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Recipe: chinese stir-fried shrimp with snow peas

Daring Cooks: Sorry DCs! Just like the last DB challenge, I was unable to squeeze this one into my schedule. Hope to be back in business next month.

H’okay! Now we are all set. I got my new lens in the mail on Friday and this morning the filter arrived. “The circle upgrade is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master.” I feel a little giddy holding this thing in my hands.

my first of the holy trinity of lenses

Fall is here, kids. We had a big cool down on Saturday replete with cold, damp fog, rain, and a minor frost overnight. It has warmed back up a little, but the mood is settling in quickly – that desire to throw on a snuggy, soft fleece. When I close my eyes, I can feel the warmth radiating from the oven, see apples in the golden autumn light, and smell cinnamon on the air. We took Kaweah for a quick walk yesterday and encountered a mother moose and her baby (which is as big as a Honda Civic) racing across the trail and disappearing into the woods. They’re really quiet. Jeremy didn’t even hear them, he only looked up when I stopped and said, “Moose!” Kaweah didn’t notice a thing (too busy sniffing for deer poop).

fading daisies

our old girl and her favorite rocks

Today is Jeremy’s birthday, which he actually missed – literally. That’s because he was flying over the International Date Line last night and jumped a day ahead to the 15th. I joked that this might be the fountain of youth… but if you’ve ever flown coach from the US to Sydney it’s more like the fountain o’ misery. So happy birthday, Jeremy! We’ll have a proper celebration when things settle down. For now, we’ll settle for a tiny celebration of sorts. I don’t know about you, but shrimp is always a festive ingredient for me. Maybe because it’s expensive (granted, I typically buy fresh, wild-caught shrimp), but I think it has more to do with how happy shrimp looks. It’s what I consider decorative with its curly, pink and white flesh. A perfect morsel to pop in your mouth.

mise en place: snow peas, raw pink shrimp, garlic, green onions, water chestnuts

butterfly the shrimp

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Recipe: chinese spaghetti (zha ziang mien)

I believe Peabody is going to move in with us soon if the heat wave in Seattle continues and our cool spell in the Colorado Rockies lingers. As most of you know, sun and heat do not make for a happy me. Yes, I recognize how vital the sun is and yes, I do enjoy basking in the warm rays of sunshine… when it’s 20°F out. We were beset with a few rather warm (okay HOT) days in the Colorado Front Range, but thankfully a string of overcast afternoons infiltrated our forecast. Along with the instability aloft, we got our light shows back!

in summer, we choose outside seating when it’s cloudy

i have this thing for lightning

Now it is downright chilly. And I love it. My friend said it was snowing in the basin (I assume that is A-basin – a fine place to get your ski tele on). The deck read 32°F this morning. Unfortunately it wasn’t snowing, just raining. That’s okay by me. We need the rains.

fleece weather

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Recipe: sautéed snow pea shoots

Gah! Summer is HOT. Colorado has enjoyed – or at least *I* have enjoyed – a very cool and wet spring this year. It is one of the wettest springs in 20+ years according to meteorological records (which I love to dork out on). And then summer rolled around and wham! It’s been hot. The dog’s residence time per visit to the deck is on a steep decline because she can only take but so much HOT before she staggers back into the house, panting and drunk on sunshine.

One of the benefits of the heat in the mountains is the instability in the atmosphere due to that delicious mixing of cold and hot air masses. This translates into some of my favorite things to observe and capture in summer: stormy weather.

driving down on the flats you see tons of mammata in the afternoons

lightning show at our house!

It also means more dinners on the deck after the sun goes down so we can enjoy the cooler evenings, listen to hummingbirds zipping past, and watch the foxes stealthily make their way through our yard.

summer deck dining

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