use real butter

Recipe: red bell pepper honey vinaigrette

I’m out of the cave. ‘Tis a good thing.

Back when we were in Crested Butte for the wildflower shoot, Jeremy and I got chased off Daisy Pass by thunderstorms. I don’t mind shooting in rainy weather, but high winds are a deal breaker. This stormy weather lasted for a few hours each afternoon, so we’d take the opportunity to roll into the town of Crested Butte and grab a bite. As I’ve mentioned before, we know the backcountry around Crested Butte better than the town itself because we’ve always driven through it rather than walked around in it. It wasn’t until last summer when we met up with my aunt’s family for dinner one evening (we were shooting, they were on vacay) that we had a meal in town.

prayer flags

The first stop was Secret Stash for some pizza and salad. We get this way when we’re spending a lot of time hiking and shooting – we crave fresh vegetables. You know what I love about mountain towns? You can look like complete hell and smell worse and it’s okay. I nearly fell asleep in my salad, but we still had another 5 hours of shooting.

gringo greek salad

they are famous for their pizzas

The second day we moseyed down the main drag to grab a bite and chose a place at random – McGill’s. It’s a nice place for lunch. We both opted for salads. Jeremy ordered a seared ahi tuna salad and I had the blackened grilled skirt steak salad. The dressing was so good that I asked if they shared their recipe and was told that they don’t. Really? Okay… it’s not like they don’t give half of it away in the name of the dressing: red bell pepper honey vinaigrette. As Jeremy settled up the tab, I tasted the dregs and identified the flavors and jotted them down on my iphone. Guess what I did when we got home?

we’ll start with red bell peppers

and some honey

It’s not hard to deconstruct these things, so that’s what I did. I’m not much of a recipe developer. I don’t have that kind of patience. Salad dressings are relatively simple though. I could do this. I used some of the honey I had leftover from a client’s shoot. Have you heard of Grampa’s Gourmet Honey? They are local here in Colorado and the honey products are as gorgeous as they are delightful.

that blender is getting a lot of use this summer

red wine vinegar

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: pad see ew

Thank you to everyone who left a comment and entered the CHEFS swag bag giveaway! It seems that the most popular summer snacks were watermelon, fresh tomatoes from the garden (omg, I’m so jealous of you people!), fresh seasonal berries, cherries, and ice cream. I’m all over the seasonal fruits and the homegrown tomatoes straight up!

Several of you have either commented or emailed asking about the next workshop. At this point, things are wide open and I haven’t had a chance to mull over which direction to take the workshop. Of course, if there is another Food and Light workshop, you’ll hear about it on urb. Thanks for your interest!

So let’s get to the winner of the giveaway… Believe it or not, Miss Kaweah’s metabolism is slowing down and the whole “pick a number/eat the treat” method has been phased out. Instead, we have opted for the “pick a toy that corresponds to a number”. It is decidedly and supremely random. When Kaweah picked a digit, we would insert a new toy to replace that digit for the next round (we’ve had issues with her returning to the same toy, so this is more fair).

first digit: 6 (the kong)

second digit: 3 (stick tiger courtesy of manisha)

third digit: 3 (giant hedgehog!!!!)

whew, that is hard work

The number is 633 mod 544 which gives us 89. SheilaM is our winner! Congratulations!! I’ll contact you shortly for your mailing address. Big thanks to CHEFS catalog for being such a wonderful and generous sponsor. Another thank you to all of you for entering!

Our yard is dotted with all manner of colors: reds, purples, blues, whites, yellows, oranges, different yellow, a greenish yellow, more whites, pinks… That’s pretty impressive considering how we do NOTHING to maintain our yard (then again, I wouldn’t recommend playing lawn darts in our yard). The afternoon thunderstorm cycle is revved up and the wildflowers beckon. When it is February and our deck is under three feet of snow, this is what I think of when my thoughts turn to summer.

kaweah inspects a handful of our wildflowers

Because it is so brief, timing is everything and I’m heading out into that there yonder. There is work to be done. Hopefully this recipe will tide you over until the next one – whenever that will be. It’s a noodle dish because I am a noodle grrl. It does require the use of heat, but I think you’ll find the brief blast of BTUs worth it. Totally. Worth. It. [Feel free to insert ZOMGs and noms as you see fit.]

chinese broccoli (gai-lan), wide rice noodles, pork, garlic

get saucy: fish sauce, thick soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar

I met with joyous success when I made Pim’s pad thai last year (oh wow, posted a year ago to the day). That was after years of crappy versions that just… sucked. It’s been a full year of pad thai bliss. A few months ago, I had a reader ask me if I knew how to make pad see ew. What’s that? I am the most pathetic kind of Thai food junkie. I love it and I have no idea what it is called. Some searching on the interwebs led me to a handful of trusted food bloggers and ultimately to Pim.

peeling the chinese broccoli stems

slicing pork

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: italian meatballs

It snows here in June. It snows, it rains, it thunders, it sun showers, it gets misty.

it’s gorgeous

and we love it

miss kaweah especially loves it

And people get married. It’s like a conspiracy, but June is the time. Take my friend, Kitt, for instance. She got married this weekend. It’s June. I rest my case.

lookin’ good!

the gals get ready

the flower girls share a laugh with kitt’s mom

vows

congratulations, you two!

Since it is wedding season, I could not think of a better time to tell you about the book my friend, Lorna Yee, has written. It would make a fabulous gift for any couples getting married.

the newlywed kitchen

The subtitle is Delicious Meals for Couples Cooking Together, but I’ll tell ya – Jeremy and I don’t really cook together. 17+ years and the formula is as follows: I cook and he does some prep and washes the dishes. I figured the book wasn’t really meant for us (and by us, I mean me), but I was willing to flip through and see what it had to offer. I sat down for what I thought would be fifteen minutes of perusing. It turned into an hour reading the delightful interviews with well-known food couples, including two of my favorite people on the planet, Shauna and Danny. And don’t let me forget the recipes. I have about two dozen pages dog-eared; they all look so fresh and good. But there was one recipe that I just had to try.

start with bread soaked in milk

let’s make meatballs: beef, pork, veal, egg

Italian grandmother meatballs. The recipe looked authentic (I checked it against this meatball recipe from my dear Susan), quick, and easy. Remember, I am a fan of quick and easy right now!

egg, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, flat-leaf parsley

add the parmesan and mix

**Jump for more butter**