use real butter

Recipe: big bob gibson’s barbecue ribs

**Warning** It’s a long post, but there IS a recipe at the end.

The road to knowledge has never been so fun. My teaser from a few weeks ago was a quick glimpse into the Rigorous Studies that I and several food bloggers/writers endured in California. Kingsford University’s 3-day program took us from Oakland to Healdsburg for a thorough study in buttermilk fried chicken, charcoal, slow cooked pork insanity ecstasy, Zinfandel, spice rubs, and grilled pizza. As with any university experience, the journey with your classmates and what you learn from them is just as important as the knowledge gained. So let me hit upon the highlights or else we’ll be here all day and all night!

Orientation: Everyone boarded the bus outside The Claremont Hotel and rode to Picán for an evening that started with a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres mixer on the patio. I was quite delighted in the parade of pecan and hickory smoked pork ribs, country ham and cheddar hushpuppies, chicken liver pâté and chow chow herbed biscuits, and Louisiana crab toasts because I had eaten one crunchy taco all day in my rush to the Denver Airport. [And thus my dirty little secret was revealed to my fellow food buffs: Jen ate Taco Bell Hell.]

i had never dined in oakland before

these biscuits were morsels of tender, melty wonderment

Eventually we were encouraged to mosey into the private dining room where Diane and I immediately scoped out the best seats for shooting – toward the back and against the wall. Priorities, kids. There was much conversation, much shooting of food porn, and of course heaps of phenomenal food. We were welcomed by Drew McGowan of The Clorox Company (parent company of Kingsford), Chef Dean Dupuis, and pitmaster Chris Lilly.

drew and dean introduce themselves and oakland to the group

first course: famous buttermilk fried chicken

first course: choice of shrimp and grits or southern caesar (this was diane’s shrimp and grits)

entrées: choice of grilled berkshire pork shoulder (that’s what i chose)

or grilled loch duarte salmon (what jen selected)

dessert: pear upside down cake

chris talks with picán’s fabulous event manager, miriam

On the bus ride back to the hotel, Chris Lilly sat next to me. I love Chris Lilly. He immediately struck me as a warm, friendly, and down-to-Earth kinda guy. Pitmaster. Wait a second, make that ten time world champion pitmaster and executive chef of Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q. What does that title say to you? It says “badass” to me. He is the Yoda of barbecue, but he didn’t make us do handstands while sitting on our feet as we tried to levitate the X-wing fighter out of the swamp. Chris was a far kinder master and had Luke been hanging out with Chris instead of Yoda, he wouldn’t have complained about the food… not a peep.

Charcoal 101: The next morning, I managed to wake up early enough to squeak in a workout (after wandering about the grounds of the Claremont in search of the fitness facilities) before we had to load up onto the bus and head over to The Clorox Tech Center where we were greeted with breakfast before sitting down for presentations given by the Kingsford research and development team and an unveiling of their latest product. Our group wasn’t shy at all and many of us piped up with questions, engaged in good discussion with the Kingsford folks as well as with Chris (he’s not a pitmaster for nothing, kids). I’m a gas griller for many reasons the main one being fear of burning down the state of Colorado. My fear has always been rooted in ignorance – my ignorance of how to grill using charcoal properly. Every minute I learned about charcoal at a more fundamental level (think engineering and physics) and in terms of what cooks are looking for, the more comfortable I was with the idea of charcoal grilling.

i dig the lectures

chris discusses what he looks for in charcoal performance

**Jump for more butter**

Isn’t this a lovely view of this thin sliver of the moon setting over the Continental Divide? I managed to catch it last week while I was making dinner.

crescent moonset from my deck

Jeremy and I piled the dog and our stuff into the car and drove down to my ILs’ house for a short visit this weekend. They happen to live in the mountains of southern Colorado at 7500 feet above sea level – so it’s like being home for us but in a different location (did that make any sense?). Whenever we turn onto their road, Kaweah begins to cry because she LOVES this place and has so much fun here. We spent the weekend playing Wii, sewing, going for walks in the woods, having great food, and watching all three dogs get the crazies.

