baked oats green chile chicken enchiladas chow mein bakery-style butter cookies


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stellar days

Did any of you catch the Perseids on Thursday night? Jeremy, Kaweah, and I spent the night on the deck. Those two slept while I shot the meteor shower. We had clear skies and even when a few clouds began to build on the Continental Divide, they dissipated after a little bit. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such good viewing conditions before! But first, you need to see the Milky Way from my deck. It’s gorgeous.


our galaxy, the milky way



The reddish lights are town center, but they didn’t interfere too much with my shoot. The rest of the Milky Way photos are here. We saw many many meteors Thursday night (a lot fewer Friday night, but still at least a dozen after sitting around for an hour). If you didn’t get to see any, these shots are for you to enjoy!

here’s a nice streaker

satellite (white), meteor (color), jupiter (bright dot upper right), andromeda (oblong dot bottom center)



And you can find the rest of the Perseid meteor shower photos on the photoblog.

My parents are visiting with us for a few days and Kaweah has been in heaven because my dad spoils her like crazy. They are loving the cooler and drier weather here (in comparison to hot and humid southern Virginia) as well as the lovely Colorado scenery. Saturday was my mom’s birthday, so we went to celebrate in grand fashion at Flagstaff House for dinner. We all had the Chef’s nine course tasting menu. I’ll leave you with photos from the night’s meal. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


lovely little flowers at our table

hors d’oeuvres and a special birthday wish on the menu

complimentary appetizer of thin pastry over duck confit with mushrooms

kusshi oyster, lime, tanqueray gin

ahi tuna carpaccio, terrine of foie gras, arugual, extra virgin olive oil

alaskan halibut over sweet corn and mussel chowder

australian barramundi, lump crabmeat, eggplant caviar, roasted garlic, nicoise olives, zucchini

grilled pancetta-wrapped quail, king trumpet mushrooms, white truffle infused polenta, sauce of garlic

marsala-braised kurobuta pork cheeks, haystack goat cheese agnolotti

snake river “kobe-style” gold ribeye cap, twice baked potato, asparagus, black truffle sauce

the sugar plate (accompanies coffee)

blackberry, kiwi, and white peach sorbet trio

sticky toffee pudding, bourbon toffee sauce, minted white chocolate ice cream

petits fours and birthday surprise


26 nibbles at “stellar days”

  1. Wei-Wei says:

    Happy birthday! It must have been a lot of fun at the restaurant when they knew ;) Oh yeah, and the photos of the milky way – impeccable. Wow.

    Wei-Wei

  2. Kava says:

    Thank you for the photos of the sky! I long to see it, starry like that, but that won’t be happening where I live.

  3. Kel says:

    The photos of both the galaxy and the food are spectacular! How did you shoot the outdoor pictures? I would love to try that sometime. Thanks for sharing!!

  4. Rachel says:

    Fantastic photos of the meteor shower!! …and yum. Flagstaff House.

  5. melanie says:

    Your photos are out of this world!!! I love your blog.Thank-you,so much.

  6. Debbie says:

    Your pictures of the night sky literally take my breath away! I love looking at the stars at night but the night sky here does not look anything like yours. So beautiful. Thanks for posting them. I really loved looking at them.

  7. Recipe for Delicious says:

    Wow, thanks for the food porn and the beautiful sky photos. What a nice way to start my morning! Now I just have to figure out what to eat that won’t make me sad after looking at those amazing pictures!

  8. Kath says:

    Love your photos! The Milky Way and meteor shower photos are breath-taking.

    Looks like Flagstaff House does a stellar job! I love Snake River Farms’ meats.

  9. Esther says:

    Wow, great shots! Wish I hadn’t forgotten about the meteor shower -_-

  10. Jamie in Vegas says:

    Amazing photos, Jen! I’m in awe of your work. :)

  11. Judy says:

    We tried to watch the meteor shower every night, but, like clock-work, the fog rolled in about 11:30 pm, spoiling any chance to see or photograph the sky. We’ll enjoy your photographs instead.

    The birthday dinner looks fabulous.

  12. Tamar@StarvingofftheLand says:

    Holy moly. Just like your food pictures are so delicious, your meteor pictures are so … so … astronomical. Breathtaking.

  13. Pearl Lee says:

    oh my gosh – such gorgeous photos!

  14. Ruth Ann says:

    Wow- an amazing double whammy. Meteors and beautiful food porn. Thanks for sharing!

  15. Kristin says:

    Words fail.

  16. Memoria says:

    Happy birthday to your mom!! The dishes and photos of the galaxy look amazing!

  17. Y says:

    Love your meteor shower photos! Happy Birthday to your mom :)

  18. Joy says:

    I love your images. Happy birthday!

  19. sam says:

    Thank you, thank you for the star and meteor photos. We tried to get away form the city lights, but high clouds came in and reflected back so much light that we could only glimpse a few streaks. These are magnificent! Now I can show my daughter what I was *hoping* to see.

  20. Ronine says:

    Very impressive photos, jen!

  21. recipejoe says:

    A wonderfu show of heavenly body and menu could not be any better.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BEAUTIFUL MOM.l

  22. angelitacarmelita says:

    Stunning…. what a lovely way to spend your birthday weekend, with the beautiful night time display (as if just for you…), with your loved ones (Jeremy & Kaweah), and that beautiful meal! thank goodness the portions appear small, because there’s no way I’d leave a scrap of that beautiful food on my plate! Happy belated b-day Jen and thanks for sharing those magical pictures.

  23. angelitacarmelita says:

    LOL, your pictures had me captivated, upon re-review, I see that it was your beautiful MOTHERS birthday! Happy belated birthday to your mom! aren’t mom’s the best….. Thanks again for sharing the pictures!

  24. audra says:

    do you know what’s gorgeous? your photos. no joke. THANK YOU for these amazing shots. too much cloud cover in NJ this year. your pictures always make me miss Colorado so much it makes me ache. including your shots of dinner at Flagstaff! i was talking to my sister on the phone after i read this post and told her how envious i was, and she said she could hear it in my voice. living vicariously through you~ ;) thanks again, as always.

  25. jenyu says:

    Thanks all for the bday wishes – Mom had a great time! FYI – you can’t see the skies like this with the naked eye – long exposures bring out a lot of the colors and the details which is why astrophotography is so much fun! To try it yourself, get a tripod, open your aperture wide, focus on infinity and try some long exposures. I had to bump up the exposures in post proc quite a bit (if I expose for too long, I have to do some subtracting to get rid of excessive noise in the image).

    Jamie – well, I’m in awe of YOUR work :)

    Sam – yay! I’m so glad you’re going to share the photos with your daughter. We need more women in science!! :)

  26. Caitlin says:

    Um WOW. Too much awesome. And now I’m bummed I missed the Perseids! Happy belated birthday to your mom!

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