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Recipe: turkey cranberry green chile sandwich

Hey, it’s Elastic Waistband Day Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving, good people of the interwebs! Our day is going to be filled with non-Thanksgiving activities like hitting the backcountry, eating miso black cod, cleaning the house, playing with Kaweah. Despite the voluntary lack of the turkey feast, this holiday – for me – is ALL about giving thanks.

thankful for sunsets (and sunrises)

I’m in a different place than where I used to be on Thanksgivings past. It used to be that we’d contemplate what we were thankful for as the holiday neared. We’d write lists in school and bring them home for our parents to read. Now, my life’s experiences have put me in a mindset that is ever-grateful for being alive, for having my health, for my loved ones, for my community, for this community, for the beautiful world around me. And even though Grandma and Kris are no longer here, I’m am so very very thankful that they were such important parts of my life. It doesn’t matter if it is Thanksgiving or the first day of Spring – I give thanks daily. It’s kind of like Thanksgiving every day without the feasting.

thankful for this little goofball

my pup romping in the snow

So yeah, I dissed Thanksgiving dinner again this year. The only thing I made that is remotely Thanksgiving is the cranberry sauce, because it goes with everything. While people at the store were picking up a whole turkey, I was the only one getting sliced turkey for sandwiches. That’s right… just because I didn’t roast a bird this year doesn’t mean I have to go without the sandwich. You know of what I speak.

turkey, bread, cheese, green chiles, cranberry sauce (hells yeah!)

slice some good bread

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Recipe: paseo cuban roast pork sandwich

I have this thing for sandwiches… but you already knew that! Last year when I was in Seattle for my friends’ wedding, my other friends took me to stand in line at Paseo, home of the best sandwich in the world. With a title like that, it’s only a matter of time before my grubby little hands get a hold of said sandwich.

the cuban roast pork from paseo

That was some sandwich. A juicy, drippy, savory, heady, tangy, spicy mess nestled between toasted bread. It’s one of those deals where you eat it and you have to continue eating it lest you wind up wearing it. Best sandwich in the world? I’m not sure about that. Damn good sandwich? YES. HELL YES. Obviously, the next step was to try to reproduce it myself… I searched online and took a chance on some random recipe because I honestly had little clue where to start.

orange juice, rum, olive oil, salt, pepper, limes, garlic, oregano, pork shoulder

mince the garlic and oregano; juice the lime

The recipe called for mango juice and orange juice, but I live in the sticks. There was no mango juice to be had, so I doubled the orange juice and called it good. The magical pork shoulder is then marinated for at least 3 hours, although overnight is recommended. I went for 24 hours. Why not?

mix the marinade together

place the pork and marinade in the baggy together

When the pork was done soaking, I gave it a pan-sear on each side to brown up some flavor before placing it in a baking dish with the marinade and baked it for a couple of hours. Actually, the recipe has a total baking time of 2+ hours, but I let mine bake for four because the connective tissue just wasn’t breaking down to my liking. I’m picky like that.

pan-seared goodness

braise it

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Recipe: feta artichoke sandwich

I’m going next door… to Utah. It’s just a quick trip for the Evo Conference taking place in Park City. I’ll be teaching a photography workshop with a panel of supah fine laydeez including the funniest one of all. Additionally, I’ll be shooting Todd and Diane in action during their photography workshop at the conference. I guarantee they will have some good beta to share – which is why it’s so awesome that they’re teaching Food and Light with me and Matt Wright in Boulder this summer! Solid.

utah back in 2005… hopefully it will be tens of degrees cooler this time

Our monsoon season is here. Every afternoon the clouds build like a furrowed brow on the sky. In the distance there is a low rumble and a breeze begins to pick its way through the aspen leaves. We typically get a few strikes of lightning out yonder, then closer. The boom of the thunder nears until that big flash overhead and a crack so loud you feel it in your bones. There is the rush of air from the updraft and then the rain – glorious rain for the parched ground – drenches everything. I love it.

zing! (that one was kinda close)

Up here in the mountains, afternoon thunderstorms in summer are the norm. The orographics make for some incredible weather. However, down on the flats, the topography or lack thereof creates some dramatic weather in its own right. As the storms clear off and head east from our house, I watch with longing as the thunderheads billow high and set up pretty light shows for my friends in Boulder and Denver. You know what else they have down in Boulder and Denver that I long for? Snarf’s. It’s a sandwich shop. My favorite sandwich shop in town. [Of course, if you’re in Williamsburg, that would have to be the Cheese Shop which makes THE best sandwiches. EVER.] If sandwiches are my favorite class of food and Snarf’s is my favorite sandwich joint in Boulder, then that sort of says something about their sandwiches. But I don’t go to Boulder every day and well – you know where this is going…

bread, artichokes, feta

pickles, prosciutto, lettuce, tomato, pesto

I’m hooked on Snarf’s. I even say it the way Snarf says his name in Thundercats. Ever watch Thundercats? I was an 80s cartoon junkie. Anyway… these sandwiches are so good that I’m willing to wait the THIRTY minutes it takes for the staff to slap it together. Everyone is willing to wait the THIRTY minutes which is why there is a line out the door at lunchtime. After standing around for my second thirty minutes, watching the staff and marveling at how slow they could possibly be, I punched their number into my phone. Now I call (way) ahead. Problem solved. I usually get the pastrami and Swiss – hold the onions, please. Snarf’s size. Toasted with mayo, mustard, pickles, hot peppers. That’s because it took too long for my old iphone1 to load the menu so I could peruse my other choices. I go with what works. But my buddy Jason sings the praises of Snarf’s feta and artichoke sandwich. I happened to have both feta and artichoke at home the other day.

choppy choppy

pesto is the new mayo over here

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