use real butter

Recipe: whole wheat cacao nib sablés

The weather in Crested Butte put on a good show earlier this week, or so I thought. It wasn’t just Crested Butte, because when we got home there were the same dramatic and unstable atmospheric conditions dumping rain and hail in the mountains. It brought a nice cool down and it meant good things for mushrooms in the high country. Even before my return, Wendy and I had already agreed to go foraging the next morning. I dare say it’s nice to have like-minded friends who don’t balk at having to wake up at 5 am to crawl around in the woods and dirt looking for mushrooms. We like hiking in early because we both despise the heat and sun, but I also had a dinner date to make at my parents’ place to celebrate Mom’s birthday.

mammata over mount crested butte

impressive dance of light and clouds on paradise divide

back home: porcini, bitches

fairy fingers

mom was born in the year of the snake – it’s her year!

I try to keep a lid on my commitments so I’m not overextended. It’s tough to control though, especially in summer as social gatherings seem to kick into high gear. When I am overextended, I feel like life becomes frenetic and my fear is that something important will be overlooked. As I rushed around the house after foraging, I noticed that Kaweah hadn’t gotten out of her bed for 30 minutes. I went over and gently tried coaxing her out so I could let her into the yard to potty, but she wouldn’t move. She was awake (these days I always check to see that she is indeed alive – I know that’s morbid, but I try to be realistic here), but she wasn’t moving. Eventually I lifted her up and saw that she was in pain. Most likely she had lost her footing on the hardwood floors when no one was home and took a spill. A call to the vet’s office and I had some muscle relaxers and pain killers for her and an appointment the next morning. I didn’t want to leave her alone, but I also had an obligation to my parents.

Kaweah was much improved after taking her medications. Jeremy and I rushed home after dinner to find her sleeping soundly in her bed. We gently reached out to pet her so as not to startle her (she can’t hear much anymore) and she opened her eyes, wagged her tail, and rolled over to get a belly rub. She is on the mend now. All of those plans I had for the next few days have been cancelled or cut back so I can watch over the pup and make sure she gets the time and attention needed. Life has a way of telling you to slow down when you’re going too fast. I need to be more mindful of that.

this is kaweah when she’s sad

A pleasant and cool morning for baking presented itself, so that’s what I did while keeping an eye on Kaweah. I had a recent client shoot that involved cacao nibs, which jogged my memory of a cookie made with cacao nibs. My friend had raved about them, then I saw the recipe on Orangette three years ago. It was time to finally make these whole wheat sablés with cacao nibs. I sometimes wonder how many things I will never have gotten around to doing before I go. Then I think to myself that I’d rather have a growing list of things I want to do than no list for lack of interest in life.

organic cacao nibs (from whole foods)

all you need: salt, vanilla extract, cacao nibs, sugar, flour, butter

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Recipe: coconut tea cake

Last week my friend and mentor, Michael Frye, sent me a review copy of his latest ebook release Landscapes in Lightroom 5. I know most of you are here for the food and pictures of the dog, but there is a fraction that is interested in nature photography and photography in general. I have always used Photoshop for my processing and Lightroom for my file management. But after reading Michael’s ebook, I think I’m ready to make the upgrade from Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 5 because it looks like Adobe has kitted out Lightroom 5 with most of the capabilities I want and use in Photoshop on my post processing.

Michael walks you through the functionalities and improvements of Lightroom 5 (and Lightroom 4 – he points out where the two are different) such that you can be a complete newcomer to the software or a Lightroom veteran. All the while, he adds his own very good advice on how to get the most out of Lightroom 5 for a nature photographer (and photographer in general). Michael has a thorough and methodical teaching style both in person and on the page. Here, he uses his own beautiful photographs in his hands-on tutorials and makes the RAW files available for you to follow along in the processing. There are eight instructional videos to accompany the material.

In addition to the Lightroom 5 guide, Michael shares his great insight into digital post processing and the artistic motivations that drive his technical decisions. I always learn something about my own photography when I talk to Michael or read his blog, articles, or books. You can order the book here.

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We’re back in Crested Butte, spending our mornings getting outside and the rest of each day working. It’s amazing how much work you can accomplish when you are removed from your normal environment. I always refer to Crested Butte as my second office (I’m getting there slowly), but it’s really more of a retreat for both of us where we can find blocks of time to think and be mentally productive. There are still flowers, but most of the showiest displays have gone to seed. Still, it’s quite lovely riding or running or hiking through the meadows and hillsides and forests. The weather has been cool and rainy since Tuesday, and I am loving it.

mountain biking

kaweah loves to walk on the lawn

a cold and rainy trail run – my favorite conditions

I’m sure the weather will swing back into warm (nay, hot) summer again, but these rainy mountain days put me in the mood for baking. One recipe I’ve had dog-eared forever is Dorie Greenspan’s coconut tea cake. So let’s get to it.

coconut milk, coconut, rum, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, flour, sugar

butter the pan

whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together

melt the coconut milk and butter

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Recipe: piña colada sorbet

It was not my intention to make readers cry in my last post, but admittedly, I was crying when I wrote it. Of course, we’re all silly people for crying because Kaweah thinks everything is just grand. She kicks in her sleep and makes little howling barks and growls as she chases the squirrels and bunnies through Dreamland. I wake her each morning with a gentle belly rub and watch her eyes open and her nose suddenly activate. When she realizes it’s me, she rolls belly up, kicks her feet in the air with joy, and goes bonkers thrashing about. Kaweah enjoys a frozen pupsicle (bananas and peanut butter) every afternoon and a nice but short evening stroll in the neighborhood where she checks the doggy pee-mail center at the giant boulder. She’s happy and that is what ultimately matters. We should all be so content in our twilight years. Thank you for your love and kind words for our pup.

in the middle of the road, yeah

And that time of year has arrived – porcini season. Since this is only my second year foraging, I am having a blast comparing data with last year’s season: locations, size, weather, timing, dates, temperatures, moisture, elevations, trails, other species. It’s like an Easter egg hunt, but better! If you want to find the porcini, you have to become the porcini… [Please note: porcini have several look alike species that can make you very ill, do not forage porcini unless you are with an expert.]

buddies

what a beauty

We endured a bit of a scorcher the last few days, so I was especially thrilled to see heavy rain in the forecast and a drop of nearly 15°F in the daytime high temperature. I think the mushrooms will like it too (remember: be the mushroom). Hot weather is problematic for me right now for a few reasons: 1) I’m in the middle of a chocolate shoot for a client 2) I have to monitor Kaweah to make sure she doesn’t overheat (I put her downstairs on the basement floor to cool down if it gets really bad) and 3) it makes me really really cranky. While purchasing props the other day, I heard “Escape” playing in the craft store. You probably don’t know what that refers to. I didn’t. But you’ll know the song from the line, “If you like piña coladas…” I thought to myself, “I do, I DO like piña coladas!” And I became obsessed with having one.

coconut milk, pineapple, sugar, rum (optional, but good)

Personally, I prefer my piña coladas to be slushy, but I decided to take it a step further and make it into sorbet. It’s so easy to do it’s ridiculous and wonderful all at the same time. You could use canned pineapple, but it’s hard to beat a fresh pineapple that is ripe, naturally sweet, and far more flavorful. Oh, and when you open a can of coconut milk, be sure to stir it up as the fat solids separate and rise from the liquid.

chop the pineapple into chunks

measured out

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