use real butter

With the exception of our dysfunctional ghetto neighbors to the east, the rest of our neighbors are truly wonderful people. One day as I was walking Kaweah past Marcus’ house, I asked him how their vacation was. He replied from their deck, “It was great! But it’s also nice to be home. I think that’s what a good vacation is: feels good to get away, feels great to come back home.” I would have to agree with Marcus 100%.

familiar fountains at denver international welcome us back

And it *is* good to be home because a cold spell has barreled through our region and it was down right chilly last night - near freezing. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, to think of crisp fall days and then… TELE SEASON! But I am getting ahead of myself here. It was chilly enough that we used warm water to wash Kaweah after picking her up from Camp Crazy (doggy camp). Yes, this dog who dives paws first into freezing ice cold alpine lakes slinks away from us when we use warm water for her bath.

not everyone was thrilled to get home

The final days of our trip were spent with my grandma in the bay area. We ate fantastic Chinese food and enjoyed QT with a spry 87-year old who puts the rest of us to shame. Her spunk, her mental acuity, her positive attitude and independence are a true inspiration.

awesome lobster e-mien

You can peruse photos from the trip on my photo blog. There are just too many to post here. Oh, and the Perseids were not a failure per se, but I wouldn’t call them a success. I managed to capture 4 shooting stars out of 150 exposures and they are small ones, not the gorgeous streakers I happened to witness in quadrants that my camera wasn’t pointed at.

the huntington gardens
todd and diane (white on rice couple), the kielys
piute pass (first backpack)
mono lake
thousand island lake (second backpack)
reno, tahoe, bay area

After we washed the dog and all of our incredibly stinky backpacking clothes, after unpacking, after getting ourselves situated back into “normal” mode, we crashed - exhausted. Vacation isn’t vacation for me unless I’m totally spent. Jeremy sweetly asked me if I had a good vacation. Before I could answer he rephrased the question, “Did you meet all of your intended goals?” Yes. No snafus, no serious issues - it was mostly good.

and the oscar goes to…
I want to thank everyone for writing in to share your idea of the perfect vacation. I was totally entertained reading what different people enjoy doing. I have to say my favorite was Peabody’s cage diving among Great White sharks because it was so original and because it suits her snarky personality! So Sunday night, Jeremy generated three random numbers in Python from 1 to 139 (sorry Liz, you didn’t quite make it in time): 40 (Manggy), 35 (Mrs. Ergul), and 73 (Cindy in Canada). Then Monday morning…

three dog treats to choose from

Each number was assigned a dog biscuit color: Manggy was red (pink), Mrs. Ergul was green, and Cindy was brown. Then we let the pup decide.

a beeline for green!

Congratulations Mrs. Ergul! You have won a photo! Send me an email with your choice of photo and color of mat along with your mailing address. I will ship it out to you this week! Thanks to all of you for participating. More than anything, it was wonderful to get to know some of you through your candid replies. I hope you all get to experience your ideal vacation over and over again.

funny, as in ha ha?
Curiously enough, my dad informed me that he has begun to read this blog. While some people’s parents are an intimate part of their lives, much of what I do passes under my dad’s radar. It’s nothing personal, he is busy doing his own thing and I really don’t need someone following my every move as if they don’t have a life of their own. I like that my parents have their own lives. I like that they don’t dote on me or else I might become some self-obsessed, delusional ninny in constant need of reassurance and praise. If there is one thing I am grateful for that my dad has given me, it is learning to suck it up and deal with whatever life throws at you. He is one tough SOB and so am I. Okay, but here is the funny thing. He told me not to use the “f-word” in my writing. I laughed. I *like* the f-word, but I don’t use it excessively, do I? Well, I’m still going to use it when I feel I need that extra special emphasis.

It looks as if that wonderous cold spell is leaving us. So perhaps another month of barbecue and salads before I can sink my hands into soups, stews, crock pot dishes, braises, and enjoy the beauty of slow-cooking a cheap cut of meat on a cold day - transforming it into the most tender of dishes. Right. I still have salads in my archives and on the brain! Nothing beats the fresh produce of summer.

main ingredients: yukon gold potatoes, bacon, parsley, and shallots

A while ago I had to alter a barbecue menu because one of my guests was allergic to soy, dairy, and chicken. I searched around and came upon a recipe for German Potato Salad. I tend to prefer vinegary salads over creamy salads, so I decided to give it a try.

