use real butter

Recipe: california roll burger

You can’t fight the weather. The best thing you can do is roll with it. That’s what I’ve been telling myself anyway. Now that the crud in my chest is clearing and I no longer sound like Kathleen Turner, we’ve been getting outside to assess the snowpack. Total spring conditions: ice in the morning, corn snow in the afternoon. We noticed over the weekend that our front yard aspens are already forming buds a month early.

still getting nice color in the mornings and evenings

walking on hardpack

The spring equinox is a day away and all of this increased daylight prompts me to think of spring and summer cooking. Normally we’d be shoveling a few feet of Rocky Mountain powder from the driveway, but it looks like spring has come early for Colorado. My friends in Southern California, however, are always in perpetual spring-summer. Allison posted a photo of a California roll burger on her Facebook page a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to shake the idea since. A little Google action brought me to 26 Beach Restaurant’s California burger roll. Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness.

a lot of components, but totally worth the trouble

It’s pretty much what you’d guess it to be – a hamburger with the components of the revered fusion California roll. How could this not be amazing? Throughout the week, my mind would wander to the California roll burger. What would I put on mine? It’s heavy enough with the beef patty and the bun, so I opted out of adding sushi rice. In addition to the traditional lettuce and tomato, I figured there would be crab salad, avocado, masago (capelin roe), pickled ginger (gari), toasted seaweed (nori), and wasabi mayonnaise. Instead of our standard potato roll buns, I picked up some challah rolls. And if we were going to do this right, why not some shredded king crab legs for the salad? You could use krab (surimi), but I find real crab to be beyond awesome.

shelling the crab

mix mayonnaise with shredded crab meat

make the wasabi mayonniase: stir some wasabi powder into the mayo

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: kabocha nimono

Kaweah began having trouble hiking very far two summers ago. Because of that, we scaled back on her backcountry outings and assumed it was old age. But this winter, we’ve been bringing her along on some hikes and skis, and she’s been improving. It seems the more we do, the stronger she is getting. I’m guessing that like me, she prefers the cold weather exercise. We’re careful not to overdo it though. Kaweah is the type of dog who will go go go up to the moment she’s ready to drop.

hiking at chautauqua near the boulder flatirons

I usually don’t bring Kaweah down to Boulder with me because the drive stresses her out and it’s usually too warm down there. Jeremy always assures me she’s much happier at home in the mountains. The other day I had some business in town and then a couple of hours to kill while Jeremy wrapped things up at his office – so I brought Kaweah. It was nice and cool (right at freezing), the way we like it! I took her to Chautauqua Park where the iconic Boulder Flatirons stand watch. The last time I was there with Kaweah was just before my final chemo infusion in May 2008.

much happier now

Talk about happy. I mean both of us. After thirteen years of “Kaweah, come!” or “Leave it!” or “Drop it!” or “No pull!” she has finally got it (for the most part). Or maybe she’s just too old to fight anymore? She’s always been a sweet girl, but she’s actually becoming a little bit of a good girl too. I just want her to be a happy girl, and if I can be happy too, that’s a bonus.

always in the moment, she lives for the skiing

All of this increased activity has been great for Kaweah’s strength and stamina, although taking a thirteen year old dog out isn’t much of a workout for me. So I wind up doing double duty – and it feels terrific. We are both improving. I feel such a strong connection with Kaweah.

feathery clouds at sunset

color and texture

A delightful cold spell delivered seven inches of fresh fluffy powder at our local hill this past Friday, which was skied with much whooping and hollering before the winds came and blew it into Kansas. You have to grab it by the hojos, kids. I am totally in winter mode over here. Winter mode involves snow sports, yes, but it also includes hot foods to warm your belly after engaging in said snow sports.

sugar, mirin, soy sauce, dashi, kabocha squash

My first exposure to kabocha squash was in the sushi bar. A thin slice was tempura fried and included in the vegetable tempura medley. The squash was my favorite because it had a soft texture and a slight sweetness that played so well against the dipping sauce. I always thought it was a sweet potato. It’s actually a Japanese pumpkin.

scoop the seeds out

cutting slices

or you can dice the pumpkin

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: black cod with miso

Over a year ago, I was contacted by the program director of the Denver Botanic Gardens about giving a lecture and doing a workshop for their Bonfils Series. We met over tacos at Pica’s and I cobbled together a proposal – something to inject a little ethnic culture and cuisine into Denver. I asked my friends Manisha, Todd, and Diane if they wanted to join me and then we worked out a date… October 20-21, 2011. That seemed quite far off, and now look – it’s next week!

If you’re near the Denver area, we’d love to have you come to our lecture: Three Food Blogs, Three Cuisines, Infinite Inspiration on Thursday, October 20, 2011 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. If you want to arrive early (5:30 pm) there will be some great Denver food trucks to grab a nosh! On Friday, October 21, 2011, the four of us will lead a workshop in the kitchen facility where we will share and demonstrate Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese recipes and cooking techniques. The workshop runs from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm with a short break in the middle for participants to grab lunch. So come join us for great stories, fantastic food, and heaps of laughter. We can’t wait to meet you!

*********

I see more bare branches than aspen leaves around my neighborhood, thanks to the winds that whipped through here a few days prior. While walking Kaweah on the local trails this evening, I could see the skeletal dried flowers, puffballs, and solitary leaves shivering in the cold. They make a sad rattling noise as the winds race along the ground. They crunch underpaw when Kaweah goes careening off the trail to sniff something. Sunset comes earlier each day and practically sneaks up on us. When we came home from Boulder on Monday, I looked out the window to see some Kelvin-Helmholtz waves over the Continental Divide. These clouds are typically short-lived, but to get them at sunset? SCORE! Jeremy and I love to geek out on beautiful examples of fluid dynamics at work.

indicative of high shear aloft (SCIENCE!!!)

We had no such glorious clouds at sunset today, but that’s okay because I had something glorious going on in the kitchen. On my fall colors recon/40th birthday long weekend, Jeremy and I spent a couple of days in Aspen. One evening, we went to Matsuhisa for dinner because so many had recommended it. I have to say, I was pretty underwhelmed with the sushi and sashimi which was decent, but seriously overpriced. However, the items we ordered from the kitchen were pretty phenomenal like their heirloom tomato salad with cilantro dressing or the black cod with miso. Let’s talk about that black cod with miso. Melt. In. Your. Mouth. I’ve been obsessing over it ever since.

white miso paste, mirin, sake, sugar, black cod fillet

Flipping through some of my own books, I found a miso black cod recipe. But a quick search on the internets led me to the recipe from Matsuhisa on Food and Wine! The anticipation was crushing. I checked my local Whole Foods and asked my buddy Dustin (he’s the head of Seafood) when they’d have some black cod in. We talked about the recipe and he nodded, “That’s good stuff.” I just had to be patient. Upon my return home from my road trip, I picked up some groceries at Whole Foods and saw they had black cod fillets on ice. YES, PLEASE.

pour the mirin and sake into a small saucepan

whisk the sugar in with the miso, mirin, and sake

pour the miso marinade into a baking dish to cool

**Jump for more butter**