use real butter

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).

Tartelette told me she couldn’t keep up with my posting! It’s true, I have been posting daily since the calendar flipped to July because there is just so much going on that if I don’t write them up - posts will get buried! Not to mention, I’m on my steroid regimen again and I am running with the overflow of energy. I’ll probably crash and burn in 24 hours, but I’m okay with that. After feeling like complete crap for several months, it’s hard to take for granted the improvements I now feel. I can finally get out to see the mountains I love, find energy to cook wonderful food (and even taste and digest them!), and have the patience to capture the beauty of our summer season with my camera. These are happy times. I’m also wired and exhausted, but I relish it - I really do.

This morning we took another hike up to a lovely lake nestled in an alpine basin at roughly 11,300 feet. Invigorating! There was still plenty of snow, which is a good thing because it has been so hot here lately. Several more varieties of wildflowers were beginning to bloom, but the lake is still under a lot of ice and snow. I’m crazy for the mountains.

marmots out and basking in the sun

marianne captures some delicate wildflowers

above the lake from our snack stop

kaweah cools off on the snow

It has been a hot holiday weekend, but this afternoon we finally got a nice thunderstorm to deliver much needed rain. The temperature plummeted from 85 to 55 degrees in an hour. Lovely! Good thing I barbecued yesterday :)

all-purpose red rub

Even though I love barbecue, I am no barbecue expert. I’m a faker to some degree because we use a gas grill and oven instead of charcoal grill (fear of burning down state of Colorado). Most of what I’ve cobbled together in the past few years has been from reading/researching all sorts of recipes from various regions and sources. I lived in central New York for more years than I care to recall, but I still never got around to dining at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse - a place many of my friends swear by (one even had them cater her wedding!) I did manage to pick up a copy of the book before we moved back West.

mix the rub with olive oil

The one thing I cannot stand about barbecue chicken is when someone takes a boneless, skinless chicken breast and wipes barbecue sauce on the thing while it turns to rubber on the grill. That is disgusting. People who cook chicken like that should be smacked about the head with that piece of rubber. I know people who do this. I have to squint my eyes and keep my hands by my side when I witness this atrocity being perpetrated on chicken in this manner. The best barbecue chicken has the bone and skin still on it. You don’t have to eat the skin, but you need to cook with it on the meat. The recipe I quite enjoy for barbecue chicken comes straight from my Dinosaur Bar-B-Que cookbook. Good stuff.

rub the rub on the chickie

I am partial to chicken leg quarters. It’s a nice honking piece of chicken and it doubles as a weapon to boot. Little pieces get dried out too quickly. I find the leg quarters remain juicy and full of flavor during grilling - far better than their breast counterparts. Dark meat is where it’s at. When applying the oil and rub mixture to the chicken, I like to get a little of that under the skin for some extra seasoning and flavor. Just be careful that you don’t tear through the skin. I let my chicken sit for at least 8 hours, covered in the refrigerator, after the rub is put on.

brushing mutha sauce on the chicken at the end

The chicken is grilled and then in the last ten minutes, a nice brushing of barbecue sauce ensures a decent glaze. I personally like to serve extra sauce on the side with the finished chicken. We had this for our fourth of July dinner. This is a great recipe to make that doesn’t require much preparation - just a little planning ahead of time and lots of napkins when you eat it!

hot off the grill and ready for the party

Barbecue Chicken
modified from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que by John Stage and Nancy Radke

8 chicken quarters
2/3 cup olive oil
7 tbsps all-purpose red rub
2 cups mutha sauce

all-purpose red rub
1/2 cup paprika
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated garlic
6 tbsps granulated onion
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

All-purpose red rub: Mix all ingredients into a bowl and rub them together with your hands. Store in plastic or glass container until ready for use. Makes 2 3/4 cups.

mutha sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 onion, puréed
2 tbsp garlic, minced
salt to taste
pepper to taste
28 oz. tomato sauce
2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup cayenne pepper sauce
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp allspice, ground

Mutha sauce: Sauté onions and garlic in oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer for ten minutes and let the sauce cool. This makes a ridiculous amount of sauce - something like 10-12 cups.

Chicken: Mix the oil and the rub together in a bowl and massage it into the chicken pieces. Cover and refrigerate the chicken until you are ready to grill it (I gave it 8 hours). Over a 325° to 350°F temperature grill (when lid is down), position the rack as high above the coals as possible. Arrange chicken, skin-side up, directly over the coals. Close and cook for 25 to 30 minutes then flip the chicken over and cook covered, for another 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160°-165°F. Flip all pieces skin-side up and slather on the Mutha Sauce. Close the lid of the grill and cook for 10 more minutes to glaze the chicken. Serve with extra sauce. Feeds 4-6.