mix potatoes and shallots with oil, pepper, and salt before roasting

Instead of boiling the potatoes, I decided to roast them. One of the best salads I ever had was a roasted potato salad that my pal, Carrie, had brought over to our place many years ago. That was before I understood what the heck roasting was.

mmmm, bacon and parsley

Of course, you can’t go wrong with bacon. It makes a dish. It makes up for any flaws that may exist because of other ingredients. Bacon is like duct tape. Bacon is all powerful.

mix with roasted potatoes

The salad went over well, although I probably could have roasted it longer (when juggling 6 dishes to serve together for dinner, I sometimes forget to check the doneness of things in the oven). It is best served warm.

mayonnaiseless goodness

German Roasted Potato Salad
based on Authentic German Potato Salad

3 lbs. yukon gold potatoes, washed and cut into medium chunks
6 shallots, peeled and sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tbsps water
3 tbsps white sugar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss the potatoes with shallots, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour the potatoes into a baking pan and roast the potatoes for 40 minutes (turn the potatoes every 12 minutes or so). Meanwhile, combine the vinegar, sugar, water, salt, and pepper in a pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over the potatoes. Add the bacon and parsley. Mix together and serve warm.

Do you remember the Go-Go’s song Vacation? It’s so 80s, I know. Hey - I wore the hot pink and turquoise. I watched Duran Duran on MTV. If I have any regrets in my life, it’s being a teen in the 80s. Whenever I’m about to leave on vacay, Belinda Carlisle’s voice enters my head and she is singing that damn song…

Yes, we’re shoving off. Cindy had asked me recently if I ever feel like I’m living someone else’s vacation. I laughed. She always makes me laugh. Believe me, I realize that we live in a fantastic place. I realize this because we spent over a decade’s worth of vacations in places just like our current surrounds! That’s why we chose to settle down here. But that doesn’t keep us from heading out to explore other awesome places.

I’ll still blog from the road when I can and perhaps you will see some familiar faces here… That’s all I’m saying for now.

My question for you: What is your ideal vacation? Is it spent with family, friends, strangers, no one? Is it a particular place? Is it travel, exploration, relaxation, eating, learning? On the water, at the beach, in the mountains, in the desert, in a posh hotel, riding a train, flying, exploring cities, art museums, listening to or watching performances?

I ask because I’m curious. I ask because a lot of people don’t care much for my brand of vacation which usually involves exertion, sweat, and dirt or snow. My friend, Fiona, calls that Fun #2. I am all about Fun #2. My ideal vacation: exploring alpine backcountry with Jeremy in preferably arid climates (wet climates are fine as long as the temp is below freezing).

I’m not asking this for the purposes of evil market research or other crap like that. Right now, the only sponsor of this blog is me. So if you answer my question in the comments section before midnight, August 14 (that’s my mom’s birthday), Mountain Time, you will automatically be entered into a drawing. Jeremy will randomly generate 3 numbers between 1 and the # of comments using trusted Python code, then we will let Kaweah select which of the three will win a matted photo from my gallery.

she’s going to work hard on this

The winner will be the comment # that corresponds to the number selected by the ‘weah. If you have problems with the outcome, you can take it up with teh dawg. Said winner will get to choose an 8×12 photo matted to 12×16 from the following:

the rockburn track, new zealand

the maroon bells, aspen, colorado

aspens, rocky mountain national park, colorado

dahlias at butchart gardens, victoria, canada

I’ll do my best to announce the winner on August 18th, barring any unforeseen disasters. I’ll ship this puppy (the photo, not the actual dog) worldwide. You’ve got a week - so tell me what your idea of the perfect vacay is!

I have been desperately trying to clean out the refrigerator because I hate to leave the house in a state of filth and rotting food. I also hate to waste food, so I handed off several lovely fruits to my friends in town yesterday when we met for lunch. Oy. Better that than exploding into a giant messy fruit salad in the middle of the living room… But I did manage to finish off the fresh figs in a scrumptious salad. I’m all over the salads these days.

pour olive oil over the greens

Arugula didn’t make it onto my radar screen until 5 or so years ago, but I love the stuff. I like the peppery, slightly bitter green prepared in the simplest way: tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I guess that’s the theme for summer here - olive oil, salt, and pepper. You can go quite far on that combination.

