use real butter

Today marks fifteen years since my sister passed away. In that time, I’ve struggled with all manner of tears and emotions and conflicts left in the wake of her death. But that time has also allowed me to heal and accept and better understand myself and others. Honestly, the grief never goes away. I’ve simply learned to live with it. To balance the unbearable sadness of that day, I get flowers every May 1 to celebrate Kris.

freesias for kris

she was my big sister, she was my everything

Jeremy and I just returned from visiting my parents in Virginia. It had been three years since our last trip and there were a few boxes of (my) stuff they needed me to sort – the final stages of their massive house cleaning endeavor. Dad and I sifted through a box of photos and viewed several 8mm home movies to determine which ones to have digitized. Thankfully, I’ve been engaged in this konmari-esque activity for months, so it went quickly. Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper visit to one of our parents’ homes without Jeremy fixing somebody’s computer. The rest of the time was spent dining out, cooking, and eating. And running (Jeremy and me) to counter all of the eating.

mom and dad at the neighborhood resort

catching the tail end of the dogwood bloom

pink dogwoods are one of my favorites

one of the many home-cooked feasts

It felt so nice to step off the plane in Denver and breathe that cold, thin Colorado air. Our first stop was the kennel where Yuki and Neva reportedly had loads of fun and made friends with staff and fellow pups. They were clearly exhausted on the ride home because Yuki curled up and dozed off while Neva fell asleep perched upright in her dog bed.

toweling off after the post-doggy-camp bath

I wanted to let you all know about a silent auction being held right now through Sunday, May 5, 2019 (8pm MDT) by RezDawg Rescue. Yuki is a RezDawg. She was rescued by this amazing organization in May of last year and brought to a foster home in Colorado where she was cared for and socialized until we adopted her five weeks later. I love RezDawg Rescue for bringing Yuki into our lives, but I love them even more for their unwavering dedication to saving (saving = rescue, transport, treating, fostering, homing) thousands of unwanted cats and dogs in the Four Corners area. That’s why I donated three of my fine art prints to their silent auction. There are over one hundred products and services being offered in the auction to raise money for RezDawg Rescue to save more lives. Please visit the auction at https://www.32auctions.com/rezdawgspringauction2019. If you bid on anything, THANK YOU and good luck!

SOLD: golden aspen canopy and blue skies

SOLD: autumn aspen stand

SOLD: autumn meets winter

Recipe: chinese buddha’s hand melon (chayote) salad

Is there anyone else out there who feels they can’t leave on a trip without first cleaning the house? Because I’m one of those people. In the past, we would clean the house when we had guests coming over or when we left on a trip. Now, because we split our time between Nederland and Crested Butte – I find myself cleaning both houses more than I ever wanted. I just hate coming home to a mess, so this is present me doing future me a favor. But last week after spending the whole weekend in hunter education and then coming home to do laundry, clean house, and pack for Crested Butte – it was a miracle that we were able to leave at all. In fact, I didn’t think we were ever going to get out of our neighborhood because we went back to the house three times for four different things we had forgotten, but remembered just as we headed down the street.

we made it to crested butte and we were greeted by this

found some lovely porcini

still quite early, but a few chanterelle patches were popping up

and lots of amanitas (poisonous, but beautiful) are a good sign

On our latest trail run, I decided to get a little more climbing in and ran the same route as Jeremy – just slower and not as far. My goal was to reach the first basin and turn around, but because Jeremy and I have different ideas of what a stream crossing is, I ran up out of the basin thinking the NEXT basin was my target until I met Jeremy as he was running down. Well, I’m glad I did because I saw a black bear on my climb! We only ever catch glimpses of black bears, mainly because they don’t want any trouble and are quick to avoid people. In addition to the bear sighting, I heard a couple of grouse, ate some wild raspberries and wild strawberries (so good!), and stopped to admire the wildflowers and views.

this is why i trail run

Foraging and trail running are two things we generally try to avoid doing with Neva. On those days, we’ll take her for a fetch session or a bike ride – something high energy and fun, but quick. And then days like today, we’ll take a rest morning and make it all about Neva. She got to fetch and swim at the lake, go for a hike, fetch and swim some more, go paddling – which involves more swim-fetch, and then a few more fetches while Jeremy packed up the paddle boards. You don’t think she’s spoiled, do you?

on our hike

diving off the paddle board to get her ball

Two weeks ago, I had my parents come up to my house to make and shoot a couple of their recipes with me. A week prior, I had tasked them with writing up the recipes and emailing them to me so I could review the recipes and plan the shopping list. As some of you may recall, my parents don’t use “recipes”. Mom is far more obliging than Dad and will give it her best effort when translating a dish into writing. Dad is practically a lost cause because he’ll write down a recipe, all the while declaring that he doesn’t NEED a recipe, and then proceed to change it twenty different ways *while* you are cooking according to said recipe. I know this is payback for my teenage years.

shopping with mom for buddha’s hand melons (chayote)

Today’s recipe is a crunchy, refreshing salad that my mom likes to make in summer. I am totally hooked on it and when the days are hot, I could eat a whole batch in one sitting for dinner. Buddha’s hand melon, also known as chayote, is a vegetable that you can eat raw or cooked. I’ve always seen them in the Asian markets, but never knew what to do with them. Mom’s preparation involves salting the sliced melon, and then tossing it with a sweet and sour dressing. Simple.

buddha’s hand melons, fresh ginger, sugar, salt, vinegar, chili garlic paste (not pictured: sesame oil)

First, you’ll need to peel the outer skin off the melons. You can use a sharp knife or a potato peeler. They can get slippery, so do watch your fingers! Don’t worry about peeling the bottoms as you’ll trim those after you slice the melons in half. The core of the melon is tougher than the meat of the melon, so we slice the melon around the core.

peel the skin

cut away any remaining skin from the ends

begin slicing the melon flesh around the core

discard the core

**Jump for more butter**

missing you on your fifty-first birthday, kris