use real butter

The love is right here, kids. I am getting it by the boatloads!

I’m finally getting around to a handful of wonderful awards bestowed upon me by some superb fellow bloggers. I seem to have let some slip for over a month and I plan to remedy that immediately.

First off, I was tagged by the ever charming Francesco of The Food Traveller and the lovely Shell of Fiber Among The Roses for the You Make My Day award! Thanks guys, you really flatter me :)

The rules are to list up to 10 blogs that rock your world, blogs that make you happy and inspire you. Leave a comment on that blog to let them know about the award.

This is tough, because there are so many blogs out there and it’s hard for me to keep track - especially right after a treatment. But there are those blogs that always cheer me up when they pop up on my feed and I can’t wait to hop over and see the latest.

1. Deb at Smitten Kitchen: Everyone has their reason for loving Deb. I find her posts to be sunny and clever, always delicious, always entertaining. She’s so genuine and playful - I love that about her.

2. Christine (aka HolyBasil) at Hot.Sour.Salty.Sweet. and Umami: Christine outclasses just about everyone. Her photography is art and so is her food. She’s hip, smart, she’s got a great sense of humor, and she’s married to a French gazelle (we love you, Pierre!). She is my home girl.

3. White on Rice Couple: I can’t believe I just discovered this fun and lively pair. Where have you guys been all my blogging life?! They have such spunk and a great attitude about life and food, serving it up in gorgeous full color images that you can practically smell and taste off the monitor. And they ski. That’s big.

4. Peabody at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody: Peabody is a rebel and that’s only one of the many reasons I adore her. I like the fact that she can beat up men on the ice and crank out some kick ass desserts. The woman has her feet firmly on the ground and head solidly on her shoulders. Don’t mess with girlfriend or I’ll have to put your ass in a sling!

5. Fanny at Foodbeam: Fanny is the cutest thing ever. She makes masterful pastries and has a smile that could melt the polar caps. She’s an absolute sweetheart and her blog is a joy to read. Her blog makes me happy.

Now for the next round of lovin’. I was tagged with an E for Excellence by Susan of Wild Yeast, Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy, and Linda of make life sweeter!

Ladies, are you conspiring? Thank you so much. To be deemed excellent by these accomplished and very talented women is quite the honor. And it is my honor to pass this award along to five more blogs I deem Excellent. Since the five above make my day every time they post, it’s a given that they are *excellent*. But we’re sharing the love here…

1. Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen: The woman is a hoot! Not only that, but she sizzles and so do all of those delectable dishes she whips up in her kitchen. And she’s got kids. How can a blog (and a woman, for that matter) look so incredibly gorgeous when you have spawnlings?!? Sistah needs to write a book, no?

2. No Special Effects: Mark is a nut. I loves him. He serves up some pretty fancy foods while writing candidly about his feelings, his fears, his hopes. Guy has many talents beyond delicious foods and nice photos. He is my favorite goofball chef on the web :) We need to find him a nice (but not too nice) girl, okay?

3. Rasa Malaysia: In my book, Bee holds the title of Prawn Queen. I sometimes think she is purposely posting those prawn porn photos just to twist the knife a little more - you know, that knife she plunged into my gut… the knife of “you don’t live on the coast and could never score seafood this fresh!” Seriously, she’s a sweetheart and she knows her food AND she knows what everything is called in Chinese. Puts me to shame, really.

4. What’s For Lunch, Honey?: You really can’t go wrong with the word “lunch” in your blog title. It is my all time favorite meal. Wonderful Meeta makes gorgeous food and then takes even more gorgeous photos of the food in such lovely colorful arrangements. I can tell already that she wears smart outfits that match while I’m tooling around with a threadbare free t-shirt and skanky sweat pants.

5. Tartelette: Even though I *know* she’s already received this award, it just wouldn’t be right not to include her in my list of Excellents, because she is not only excellent, but smart, beautiful, talented, creative, thoughtful, and so full of love. Helene produces one hell of a mouth-watering blog, and once you’re hooked reading it, you will soon discover that she is one of the Ten Nicest People on the planet. I say so.

There you have it. Some of my favorites. I know there are many more out there… can’t wait to find them!

My Darling Daring Bakers in search of Julia’s French Bread: I’m taking a pass this month.

You can find the recipe here.

The wonderful hosts are Mary (Breadchick) of The Sour Dough and Sara of i like to cook.

