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Recipe: buttermilk fried chicken

As we started out on our last trail run in Crested Butte, I was admiring the amber glow from the setting sunlight bouncing around the aspen leaves. I absolutely love running or riding through aspen stands in autumn. The path underfoot is carpeted with the signature shapes of aspen leaves in different hues of yellow, punctuated with blacks, browns, greens, oranges, reds. When the tree tops mingle above the trail, you are traveling through a veritable tunnel of gold. Sometimes Jeremy and I run separately when he wants to log more miles and I’m fine with that. I enjoy the solitude.

off he goes

Every time we leave Crested Butte, we scrub our place down. Kaweah cautiously watches from a safe distance when her nemesis, The Vacuum, prowls every inch of the house. It’s the kind of cleaning one does when you want ALL of your security deposit back, but we just want to take really good care of it. And the day we leave, Jeremy always gets his caffeine fix in town.

the BEST coffee in town

Driving east, we encountered several snow storms on the mountain passes, sunny dry roads in the big Colorado valleys, and freezing rain in between. I followed Jeremy as he drove with Kaweah in the smaller car. Whenever he came to a stop, I saw her little head bob up as if to say, “Are we there yet?!?!” Despite icy roads and whiteout conditions, we made our way safely home.

crawling over monarch pass (jeremy and kaweah in front of me)

kaweah was so happy to be home, she immediately passed out

It’s been snowing on and off since we got home. We’ve got the heat on winter settings and snuggy flannel sheets on the bed. There’s a growing list of things to do around the house to prepare for winter. Time to swap out the bike rack for the ski rack, tune the skis, pull out the running tights and snow gear. And of course there is cooking and baking which do double duty because the house fills with mouth-watering aromas surfing on currents of warm air. Nothing is better than home style comfort food to welcome you back. Let’s fry some chicken!

whole chicken legs, onion, garlic, buttermilk, salt, sugar, bay leaf, rosemary, celery seeds, black pepper

crush the spices

grating onion

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Recipe: apple cider pancakes

It’s just me here now. Well, me and Kaweah. Jeremy is back home for work-related obligations, my photog pals have split in different directions because in truth, the fall foliage is sucking this year. I’m still hanging around waiting for Glory, but if Glory is not to be found in the leaves, there is beauty enough in day-to-day life. That’s why I have an office in Crested Butte – if Nature isn’t cooperating, I can get plenty of work done and still have time to get out for some solitude on a trail run or social time on a walk with my neighbor.

the interior of that shelter at the edge of town

There are only two more weeks of the Crested Butte Farmers Market, so I’ve made it a point to go and pick up greens and other goodies that I can’t generally find in the grocery stores around here (this ain’t no Boulder). Despite being a fraction of the size of Boulder’s Farmers Market (which I also love), CB has an incredibly friendly and charming vibe. It’s nearing the end for the heirloom tomatoes, so I plopped down a hefty chunk of change for several which I’ve been enjoying straight up this week. Our summers are short in the Colorado mountains, which makes me appreciate them far more than when I lived in The Land of Eternal Summer (Southern California).

colorful bouquets

a bowl of crab apples that todd and diane picked

Corn and peaches are growing scarce, but apples… apples and all things apple-y are on their way in. While at the market, I purchased my second jug of organic apple cider. I’ve been obsessed with these apple cider pancakes that my friend, Rachael, had mentioned a couple of weeks ago. First I fiddled with the recipe, then I served them to Todd and Diane on their visit last week, then I sent Jeremy home with a bunch to heat up for his breakfasts this week. So now I think someone else needs to make a batch before I turn into a pancake. Your turn! I should also point out that I liked them so much, I even shot the recipe here in CB (lots of kinks to work out still)!

milk, buttermilk, apple cider, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, salt

When someone sells me anything with “apple cider” in the name, it had damn well better taste like apple cider or I get a little stabby. By default, almost anything calling for apple cider in a recipe is changed to “reduced apple cider” in my kitchen. This is how I roll. I personally prefer regular apple cider, but if you can’t get that, spiced apple cider is fine (or maybe you like that better). Apple juice is acceptable if you can’t find apple cider, although clearly inferior. I call it like I see it.

boil the cider to a quarter of its original volume

a quart should yield a cup

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Recipe: chinese shaved ice dessert (bao bing)

The Crazy Rain stopped earlier this week and now we seem to be back to our late summer pattern of cooler nights, warm days, and afternoon showers. This ping-pong cycling of temperatures has me donning pants, long-sleeve tops, and fuzzy socks in the mornings and shorts by noon. At night, we tuck Kaweah into her doggy bed with her doggy quilt to ward the cold away from her old bones. I thought we were well on our way to fall, but a trip to Boulder (the long way) dragged me through temperatures in the 80s. It’s never too chilly for me to enjoy a frozen dessert, but late summer is a great time for everyone to indulge in a nice cold treat.

i got this on amazon for $25 this summer (glass bowl not included)

When we had the rare snow day in southern Virginia, Kris and I would stay at home and watch cartoons, slide down the stairs riding in our sleeping bags, jump from untold heights pretending to be superheroes (Green Lantern – I was always Green Lantern), and go play in the snow. To warm up, Kris would always make tea. But we were kids and the tea was bitter, so we added (too much) sugar. The tea was also too hot, so Kris would scoop up some fresh clean snow in a mug and then pour the hot sweet tea over it. I started my love affair with tea slushies at an early age.

the ice disk

shaved ice

The paucity of snow days didn’t deter us from our slushie fix. My parents had an old school manual crank shaved ice machine. Now that I think of it, it was dangerous as hell – but that’s what the 70s were all about! We’d freeze the ice disk and then take turns grinding the ice into soft fluffy flakes, then douse it with artificially flavored and colored syrups. Again – the 70s.

water and brown sugar

dissolve over high heat

brown sugar syrup

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