use real butter

*Rant On*
I originally wrote about my cancer, not to solicit advice or sympathy, but to explain why my blogging would be affected and to just toss out what was on my mind. It wasn’t an invitation for random headcases to swoop down upon me with quack remedies and solutions or to tell me what not to consume or who and how to worship. Just because I was diagnosed with cancer does not mean I welcome these obtuse assaults on my sensibilities. Personally, I don’t allow having good intentions excuse inconsiderate or stupid behavior. I don’t even tolerate that crap from people I know.

So, for anyone with unqualified advice on cancer (particularly if you haven’t HAD it) and how I should be living my life, please stay the hell away from me. When you get cancer, I’ll be sure to send all of the nutcases YOUR way so in addition to the shitty treatments, your various debilitating side effects, and the myriad of infections you contract, you - in your ample spare time and infinite energy - can sift through loads of freakishly useless advice because you know, that’s going to help your cancer heaps.
*Rant Off*

The heat continues to roast the Front Range of Colorado, but life must go on. And by life, I mean social life. And by social life I mean, social life involving food. I met up with friends for lunch today at Treppeda’s in Niwot. This place makes fantastic sandwiches as well as the famed Chicken Parm(esan) that my pals rave about. For me, there is no other than The Chief.

my favorite order at treppeda’s: chief niwot

Oh man, that sandwich was gooooooood. I love me some roast beast on good chewy bread. It’s almost like I am having an affair with The Chief because Jeremy has never eaten here and the one time I tried to bring him to Treppeda’s for lunch, they were closed.

I’m over two-thirds done with my radiation treatments. I met with my nurse today and she said that people who undergo radiation treatment after chemo typically report that they feel great and aren’t experiencing problems. They tend to be pretty energetic, upbeat, and happy. Those who haven’t had chemo often complain of fatigue and some discomfort. They just feel tired and drained of energy all the time. Huh. I guess that could be construed as a positive for chemo? Nah - chemo sucks the big one, period.

On our way home, we passed the Boulder Farmer’s Market and I pulled into the parking lot on a lark. Could it be that the peaches from the Western Slope have arrived? We made a quick pass up and down the stands. The only peaches were early peaches and those aren’t worth farmer’s market prices. Even the heirloom tomatoes looked like ass today. Still, the farmer’s market is bursting with color and vegetables. I am just anxious to get my grubby paws on some juicy sweet peaches because the ones at the grocery store blow. I left the market slightly disgruntled, but I imagine it was the 96 degrees in Boulder more than the lack of Western Slope peaches.

pretties

lovely squash

Which is why it’s so good to live in the mountains because as I pulled into our driveway, the temperature reading was 80 degrees! While that is still considered too hot by my standards, it is a welcome relief to the oppressive heat down on the flats. Deeeeelightful. I was able to whip up some dinner without blowing a fuse. We dined on the deck while admiring the heavy cloud cover and cool breeze. It cools down enough at night around here that I dare to turn on my oven when the fancy strikes me.

oh yesssss, butter and chocolate

other ingredients including espresso

So our recipe for today is brownies. Oddly enough, I have blondies in the oven as I type. We don’t discriminate in this house! I don’t crave brownies like some people, but I can eat them. I do tend to prefer chewy brownies to cakey brownies because if you are going to eat cakey brownies then just go and have real chocolate cake done right. That’s my take on it. I have yet to find the perfect chewy brownie recipe, but this one was quite nice. I made a hybrid of CHOW’s Intense Brownies and the Independence Pass Brownies from Susan Purdy’s Pie in the Sky cookbook. Basically, it’s the CHOW recipe adjusted for high altitude because that’s a pickle of a problem for me with about 50% of baked sweets.

pouring in the melted chocolate mixture

batter in

The plain brownies worked out quite well, but just a tad cakier than I would prefer. I made a second batch modified for Rocky Road style with macadamia nuts and marshmallows. The marshmallows pretty much disappeared during baking and the baking time had to be extended before the center of the pan could set properly. I think next time I should reserve some extra marshmallows to sprinkle on top. These were pretty successful although much sweeter (thanks to the marshmallows) and more gooey.

regular brownies

rocky road brownies: with mac nuts and marshmallows

Intense Brownies
modified from CHOW’s Intense Brownies

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
8 tbsp unsalted butter (7 tbsp at 8500 ft.), at room temperature
2 eggs (3 at 8500 ft.), at room temperature
1 cup sugar (1 cup minus 1 tbsp at 8500 ft.)
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp brewed espresso
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour (1 cup plus 2 tbsp at 8500 ft.)

rocky road version
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup small marshmallows

Oven: 350°F. Butter an 8-by-8-inch baking pan. Combine chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until evenly melted. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Combine eggs, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, espresso, and salt in a large bowl and briefly stir until just evenly incorporated. Add cooled chocolate and mix until uniform in color. Add flour and stir until just incorporated. If making Rocky Road version, stir in half of the nuts and marshmallows. Pour batter into baking pan. If making RR version, sprinkle remaining nuts and marshmallow over the batter. Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the brownies comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes (23 minutes at 8500 ft., 26 minutes for RR version at 8500 ft.). Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting.

Hoo boy, it’s hawt out again today! Yesterday in Boulder I was all like “ouch, my black steering wheel is burning my handsies” and had I had destructo death ray eye beams, I would have shot them at the sun and blowed it up, yo. Actually, I wouldn’t have. Because I only had eyes for one man yesterday.