Check out the boules and batards and baguettes at the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

The other morning as I hauled my butt to the garage, I spied this lovely dawn from our driveway:

…because you have to get up early if you want to catch the powder on the big mountains.

the whore in the village
Uh, that’d be me - the ski whore - in Beaver Creek Village. Beaver Creek is teh fanciest, up-scale ski resort I have ever had the privilege of sullying with my middle class presence. *snort*

w00t!

first lift up and i nearly peed my pants at the sight of these lovely bumps

Folks may refer to me as a ski bunny, but really, I am a ski tele whore. Back to Beaver Creek - the only reason we could ever even consider skiing at such a posh resort (they have their own Ritz-Carlton on the slopes!?) is because we have Colorado Passes. Yup, instead of $92 for a lift ticket, we paid $380 several months ago for unlimited access to Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, and 10 days between Vail and Beaver Creek. Waugh, bon marché! Living in Colorado rocks, baby. While I didn’t score any of those fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies served by the Beaver Creek chefs (we didn’t hang out at the village much), my eyeballs enjoyed plenty of eye candy. The terrain is by far the loveliest I’ve ever seen for a ski hill.

prettiest combat skiing ever

the views are nothing to sniff at either

snow-capped peaks make me salivate

It was a bluebird day and it got downright hot (in the 30s) in my opinion. The few inches of powder were tracked up quickly, but it was great fun. Jeremy had himself the most indulgent $12 burger for lunch (he says it was good, but $12?!?!) and by mid-afternoon my legs were begging for the 2 hour drive home.

jeremy warms up

my turn

I paid the price for skiing above my station. I could barely walk around the house yesterday because I was so wiped out. But today I felt like my old self. Got my 2 hours of cardio and then decided… decided it was time to make a cake!

rabbit food
I love carrots, but I hate baby carrots. When baby carrots first hit the market we thought, “What a great thing to bring on hikes or backpacking.” Well, I think they taste like ass. I mean, they’re whittled down from reject carrots and they have *no flavor*. I quickly reverted back to loose or bunch organic carrots which are sweet and delicious and good for you.

shredding carrots

Whenever I trim, peel, slice, or chop fruits and vegetables, Kaweah likes to sit by the compost bucket. She could easily plunge her schnoz into the bucket while we aren’t home, but she never does. She’s a good girl. However, if I chuck bits or peels into the bucket while she’s sitting there, she gets closer and closer until finally her little brain can’t help but instruct her chops to reach out and try to catch something as it flies past. Carrots rank high on her list of all-time favorites. Rather than shred my fingers into the carrots, I just give the pooch the butt ends and she loves it.

that’s a girl

I hadn’t made a carrot cake in about a year. It’s really simple to make and you get this dense, moist, full-of-goodies textured cake. It can be baked in a pan and frosted in said pan or layered up in a less modest presentation. I chose a small 6-inch, 4-layer version.

butter the pans

mix the cake ingredients

I found the recipe from a bed and breakfast website and added walnuts. The cake is chocked full of carrots, pineapple, walnuts, and wonderful spices. Can’t say I have tested any other recipe after I tried this one a few years ago. It’s a keeper, as is the cream cheese frosting.

cooling

beating the sugar into the frosting

like silk

The reason it’s important to cool the cakes completely is because slicing a hot cake is a recipe for a lot of swearing. They tend to rip up and crumb when they are still steaming, and this cake does plenty of that when it is cooled. I lop off the dome tops (save for snacking) and then slice four layers of equal thickness. Set a base piece on the bottom, then layer with icing and top off with another base piece, but inverted.

spreading the frosting between layers

Since the cake is crumb-y, I find it essential to spread a crumb coat on the sides before applying the real frosting layer. For presentation purposes, it’s unsightly to have a dark colored cake crumb suspended in a lovely sea of creamy white frosting. That’s just me though. The final cake is a heavy one, so don’t be fooled by the petite size.

just a small slice will do

oh my

Carrot Cake
adapted from Ridge View Bed and Breakfast, Virginia by Eleanor Damico

carrot cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp allspice
2/3 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 cup finely shredded raw carrot
1/2 cup crushed pineapple (with syrup)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 walnuts, chopped

cream cheese frosting
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 oz butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 lb confectioners’ sugar

Cake: Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add remaining cake ingredients and mix until moistened. Pour batter into greased and lightly floured baking pan. For a 9×9x2 inch baking pan, bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean or with moist crumbs. I baked in 2 6-inch round pans at 375 for 45 minutes (at elevation). Remove cakes from oven and when slightly cooled, invert onto cooling rack out of pan and let cool completely.

Frosting: Cream the butter and cream cheese together until completely blended. Add vanilla and blend. Gradually beat in sugar to desired consistency. Note: I usually make this into a layer cake, so I typically make 1.5 times the amount of frosting. If there is any leftover, the frosting works beautifully on cinnamon buns.