use real butter

Recipe: chocolate pots de crème

This was supposed to be a rip-roaring weekend at the House of Butter (or rather, outside of the House of Butter, but you know what I mean). Unfortunately I dashed those plans on the Rocky Shores of Disappointment because I got an infection. Nothing that antibiotics won’t take care of, but it’s a bummer nonetheless. Since I am not supposed to be exposed to direct sunlight during the course of my meds, I worked through the weekend as best I could and managed to discover the surface of my desk. Whoa! That’s a good feeling, especially when I had resigned myself to living with Mount Disaster until mid-November. Jeremy kept me company and worked on his research (and even did some massive internal maintenance on this blog). Kaweah was bored out of her gourd.

le sigh

We have had a few spates of fall-like bordering on wintry weather around here. New snowfall in the high country has painted the high peaks with a light coat of white. Per Colorado’s typical cycle, the next day was sunshine and blue skies – you know, to make the snowy peaks even prettier. Fall around here is less of fall and more of a tug-of-war between the last vestiges of summer and the raucous arrival of winter with some beautiful golden aspen littered throughout the mountains. Fall is also when I can tolerate chocolate again. I can’t deal with chocolate in summer. Don’t want to work with it, don’t want to eat it. But as soon as the weather cools down, my thoughts around chocolate become less hostile… more friendly like.

chocolate, milk, eggs, vanilla bean, sugar, cocoa powder

split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out

pouring milk into a saucepan with the vanilla bean and seeds

When I was making these chocolate pots de crème, Jeremy asked what it was. I replied they are chocolate custards.

jeremy: Like crème brûlée?
me: No, there is no burnt sugar on top.
jeremy: Like flan?
me: There is no burnt sugar on the bottom.
jeremy: So it’s like crème brûlée without the burnt sugar?
me: Uh, sure.

two eggs, one yolk

whisk sugar into the eggs and egg yolk

temper the hot, steeped milk into the eggs

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: creamy peanut butter pie

Doomed, was I.

By the time my packing was done, I had to be awake in 45 minutes to head to the airport. I debated whether or not to sleep, because sometimes a short sleep like that can make you feel worse than no sleep at all. It can make you feel pukey in the wee hours of the morning when no one else is awake and when you really don’t want to be either.

A mere 6 hours earlier I was in Boulder shooting the Andrew Bird concert at Chautauqua Auditorium. His is the kind of mesmerizing and dynamic performance that can transport you away from the worries of the day, even if only for a little while. And it did just that.

[You can see the rest of the photo set on the photo blog.]

But there was a flight to catch and a promise to keep.

crushed (gluten-free) cookies

melting butter

On Tuesday, Jennie posted a recipe for Creamy Peanut Butter Pie. It was her Mikey’s favorite. She invited all of us to make and share this pie to celebrate her beloved today, the day of his memorial service.

mix together for the crust

press into the bottom of the pan

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: trail mix

It is now July. You know what July means, don’t you?

July means we are into the thick of summer.

July means half the year is over.

July (in this country) means Fourth of July celebrations, barbecues, and fireworks! You guys know how lousy we are at following holiday instructions. Instead of celebrating, we exercised and got some work done. Instead of barbecue, we had pad thai. But there is no “instead of fireworks” because I totally love pyrotechnics. Love the pretty colored lights that rain down from the sky when nighttime finally settles over the mountains. And what I see with my eyes is never quite the same as what the camera captures – but I like them both!

You can view the rest of the fireworks set on my photo blog.

July is also the month when we will eventually be able to hike into the high country without having to wear or carry skis or crampons. That point in which the trails are no longer classified as “mixed terrain” is true summer for us. Our great room becomes a sort of giant locker room and instead of having a bike bin and a ski bin, we will transition into the bike bin and the hike bin. Of course, they overfloweth resulting in the multiple packs, water hydration bladders, boots, shoes, gloves, hats, jackets, sunnies, sunblocks, maps and snacks strewn about.

i own plenty of footwear

when i see my platypus, i think “let’s go!”

I’m pretty particular about my snacks when we head into the backcountry. Contrary to what so many people think, we actually prefer no fuss, bare bones food when we camp, hike, or backpack. I don’t go into the backcountry to spend a lot of time preparing fancy food. I do plenty of that at home. I go into the mountains for the mountains. When we hike, we always have some emergency calories on hand like LARA bars. I’ve tried many other “bars” over the years and I cannot get them down without a sudden desire to hurl. We cycled through several varieties of trail mixes (from Trader Joes) early on, but none of them resonated with my taste buds. Trail mixes are based on GORP – Good Old Raisins and Peanuts. Neither of us are huge fans of raisins or peanuts.

but cranberries? yes

and cashew nuts

**Jump for more butter**