use real butter

Recipe: lemon tart

Some bloggers actually post what they make that very day. I stopped doing that a long time ago because if I posted recipes I made in the same day then you would see two or three posts all crammed together and then a few weeks of nada. Did you think all of this was spontaneous rambling (okay, that part is mostly spontaneous), cooking, shooting, and posting? I’m not that inspired or patient. There is a lot of planning and organization that goes into this food blog otherwise I’d have thrown my computer across the room by now… several times. I feel better when I have a stash of a couple dozen recipes ready to go instead of one recipe that languished about because I didn’t really like it or the photographs were half-assed. I spent the week catching up on archives and so much other work. It was rather productive thanks to a lack of good snow, because I would have been tempted to rip it up on the slopes, fo’ shiz. I’ve even begun crazy cleaning around the house which I suppose might be Spring Cleaning two months early?

and that’s about all we got

actually, it’s pretty spankin’ cool to see up close!

There are times when I have to be in a mood to cook and shoot. Shooting a recipe for me doubles or even triples the amount of time it would take me to make it otherwise. That is just insanity. I think pastries are probably the most profanity-inducing recipes to shoot because you use your hands, they get really messy, and there’s this camera… I wash my hands so much while I’m shooting process steps that the backs feel like sandpaper. So you can imagine how wonderful it is after all of that trouble when you take a bite of the final product and it is fan-freaking-tastic.

meyer lemons

yes, butter in the pastry dough

I’m a fruity person more than a chocolaty person which means I will choose fruit over chocolate most of the time. Fruit makes me feel refreshed and happy. Chocolate makes me feel tired and heavy. But most people I know would pick chocolate over fruit. Maybe they’d change their mind if they tried this lemon tart?

cutting the butter into the flour

ready to chill

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: angel biscuits

Beggars can’t be choosers. While it’s a lean year for snow in our part of Colorado, I really ought not complain. There haven’t been any “sick” or “epic” days to crow about, but at least I can ski. We’ve got the climate, the topography, and the big resorts. It’s embarrassing what I now consider to be a sub-par day.

weekday skiing is where it’s at

and we even found a little scritch of powder

It’s a good feeling to be satisfied with something that isn’t perfect. Some people have accused me of being a perfectionist, but I am not. I don’t have the patience to be a perfectionist. I do have high standards and expectations when it comes to certain things, but perfection – no. About a year ago, I set out to reproduce a favorite biscuit that I could only get at home. These were called silver dollar biscuits from Crums Bakery in southern Virginia and they would sell out during the holidays weeks in advance because every good party must have silver dollar biscuits stuffed with thin slices of Virginia ham.

you didn’t think i’d come back from virginia without some good old country ham, did you?

cut the shortening into the flour

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: rack of lamb

To my dearest Daring Bakers: It’s been over two years since I joined your fine ranks when the DBs were just 80 strong. In that time I’ve learned a lot, baked a lot, SWORE a lot, and made so many friends. But now it’s time for me to leave the DBs. Thank you, especially those of you who kept my spirits up through my chemo in 2008. Most of all, thank you to Lis and Ivonne – my two bodacious baker babes. xoxo

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It’s official. We are ON for the photography workshop! I’ve just signed the contract for the venue which is beautiful. People have been asking for the dates and now I can finally tell you: June 28-29, 2010 (Monday-Tuesday). My apologies for anyone hoping for weekend dates. I’m afraid I couldn’t duke it out with all of the bridezillas vying for this sweet downtown Boulder location on weekends in June (wedding season is insanely expensive). Not to mention, Todd, Diane, Helen, and I had a narrow window when we were all four available to hold the workshop. But have a looksee!

very zen

heaps of light and a view of the boulder flatirons

it’s going to be fantastic

I fall asleep every night with ideas and plans and todo lists for the workshop floating in my head. All of that brain activity makes a person hungry, you know. There are those recipes that I dive right into and then there are those recipes I mull over for weeks, months, even a year before I attempt them. I suppose I know when I am ready to try a recipe for the blog when I can visualize all of the steps to making it.

herbs, garlic, lemon

bread for fresh breadcrumbs

**Jump for more butter**