the cook
This is me, Jen. Welcome to use real butter, my food blog.
I live in the Colorado Rockies at 8500 feet above sea level with an astrophysicist and a black dog. In addition to fooding, I recreate in the outdoors and I photograph just about everything. I am an engineer, scientist, programmer, web designer, photographer, cook, outdoor enthusiast, smartass, and proficient noodler.
I’m hyper, opinionated, and OCD.
use real butter is less of a mantra for my cooking and baking and more of a directive for life. I am not a fan of doing things half-assed. I managed 23 days of telemark skiing during chemotherapy in 2008. Rock on.
I maintain a website, a photoblog, and a photo gallery where you can peruse prints for purchase.
the blog
Please obtain my permission to legally use any of my images. Do not copy, hotlink, or steal my photos - that is just complete assholery. I retain full rights.
use real butter (urb) went public in August of 2007 when I surgically removed the food-related content from my personal blog. That is why it dates back to November 2004 and the early posts are moronic at best. I suppose some things never change. There is a lot of personal minutiae dribbled throughout urb because food is an integral part of my life and I never shut up.
Feel free to leave a comment or ask questions on the blog. If you are shy, you can always email me. I try to answer all sincere comments and emails within a week of the post. If you have a blog, please link to it in the url field of the comments section. I can’t promise that I will visit you in a timely manner, but eventually I might! You are welcome to link to urb if that is your desire. I do not engage in trading blog links as my blogroll is reserved for my favorite blogs and I update that once a century.
Should you feel the need to be rude, be nasty, leave incendiary remarks, troll, or spam, don’t be surprised if you are no longer welcome at urb. These days I am less inclined to bring the smackdown than to just delete your sorry ass outright. This is not a public forum, it is my blog. If you want to spout Crazy, you can actually do that on your own shiny little blog - flying spittle and all.
Requests for posts on specific recipes will invariably go unheeded: This is not a call-in cooking show, nor am I made of spare time (or money for that matter).
photography
I shoot with Nikon digital bodies and lenses and use a tripod for 90% of my food shoots. I have nothing against artificial lighting and use flash(es) when necessary. There is a pervasive misconception that dropping enough money for a fancy camera and expensive glass will magically turn you into a good photographer. Owning a Steinway does not a concert pianist make.
Drop a line if you have questions!
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
[...] was going to just wing it as I do when I make my chicken stock but then I stumbled upon a soup that Jen over at Use Real Butter made, which in turn stumbled me over to Susan at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy [...]
March 9th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I love to eat and cook. Googling for a pork mustard green recipe. N Wis. is “Taste of Home” territory. Kamchanh’s restaurant in 54476 or 54474 - sells it at lunch - and it’s awesome! Many thanks for sharing your recipes!
March 11th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I just came across your blog as I was perusing for new recipes. I have to say that your introduction is fabulous!! I haven’t delved much further than that, just yet but I feel compelled to bookmark this page. Just love the brutal honesty and fantastic ‘tude!! All that and you had me with the picture of the prosciutto wrapped shrimp. I find myself wondering why I haven’t done that yet. Can’t wait to dig deeper!!
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hi Jen,
Love photos on your blog. I myself love baking. I tried to blog my culinary experience as I don’t want them to fade away with time.
I live by myself. When I bake, even I halfed the portion, it came out too much for one person. I frequently ended up, shared my goodies with my colleagues (so call guinea-pigs), landlady’s family, friends, friends of friends. I wonder who do you share your food with? :-D
Are the recipes you posted for high althtude?
March 25th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Ning - the recipes are for sea-level and usually high altitude instructions are listed in parentheses. I distribute extra portions from my kitchen to friends and neighbors.
April 12th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Hi, came to your blog from Rasa Malaysia. Love the egg-roll recipe. Never thought to use the red bean paste to make sweet roll. Thanks for sharing.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Hi, i came to your blog from Rasa Malaysia too… saw your post on your kitchen… love it :) are you from Malaysia as well?