Not Jeremy.

Another man.

he makes my heart go pitter patter

Henry is my little bud. He’s an Aussie (love the accent), a Sydneysider to be exact. His mum is my dear dear friend and we had a few wonderful hours together yesterday. The timing couldn’t have been better. Well, on second thought, not getting sick at all would have been ideal, but at least I was able to walk again in time for their visit!

Oppressive heat quashes my appetite. There haven’t been too many elaborate meals here so far this summer and that has more to do with heat than with my kaleidoscope of ailments. I’d happily nosh away on a bowl of watermelon or grapes or cherries or heirloom tomatoes or popsicles for dinner in this weather. It just feels right.

this time of year, i seek out fruit with high water content

a nice lookin’ dinner

Watermelon is so super juicy and sweet in the markets now. What I love about the grainy flesh is how nicely it lends itself to a frozen texture. If you like to eat watermelon on a hot day, you’ll love watermelon sorbet.

purée

lime adds some zing

This is my lazy version of The Lebovitz’ watermelon sorbetto. I don’t do the chocolate chips because I don’t really want chocolate anywhere near me in hot weather. Don’t want to work with it, don’t want to eat it - just take it away from me! The booze is optional and next time I shall opt in because boozy fruity frozen treats in summer are a great way to liven up the morning day.

make a sugary syrup

mixing everything together

So after churning in the ice cream machine for 30 minutes and then chucking the contents into the freezer - the stuff froze solid. Instead of a scoopable sorbet, I wound up with a smooth-textured granita. Does that make sense? Does it matter? It was cool and sweet. It tamed the beast.

Hey thanks all for your concern over my (yet another) illness. Let’s hope that’s all for now. I’ll reply to comments this evening when we reach our destination. My first vacay away from home since my diagnosis. w00t! It’s just a weekend trip, but the potential for eye-popping gorgeousness is High. Wish me good hunting and have a great weekend.

hard to not eat it out of the ice cream maker

cool your passions here

Watermelon Sorbet
adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

3 cups watermelon juice (purée about 3 pounds of watermelon flesh with seeds removed)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 tbsp lime juice, fresh squozen
1-2 tbsp vodka (optional)

Heat 1/2 cup of the watermelon juice with sugar and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir it into the remaining watermelon juice. Mix in the lime juice and the vodka (if using). Chill thoroughly, then freeze the mixture in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

I need to get to bed asap, so this is going to be big on pics and short on words…

A jam-packed, fun-filled day today! We hiked to the Continental Divide (Arapaho Pass and almost Caribou Pass) out of the Fourth of July trailhead - appropriately enough. We couldn’t cross the last snowfield to Caribou because it was too steep for Kaweah to cross safely, while Jeremy and I were perfectly fine with our ice axes. I got a lot of wildflower shots as this hike has just about the greatest variety locally, but haven’t had a chance to process any. I do want to toss up a handful of nice pics from the hike including my two favorite housemates:

the cascading streams are lovely right now

jeremy looks across the divide

coming down the trail

having a blast

Once we were home, I began prepping dinner since Marianne was coming up for dinner, fireworks, and staying the night to go on an early morning hike with us tomorrow. I served up some barbecue chicken (recipe will come), grilled asparagus, coleslaw, roasted potato salad, bread… and for dessert, we had red, white, and blue mini pavlovas.

After dinner, we headed out to the reservoir to catch the local town fireworks. It’s supposed to be a pretty decent show and plenty of folks from the flats drive up to watch. This is the first year we’ve actually been in town to see them, so we were excited! I have never shot fireworks before, and had to give it a try. Here are some of what I captured:

Fun stuff, eh? I love how different fireworks look in photos compared to what we see with our own eyes. In any case, on to the recipe - which is for the red, white, and blue mini pavlovas.

whipping egg whites for the meringue

I like mini pavlovas because they take a little less time to bake. Since it was so frakking hot today (84 in my town, which is quite toasty for us mountain folk), I was hoping to minimize the oven time.

shaped nests ready for the oven

I used Donna Hay’s recipe for the meringue shells, altered a bit for our altitude. For some reason, her meringues look perfectly white in her photos and mine always come out beige. Whatever… as long as they taste good - that is what matters.

the red and blue: strawberries and blueberries

I toss the sliced strawberries and blueberries in a little bit of sugar because I don’t add much to my whipped cream. It’s just a nice and refreshing dessert to serve on a hot day. Pretty simple to whip up and a delicious end to a meal.

call it patriotic if you like - i call it delish

Red, White, and Blue Mini Pavlovas
based on Pavlova from Donna Hay’s Modern Classics 2

mini pavlovas (12-14)
whipped cream
2 cups strawberries, sliced
2 cups bluberries

pavlova
4 egg whites
1 cup superfine sugar
3 tsps cornstarch
1 tsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 300°F. Place egg whites in bowl of electric mixer and beat until soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating well until mixture is glossy. Sift the cornstarch over the egg white mixture and fold through with the vinegar. Pile large dollops of meringue evenly spaced onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper (makes about 12-14). Round the shapes and form wells in the centers to create small meringue bowls. Place in oven and cook for 1 hour (45 minutes at elevation). Remove from oven and remove to a cooling rack.

whipping cream
2 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

Whip cream and sugar to medium peaks. Add vanilla and almond extracts and whip until incorporated.

To Serve: Top each pavlova with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Serve immediately.