use real butter

Recipe: deviled eggs

This week has been abnormal. My parents are visiting. They just bought a place in Boulder. It’s a second home and so they needed to furnish it which involves a lot of driving around and shopping. In the process of furnishing their place they also gifted me with a non-grad student dining set (i.e. a nice dining set). Jeremy and I have been taking them to some of our favorite restaurants in town. They’ve been to Jax, The Kitchen, Flagstaff House, and Sushi Tora on previous visits. This time we introduced them to Frasca and L’Atelier.

frasca: jeremy’s guinea hen

frasca: i had the cobia

l’atelier: bouillabaisse

l’atelier: mom and dad enjoying themselves

Before my parents decided to purchase a second home in Boulder, my dad asked me if I was sure we’d be staying here. He worried that if we moved away for whatever reason, he’d be stuck in Boulder. After dinner this evening, he told me he’s no longer worried if we move away because he’s got plenty of things to do in Boulder – like eat at great restaurants. They love it here! I’ve been cooking some nice meals for them at our house and Kaweah can always be found right by my dad’s side. I think it’s because he used to feed her treats, but we’ve had to put the kibosh on that activity for her health. Still, she shadows him, ever hopeful.

It must be torture for a lab to live in a house with someone who loves to cook. Whenever I slice food on the cutting board or peel something into the compost bin, Kaweah is right there. When I peel boiled eggs and toss the shells into the compost, her nose drifts ever closer with each toss until she can’t help herself and gently snaps at the falling shells only to be reprimanded. She resets her position and starts all over again. This used to be really bad because I had horrible problems boiling eggs. The shells always stuck, made a mess, and took forever to peel. After my buddy Kitt brought these deviled eggs to a stitch-n-bitch, I knew I would have to make some and I knew that I would have to learn to boil eggs proper-like.

a dozen eggs

While visiting friends in Seattle a few years ago, one of them began preparing boiled eggs and had this nifty little gadget that essentially pierced the base of the egg before boiling. I was told it makes the eggs easy to peel. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I recalled the doohickey and thought, “All I really need is a pin.” So I tried it.

poke a hole through base of shell before boiling and try not to stab yourself like i did

it worked!

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: flourless chocolate hazelnut cupcakes

I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks on behalf of my family and myself for the tremendous outpouring of support here on the blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, via email, and snail mail. Thank you.

a rose garden in san jose that my grandmother enjoyed

I have a white silk flower in my hair that I will wear for 100 days. I noticed my mom was wearing hers too when I got her from the airport on Monday. My parents are in town this week to close on their property in Boulder. They were supposed to come last week, but… we were all in California instead.

the family visited in her honor last week

Being home is good despite the backlog of work that is piling up. The weather is all Crazytown over here. It’s nearly June and yet our mountain weather thinks it’s early April. The afternoon thunderstorms are rolling in too. When we picked Kaweah up from the kennel this weekend, they told us there had been a thunderstorm Friday afternoon. One of the dogs was freaking out and they noticed that Kaweah was totally calm – chilling out as if nothing was going on (sometimes you have to wonder if anything is really going on inside that little brain of hers). They put the freak out dog with Kaweah and the other dog calmed down right away, cuing off of our pup. I’m so proud of her – doing nothing actually helped someone else!

the do nothing dog

So my friend, Elana, is a gluten-free superstar as well as a local Boulder food blogger. Her latest book arrived in my mailbox just days before we left for Hawai’i and I couldn’t wait to try some of the recipes when I got back. It’s all about cupcakes. Gluten-free and butter-free at that. Now I know what you’re thinking… the name of my blog is use real butter and yet she doesn’t use butter in her baking? My point isn’t that food has to have butter, just don’t use the fake crap. That’s what I’m talking about – don’t use fake butter or fake anything for that matter – live life for real. Blagh blagh blagh. Get the point?

back to the cupcakes

Elana uses all natural ingredients in her baking, relying on almond and coconut flours instead of regular flour, and agave nectar instead of sugar. She offers vegan and dairy-free recipes too, because Elana wants to make sure there is something for EVERYONE. She’s awesome like that. There is even a section with savory treats. What I really liked about the recipe I chose (because it sounded so damn good!) is that nothing is a substitution. Seriously, have a look!

hazelnuts, chocolate chips, vanilla extract, agave nectar, salt, eggs

pulse the hazelnuts and chocolate chips together

**Jump for more butter**

They say friends are the family that you get to choose. But my family gets and gives that special unconditional love no matter what has been said or done. Throughout the week, family arrived and we crammed into Grandma’s small studio apartment to continue sorting through her belongings, making plans, and reminiscing about this kind and gentle matriarch who has touched all of our lives so dearly. Grandma’s four daughters have four distinctly different and strong personalities. The interactions among them are far more complex than magnetohydrodynamics and are not governed by the laws of Nature, but rather by the laws of the Heart.

sisters

recounting good stories about grandma

The grandchildren are another matter. We’re all pretty chill, cracking jokes, and sharing stories while the mothers fret over whether or not we’ve gotten enough to eat. In a rare moment, it was just the three cousins (the fourth was to fly in the morning of the service) at Grandma’s. Instead of the incessant chatter of the “adults”, we quietly sat on the floor making hair clips with white flowers for all of the female members of the family (to wear for 100 days) and mused over our family the way that only adult grandchildren can. We had to make vegetarian dishes for Grandma’s Buddhist service, so I chose to sauté soybean sprouts. Grandma always plucked the tails off of the sprouts, but I rarely do because it’s time-consuming. We had plenty of time. My cousin helped me trim the ends and it reminded me of all the childhood days I sat at the kitchen table helping Grandma clean the sprouts before dinner.

trimming the sprout tips

sauté

my cousins and their mom

another aunt lovingly prepares asparagus to send grandma off with good food

As more members of the family arrived in town, our meals out were less somber, more celebratory, more elaborate, and more filling. There was so much to do in preparation for Grandma’s services and there were so many loved ones around that the sadness faded and I felt as if Grandma was still there.

hand-pulled noodles (so cool to watch)

just getting started on lunch

the meal after the services (everyone was ready to pop)

**Jump for more butter**