April 13th, 2009 at 9:24 am
newcook - nope! I’m from Virginia, but I’m Chinese :)
April 15th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Started poking around your site some more after tastespotting.com led me to it on several occasions - the soy sauce chicken + soy sauce eggs were what first led me here, and today, the scallion pancakes.
Spent some time looking at your photos and personal website. Beautiful pictures!
Now I’m subscribed to your RSS feed :)
Keep up the lovely posts!
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I stumbled upon your site while reading another food blog (I think…Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)…and, I just wanted to say ‘Wow’! You’re awesome - photos, commentary, recipes! Your photos next to each recipe on the Recipes…BRILLIANT!How I wish that all food blogs and food websites did the same thing when listing a recipe!! And, your comments and explanations are hilarious! So happy to have found URB! Wish I had half of your talent behind the camera and in the kitchen! Thanks for a great blog!
April 29th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi, Jen,
I just discovered your websites today from Rasa Malaysia which I go to a lot and totally enjoyed it. Your pictures are magnicent and so sharp and clear, what type of camera do you use and what type of camera do you recommend to a novice like me? Your advise is greatly appreciated, and by the way I love your recipes, must try to make some of it.
Regards,
Susan
May 6th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Hi Jen! What a great website! I am new to Colorado (Monument) from the central coast of California. So I’ve gone from 300 feet to 7200. GAH! I used to be a pretty good cook, now not so much! Anyway, your high altitude baking gives me hope! And yes, I’ve purchased all the high altitude books I can find but my 20 year old oven isn’t helping me out either! So glad to have found you! Arlynn
P.S. I grew up with In and Out Burgers, oh how I miss them!
June 4th, 2009 at 3:51 am
Thank you. I am very excited. As a wheat-sensitive person with great love for food of all nations, I am always looking for ways to recreate the original with spelt. I withstood the initial goo-or-two experimentation with Jeff Varasano’s pizza blog dough recipe to be able to reliably create a crust that is not only pizza worthy but also great as home-made naan (BIG fan of Indian food). I’ve done normal doughs for 50 years, so getting ravioli to high levels was pretty straightforward, but something like potstickers seemed out of reach. Tonight we’ll find out.
By the way, before I saw the main page, I looked at you making the dumplings and (after long sighs at their perfect perimeters) thought - very Asian looking hands. Beautiful, and delicate yet capable looking, just like my old roommates. So thank also for reminding me by accident that I owe her a call!
June 4th, 2009 at 4:04 am
p.s. I”m thinking about Mu Shu Pork and saw this pancake recipe. http://chinesefood.about.com/od/beijingcuisine/r/mandarinpancake.htm
Any opinions on the methodology? I’m also a programmer-scientist but specialized in testing and quality, so I’m big on trying to predict the failure points before starting, and with all the fooding you’ve done here, you’re bound to have a sixth sense on how this will go without doing it yourself.
p.p.s Don’t mention burgers, anyone. I can nearly reproduce a good bun, but the burger itself - no chance. And in Switzerland (current home) you can forget anything that resembles a Val’s Burger (Hayward, CA) which is the gold standard of the East Bay (former home).
June 7th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Rozi - I don’t know, I’ve never tried making mushu shells by hand. The recipe does seem to be similar to others I’ve seen though.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I just stumbled on your blog. Thank you! My husband and I were married in southern Colorado and lived in a little town called LaVeta. It was 15 years ago, almost to the day. Looking at your pics just brings back memories. We got our culinary start there at the Cuchura ski resort …were married there…had our first son there…a lot of good things come from Colorado and it looks as if I found another to add to the list! Thank you!
-kristin
June 20th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I’ll be scouring your archives - great to meet you today!
June 28th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I stumbled on this page while looking for a gallette recipe. I love the photos and can’t wait to try some of them. Definitely will be visiting again. Looks like great food and humorous banter–what could be better? Addy.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 pm
LOVE Your Website, Photos and Enthusiasm!! Rock on Girl!