use real butter

Recipe: lychee panna cotta

OMG, I woke up at 9 this morning. That is incredibly late for me, especially as I had the intention of waking up at 5:30. I’m trying to be patient and accept that I need to let the side-effects of radiation play out, which means sleeping way more than I ever wanted to (Manggy is gasping with indignation at that, I’m sure!) The other reason I slept in this morning was because I was up late shooting something special. Can you guess what it was? Not something in the sky…

For as long as I can remember, we had these funky, fleshy, gangly plants growing in our house. And whenever I visited a member of my mom’s family, they had one or two or three or more of these plants in their house too! It all started when Grandma came to the States from Taiwan and carried a leaf wrapped in wet paper towels and plastic bag. She gave it to my mom who started a plant in her house. Every time one of us bought our first house, we were given this plant (leaf). They grow into the most unwieldy things that must be trimmed back (give the leaves to your friends to start their own) periodically, and from time to time will grace your house with a bloom.

here is a bloom that will open tonight: it’s almost alien looking

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One of our favorite meals in Boulder is Community Night at The Kitchen. It’s a brilliant concept and so much fun. Every Monday night at 7 pm, diners who have signed up for Comm Night arrive and sit at a long table in the center of the dining room. There are usually 2 dozen people and reservations need to be made a few weeks in advance. No one knows what the menu is. You don’t order the food. The chef decides that day. When everyone is seated and has ordered drinks, the courses begin to parade out. Usually there will be three or four plates of one course passed around the table. You dine family style. It’s a social setting and you usually wind up chatting with your neighbors and getting to know other folks. You know… “community”. But more than just the community – people are there to sample some pretty amazing fare. All told, there will be anywhere from 9 to 13 different dishes that pass under your nose by the end of the evening. The best advice I can offer anyone going to Community Night: wear an elastic waistband.

a neighboring cocktail

mixed olives to start: picholine and niçoise

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Recipe: quiche

This past Saturday marked three years since we moved to Colorado. In celebration, we did nothing. We celebrate living here every day, folks. As if the ski and flower porn weren’t enough to convince you of how much we love it… Actually we did something this weekend, but it had nothing to do with the 3-year mark and everything to do with the summer bloom in the mountains.

yeah, puppy came along too

Talk to people around Colorado and many of them will swoon when you say the words Crested Butte. The skiing is phenomenal, the mountain biking world class, the wildflowers are some of the best in the country. The mountains and forests will take your breath away with dramatic expanses of wilderness in every direction. The town is charming, quaint and high end. Everyone has their reason for loving Crested Butte. It’s also a favorite for nature photographers.

poor air quality due to a wildfire 30 miles away

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