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Recipe: chinese stir-fried tofu

In my last post, I talked a little about how we have windstorms on steroids in Nederland. We typically don’t worry until the National Weather Service starts predicting gusts over 70 mph. Two years ago, we experienced gusts as high as 100 mph. That storm ripped a lot of large trees out of the ground and topped several mature conifers – just SNAPPED them off like twigs. We watched the front of our house flex in the storm until the power went out and then went to bed, hoping for the best. The house survived and we gained some confidence in the 110 mph wind build requirement in our town. The sun was out Friday afternoon and I raised the blinds in our great room to let Kaweah bask in the sun (still a favorite activity of hers).

oh shit

Our house has a tall profile, faces southwest, and takes the full brunt of the prevailing winds. We knew something like this could happen, because the previous owners (now our friends) told us they had a window crack during a storm. We were expecting it for years, but let our guard down recently. And it would have been fine, except for wind forecasts of gusts up to 95 mph over the weekend. Images of a window blowing in and snow swirling in our house ran through my mind. I cancelled our dinner date and stress ate barbecue potato chips. Then our super awesome wonderful neighbor popped over and slapped a grid of duct tape over the window and said we should be fine, but to keep the blind down just in case. I uncancelled dinner with nary a minute to spare and we met our very understanding friends at Dae Gee.

chris is psyched for korean bbq, ellen sports a perplexed look between gushings over kimchi

she’s pointing at the kimchi

Dinner with good friends is a great way to forget about other things on your mind. Sure, the window loomed large, but the biggest thing on my mind of late is Kaweah. We came home from Crested Butte mainly to see her vet. He removed (yanked) her bad toenail off. You could tell she didn’t like it, but she was so good with the shot and the yanking and the blood. All she wanted was a treat and Doc Newton made sure to give her a lot of treat love. He told us her toe was a little swollen and that he hoped his prescription of antibiotics would bring that swelling down. But if it didn’t come down, it could be cancer. He raised his eyebrows while handing Kaweah another treat and said, “Normally we would amputate the toe, but she’s not a candidate for surgery at her age.” Understood.

To be honest, even if she has cancer, I wonder if other things won’t bring her down first. While the infected paw has healed and she is able to walk around on it without problems, her hind legs are another story. We watch her closely when she meanders about the house and her rear right leg doesn’t seem to know where it’s supposed to go, doesn’t even know where the floor is. The rear left leg has been swinging wide, catching on furniture, door jams, anything. She falls several times a day, but not the catastrophic spills of her youth. Kaweah doesn’t have the strength to struggle, so she softly slides into a reclining position without injury and looks confused until one of us helps her up or carries her to her bed. But Kaweah is always surprising us and I know she has a few more left in her. I just dread the day when she runs out of surprises. I’ve been crying a lot.

she likes having her schnoz scratched

My folks called this weekend and I had a nice, albeit brief, chat with them. Mom told me the most important thing is to make sure Kaweah is happy and comfortable. Of course. I know this, but somehow it made me feel better to hear it from her. I think when I’m really sad about something, there is no one else whose voice and words can bring me comfort like Mom. Same goes for her cooking. That evening, I set about preparing this terrific tofu dish that she makes for us when they are in town. Jeremy and I both love it.

fried tofu, bamboo shoots, shitake mushrooms, soy sauce, corn starch, pork, vegetable oil, shao xing cooking wine, napa cabbage, ginger, green onions

refrigerated winter bamboo shoots

This is really a stir-fried fried tofu with vegetables and pork. You can fry the tofu yourself or do as I did and purchase fresh fried tofu from the Asian grocery store. Make sure it is fresh and not slimy! Some Asian grocers are really bad about expired products, so check those dates or inspect the product closely if no dates are listed. And I happened upon refrigerated winter bamboo shoots, which have a better flavor and firmer texture compared to canned bamboo shoots. If you can get your hands on fresh bamboo shoots, that is EVEN BETTER. Don’t worry if you can’t find any of those, canned works too. I recommend trying to get whole ones, but sliced is also fine.

