use real butter

We went into Boulder this morning as Jeremy had some work to do and I needed to ship a few packages out (New Year’s and birthday packages) and then swing by Whole Foods to visit my boys. Everywhere I went, people asked if my holiday shopping was done. I don’t want to get into the whole “we don’t celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Gravity and Water in its solid state” discussion with every person I meet… [I've had someone ask me if I'm Jewish before! ha ha ha!] I just told folks that I made my gifts and so got several verbal pats on the head for being frugal in these dire economic times. It’s not about being frugal so much as saying, “I like you” with something specially handmade. Feeding is an act of love in my family and so my baking and cooking are my small gifts of love.

When I say my boys I mean the fellas at the Whole Foods seafood counter, of course. Christmas Eve is their busiest day of the year – their highest volume day. Boulderites love their seafood. I perused the entire display of gorgeous sea critters on ice while dodging shoppers, random children, and the ever oblivious friends who just ran into each other and are blocking foot traffic with their poorly oriented shopping carts and yammering selves. It was a zoo, but a seriously festive zoo. A young woman from another department passed by and shouted, “Hey Seafood!” and all eight of the gentlemen behind the counter raised their hands and roared hello. James knows by now that when I ask for scallops or clams or fish or sashimi, to select not only the best quality, but also the best looking since I photograph the food. Such a sweetheart. Shaun, another favorite of mine, leaned over to say hi and asked what my dinner plans were. I answered and he said, “Ah, seafood… because you’re unique!” He smiled and jerked his head in the direction of a dozen customers to his right, “…just like everyone else.” These guys always go out of their way to give me the very best seafood. To me, that’s a gift of love right there.

I decided we would have an indulgent, yet simple dinner this evening: Alaskan King Crab (they had a special). Oh My God. I love crab – all kinds. My hands down favorite: Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab. I love crab more than lobster. Crab crab crab crab crab. I grew up catching crabs in the summer days and eating steamed crabs in the summer evenings. We enjoyed 2 pounds of steamed crab with a nice Spanish wine that my dad recommended and a refreshingly light salad of greens, jicama, cara cara oranges, and pomegranate. I think I’ll repeat that salad with tomorrow’s dinner too – it was terrific.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: grilled prosciutto-wrapped asparagus

menu for hope OR get off your arse!
I just want to remind you all that Menu for Hope is still going on for a couple more days. You can find all of the fantastic prizes being offered here and then go and buy raffle tickets here. Oh, and yes, I’m offering a prize as well! Take your pick from these four photos.

how many people get an email from…
…the crater rim of Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Earth (in Antarctica)? I did! My pal is imaging the surface of the lava lake in the crater. How f’ing cool is that? VERY.

i like winter in colorado
Well, it looks like winter is taking the nation by storm *snort*, except possibly at Tartelette’s house. I’ll have to bag up some Colorado snow in a ziploc and mail it to her, poor thing. We went to Breckenridge today to enjoy some express lifts on the big mountains. While we love our local hill (and especially the ten minute drive from house to ski hill), the big resorts are really something else, despite the longer drive (anywhere from 1-2 hours). As we walked to the gondola from the parking lot, Jeremy said to me, “If I lived someplace else, I’d probably wish I were skiing all the time. Since we live here, I wake up and think, ‘Should I go skiing today?’” The answer is: hell yes, go skiing!

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: lychee martini

It’s the 18th. One week until Christmas. But I’m not stressing because we don’t celebrate Christmas. It’s not that I didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas, because in my non-religious family’s house – we celebrated the hell out of Christmas. My mother always made a phenomenal spread for dinner with lots of snacks sprinkled throughout the day to keep us out of the kitchen. As I’ve said before, my family does not have a baking tradition – *I* am the baker. But I do remember that my mom would make cookies once a year: puffy hearts and rings. I think it was a kind of cream puff dough, shaped into… hearts and rings, and spread with pink and green frosting and sprinkled with almond slivers. That frosting contained almond extract, which I looooooooved. I thought my mom was the best baker in the world! Kind of like when I thought my paternal grandmother had really stumbled onto something when she made me my first piece of toast :)