use real butter

Recipe: spicy chinese cucumber salad

First: I was asked to link to April Food Day. Even though I believe the day is over (I got a late notice and it was supposed to be April 1) you can still donate for a good cause – to feed the hungry. Hop on over, won’t you?

We got some snow on April Fool’s Day. No joke! At least it wasn’t a joke for us, we were thrilled. More snow more snow! Technically, you CAN ski all year in Colorado – just that things can get a little lean in August and September when you are limited to the glaciers (and the glaciers here aren’t terribly big).

we like accumulation

kaweah looks sugar-dusted

Then it got warm, but just in time as I hosted a stitch-n-bitch for a really fun group of intelligent, friendly, and chill ladies. Kitt was a sweetheart and brought me a *still warm* freshly baked loaf of bread (and it’s delicious – I had some tonight with dinner). Nichole introduced us to an Aussie ginger beer which her husband is fanatical over (and now, so are we!). Foodies rock. The stitch-n-bitch was an excuse to cook authentic Chinese food for some of my favorite people as well as introduce them to one another.

lunchtime

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Recipe: lemon mousse bombes

It’s the last day of March, kids! Where did all of that time go? Our local farmer’s market is opening this weekend and I’m both excited and a little leery. Excited, because I love farmer’s markets in general and Boulder has a nice one. Leery, because if I recall correctly, early season doesn’t have a lot of fresh produce to offer (particularly the fruit). See how living in Southern California can spoil the heck out of you (me)? I especially miss harassing the asparagus dude at the Pasadena Farmer’s Market (and then the Alhambra Farmer’s Market the next day).

My enthusiasm for cooking and baking and blogging waxes and wanes. There are times when I just don’t want to bake or cook (or at least blog about it) for several days. Knowing this, knowing myself, I have a stash of recipes in queue for just those times. I think I got into the habit when I kept having to dash to the ER last year or when I knew I’d be out after a chemo infusion. But when my enthusiasm is on the upswing, like it is now, I just write a list about a mile long with ideas and recipes I want to make and shoot and I wonder if the old recipes will just languish in the archives for months on end (some are already 6 months old).

start with white chocolate

… and you guessed it, temper the chocolate!

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Recipe: goat cheese croquettes

[We’ve got puppies, ski porn, movies, and food today. Does it get better than this?]

Do you ever find that time does strange things when you are really busy? I do. I like to pack things into each day and when I have several days or weeks like that lined up, time seems to slow down. Sort of the opposite of Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity. We left this past Thursday morning for Winter Park/Mary Jane and it feels like it was over a week ago. The whole region got a good bit of snow – something we desperately need for the health of our forests, wildlife, and our water supply. It doesn’t hurt the skiing either.

Jeremy and I spent all of our time in the glades (super soft powder), on the bumps, and in the bowls. Amazing. We usually head home after a day of tele, but this time we spent the evening with my friend who lives near Winter Park. He drives dog sleds. Actually, he doesn’t just drive dog sleds, he runs the business. We got to meet his sweet and beautiful wife, baby girl, and their 80+ gorgeous Huskies. I spent a little time with the sled pups in the morning before we hit the slopes on Friday.

mesmerizing eyes

majestic

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