slice the fried tofu

slice the bamboo shoots

sliced shitakes

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Recipe: black bean soup

We’re back home on the Colorado Front Range where the weather seems unseasonably warm compared to Crested Butte. I know the whole country (except for California) was dogged by frigid winter weather for several days, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary for us in the mountains. The thing is, Crested Butte has ruined me. It is my idea of perfect winter. The snow is fluffy and powdery, the temperatures are quite cold which preserves that nice powdery snow for a long time (in January, the average low is -8°F, but we measured as low as -22°F last week), there is a lot of sunshine, and there is no wind. Okay, they can get a little wind from time to time, but nothing like the winds that ravage us in Nederland and along the Front Range. So it’s a bit of an adjustment coming home to weather that feels so antagonistic at times.

there was decent snow in the trees

The wind is a real bitch here on the Front Range. But it makes you tough. Skiing ground blizzards, getting pummeled on the ski lift in gale force winds, navigating death cookies and busting wind slab – it all builds character. And then you have those blow outs where the winds have scoured bare ground right next to a 20 foot snowdrift. It makes the good days REALLY good, but winters here are not for dilettantes.

jeremy carries his skis across a giant blowout in 45 mph gusts

Once home our usual routine is to put the gear away, set the boots out to dry, remove sunblock, change into warm clothes, check that Kaweah is alive and well, and get something hot in our bellies. It doesn’t always go in that order (we usually check Kaweah first), but the need to warm up with a bowl of soup ranks high the moment we set foot in the house. I like to make a lot of soup and keep it handy in the refrigerator for these very occasions.

let’s start with black beans

black bean soup: pepper, olive oil, sherry, salt, cumin, oregano, onion, garlic, bell pepper, beans, chicken broth, tomato paste

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Recipe: pressure cooker beef pho

Happy New Year, everyone! I’m always glad when we finally get to the first of January because it means I can flip the switch from HOLIDAY to NORMAL. But things weren’t quite normal for the past few days. Sunday evening, we noticed that Kaweah’s breath was particularly foul. I mean, she’s a dog and her breath was never pleasant, but it was really awful smelling. Then Monday afternoon she was limping on the paw that had a sprained toe from a few weeks ago. We thought it was getting better, but when I took a closer look… her toenail and toe pad were infected and the source of that horrible smell.

Kaweah has always been a pretty healthy dog with minor problems, if any. But at her age, I wondered how serious this could be and if it would mean making a hard decision. You always hear about a procedure that could solve the problem, but might kill an old dog. Jeremy called our vet back home while I quietly wiped away tears and rubbed Kaweah’s belly. We got antibiotics from the vet in Crested Butte, but decided the next morning to take her in for a look and to get some advice on how to care for her toe. We’ve been lucky that every vet who has ever cared for Kaweah has been absolutely wonderful, and our CB vet is no different. She fell in love with Kaweah and of course, Kaweah loves her right back (Kaweah doesn’t dislike anyone). We’ve got her on antibiotics, pain killers, a medicated soak twice a day, lots of happy treats, and a cotton sock for her little paw paw (thank you, CB thrift store!).

kaweah on the way home from the vet, having made more friends

All this to tell you that Kaweah seems to be improving, the stink is mostly gone, and that we rang in the new year soaking her paw in a ziploc bag of medicated wash. Yay, Kaweah! She’ll most likely lose that toenail, but hopefully she will be able to keep the toe. We have good vets looking after her.

Once we were sure she was comfortable and asleep (lots of excitement for her at the vet), we hopped out for a quick nordic ski on New Year’s Eve. It was good to get the worry and stress out on the trails.

frozen stream

the valley that is home to the town of crested butte

On New Year’s Day, Kaweah was her happy waggy self walking around with a child’s sock on her foot like a little drunk person. We figured we could go ski the mountain for a few hours to greet the new year properly. And I’m happy to report that I have been learning to jump some ramps! Nothing huge, but… this 42 year old betty can hang with (some) of the 13 year old boys at the terrain park! Especially now that I’ve stopped screaming whenever I catch air.

dropping knees

…and skiing trees

This is our first winter in Crested Butte, and each day it becomes clear that this is a winter paradise for those of us so fond of frozen precipitation. But after our excursions on the mountain, on the trails, or in the backcountry, we set our gear out to dry, wipe off the sunblock, and prepare something hot with which to warm up. A favorite of mine is Vietnamese beef pho, but I rarely made it because of the time investment. Until now. I’ve managed to reduce hours of simmering to an hour by employing my beloved pressure cooker for the task.

for the broth: fish sauce, onions, ginger, beef brisket, beef bones, spices, sugar, salt

slice the onions and ginger in half

broiled

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