bit again, but it would be flat by morning.  I decided it was because I was not feeding it enough.  And I stopped putting it in the oven, letting it get a bit cool at night (around 60 degrees).

When I got to two cups of starter I did a loaf of bread.

 The bread got HUGE.  My oven is small, 17 inches across on the inside, which means only my dinner plate sized stone fits within.  I started the loaf in the bread machine, no need to do all the mixing myself.  When the dough was ready for the final rise I put it on my little stone, covered it in plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, then finished the 30 minutes of the Dr. Who episode I was in the middle of.

I really thought it would take longer than 30 minutes for the loaf to double.  It did not.  And it continued to rise as I heated the oven.

 It's bigger than my head!

 Nice on the inside though, no big holes.

Nice texture too.

And: not too sour.  Could be for a couple of reasons.  Maybe my starter is too young.  Over time it may get more sour.  Or maybe the natural yeast in Hawaii just won't make all that sour of a loaf.  Either way, the starter now has a home in my fridge.  I'll give it a few more loaves before I decide how worthy it is.