use real butter

Recipe: grilled corn and chilpotle soup

Wednesday night I participated in an event that is rooted in a community I never even knew existed until a few months ago. Ignite is a movement that I have briefly mentioned in the past. I attended my first Ignite Boulder (#5) in July this year. The only reason I know anything about Ignite Boulder, Ignite in general, or the tech startup community in Boulder is because of my friend, Andrew Hyde (follow on twitter @andrewhyde). Ignite started in Seattle in 2006 – it’s an evening of presentations for those with short attention spans: 20 slides that advance automatically every 15 seconds. That’s right, 5 minutes. Ignite Boulder (founded by Andrew) is a boisterous, raucous good time. The audience is loudly supportive and the topics range from whimsical to erudite and EVERYTHING in between. The first time I viewed an Ignite online from another city, I was surprised to see how tame, respectful, and quiet the audience was. I think the Ignite Boulder speakers on average are far more dynamic and engaging… certainly the entertainment value is high.

The majority of my online networking has been with people from all over the world because of this blog. But it was only a year ago that I began to interact with the local community when my immune system had recovered enough after the treatments. I think I have more readers in New Zealand than I do in Boulder, Colorado. Or at least, I used to. So last night, I was one of the presenters at Ignite Boulder 6. In fact, I was the first if you don’t count Ef Rodriguez (follow on twitter @pugofwar) who energized the crowd with his awesome warm up talk/singing/performance. I was glad to go first, because then I could truly enjoy the rest of the 13 talks without worrying about my own anymore. I met people who read use real butter, people who I follow on Twitter but never met IRL (in real life), and people I had no idea existed and vice versa – but I’m glad they do, because they’re wonderful and fascinating… like a shiny new mountain bike.

dave burdick (@daveburdick) draws parallels between journalism and “ghost busters”

It was the first time there were more female speakers than male speakers. Sweetness. Overall the talks were terrific. I have too many favorites to call them favorites. There were a few rows of seats reserved in the front for the evening’s speakers and I sat next to a quiet and unassuming gentleman who seemed a little nervous. We introduced ourselves and he told the rest of us he was going last. We all sympathized – that’s hard to do. Lots of pressure and stress, but huge potential. He told me his talk was titled, “Reward and Risk”. I figured it was about pure game theory.

michael brown (@seracfilms) on reward and risk

He’s the president of Serac Adventure Films and put reward and risk in the context of mountaineering. At the end of the presentation, there were three short trailers he played that moved me to tears. You can see the first of these breathtaking trailers Farther Than The Eye Can See at their website.

Helen told me she couldn’t see the live feed of my talk until the last slide, but luckily for all of us, Manisha was in the audience recording the presentation (thank you, sweetie!!). That amazing woman had it on YouTube before the night was out! I’m including a link to my slide presentation because some folks have complained that the slide in the venue was dim. Just remember that Ignite Boulder is LOUD, the audience traditionally participates enthusiastically (and I can hear Nichole giggling nearby in the audio). Definitely watch the video to see how the timing works.

The Jeremy who graciously tossed cookies (hee hee) out to the audience for me at the end of my talk is Jeremy Tanner (@penguin). My Jeremy (@drdarling) was in Australia giving a talk at the same time (he literally missed my talk by a few minutes)! Except his talk was on astrophysics, not food porn.

mountain standard time performed for the intermission

I’m so glad I gave an Ignite presentation because it makes me less of an observer in this community and more of a participant. I think I’ll always be dabbling on the periphery just because I value our quiet mountain life over The Scene in Boulder, but I am meeting fascinating people with big ideas and even bigger hearts. And I dig that.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: blueberry lime pound cake

Jeremy can tell I’m feeling like my old self again when I walk into the kitchen first thing in the morning and start cleaning. It helps me to reset after being sick and before tackling all manner of projects and tasks. He’ll say to me ever so sweetly, “Would you like a glass of orange ju-” and I will hold a wad of dirty dish towels in my hand and say, “THESE? These needed to go in the hamper three days ago. They’re filthy!” and walk off to dump them in the laundry. This indicates that Jen is back and fully operational. Just in time too – there is much to get done. This week we have retired my trusty old PowerBook to kitchen service. Thank you, Apple, for not sucking away countless weeks of my time the way a crapass Windows platform would (and has). Here is proof that form and functionality need not be mutually exclusive.

i dub thee: little buddy

That is just the first in a series of upgrades this month. Hold on to your seats, kids. Please keep all arms down inside the car while the ride is in operation…

I can’t tell if we’re experiencing a short respite from the heat or if this is a trending cool down. It’s 50°F on my deck this morning and the rest of the week is looking pleasant. You know what that means, don’t you? Autumn. It’s my favorite season. Then after autumn comes – SKI SEASON. *eeep!* What this means for use real butter is that I need to move all of these summery recipes out because before you know it, there will be four feet of snow to shovel off our driveway. For now we are snow free, but I’m really loving the cooler temps.

don’t mind me – i’m just chillin’ out… nice digs you got here

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: lemon ice cream

I have a cold. *hack* In summer. Pisser.

A food blogger pal once mentioned in a post that she was under the weather. Someone had written she didn’t want to hear about bloggers being sick, and can we get on with the recipe already? It happened a while ago but it’s been stuck in my mind lately, I think because sudafed does that to me – the stuck-in-the-mind part. What is wrong with people? If I made that remark to someone’s face, I’d expect them to haul off and bust me across the chops (and deservedly so). Thankfully, the majority of my readers are nothing like that. You guys rawk! It’s a relief for me that I can do a little (or a lottle) spilling of guts here from time to time and you roll with me. People get sick, people die, pets get hurt, bad things happen to good people – that’s all part of life and that’s why it’s important to be here for one another. Food bloggers are not automatons who exist for the sole purpose of cranking out recipes for the masses. We are people with lives and personalities (don’t you know it!). So thanks for letting me be human in all my flawed glory, and thank you for being human yourselves. It makes ours a richer community.

Speaking of community, I have tossed my hat into the ring to give an Ignite Boulder presentation! Trust me, I didn’t make this decision in a congested haze. I got jazzed about giving a talk ever since I attended Ignite Boulder 5 in July. In case you’ve been hiding out in your broom closet, you can find out what an Ignite presentation is and if you are anywhere near Boulder, you should plan on attending Ignite Boulder 6 on September 16th. Get your ticket(s) before they sell out! And if you’re so inclined, you can also vote for talks through August 26th or better yet – submit a topic to present! Not local or can’t make it? No worries, the good coordinators of this fine event will have a live stream for you to laugh and shout along with the hundreds (dare we hope for a thousand?) attendees. Good times!

If you will recall, my last post featured a luscious and summery blueberry peach crisp which I served with lemon ice cream. That was homemade lemon ice cream and the recipe came from my good friend, Helen who swore to me that this was the best lemon ice cream ever. Five out of five Coloradoans agree. This is creamy citrus heaven.

pucker up

**Jump for more butter**