use real butter

Recipe: caprese sticks

There is a slight dilemma when the weather fines up around here. On the one hand, I want to invite friends up to our place and feed them, because it’s absolutely glorious in the mountains come summertime. On the other hand, I don’t feel like digging into elaborate cooking projects because it’s hot and because I’d much rather spend my hours outside in that glorious mountain summer. A couple of weeks ago I had a small wine and cheese party and planned a few appetizers to go along with the wines and cheeses. As if someone somewhere had read my mind, I received Matt Armendariz’s new book On a Stick! in the post just days before the party.

oh the possibilities

Jeremy rarely if ever takes interest in the cookbooks I receive, but we both spent an hour flipping through Matt’s book together because it is so damn creative and beautiful and cute and fun – just like Matt. Sometimes when I get books for reviewing I feel as if it’s a chore to find a recipe that I really want to make. I’m not the type of person who likes to be told what to cook and when to cook/shoot/post it. Completely different feeling with Matt’s book – I couldn’t wait to make more than half of the 80+ savory and sweet recipes. They’re simple and clever and so appetizing.

these are the fanciest toothpicks i own

sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, pearl mozzarella

Slap these elegant babies together in mere minutes. Seriously. These are especially perfect in summer when you can get your hot little hands on some fresh cherry tomatoes and basil. I mean, if you can stab a tomato with a toothpick, you’ve got the skills necessary to produce this lovely appetizer.

pierce the tomato and basil

top it off with a mozzarella pearl

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: blackberry lemon elderflower cake

my welcome home

Yes, that was Wednesday morning… on our deck. I rather like it. It feels like home. Kaweah has been bounding about the house with a toy in her mouth, shaking the very stuffing out of it. We’re settling back into Colorado living and it’s great.

Normally when I step into California, the air feels humid to me because I’m coming from Colorado where dry takes on a whole new meaning. But going from Hawai’i to California, that air felt downright AMAZING. I know I sound like an ingrate for all of the bitching and moaning I do about the wet, humid, and hot weather in Hawai’i. Please don’t misunderstand me! Hawai’i is a spectacular place to visit, but I would be the mayor of Crazytown if I had to live there. I prefer drier climes and need more type A personalities in my life than they have on the entire big island. But gosh if it isn’t a beautiful and wondrous place, especially now that I can look at the photos from my cool, dry mountain home.

green sand (green because it’s olivine)

pretty olivine, isn’t it?

honu or sea turtle (not dead, resting!)

believe it or not, this is an action shot

nightfall at halema’uma’u crater

driving through puna

the ohia blossom

akaka falls was torrential (thanks to all of that *rain*)

gecko

waipi’o valley

pololu valley

You can see more Hawai’i photos on my photo blog, just be sure to come back for some cake. Cake? Yes, I said cake. I made a cake that required more than flipping it out of the pan. It’s been a while since I’ve done a layer cake. There’s a reason for that. Lots of dishes…

blackberries again

folding meringue into the lemon chiffon cake batter

I hadn’t been in a mood to make a layer cake for a while until I got on that blackberry kick with the blackberry curd. I made so much of it that I had some left over. Rather than spooning it directly into my mouth (the thought had crossed my mind a couple of times), I decided to make a cake and distribute it to people who needed a few extra calories.

my most reliable cake recipe at altitude

slicing 3/4-inch layers

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: blackberry curd cheesecake in a jar

Boy, that was a busy weekend! And I’m not even talking about Easter since the Sunday prior I said, “I think it might be Easter today.” Then I looked online and found out it was another week away. And all of that Easter candy in the stores didn’t go on sale the following week. I don’t do well with holidays whose dates float. That’s another reason why Halloween is my favorite holiday.

fresh snow on easter?

woohoo!

We had snow all weekend, and it was great! We donned our boots, packs, skis, skins, and finest Patagonia for a lovely day in the backcountry – practically all to ourselves except for the yahoos firing rifles somewhere in the distance (because THAT’S what some folks do on Easter Sunday, I suppose?). When we came home, we chowed down on dinner party leftovers from Saturday night. It only took us a year to get around to inviting our new neighbors over for dinner. Hey – we’re all busy people… plus it was a good nudge to finally clean the house.

I kicked my weekend off a tad early on Friday with an afternoon gathering of my stitch-n-bitch crew which involved absolutely zero stitching. Someday we’ll fix that, but for now we’re having too much fun doing the nosh-n-slosh. It was nice to finally see Marianne, who had been in Antarctica for several months. And also to see Beth who has been in Boulder the whole time, but could have just as easily been in Antarctica with Marianne for all I knew. Like I said, we’re all busy people.

fab food

kitt made french 75s for everyone

these were my contribution

hmmm, seems to be a nikon-centric crowd

and we all wanted to spend time with this handsome little guy

Besides catching up with this group of witty, fun, and smart women, I love that we always have a great spread of homemade food. People bring whatever they feel like and it always works out. Kitt usually brings cocktail fixings as she is our resident mixologist. You can always count on Manisha to bring amazing Indian food. And me? Typically at least one dessert. I meant to bring two this time, but spent Friday morning dumping an entire batch of baklava into the trash (bad walnuts). Good thing I had cheesecake!

my motley collection of jars

mixing graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter

I like to bring individual servings over one giant cake if possible. It’s not always possible or worth the extra headache, but I always try. My first thought was to use cake rings, which I’ve done before, but I didn’t want the hassle of unmolding and I was running short on time last week. Jars… jars… Didn’t Pim recently post about cheesecakes in jars? I went to look and discovered that she posted about them last summer. I guess recent is a relative term for me!

scoop a little into each jar

gently press down

The jars I used were just random jars I have in my recycled jar cabinet. It’s an eclectic mix of shapes and sizes that I tried to keep to around 8 ounces or less in capacity. Ideally, I would have liked to use some of my nicer little serving glasses, but I don’t think they would have survived the oven – even in a water bath. Pim had said jam jars or any jar should work, which makes sense since they have to withstand certain temperatures and pressures.

cheesecake: milk, flour, cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, egg yolks, eggs

mix until smooth

**Jump for more butter**