use real butter

This day is a good day. It’s the day you were born and boy am I glad you were born. You keep telling me to watch out, that you’re catching up to me for those nine days between our birthdays. You’re silly like that.

testing out kaweah’s rescue harness

People have no idea how ridiculous you can be. They never get to see that side of you. You only hint at it with your occasional dorky jokes. But Kaweah and I get to enjoy you for all of your hidden charms and goofiness.

yay for snow in yosemite!

thirsty pup on the trail

You have often said that you can tell a lot about a person by observing the way they treat animals and children. Even though neither of us ever wanted children, I marvel at how well you play with kids and how you are always trying to teach them, to engage their brains, and to make sure they are having fun while learning. I doubt the learning part ever got through to Kaweah, but she definitely had fun.

snow much fun

jeremy and miss crazy above treeline

my two best friends

You have a lot of patience. I mean A LOT of patience. It’s good that one of us does. You’re always a grounding force wherever you go. I just want you to know that it does not go unappreciated, at least not by me. How about that backpack in the Sierra when the mosquitoes were super awful and I lost it and you kept it all together? Or that time in Australia with all of those flies? You always make things better.

that time in australia…

We’ve been to many beautiful places together and sometimes (many times) in less than ideal conditions. I’m grateful that you tolerate and maybe even enjoy Fun #2. Because Fun #1 is for ninnies! I’m glad we value many of the same things in life and set similar priorities. People talk of adventure, of dreams. We live it daily – a choice we made together years ago. Thank you for that.

a windy day in new zealand’s high country

our backyard

summertime

riding in crested butte

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Recipe: taco seasoning

It’s Kaweah’s eleventh birthday today! In celebration, we here at use real butter are having a giveaway this week in honor of Kaweah. Hmmm… what should we give away?

a puppy?!?

I can’t give that puppy away – that was Kaweah almost 11 years ago (it was sunset, so she looks brown). We tossed around a ton of ideas, but finally settled on this puppy:

how about a $100 gift card to chefs?

I’m giving away a $100 CHEFS gift card this week. What better way to launch the giveaway than on our little random number generator’s birthday? To enter, follow these rules:

Leave ONE comment on this post telling me what you want to do with the $100 gift card (e.g. What are you going to get? Is it for you? Are you going to give the card to someone else?) Multiple comments will be deleted. Entries will be accepted until midnight, Friday December 18, 2009 (12:01 am will be Saturday the 19th). The winner will be selected at Crazy Random courtesy of Kaweah and the Astrophysicist and announced on Monday, December 21, 2009. I’m pleased to tell you that CHEFS ships internationally, so this giveaway is open to ANYONE. Woohoo!

For Kaweah’s birthday, we did an early celebration because we have too much going on today. I’m sure the majority of you will think us insane, but I thought a little bit of steak might be nice for Kaweah’s birthday dinner. Just a little. That’s not the insane part. The insane part was finding ourselves in front of the Whole Foods meat counter. Hmmm, why was the dry-aged rib-eye $19.99 a pound? I asked what the difference was between dry-aged and regular. Curiosity got the best of us, so I pointed to one steak and said, “How about that one?” I thought it was 1.5 inches thick… when the nice gentleman lifted the steak out of the tray, it was 2.5-inches thick and the bloody thing cost me $30!

more wondrous snow

she even got dressed up

We grilled the steak and set aside a few thin slices for the birthday pup. The problem with giving Kaweah any kind of beef is that she scarfs it down without chewing. And just in case you thought it was because the piece of meat was too small – she does the same thing with large pieces of meat too (I have experimented with this in the past).

the birthday plate

it was gone in seconds

Jeremy and I sat down to share the remainder of the steak. It was like butter! So tender and melt-in-your-mouth. Can you dry-age beef at home if you have a cellar or some such thing? I’m tempted to look into it just for kicks (and well – to save having to pay out the nose). I don’t know that I will regard steak the same way again.

When Kaweah cleared her plate like a good girl, we gathered her favorite toys together for birthday cupcake. But that beef was fatty enough as it was, she didn’t need frosting too. Jeremy graciously volunteered to polish off the cupcake while Kaweah enjoyed a healthy carrot. She’s a simple girl, you know.

when kaweah really wants something, she won’t look at it until she hears her release word

what’s that mr. bunny? oh no, i’m 11 years old, not 11 months!

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The lunar new year is almost here (15 minutes!). Our friends left a little while ago, full on food, dessert, conversation, laughs, friendship. No recipe tonight, but I’ll include links to recipes for the dishes I served. Then you can sit back and scroll through the day in pictures. Gong xi fa tsai! Jing nian quai le. Wung shir ru i.

the menu
scallion pancakes
chinese potstickers
hot pot
rui tsai (lucky ten ingredient vegetables)
chocolate bags

beautiful new snow this morning

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