they have nice sunsets from their deck too

dinner at keyah grande (jeremy’s duck)

puppies at attention! (left to right: bumpy, buffle, kaweah)

mil has the coolest sewing room ever

driving home through the san luis valley

On Saturday night, we went to dinner at Keyah Grande, a stunning and exclusive resort in southwestern Colorado. We were given permission to take ourselves on a tour of the opulent, yet incredible building before sitting down to a truly inspired and delightful meal. Sadly, the place is closing on December 31st and will go on the market for any interested buyer. Have you got $12 million to spare?

a chihuly greets you in the foyer

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming! I have been asking Jeremy for the past month if there is anything in particular he wants to eat for Thanksgiving and the boy keeps coming back to seafood. We have no plans for the upcoming holiday other than to get a lot of work done and maybe have some fun if there is time. I know it’s incredibly unsentimental of us, but the thought of eating outrageous amounts of food just makes me sleepy and depressed. I’m craving fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood and I need to get my ski on, plain and simple. We’re staying put for at least a month and I’m thankful – so very thankful – for that. Travel has a way of discombobulating me. So I apologize ahead of time if I’m not providing any Thanksgiving inspiration here. Besides, there is more inspiration than you can shake a stick at on the internet(s) right now.

Which brings me to another photowalk that I’ve been meaning to post. I was working with Beth for the past few months on photography – wedding photography, landscape photography, and post processing techniques. I can talk about photography until I am blue in the face, but the most efficient and effective way for me to teach anyone about photography is for me to show them how I work and explain what I am doing (and why) and then to let that person work, ask questions, give feedback. Beth and I had a great time on the fall shoot in September, so it was a no-brainer to get her out for a photowalk.

everyone, meet beth!

Beth: Nikon D200 with Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-f/4.5G AF-S DX
Jen: Nikon D3x with Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8G ED

Beth came up to my place last month to work on some post processing of a wedding she had shot. It happened to snow the day before and so we decided to get our photowalk in before all of the snow melted in the town of Nederland. We walked under overcast skies and temperatures hovering near freezing. When we got to the town center, Beth turned and asked what the rules of photowalk are. We both laughed and said, “The first rule of photowalk is, you do not talk about photowalk. The second rule of photowalk is, YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT PHOTOWALK…” Okay, but seriously, the rules are: the photogs take turns choosing five locations at which to stop and shoot about five frames each. Easy peasy, right?

beth location #1: shot 3

jen location #1: shot 5

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It’s just too much sometimes. Community Night at The Kitchen – it can be a bit much for me. Jeremy says I’m overstimulated. The shooting, the socializing, the fooding, the meeting of new people, the drying out of my contact lenses… Although we don’t make a habit of going all the time, we’ve been a half dozen times in the past four years. It’s just the ideal place to take visitors who truly love food if they happen to be in town on a Monday night. That’s what the original plan was: to go with Helen and her Bill to Comm Night along with our good friend, M this past Monday. But incompetence conspired against them and a bunch of nitwits in northern Colorado put the kibosh on those plans. I asked M if she still wanted to go and she did. So glad she did.

i drank the wine and forgot to keep the menu

Because I have raved about Comm Night and documented the hell out of what we ate in the past, I feel less compelled to do so with each subsequent Comm Night. I’m learning to relax (just a little) and enjoy the other aspects of the evening, like meeting cool people. Here is the freaky and yet fascinating part: I am meeting people at our table of 20 who have read use real butter. I shit you not.

fennel and ham salad

Last time, it was Mr. Social Tech Butterfly (total sweetie). [Edit: I almost forgot to include this little request! Have a favorite coffee you’d like to share with some good soldiers overseas? Andrew is asking people to send some beans or beautiful photography or nice letters to help his friend Skid set up a little old coffee shop in the desert. I’m shipping two large nature photographs this afternoon to Iraq. It’d be great if you wanted to pitch in! Thanks.]

**Jump for more butter**