use real butter

Recipe: chinese almond cookies

I appreciate your kindness and encouragement. The fact that so many of you urged me to do what I felt was best for me even though it may not necessarily be the outcome you want says a lot about this readership – that you are all very caring and understanding people. That’s a great feeling for me to know that so many of you who visit this space are good folk. Thank you for being awesome.

The idea of leaving the blog has flitted in and out of the corners of my mind – but it’s usually only triggered when I have to post on deadline (and I’m trying hard to eliminate those) or when I drop a lens cap in cake batter and wonder why I bother with step-by-step process shots. I don’t want to quit blogging, but something has got to change.

we’ve had some impressive colors at sunset lately

and cool clouds too

I do not enjoy writing. I know this may seem surprising because blogging is writing, but I don’t write the way real writers write. I type what I’m thinking in my head and that is merely what I would be saying aloud if I didn’t shut my mouth. I talk. I never shut up. The only reason the blog exists is because I have reasonable typing skills to keep up with my motor mouth. But I do love cooking and photography and archiving and sharing. Writing consumes more time than I’d like because I try to edit my rambling thoughts into something coherent and maintain a fairly regular posting schedule. Without a regular posting schedule things begin to pile up and fall behind, snowballing into a big mess. That stresses me out. I’m OCD.

Anyone who blogs knows that it takes time. This blog, my archive of recipes and random stuff that goes on in my life, is a labor of love… but it’s still labor. I need to change things up on my end which may or may not become apparent here on the blog. I’m working to strike a balance in which I don’t allow use real butter to take time away from important stuff like time with loved ones, my health, my work (this is not my work), and my other passions. So when I said it’s me and not you, I wasn’t just saying it – I meant it. But it certainly isn’t my intention to break up with you… because I like you!

getting some turns in before work

impromptu lunch at l’atelier

As quickly as 2010 flew past me, I’m amazed that it’s still January. Actually, I’m happy that it’s still January and perhaps that is because I’m changing up how I prioritize. It’s also because I have an ass ton of things to get done. Typically, Chinese New Year sneaks up on me and I get all panicky. This year, I’m well aware of its approach and I’ve decided against hosting a big bash – mostly because I like being feeling sane. Of course, we celebrate the arrival of Chinese New Year no matter what. I’m still going to make several of the traditional dishes because there’s all this good luck that you need to get in on!

almonds

flour, almond flour, sugar, almond extract, egg, blanched almonds, baking soda, salt, butter

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: milk tea boba

I did not expect the volume of comments and emails in response to my last post. At some point, I plan to sit down and reply to you when I can carve out a chunk of time and clear some space in my brain. I suppose that is the main issue – time… okay, time and priorities. All of the other gobbledygook just feeds into the priorities (which ultimately translate into time allocation). Hopefully changes, if any, will be implemented behind the red velvet curtain and relatively transparent to you. But thank you for your kind words of support and well wishes. It was not my intention to alarm anyone, just to vent some observations (frustrations?) that have been bugging me like floaters in my eye. I think it’s healthy to regularly assess where you are, where the heck you’re going, and why.

This past evening, like every evening, we let Kaweah out to do her business in our yard. And like every evening, we put her glow collar on before letting her outside. Black dogs in the black of night who like to dawdle in the blackest of shadows scavenging for inedible things to eat get glow collars in this house. I did a few long exposures to see what manner of light trail Kaweah would create for giggles.

at first, she didn’t (jeremy’s figure(s) to the right)

but look what happens when you say “treat”

Kaweah reacts to the word “treat” the way Jeremy does to the word “coffee”. One of his favorite places for caffeinated beverages in Boulder is Atlas Purveyors. That’s pretty convenient as I tend to have meetings at Atlas and grab a latte to go for Jeremy if I’m going to pick him up from work. I like Atlas. I like the people who run Atlas. I like the people who work at Atlas. I like the patrons at Atlas. They were one of the sponsors of the Food and Light photography workshop we held last summer.

But I don’t drink coffee. Couldn’t tell you the difference between the worst coffee and the best coffee. The first time I stood at the counter trying to find something non-coffee to order, Chris – one of the owners and a really swell guy, rattled off all manner of teas that might interest me. I spied boba on the chalkboard. Oh, I love me my boba. A milk tea boba, please (also known as bubble tea). And I’ve been hooked ever since. Atlas is where I go to get my boba fix and Chris has been sneaking in bits of tea education to boot. I wanted to make my own milk tea boba, so I asked Chris if I could purchase some of that lovely black tea.

black tea from atlas purveyors

5-minute boba

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Recipe: puffy hearts and rings

When I was a little kid growing up in Virginia, snow storms would catch me by surprise. The only way I knew anything was in the works was when Kris would stay up late tuning the radio to find out if school would be closed the next day. On those very rare snow days we would stay home playing games, running around the house like maniacs jumping off the stairs, building forts, watching television, lip syncing Shaun Cassidy while standing on top of the coffee table, and sledding down our steep driveway. I have a lot of good memories of Kris.

Living in Colorado, we can get snow as early as September and as late as May. It snows in our mountains in June and July too. Even though it is a common occurrence I still get excited – I just don’t lip sync Shaun Cassidy from the coffee table anymore (I have that very coffee table in our great room). These days I suit up and head out.

hit the lifts early to beat the late morning rush

that’s jeremy freezing his bum off on the lift

After we return from a ski – be it at a resort or in the backcountry – it’s Kaweah’s turn to play in the snow. When she was a wee pup in Ithaca, New York, we’d take her out into the snow and find the deepest drift to drop her in. She’d expend an enormous amount of energy bounding about in the snow and would sleep all night long at home. Yay! Now in her golden years, Kaweah doesn’t wander as far into the snow nor does she handle the cold as well as she did in her crazy years (years 0-10). She sleeps much of the day and all of the night.

she’ll always be a puppy to me

sun setting on a quiet, snowy day

when the storm moves out, we get blue skies once again

As a kid, I never remembered being cold when I played in the snow. Maybe that’s because as kids, we’re crazy people? I would barely recognize myself today, grabbing a warm hat, gloves, boots, jacket, sunnies, chapstick, sunblock… While thinking back on those snow days of my youth, I grew nostalgic for my mom’s baking projects. She wasn’t much of a baker, but she did have a handful of sweets she could make for potlucks and parties. What I loved most were these things called puffy hearts and rings.

stick of butter

stir in flour

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