use real butter

I hopped a jet plane west the other evening… As we flew over the Rockies, I peered down at the Earth’s surface and saw the ski runs of my local hill glowing blue in the moonlight. Just east of that was my little town, sparkling in the night. There are few places that could peel me away from Colorado in winter because you all know how much I *love* my Colorado winters. But where I am now is certainly one of them. In the morning, we drove east and succumbed to the temptations of the Central Valley.

carnitas taco and chicken enchilada

chile relleno and tacos: carnitas, carne asada

If you love the cold months (and even if you don’t), you have probably determined that winter is a harsh mistress. Her storms are unpredictable, moody, tricky. Sometimes she gives too little and sometimes she gives too much. It can be a messy business traveling when she would rather you just stay put.

once we arrived that evening, the snow started coming down

We live in the mountains and we live with snow more months of the year than not, but coming here in winter is always magical to me. Coming to Yosemite any time of year takes my breath away, but winter is particularly wonderful because there aren’t nearly the hordes of people crawling the landscape like they do in summer.

and you wake up in wonderland: upper and lower yosemite falls

It has been a while since we’ve encountered a maritime snowpack. It’s called Sierra Cement for a reason. The snow is wet, heavy, and packs down to make structurally coherent snowballs and fortresses in contrast to our Rocky Mountain champagne powder that blows like fairy dust off your gloves and feels like a million butterflies catching you as your skis plunge into several feet of the stuff. But untrammeled snow is lovely no matter its density and it is especially so here in Yosemite.

tranquil

The weather isn’t doing what I had hoped nor even what the forecast had predicted, but that doesn’t matter so much. What matters is making the most of what you’ve got and appreciating that you’ve got it. Booyah!

jeremy playing around in the snow

wait a sec, how deep is the snow?

yay, yosemite!

It’s the first week of winter! You realize that from now until the summer solstice, the days are going to get longer – you know this, right? That knowledge has already put a spring in my step although the relative increase in daylight doesn’t do it for everyone. Jeremy wants those absolute daylight hours – 12 or more. Personally, I love the nightlife. And by nightlife, I’m not talking about dance clubs.

Everyone was abuzz about the total lunar eclipse Monday night, but we had clouds and snow in our forecast. I can’t say I was devastated because I was going to ski in the morning. Total lunar eclipse or the promise of snow: either way, it was a win. As we rounded Kaweah up to go to bed, I stepped out on our deck to see if the moon was turning red. All night we could only glimpse a hazy glowing blob rising in the East through the clouds. I had low expectations. But at 12:45 am, the moon was almost directly overhead and there was a giant hole in the clouds. We call those “sucker holes” and usually they reveal blue sky. This time, they revealed the moon.

oh, you beaut of a girl

What a way to kick off the winter season! Within two seconds of that shot, the moon was obscured and I didn’t have to feel guilty about going to bed instead of staying up to watch the entire eclipse. And we have been skiing. I even met up with my longtime friend from junior high (okay, from math camp) who now lives in Breckenridge. It’s been 25 years! It’s nice to know that the friends you were close to in your youth grew up to become genuinely kind and good skiers adults.

morning light on jeremy

graham doesn’t want his picture taken, but the lens is wide…

their puppy (who looks a lot like kaweah, but is much better behaved)

This has been a week of projects. I finally broke out the pressure cooker my MIL gave me for my birthday three months ago and… I LOVE IT. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. I also infused yet another gallon of cheap vodka with the behemoth Buddha’s hand citron that Todd and Diane shipped to me recently. Oh, and the sewing machine got dusted off too.

that smells so nice!

flannel quilt

Most of all, this week has been about spending time with my pack and not so much online. I had my annual mammogram and ultrasound on Tuesday. I don’t define myself by my cancer and as a rule, I don’t let fear dictate my life. I’ll admit that every time I go in for a mammogram or MRI, I wonder. I wonder what the results will be for a second and then I don’t dwell.

of pure heart and simple mind

sunlight and cloud patterns

Getting outside is something the three of us love to do. Kaweah thoroughly enjoyed her romp in the snow and it was great to stretch my legs after hours of quilting. When we got home there was a message for me from my oncologist. All of my scans came back negative. At the bottom he wrote: Good news. Merry Christmas. I read it aloud to Jeremy who smiled and gave me a hug.

Merry Christmas, however you do it. xo

It’s been over a week since I landed in San Francisco and I’m still noodling about the area, busy with a lot of other business which I’ll share with you as I plow through the photos. But, given the choice between living life and blogging about it, I think you already know which one takes priority for me. However, the camera rarely leaves my side. That’s a good thing otherwise I’d have forgotten what I did just ten minutes ago!

Chuck, Anita, and I left the BlogHer Food after party as things were starting to crank up. We ran around hugging people good-bye – most of whom said, “But I just got here! You can’t be leaving NOW?!” I’ll see those good folks again, I’m sure of it. But Hungry Bear was preparing a wonderful dinner for us at their lovely home, we were meeting Anita’s husband, Mike (so neat to now call him her husband instead of boyfriend!), and we were running quite late. While I loved seeing so many of my friends in one place at the after party with, alas – great food, I felt like I could relax and enjoy a pleasant and more personal dinner with a handful of close friends. I really needed that decompression.

we started with gorgeous shrimp egg custard appetizers

chuck models his latest tee

wonderful and wholesome roasted japanese eggplant

hungry bear and chuck at the dinner table

Even after Anita and Mike left, Hungry Bear, Chuck, and I were up pretty late talking. That’s what happens when parents aren’t around to yell at you to get to bed. In the morning, before it got too hot (did I mention it was hot in San Francisco the whole weekend? Well it was – ass hot for San Francisco and it was snowing in my backyard at home) we went out for a walk around the bougie bougie neighborhoods then down to the Presidio. I felt so California!

along the beach

fog lifts over the golden gate bridge

We met up with Lisa at the Sports Basement. At first, I didn’t hear the name of the store and Hungry Bear told me it was a toy store. Then Chuck added, “It’s an adult toy store.” Well, okay! Turns out it’s an outdoor sporting goods store with great deals on all manner of gear… except for tele gear. I suppose that’s not so much a California thing. Since it was nearly Sunday noon, we opted for lunch at Nopalito.

some sort of roasted nut or legume

gorditas campechanas (braised beef in fried corn tortillas)

ceviche verde de pescado y calamari

tamal empipianado de puerco

carnitas

little cookie bites

The food was terrific, although I felt the carnitas missed the point. The point is to maximize the surface area of the caramelized bits of pork and that’s hard to do with giant hunks of pork. We were all in agreement there. Back at Hungry Bear and Chuck’s place, Lisa helped me gather my stuff as I unloaded much swag (mostly chocolate). During BlogHer Food 2010, Chuck was distributing some slick FoodGawker swag which I hope those who attended were able to score. Lisa and I each got a shirt too. The photo is a little blurry, but Nikons weren’t really designed with bears in mind (especially a Hungry Bear).

lisa and i sport the foodgawker bling

**Jump for more butter**