use real butter

Recipe: cherry granita

I’m up to my elbows in swag, random dishes, glassware, and food styling props. Our great room looks like a warehouse as we get ready to host the food photography and styling workshop next week. I’ll do my best to post about all of the great people and fun stuff we’re doing, but… someone’s gotta drive the bus! And it’s hard to drive and shoot at the same time, see.

not recommended

Summer is here and it has punched me full on in the face. Yeow. I have some friends who love the heat. [No wonder he was the perfect companion to go shoot Death Valley with me.] The benefit of a “dry” heat is that the shade can be quite pleasant. So we found a compromise earlier this week when we went to Pica’s Boulder for lunch and Jason was all, “Ooh! Let’s eat out on the patio!” Mine keen eyes scanned out the only corner of shade covering a third of a table. That’s where I parked myself while Jason happily roasted under the sun like a big chicken slowly turning golden brown.

tacos al pastor – zomgodelicious

Any recipe you see here that involves the application of heat to food was prepared at least two weeks ago, because I’m nearing that state where I am perfectly happy to sit down and eat cold watermelon for dinner until my tummy becomes a giant water(melon) balloon. When it’s really hot, my mind locks onto a few key items: ice, raw fruit, raw vegetables, cold water, iced tea, sushi. The marriage of fruit and ice is especially comforting since I am intolerant of ice cream (well, lactose).

cherries are in season

luscious, deep reds

I had tested a so-called cherry granita recipe earlier and it wound up being a cherry sorbet of sorts. Not what I was looking for and a heck of a lot of trouble to boot. This recipe is quite straightforward with the fruit front and center – the way I wanted it to be.

simple syrup

into the blender

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: strawberry sorbet

I haven’t called. I haven’t emailed. I haven’t blogged. Summer is my busiest time of year. We’re still a month out before true summer, but as soon as the snow has cleared from the ground around our house, we call it summer. This is a painful time for me because I can’t sleep in summer what with all of this amazing daylight. You want to do everything like hike, bike, backpack, travel, cook, entertain, and meet up with all of your people. And work. I wake up with that “not enough sleep” headache and then recall all of the great things I have lined up for the day and I snap right out of sleep-deprivation into happy anticipation. The problem is that there is just too much happy going on, which as you know isn’t really a problem…

andrew at atlas

this is what happens when the curious get their hands on your unattended camera

oh i love me some salad (mod market in boulder)

At a recent stitch-n-bitch, it came to my attention that some of my friends cringe at the sight of their photographs appearing on urb. We are, of course, our own worst critics. While my friends are beyond beautiful to me, I’ll just stick to the food and the crafts. This time we had a special SNB for one of the lot who will be wedded in less than three weeks. We made the favors for her wedding and they are oh so adorable – honey from her own bees. Manisha and I will be shooting the wedding, so I guess she knows to expect 95% food shots – KIDDING!

nichole’s fabulous grilled vegetable salad

rose lemonade

the favors are all done

It was a lovely weekend here with sunshine and oodles of bird activity. I have yet to get myself down to the Boulder Farmer’s Market because I really prefer to remain up in the mountains on the weekends. Jeremy and I spent most of the weekend working, but we did manage to get out for a survey of our local woods. The snow is almost completely melted and the aspens have yet to sprout their shiny green leaves. However, I spied many many arnica leaves emerging from the forest floor and to my delight – the pasque flowers are in full bloom. Yay for summer!

kaweah settles into her brutal summer routine

our pasque flowers are in bloom

I’m fairly certain in one month I’ll be moaning and groaning about the “heat” and wishing for fall to bitch-slap us back into reality. For now though, we are very much enjoying those fruits that usher in the summer months. Strawberries do exactly that. When I see those luscious deep red berries appear in the stores it makes me want to jump up and down and clap my hands.

i love me organic strawberries something fierce

hulling the berries

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chimichurri

Chimichurri. It’s one of those fun words to say. Chimichurri. If after five weeks in Argentina, you don’t encounter chimichurri then I’d say you probably weren’t in Argentina. I have certain associations with Argentina – most of them food: dulce de leche, alfajores, membrillo, empanadas, asados, and chimichurri to name a few. I know, I know – not all of these items are particular to Argentina. But I will tell you that I believe the locals when they say their food is better. Twelve years later and I *still* get cravings.

flat-leaf parsley and i have embarked on a new and beautiful relationship

garlic and i are old lovers

How is it that I never made my own chimichurri until now? I think part of that is fear – fear of messing it up or not being able to achieve that remarkable flavor. As some of you have probably observed, I hunt around for recipes for a long time and then I sit on them for months or years. Food is like love, you can’t force it!

chop by hand

minced garlic, minced parsley, dried oregano, red pepper flakes

**Jump for more butter**