use real butter

Recipe: citrus almond salad

Did you know that this here blog, Use Real Butter (urb?), was born of surgery? I had a blog I started back in 2004 by the same name and it had everything in it: personal, rants, cooking, more rants, politics, life, more rants, work, funnies, rants, photography, relationships, and rants. Use Real Butter was more a directive on how to live life rather than how to cook – but it works for both. When I found myself wanting to participate in the food blogging world, I couldn’t. I didn’t want all of my personal baggage dumped into the public arena (I still don’t). I split my blog into Siamese twins, so to speak, and this is how you are reading the public twin which retained the original name.

When I met up with Cindy (Katie and I call her Figs, and I discovered that they call me Butter, and now I wish I had named my blog Lady Deathstrike or Badass Ripchick…) we talked about blogs that suck. I mean popular blogs that we think are *yawn* boring. My own biased deduction is that the readers have no life, which would also explain why so many crappy movies and television shows have so many viewers. Then again, those readers could accuse me of having no taste.

So what makes a blog interesting enough to keep *me* coming back?

**Jump for more butter**

Now it comes down to it… we are on the final segment of our trip. But wait, I haven’t told you about the rest of the middle section of our adventures! Again, this will be quick because I am running on fumes here. You might have guessed by now that vacation is the equivalent of being sleep-deprived for me (big surprise!), but I prefer it that way :)

Wednesday activities: Shot sunrise on Mono Lake. Drove to Mammoth Lakes and caught shuttle to Agnew Meadows. Backpacked in to Thousand Island Lake. Explored Thousand Island Lake.

Recipe: arugula salad with figs and prosciutto

Do you remember the Go-Go’s song Vacation? It’s so 80s, I know. Hey – I wore the hot pink and turquoise. I watched Duran Duran on MTV. If I have any regrets in my life, it’s being a teen in the 80s. Whenever I’m about to leave on vacay, Belinda Carlisle’s voice enters my head and she is singing that damn song…

Yes, we’re shoving off. Cindy had asked me recently if I ever feel like I’m living someone else’s vacation. I laughed. She always makes me laugh. Believe me, I realize that we live in a fantastic place. I realize this because we spent over a decade’s worth of vacations in places just like our current surrounds! That’s why we chose to settle down here. But that doesn’t keep us from heading out to explore other awesome places.

I’ll still blog from the road when I can and perhaps you will see some familiar faces here… That’s all I’m saying for now.

My question for you: What is your ideal vacation? Is it spent with family, friends, strangers, no one? Is it a particular place? Is it travel, exploration, relaxation, eating, learning? On the water, at the beach, in the mountains, in the desert, in a posh hotel, riding a train, flying, exploring cities, art museums, listening to or watching performances?

**Jump for more butter**