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Recipe: pressure cooker beef pho

Happy New Year, everyone! I’m always glad when we finally get to the first of January because it means I can flip the switch from HOLIDAY to NORMAL. But things weren’t quite normal for the past few days. Sunday evening, we noticed that Kaweah’s breath was particularly foul. I mean, she’s a dog and her breath was never pleasant, but it was really awful smelling. Then Monday afternoon she was limping on the paw that had a sprained toe from a few weeks ago. We thought it was getting better, but when I took a closer look… her toenail and toe pad were infected and the source of that horrible smell.

Kaweah has always been a pretty healthy dog with minor problems, if any. But at her age, I wondered how serious this could be and if it would mean making a hard decision. You always hear about a procedure that could solve the problem, but might kill an old dog. Jeremy called our vet back home while I quietly wiped away tears and rubbed Kaweah’s belly. We got antibiotics from the vet in Crested Butte, but decided the next morning to take her in for a look and to get some advice on how to care for her toe. We’ve been lucky that every vet who has ever cared for Kaweah has been absolutely wonderful, and our CB vet is no different. She fell in love with Kaweah and of course, Kaweah loves her right back (Kaweah doesn’t dislike anyone). We’ve got her on antibiotics, pain killers, a medicated soak twice a day, lots of happy treats, and a cotton sock for her little paw paw (thank you, CB thrift store!).

kaweah on the way home from the vet, having made more friends

All this to tell you that Kaweah seems to be improving, the stink is mostly gone, and that we rang in the new year soaking her paw in a ziploc bag of medicated wash. Yay, Kaweah! She’ll most likely lose that toenail, but hopefully she will be able to keep the toe. We have good vets looking after her.

Once we were sure she was comfortable and asleep (lots of excitement for her at the vet), we hopped out for a quick nordic ski on New Year’s Eve. It was good to get the worry and stress out on the trails.

frozen stream

the valley that is home to the town of crested butte

On New Year’s Day, Kaweah was her happy waggy self walking around with a child’s sock on her foot like a little drunk person. We figured we could go ski the mountain for a few hours to greet the new year properly. And I’m happy to report that I have been learning to jump some ramps! Nothing huge, but… this 42 year old betty can hang with (some) of the 13 year old boys at the terrain park! Especially now that I’ve stopped screaming whenever I catch air.

dropping knees

…and skiing trees

This is our first winter in Crested Butte, and each day it becomes clear that this is a winter paradise for those of us so fond of frozen precipitation. But after our excursions on the mountain, on the trails, or in the backcountry, we set our gear out to dry, wipe off the sunblock, and prepare something hot with which to warm up. A favorite of mine is Vietnamese beef pho, but I rarely made it because of the time investment. Until now. I’ve managed to reduce hours of simmering to an hour by employing my beloved pressure cooker for the task.

for the broth: fish sauce, onions, ginger, beef brisket, beef bones, spices, sugar, salt

slice the onions and ginger in half

broiled

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: vietnamese braised eggplant

This site went through a series of upgrades right before I hit the road, and apparently we shouldn’t have trusted the captcha update because it wouldn’t allow any comments to go through for a day. That is now fixed and I apologize for any annoyance it may have caused.

Earlier this week Jeremy, Kaweah, and I piled into the car and headed south to the San Juans to see what could be salvaged after the freeze. Driving our usual routes, I exchanged texts with a friend who was driving the other usual routes and we were both reporting the same: brown, dead, done. You shouldn’t be discouraged though! There are always those nice little close-up shots of single stands or trees to be had, but we were fishing for the bigger catches.

waiting for sunset, not hopeful (iphone)

the view from where i waited

last light on mount sneffels

I cut my losses and ended the trip early. Jeremy kept saying how sorry he was that the season was so bad and I kept telling him to quit being sorry. Sure it’s a bummer, but it isn’t the end of the world and I managed a few keepers despite the suckage. We (as in Colorado) had two excellent seasons in 2011 and 2012 – back to back awesomeness. Bad years will happen and do happen. I accept that. And if you’re in any sort of business that relies on Nature, you’d better expect it. Not to mention, it meant I could finally go for a hike without hauling all of my gear. So that’s what we did upon our return to Crested Butte.

the aspens are nothing to write home about, but what a stellar view

We’ve also been enjoying evening trail runs since I don’t have to hang around to wait for sunset over gold-draped mountains anymore. The days have been sunny, warm, and clear such that running in the shadow of the mountains late in the day is just the right temperature to start out. By the time we’re done, the world is fading from purple to blue and the chill begins to creep in. It’s the perfect time for a nice hot meal, and I’ve been loving on eggplant lately.

japanese eggplant

Given my druthers, I prefer Japanese eggplant to regular eggplant. It’s long, skinny, and has fewer seeds. I can’t reliably source Japanese eggplant unless I travel to the Asian markets out in Broomfield (Pacific Ocean Market) or Denver (HMart and other Asian grocers) or find them at the farmer’s market. The ones at the Asian markets are not always in the best shape, but I really wanted to try this recipe for Vietnamese braised eggplant with coconut milk and scallions by Charles Phan of The Slanted Door.

make the vietnamese stir-fry sauce: fish sauce, chicken broth, sugar

bring the broth to a boil, then add sugar

and some fish sauce

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Recipe: miso pork belly stack

I haven’t been out shooting much this past week because the aspens are still quite green. They are late. I mean LATE. Late is fine, except changing aspens begin flirting with cold weather. Cold is fine too, but frosts and hard freezes can wreck the colors. It seems that green aspens manage to endure the frost and snow for the most part. Our days are usually sunny and warm such that the healthy stands can bounce back.

frost, mist, and snow from last week

by afternoon, all was warm enough for kaweah to enjoy her pupsicle treat in the yard

And everything looked to be okay for the first few frosts and snowfalls. Then on Friday, I went for an evening trail run that started out dry…

but wound up snowing 2 miles in

and it just kept snowing the entire way

That storm took its toll and much of the local color that had been humming along turned to a rust orange or black. I call it freeze die off. The upside of all this is that there are still a lot of green aspens and this week is looking to warm up. I think there is potential. The question is if the leaves will get going before the next storm barrels through. In the meantime, I’m watching it all unfold from my hikes, bikes, and trail runs.

a cute little shelter on a trail at the outskirts of town

new color that survived the storm

we don’t get a ton of red aspens, so what we do get is delightful

With all of the chilly weather we had, I have been cooking, baking, and becoming more comfortable with my kitchen in Crested Butte. Todd, Diane, and I were so enthusiastic about picking peaches last week during their visit, that I was left with many pounds of ripe, sweet organic peaches. Even if Jeremy liked peaches (which he does not), there was no way we could both finish it all off before the fruit flies took over our house and flew off with Kaweah. So I made several peach crisps with oatmeal toppings to give to some of our awesome neighbors. You wouldn’t know me for a baker in summer because the heat makes me so dang cranky, but cooler weather ushers in more oven and stove time for things like peach oatmeal crisps or… miso roast pork belly.

start with kosher salt, brown sugar, and pork belly (belleh)

mix the salt and brown sugar together

coat the pork belly with the cure

wrap it tightly in plastic and refrigerate overnight

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