use real butter

Recipe: thai red curry with tofu and basil

The hardest part of any giveaway is wrangling our “random number generator” to actually pick a number rather than stare at us expectantly for a dog treat. The next hardest part is finding ten toys that haven’t been completely ripped to pieces. We received a total of 213 comments (one or two were not “entries”, but that’s a real pain for us to shift things around, so they just don’t win if selected and we draw another number). You all shared so many sweet, touching, and hilarious summer memories – some that really tugged at my heart. Thank you for that.

So how did this work? Good question. We selected ten of Kaweah’s toys and assigned each one a number from 0 to 9. We piled the toys in the middle of the room and then got Kaweah all riled up so she’d run and grab a toy (she does this when she’s excited and there appears to be no rhyme or reason to her selection). This happened 15 times and generated five 3-digit numbers.

the random number generator machine

Each number (811, 977, 980, 766, 076) mod 213 resulted in: 172, 125, 128, 127, 76. Congratulations to: jwen, amanda, laura h, linda, and na! I’ll be sending your emails along to the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek so they can contact you about shipping your s’mores packages and give you details for the (awesomely) discounted rate at the Park Hyatt! Thanks to all of you for participating and many thanks to the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek for sponsoring this super fun Colorado giveaway.

Time to get tropical. The weather dictates much of my culinary mood. Typically I’d be cranking on the soups and stews, but with unseasonably warm weather lasting for more than a month (a week, I can hold out – a month, I cannot) I thought a compromise was in order. Something tropical, yet stewy enough to warm our tummies when we dip below freezing at night.

red curry paste, fried tofu, bamboo shoots, baby corn, straw mushrooms, limes, chiles, thai basil, coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar

slicing the fried tofu chunks in half

Southeast Asian food combines so many contrasting flavors that I find myself craving it often. It’s not just the sweet, sour, salty, herbal, creamy, and spicy, but the abundance of fresh and bright flavors that draw me in. This is a simple and satisfying Thai red curry that I like to throw together. [Edit: I buy the red curry paste at my local Asian grocer – Asian Seafood Market in Boulder.] I typically toss in whatever needs to be cleaned out of the refrigerator, but for guests, I’d prepare it as shown in this post. I buy the tofu already fried. They aren’t tofu puffs, but tofu pieces that have been fried and maintain a firm texture.

oil, red curry paste, coconut milk

add the tofu and vegetables

lots of basil

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: homemade marshmallows

Yes, I’m talking about snow… sort of. Actually, I’m also talking about marshmallows which, as you know, invariably brings us to eating s’mores après ski at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa at Beaver Creek Ski Resort in Avon, Colorado. The Park Hyatt BC invited me over to experience their brand of hospitality on the mountain, literally. Ski-in ski-out access to one of Colorado’s premier ski resorts? S’mores after the lifts close? Fine dining at 8100 feet? I needed to verify this before the snowpack up and walked (melted) away.

jeremy offered to assist me

s’mores daily from 4-5pm

roasting marshmallows over the fire pit

dinner at 8100: farmed greens with duck, seared scallops on smoked trout chowder

antler chandeliers abound (hey, it’s colorado)

looking toward the park hyatt’s lounge

outdoor heated pool and outdoor jacuzzi

Last week, a box of goodies arrived in the post, courtesy of the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. There was an adorable ceramic s’mores cooker, marshmallow skewers, s’mores trays, graham crackers, chocolate, and four flavors of housemade marshmallows developed by their chef: orange creamsicle, coffee, crème de menthe, and vanilla. Normally, it would be too cold (and windy, don’t forget windy) to enjoy these on our deck – except this season has been anything but normal.

graham crackers, chocolate, four flavors of marshmallows

i subbed in my favorite local chocolate

What a sticky, gooey, messy, fabulous treat to share with people who won’t laugh at you for having chocolate and marshmallow smeared all over your mouth! It was the Park Hyatt’s way of sharing their s’mores tradition with me, someone who loves skiing, loves Colorado, and especially loves skiing Colorado. But it’s not just ME they wanted to bring this to… they want to bring it to YOU!

there is an art to toasting marshmallows, no fireballs!

s’mores in the mountains or anywhere – feeling like summer

I’ve got five packages to give away to my good readers (that’s you!). A package includes graham crackers, chocolate, gourmet marshmallows, and a $99/night room rate (with waived resort fees and complimentary valet parking) at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in Avon, Colorado. Go ahead, look at their rates and tell me that isn’t a freaking amazing deal! Did I mention that the Park Hyatt is an incredibly family-friendly resort? They have so many activities and services for children and families. We don’t even have kids (okay, we have the four-legged furry variety) and we were totally impressed.

To enter the giveaway, please answer this question in the comments: What is your favorite summer food memory?

Oh yeah, there are a few rules, which you should read:

1) Prizes can only be shipped in the United States (US entrants only, please). Should you win, your mailing address will be required.
2) One entry per person. Multiple entries will be deleted and disqualified.
3) Entries must appear in the comments before 11:59 pm, Thursday, March 29, 2012.
4) Five winners shall be selected at random and announced (late) Friday, March 30, 2012.

And the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek is having a little competition on Facebook for the best new marshmallow flavor. They want suggestions from people and the winning flavor will be added to their menu. Now, I KNOW that MY readers have the creativity and palate to wipe the competition off the page. Leave your flavor suggestion on the competition page and tell them use real butter sent you.

Full disclosure: The views expressed here are entirely (and always) my own. I received a s’mores package and a comped one-night stay at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. The ski days, transportation, and meals were at my own expense.

The reason I love s’mores is because I am a complete sucker for marshmallows, and nothing compares to homemade marshmallows. This whole s’mores lovefest got me thinking that it’s high time I attempted to make my own marshmallows.

sugar, gelatin, light corn syrup, salt, vanilla, almond extract, egg whites

softening the gelatin in water

mix the sugar syrup before boiling: water, sugar, light corn syrup

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: california roll burger

You can’t fight the weather. The best thing you can do is roll with it. That’s what I’ve been telling myself anyway. Now that the crud in my chest is clearing and I no longer sound like Kathleen Turner, we’ve been getting outside to assess the snowpack. Total spring conditions: ice in the morning, corn snow in the afternoon. We noticed over the weekend that our front yard aspens are already forming buds a month early.

still getting nice color in the mornings and evenings

walking on hardpack

The spring equinox is a day away and all of this increased daylight prompts me to think of spring and summer cooking. Normally we’d be shoveling a few feet of Rocky Mountain powder from the driveway, but it looks like spring has come early for Colorado. My friends in Southern California, however, are always in perpetual spring-summer. Allison posted a photo of a California roll burger on her Facebook page a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to shake the idea since. A little Google action brought me to 26 Beach Restaurant’s California burger roll. Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness.

a lot of components, but totally worth the trouble

It’s pretty much what you’d guess it to be – a hamburger with the components of the revered fusion California roll. How could this not be amazing? Throughout the week, my mind would wander to the California roll burger. What would I put on mine? It’s heavy enough with the beef patty and the bun, so I opted out of adding sushi rice. In addition to the traditional lettuce and tomato, I figured there would be crab salad, avocado, masago (capelin roe), pickled ginger (gari), toasted seaweed (nori), and wasabi mayonnaise. Instead of our standard potato roll buns, I picked up some challah rolls. And if we were going to do this right, why not some shredded king crab legs for the salad? You could use krab (surimi), but I find real crab to be beyond awesome.

shelling the crab

mix mayonnaise with shredded crab meat

make the wasabi mayonniase: stir some wasabi powder into the mayo

**Jump for more butter**