use real butter

Recipe: eggnog ice cream

The past week was supposed to go something like this: big cold front with lots of snow, frigid subzero temperatures for several days, then a warm front ushered in by the obligatory wind storms. All of that happened with the exception of “lots of snow”. We got some snow, but nothing close to a Big Dump Snow Day. Kaweah certainly enjoyed it, until it was a bit much for even this cold-loving dog. Taking her out for a walk ended up with me carrying her back to the house because her paws would freeze in the -3°F temperatures. Kaweah would lift one paw in pain and then lift the other, totally confused until I picked her up in my arms and began walking home. She likes getting the view from up high and wags her tail while I tell her it’s just too cold of a day for a puppy like her.

before the frigid temperatures and crazy winds arrived

But Jeremy and I are good to 0°F or lower as long as it isn’t windy. Problem with Nederland is that it is ALWAYS windy. That’s why this cold spell was so peculiar – it sat over Colorado for several days and the air was completely still. Snow remained on trees for a week (unheard of!) and the trails were snow covered instead of wind blasted down to the rocks. Cold is cold, but windless is priceless. You have to take advantage when you can.

backcountry touring

testing my new microspikes (excellent!) and my midweight running tights (also excellent!)

nice teeth for traction (not great in deep powder)

Everything else has been a mad scramble for holiday-related deadlines. As some of you know, we don’t do the holidays. However, I *do* bake a metric boat load of cookies to gift. This involves stocking up on a lot of butter (natch), sugar, flour, eggs, chocolate, powdered sugar, nuts, and other cookie-ish ingredients. Running errands in town coincides with the holiday crush on the roads, in the stores… It’s a bit much for me and it’s stressful. So I decided to relax with some eggnog. Except I forgot to buy some at the store because I had to wait a long time for the staff person to come back and tell me they were cleaned out of pistachios and then my brain had to recalculate my baking schedule and ingredients list. Once home, I went poking around on the interwebs and discovered I had everything I needed to make my own eggnog. And then came the brilliant idea of eggnog ice cream.

egg yolks, vanilla bean, milk, cream, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum, vanilla extract

scrape the seeds from the pod

combine the vanilla bean, vanilla seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, milk, and half of the cream

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: pastitsio

Just this past weekend, I was walking through Whole Foods with one of my besties from high school (she was in town for a conference) when Emily said, “I could give up meat in an instant, but I could never give up cheese.” I smiled because I have several friends who are bona fide cheese fiends. It’s quite the accomplishment that I can eat Gruyère, but that is about as exotic as I get… which I realize isn’t terribly exotic at all. Still, when presented with the opportunity to receive a review copy of Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese, I could not wait to crack it open.

224 pages of cheesy goodness

Stephanie and Garrett – two incredibly talented individuals – are the masterminds behind the book (Garrett is one of my favorite food writers). They teamed up to present countless hours of research and recipe development in this glorious collection of all things pasta, cheese, and more cheese. As I stated before, I am not a cheese person, but found myself mesmerized by Matt Armendariz’ seductive photos of melty cheese and pasta. After perusing fresh salads, creamy stovetop dishes, hearty mains, and sweet recipes, I settled on pastitsio for my test drive. Hot casserole-style dishes are especially welcome during our Arctic cold snap in the Rockies.

the meat sauce: tomato paste, canned tomatoes, olive oil, white wine, salt, ground lamb, pepper, oregano, bay leaves, rosemary, cinnamon, allspice, garlic, onion

for the pasta and mornay sauce: olive oil, milk, penne, pecorino romano, butter, eggs, salt, flour, pepper

The recipe calls for Kefalotyri, which I could not find, so I used the recommended substitution of Pecorino Romano. That’s another nice thing about this book. Even though I know zip about cheeses, Stephanie and Garrett introduce the reader to new and exciting varieties while offering more common cousins in case you can’t source the original. Other than the cheese, all of the other ingredients are easy enough to find. Oh wait, except bucatini – I couldn’t find that either and opted for penne, a pasta for which I have strong affections.

start the meat sauce: add browned ground lamb to sautéed onions and garlic

add wine, spices, tomato paste

pour in the canned tomatoes

simmer it down for 30 minutes

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: bourbon caramel popcorn

So Thanksgiving was last week, but it feels like it was more than a month ago. Jeremy and I spent the days leading up to Thanksgiving installing some temperature sensors around our place in Crested Butte and getting passes squared away for the mountain as well as the nordic center.

exploring the nordic trails

last light at the end of the day

The mountain opened the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we went up to see what was what. It was our first time skiing at Crested Butte. All the while when we were looking for a place, our realtor (who also telemark skis) would ask if we were going to hang out and “play” (read: tele). And I always shook my head. We would ski AFTER we found a place, I told Jeremy. Promise kept.

glorious sun on opening day

thanksgiving corduroy

It was amazeballs. Good snow, great mountain, not crowded, and just up the road. We got a couple hours in on Thanksgiving morning before cleaning our place and heading home to Nederland. Once home, I realized that I had cleaned out the refrigerator before we left. I also realized that everything in our town was closed for the holiday at 7pm (rightfully so). Usually I can cobble anything together, but I had very little to work with. So I prepared instant kimchi ramen for dinner. And I ate applesauce straight from the jar (I was hungry). Then I made a big batch of popcorn. So that was our Thanksgiving dinner. The next evening, my parents had us over to their place for Chinese Thanksgiving dinner.

lots of seafood: lobster, shrimp, squid

my happy plate

The following night, it was our turn to host my parents (and my friend, Erin) for dinner. When they arrived, I had appetizers set out on the table for guests to enjoy while I finished dinner prep. I also set a bowl of leftover popcorn out from our impromptu Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn’t any old popcorn, but an addictive bourbon caramel popcorn. My mom sidled up to the bar to chat and watch me work. The bowl of popcorn was right under her nose, so she tried some. And she tried some more. And more. She really liked the popcorn. I set it out again at dessert. She adamantly refused a slice of cake, claiming to be too full, but as the conversation wore on, she kept picking bits of the popcorn off and popping them into her mouth. I love when I make something that my mom likes.

you’ll need: popcorn, vanilla extract, bourbon, sugar, butter, salt, baking soda

fluffy popped popcorn

**Jump for more butter**