tossed

Fresh figs are nothing like dried figs. I am not such a fan of dried figs and I detested fig newtons as a kid. When the teacher would hand those out in class my reaction was, “This is not a treat!” That was a bad scene. Anyway, fresh figs are heavenly and they are available in the markets now. [I will also be visiting a tree that bears the fruit on our trip. I know I will get to gorge on them because the people living with that tree hate figs. Blasphemy, I know!!] Add some halved fresh figs to the greens.

luscious figs

And I cannot help but toss in a few strips of prosciutto. The whole ensemble is a journey through sweet, salty, bitter, spicy. It’s also incredibly easy to slap together without going near the bad bad heat.

some lovely prosciutto rounds out the salad

serve and enjoy

Arugula Salad with Figs and Prosciutto

5 oz. arugula
12 figs, fresh (rinsed)
8 slices prosciutto
3 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Place arugula in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper over the greens and toss to evenly coat the leaves. Slice the figs in half. Slice the prosciutto into strips. Divide the greens into four bowls. Divvy up the figs and prosciutto on the salads and serve.

This past Saturday marked three years since we moved to Colorado. In celebration, we did nothing. We celebrate living here every day, folks. As if the ski and flower porn weren’t enough to convince you of how much we love it… Actually we did something this weekend, but it had nothing to do with the 3-year mark and everything to do with the summer bloom in the mountains.

yeah, puppy came along too

Talk to people around Colorado and many of them will swoon when you say the words Crested Butte. The skiing is phenomenal, the mountain biking world class, the wildflowers are some of the best in the country. The mountains and forests will take your breath away with dramatic expanses of wilderness in every direction. The town is charming, quaint and high end. Everyone has their reason for loving Crested Butte. It’s also a favorite for nature photographers.

poor air quality due to a wildfire 30 miles away

I called this trip a vacay in the previous post, but it was really work. Anytime I plan to actively shoot it becomes work. We woke up at 4 am in the mornings and weren’t done shooting until after 9 pm (and driving past 10 pm). It’s all dictated by the light and we were exhausted when we got home today. Jeremy commented that he gets much more sleep when I shoot the fall colors ;) True dat.

flowers abound

Probably not a one of you would have considered this a relaxing trip. It wasn’t relaxing, but it was rewarding.

So I have another savory recipe in my archives here… It’s a good recipe because it has bacon in it. Precious, lovely, beautiful bacon. I always double the recipe because it actually tastes better the next day after the flavors have had 24 hours to blend together, but we’re too impatient to wait that long when it comes out of the oven smelling like the dinner you so want to eat.

cutting the shortening

pressed pie crust dough

While I abhor those pre-made pie crusts you can buy at the store, I am just about the laziest pie crust maker ever. I probably overmix my dough and it’s too crumby and not flaky enough. Maybe one day when I start to care, I’ll start to improve my technique. I guess I just add more bacon to the filling, because bacon masks any deficiencies in a quiche.

mixing milk, eggs, and the goodies

toss the gruyère with flour

The gruyère adds a lovely dimension to the flavors. I used to use any old Swiss cheese when I first starting baking quiche. Then one night I had leftover gruyère from a party and used that instead. We have never looked back.

fill the pie shells

baked and ready to serve

The biggest problem I have with serving quiche right out of the oven is the ooze factor. You know what I’m talking about - cut one slice and the rest of the quiche seems to slo-mo vomit into the space you just vacated. This last time I made the quiche, it came out of the oven and we rushed off to… shoot some wildflowers. We were back within 20 minutes, but that 20 minutes of rest time for the quiche set it up nicely and no one was vomiting anything after the initial slice. Nice.

perfect with some salad on the side

Quiche

1 pie crust
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 medium onion, minced and sautéed
1 cup mushrooms, sliced and sautéed
1 head broccoli, chopped and blanched
1 1/2 cups gruyère, shredded
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt

pie crust
from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening or lard
3-4 tbsp cold water

Mix together the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening until it is in pea-sized pieces. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of water over the mixture and toss with fork. Repeat until all is moistened and form dough into a ball. Roll dough out on lightly floured surface, rolling from center to edges until about 12 inches in diameter. Press and form into a 9-inch pie plate.

Quiche: Line the pie crust with foil and bake at 450°F for 5 minutes. Bake another 5-7 minutes with the foil off. Remove from oven. Reduce oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, onion, bacon, broccoli, muhsrooms, and salt. In a separate bowl, toss the cheese and flour together. Add the cheese to the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour into pie crust and bake 35-40 minutes. Let quiche rest out of the oven for 15 minutes before serving. The flavor really improves if eaten the next day (which is why I make two quiches at a time).