use real butter

Recipe: martha’s mac and cheese

the ski whore report
Can I say w00t?! I went ski whoring this morning. I just love being a local. There were some decent freshies with a few inches of the sweet stuff, but the groomers were nice too. I hit the blacks in the back and caught up with some of my tele betties. Oh! Babes who tele are hot! Okay, but seriously – men who tele well make me swoon. Our local hill has a huge number of ski patrol on teles and I get my jollies when I see the tall ones ski, strut, or just stand around. Oh my. *fanning a blushing face* And today while I was contemplating more moguls on a favorite run, a gentlemanly hottie in his late 20s paused next to me and said, “after you” except I was still catching my breath so I told him he could go ahead. We exchanged polite greetings and he was off in the most graceful yet athletic tele turns – like silk. I had to catch my breath again.

Recipe: brunswick stew

My local hill got five inches of powder last night, so I grabbed my teles and headed out this morning. There’s no more powder, because I skied it all up. Powder feels like silk – except when you biff (and I did one very nice skis-over-head tumbler), but even then it’s a lovely way to wipe out.

Recipe: crème brûlée

Whew, that was a long hiatus. While the weekend was a miserable slog, I knew things were on an upswing yesterday when I began to contemplate what recipes to try next. That and the fact that I was checking the snow forecasts for the big mountains, anxiously counting down the days to when I could clean the house (14 days after the lunar new year!), and following the news again. I am hoping this is the start of a solid good 2 weeks for me. Thanks to all for your very sweet wishes.

But there is some unfinished business from dinner last week. I never got around to posting what we had for our Valentine’s Day dessert. Crème brûlée is, in my mind, one of the most elegant, simple, and delightful ways to finish a meal. And it’s really not that hard to make! As long as you are competent enough to implement a water bath and not burn your house down with a propane torch (or you could use a broiler, but where is the fun in that?) you’re good as gold.