use real butter

Recipe: emily’s grilled flank steak

The first week of NaBloWriMo is done… just 24 more days to go. Wooo!

My house finally got some desperately needed attention today because I had to shoot a recipe and there was not a single cleared surface for me to set my food upon. I hadn’t shot anything in my kitchen for weeks. The tripod had to be disinfected because the last time I used it, I was standing in a field of elk poop (there were also fields of cow poop and deer poop and probably other poops I was gratefully unaware of). But the weirdest part for me was when I tightened the clamp on the quick-release plate of the D200. I’ve been shooting with the new camera for 3 weeks now. Switching back to the D200 (my dedicated kitchen camera), the once hefty body felt like a child’s play toy in my hands. Don’t take that as a slam to the D200, because I still love it to itty bitty bits – it is such a workhorse.

I think we’ve returned somewhat to normalcy here. We’re still busy, but at least we’re busy in one place instead of busy abroad or busy while a moving target. And I’m finally tackling my post processing properly instead of bouncing around looking for the obvious shots to share. Here are a couple from Tuesday of last week’s shoot.

outside of crested butte

looking back on a mere fraction of the largest aspen stand in the world

The recipe I shot today isn’t the one I’m sharing on this post. I can’t share it until next week – it’s the Daring Cooks challenge (and it was soooo good). Today’s recipe comes from my best friend in high school. I didn’t cook so much in high school – I prepped. I loved to use a knife for slicing, dicing, mincing, peeling. Emily, on the other hand, cooked. The first time we prepared dinner for her family, I was making the pasta sauce under her direction. She said, “Add some olive oil.” Like a typical noob, I poured about two drops of olive oil into the saucepan. Emily watched and before I could right the bottle, she pressured the spout of the bottle down with one finger and let about a half cup of olive oil dive into the sea of puréed tomatoes. Thus, Emily taught me that fat makes food taste Good.

slice up flank steak

flank steak, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, tomato paste

**Jump for more 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: grilled pizza

I love those holiday weekends where you get three days off! Jeremy and I actually worked for most of the weekend, but I quite enjoy his company – even when we’re working. Of course, it feels like Monday today even though it is Tuesday and I’m starting to freak out that I am missing a day where I thought there should be more time. September is FRENZY time, but in a very very good way (as long as I don’t lose it, then yes, ’tis good). Last Thursday, my lovely Manisha and I met with Marc and his good friend, Brian for a quick happy hour nosh in Boulder. The guys were on a road trip across (and around) the country. Marc is the husband of dear, sweet Bri (Figs with Bri), one of our own – a fellow food blogger who passed away last November from breast cancer. It was a delight to finally meet Marc. He is as gentle and warm as anyone you could ever find. We all had a wonderful time before the fellas had to hit the road.

marc and brian on their way to carbondale

Phase 3 of my upgrade is complete (now on to phases 4 and 5). Phase 3 is the reason for all of the other upgrades because this bad boy is a pretty demanding little brat (but he’s MY demanding little brat now). Don’t think for a second that the price tag on the camera body is your only cost, because it isn’t. *sob*

i call it (on the left) the big one

Okay, before people start emailing and asking if they need a D3x to take pictures for their food blog, the answer is an unequivocal “NO. Are you insane?!” You’d have to be smoking crack to think you need 24.5 megapixels to shoot a cookie to post on a blog, because… YOU DON’T. I continue to shoot with my old camera in the kitchen which is more than adequate. The new camera is intended for outdoor use, under adult supervision only…

the color is coming

**Jump for more butter**