use real butter

Recipe: chinese lion’s head meatballs

Have you entered to win a scarf made by yours truly yet? You’ve got one more day. And even if you live in let’s say, a volcano, you can always give the scarf as a gift to someone you like! Or you could give it to your sworn enemy as a gesture of good will as opposed to a swift kick in the shins. Just sayin’.

Jeremy and I attended a tweet up in Boulder Tuesday evening at Centro hosted by Rick Bakas (follow on Twitter @RickBakas) and St. Supéry. I know it seems backwards, but Twitter has kept me connected with many of my global blog friends while introducing me to several local people – many of whom I get to meet in real life (IRL) at tweet ups, community events, and the like. Plus, it’s so nice to finally speak to these good people without having to worry about that 140 character limit.

there were five wines for tasting

centro filled up

centro serves up latin fare in a lively atmosphere

the wall o’ live tweets

kurt heckel brings great wines like st. supéry to all of colorado

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have done zero with respect to Thanksgiving dinner. I’m not all that worried. I know we’ll have dinner, but it won’t be a Thanksgiving dinner this year. It will be… dinner (something that swims or at least used to swim). The thought of a giant meal makes me sleepy which in turn makes me want to go play in the snow and burn a lot of calories. Hey – no one ever said I made any sense! My Dad has been known to boycott the traditional turkey ever since I left home for college, so it isn’t all that out of character for me to follow in his footsteps.

A specialty that my dad makes is called Lion’s head meatballs. These are giant Chinese pork meatballs that are tender, full of flavor, and very moist. Two years ago when I was at my parents’ home, I asked my dad to show me how to make the recipe and it took me a couple of tries to get it right in my own kitchen. It’s one of Jeremy’s favorite dishes and my parents always make some whenever we visit.

ground pork, green onions, ginger, bamboo shoots, chinese mushrooms

coat the meatballs in flour

**Jump for more butter**

Isn’t this a lovely view of this thin sliver of the moon setting over the Continental Divide? I managed to catch it last week while I was making dinner.

crescent moonset from my deck

Jeremy and I piled the dog and our stuff into the car and drove down to my ILs’ house for a short visit this weekend. They happen to live in the mountains of southern Colorado at 7500 feet above sea level – so it’s like being home for us but in a different location (did that make any sense?). Whenever we turn onto their road, Kaweah begins to cry because she LOVES this place and has so much fun here. We spent the weekend playing Wii, sewing, going for walks in the woods, having great food, and watching all three dogs get the crazies.

they have nice sunsets from their deck too

dinner at keyah grande (jeremy’s duck)

puppies at attention! (left to right: bumpy, buffle, kaweah)

mil has the coolest sewing room ever

driving home through the san luis valley

On Saturday night, we went to dinner at Keyah Grande, a stunning and exclusive resort in southwestern Colorado. We were given permission to take ourselves on a tour of the opulent, yet incredible building before sitting down to a truly inspired and delightful meal. Sadly, the place is closing on December 31st and will go on the market for any interested buyer. Have you got $12 million to spare?

a chihuly greets you in the foyer

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming! I have been asking Jeremy for the past month if there is anything in particular he wants to eat for Thanksgiving and the boy keeps coming back to seafood. We have no plans for the upcoming holiday other than to get a lot of work done and maybe have some fun if there is time. I know it’s incredibly unsentimental of us, but the thought of eating outrageous amounts of food just makes me sleepy and depressed. I’m craving fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood and I need to get my ski on, plain and simple. We’re staying put for at least a month and I’m thankful – so very thankful – for that. Travel has a way of discombobulating me. So I apologize ahead of time if I’m not providing any Thanksgiving inspiration here. Besides, there is more inspiration than you can shake a stick at on the internet(s) right now.

Which brings me to another photowalk that I’ve been meaning to post. I was working with Beth for the past few months on photography – wedding photography, landscape photography, and post processing techniques. I can talk about photography until I am blue in the face, but the most efficient and effective way for me to teach anyone about photography is for me to show them how I work and explain what I am doing (and why) and then to let that person work, ask questions, give feedback. Beth and I had a great time on the fall shoot in September, so it was a no-brainer to get her out for a photowalk.

everyone, meet beth!

Beth: Nikon D200 with Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-f/4.5G AF-S DX
Jen: Nikon D3x with Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8G ED

Beth came up to my place last month to work on some post processing of a wedding she had shot. It happened to snow the day before and so we decided to get our photowalk in before all of the snow melted in the town of Nederland. We walked under overcast skies and temperatures hovering near freezing. When we got to the town center, Beth turned and asked what the rules of photowalk are. We both laughed and said, “The first rule of photowalk is, you do not talk about photowalk. The second rule of photowalk is, YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT PHOTOWALK…” Okay, but seriously, the rules are: the photogs take turns choosing five locations at which to stop and shoot about five frames each. Easy peasy, right?

beth location #1: shot 3

jen location #1: shot 5

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: candied calamansi limes

There is so much going on here at urb and the holidays are poised just around the corner like a prank waiting to smack me in the face. It’s GREAT! Who doesn’t love being a frenzied mess? I get so much more done that way. Let’s quit with the chit chat and get to brass tacks.

this one is from the heart
Giveaways here, giveaways there. I wasn’t planning on a giveaway right now because we have a big one coming up to celebrate a certain black dog’s birthday. However, with Thanksgiving around the corner I’ve been thinking less about planning a giant meal (um, I still don’t know what we’re having for dinner and I’m not really caring at this point) and thinking more about what I’m thankful for. After this last trip to California where I sat in the back of the bus with some of my favorite food bloggers and talked about… BLOGGING, I was saddened to hear about the hateful comments and emails these fine people occasionally receive. In general, food blog readers are quite supportive. I have to say I felt a warm glow inside when I thought about my readers – you guys. I’m thankful that I have this awesome online community of fun, witty, creative, and caring people. And because you give me warm fuzzies, I’d like to give you a warm fuzzy in return.

one i made for katie in manos del uruguay wool (sage multi colorway)

Everything I’ve given away on the blog has been out of my pocket thus far. Today, I’m announcing a little giveaway that is from my pocket, my hands, and my heart. It’s a scarf. I haven’t made it yet! That’s because I want YOU to pick the colorway of the yarn. I’ve already selected the pattern: My So Called Scarf because um… it has to be something that I can actually knit and it’s a pattern that works for a man (all two of you) or a woman. Even if you don’t want a scarf, it makes a lovely gift for someone else. The winner will get to select one of these gorgeous yarns. I recommend choosing a multi (variegated) yarn because it looks particularly nice with the pattern. So here are the rules, kiddos:

1) Leave a comment on this post and share what Thanksgiving is about to you. Even if you don’t celebrate Yankee Thanksgiving, what does it mean to you? No novels, please :)

2) You have until midnight Mountain Standard Time (GMT minus 7 hours) on Wednesday, November 25th to enter (so 12:01 am will be Thanksgiving Day here).

3) Multiple comments from same person will be disqualified.

4) The winner will be selected at Crazy Random by The Dog and The Astrophysicist and announced on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009.

5) I will ship worldwide.

6) Good luck!

Not too long ago, my dear friends Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple shipped me a package of sharp objects I couldn’t fly home with from BlogHer Food 09. They included several precious fruits from their yard in the care package. [Okay, Diane told me last week that the passion fruits were bought because their passion fruit vines weren’t producing much – this does not diminish my gratitude one iota.] I ate the dragonfruits, froze the passion fruit pulp, and then what to do with those calamansi limes?

remember these?

i like that the lime is orange

**Jump for more butter**