use real butter

I first learned of The Culinary School of the Rockies when my old work group was looking to book a fun team-building event. We ended up doing something else, but I held on to the brochure. Not only does CSR offer corporate classes, they also have home cook classes and professional culinary programs. I was so excited to know that we had a culinary school here in little old Boulder.

the front of the school

I enrolled in their 10-week pastry skills class – probably one of the best classes I’ve ever taken. It must be said that this blog owes a good deal to CSR for the quality of the pastries and sweets you see. Our class was fast-paced and chocked full of great information, techniques, recipes, and especially tips on high-elevation adjustments. Even though we worked at a frenetic pace from the moment we donned our aprons, Chef Shan made it a fun 5-hour class each week. Pastry skills gave me the confidence to tackle new recipes after the ten weeks were over. The fundamentals I had learned continue to carry my baking and candy-making to this day. My MIL is a baker too. Every time my in-laws visited, MIL and I would bake a recipe from my class notebook together. She loved it.

chef shan shows ribboning (l), artisan chocolates (r), professional pastry students (b)

So when my ILs came to visit last year, we all signed up for a class at CSR: knife skills. Hey, it was one of the few classes Jeremy agreed to take because he thought it might help speed up his sous chef skills. That was my first time in the home cook kitchen because the pastry skills course was always held in the professional kitchen and classroom. All of the instructors at CSR are knowledgeable, amiable, and really fun, but my knife skills instructor created quite the hubbub in the comments when I posted about the class. No doubt.

meet chef michael – he’s got a terrific personality

If you ever have a look at the CSR home cook calendar, you’ll be hard-pressed to choose just one class that you might want to take. Cupcakes, sushi, Thai, barbecue, gluten-free baking, tapas, breads, pizza, fish, cheesemaking, and the list goes on. They have week-long vacation courses as well as two-day weekend classes, full day, half day, and two-hour classes. But CSR caters to more than just the home cook. In fact, their pride and joy would have to be the graduates from their professional programs: Culinary Arts, Chef Track, and Pastry Arts. CSR invites people to sign up to observe a professional class so you can see if this might be the program for you. I sat in on a Pastry Arts class the day they covered chocolate tempering and dessert wine pairing. It’s hard work, but it’s fun hard work. What could be better?

chief operating officer karen barela in her office

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: lemon drop martini

Wooooohooo! I can’t tell you how happy I am to have the food photography workshop website and registration completed (thanks for your help, Andrew)! I am so jazzed and humbled to be working with three dear friends whose photography and cooking/baking have inspired me from day one: Helen Dujardin of Tartelette and Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple. For those of you interested in attending, hop on over to the Food and Light website to register. Space is limited to 30 and I have no idea how quickly (or slowly) it will fill up. If you have any questions, do ask me soon as I will be mostly out of communication April 12-14.

The last of the Death Valley photos are done and posted. I am on a roll, kids. Plowing through the list of things to do…

life in death valley

marble slot canyon

blue skies over badlands

sunset on zabriskie point

As promised, I have this absolutely delightful lemon drop martini to share with you. When I first uncorked a bottle of my Buddha’s hand citron vodka, I stood sniffing the magical perfume that emanated from the opening. I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I like to play with the booze. Jeremy is the one who drinks it. He hovered around me asking what we could possibly make with it.

how about a martini?

a twist on a lemon drop martini

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: rosemary lamb noisettes

I have been joined at the hip to my computer lately working on several things at once. I know some photographers will wait to process their photos after a shoot so that they can come at it with a fresh mind. I’m not one of those. I have to plow through them while my color memory is strong, but more importantly before my next shoot or else things begin to clutter together in my brain and on the hard drives. We’re finally at the Death Valley photos and I held off on those until last because it was a complete bitch to shoot. I’m only halfway through, but I thought you might enjoy some of these. It’s amazing how the same place can look so different from sunrise to sunset.

sunset over death valley

…and sunrise

those clouds plagued me for three days

There are a few more photos from Death Valley and I’ll get around to the rest very soon because I have another shoot coming up in a week.

If it weren’t for all of the chatter on Twitter and FaceBook, I would not have known that the holidays were upon us. It’s not like knowing would have changed anything. We don’t celebrate much this time of year other than a Big Dump Snow Day or an especially gorgeous and sunny “Spring” day. It’s all good by me. As it happened, I had been contacted by Annie of Lava Lake Ranch a couple of months ago about trying their organic, grass-fed lamb. These days I’m a lot pickier about reviewing products on urb because I don’t have the time and I’m not interested in shilling for something I don’t feel strongly about. So what was so special about Lava Lake Ranch Lamb? In a nutshell: 100% of their profits go to conservation and restoration of nearly 1 million acres of land in south-central Idaho. I have a soft spot for organizations and individuals who Do Good in the world and of course, Good by my standards may not be the same as yours.

I said sure, but I’d have to let her know when I had an open window of time in my schedule. The window was this week and I received via FedEx boneless lamb loin, lamb chops, and lamb shanks. My regular readers know that I’m sort of new to lamb, so I scoured the interwebs for some recipe ideas and lo and behold – everyone was talking lamb because it’s Easter weekend.

i started with the loin since we wanted a quick meal

rosemary, there is always rosemary…

**Jump for more butter**