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Recipe: roasted chickpeas

We’re in the middle of some crazy heat wave over here. 70s on the flats, 50s in the mountains. Snow can’t survive that kind of weather for long and I’m hoping for the cold to return so that we might enjoy more than a meager month’s worth of proper winter (that was February). But this warm spell is certainly conducive to the whole “Spring is coming” mantra. To be honest, it’s pretty great weather for getting together with friends. My pal, Kat, had her birthday on Monday, so I hosted her for a few days at my house in the mountains. Jeremy and I treated Kat to Community Night at The Kitchen, which really is the absolute best dinner deal in Boulder if you love good food (and who doesn’t?). If you haven’t been before, I implore you to put that one on your list of things to do.

the community table

among our favorite dishes: duck and prosciutto meatballs

heavenly tagliatelle with lardo, egg, black trumpet mushrooms, parmesan, truffle salt

scallops in celeriac purée, blood orange beurre blanc, fennel

Oh, that was a wonderful evening, but the celebration continued with lunch at Sushi Tora, buying some wines, and hitting up a few of our favorite places around town like Cured, Boxcar Coffee Roasters, Whole Foods on Pearl (not all Whole Foods are equal – our Boulder store on Pearl is beyond amazing, truly).

fy to the i: sushi tora now has ramen on their specials menu – and it rocked our world

Last night, Jeremy and I changed the sheets and towels in the guest room for our next visitor who arrives this evening. It’s definitely less stressful having friends over when the weather isn’t freezing cold, the winds aren’t trying to blow your house down, and the roads aren’t covered in a slick of ice and snow. Spring and summer entertaining in the mountains is easy, fun, and relaxed. It puts me in the mood for appetizers, snacks, and party foods.

chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

ground spices: cumin, coriander, chile, paprika, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cayenne, cloves

Some time last year, I saw roasted chickpeas making the rounds on blogs. Friends raved about them. They were a healthy, crunchy snack that could be sweet or savory. I decided to try Kalyn’s version because the Moroccan spices appealed to my savory cravings. This was back in the day, before I was gifted my precious pressure cooker. I used canned chickpeas back then. Today I cook dried chickpeas in the pressure cooker (and they’re awesome).

pat the chickpeas dry

add some olive oil and your choice of spices

toss to coat

**Jump for more butter**

Technique: shucking oysters

You could say we met each other early in our lives. I was 21 and Jeremy was 19. It’s not early like his grandparents who knew one another since the age of 5, but early compared to most of our friends. When we married four and a half years later, our low-key wedding was a bigger deal for others than it was for us. We just liked being together. We liked exploring, discovering, learning, growing, playing, and working together.

jeremy on the sand dunes, death valley

We started out as opposites:

I’m loud. He’s quiet.
I’m an extrovert. He’s an introvert.
I lose my temper easily. He remains calm, cool, and collected.
I’m practical. He’s whimsical.
I’m clueless. He’s not.
I like savory. He likes sweet.
I’m a visual thinker. He’s abstract.
I’m organized (OCD). He is chaotic.
I’m assertive. He’s inertial.
I’m Tigger. He’s Eeyore.

surrounded by desert gold in death valley

After almost two decades of shared experiences, I think we have as many similarities as we have differences. I’m still my own person and so is Jeremy, but we make a great team. Our relationship never feels like work, never feels like a burden. If anything, the challenges are always what life throws at us. We navigate them together, supporting one another. Fifteen years of marriage today and it’s stronger than ever.

jeremy coaxes a tired kaweah to look at the camera

the only time he has ever danced in public (at our friends’ awesome wedding)

Our wedding anniversary isn’t such a big deal, it’s just that round numbers seem to be more significant – multiples of 5 or 10. So in honor of our 15th anniversary, I decided I’d learn to shuck oysters. If you had asked me about oysters this time last year I would have said, “oyster whut?” But this past summer, when the Food and Light team went to happy hour after the workshop was over, Jeremy got hooked on oysters.

i blame this young lady

Diane saw Kumamoto oysters on the menu for a steal and got so excited that she asked if the rest of us wanted to order some too. People said sure and she counted, “two for you, two for you, okay that’s a dozen…” then she turned to the server and said, “We’ll order 2 dozen.” We looked at her in surprise and she flashed that adorable smile of hers and said, “I need a dozen!” I like oysters just fine. I can take them or leave them. Jeremy loves them.

some barron point oysters from washington

I went to the seafood department at my local Whole Foods in Boulder (on Pearl Street) and asked one of the nice seafood guys to teach me to shuck oysters. It wasn’t especially busy, so he took the time to explain the morphology of the oyster, the tools required, safety, and then technique. How cool is that? Then he set to work on a couple, quizzed me, and packed up several beautiful Barron Point oysters for me to take home to practice.

equipment: a kitchen towel and an oyster knife

the point closest to you is the hinge, the well or bowl should be on the bottom

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: fried stuffed olives

On rare occasion Kaweah gets weird and needy at night and this is one of those nights. She’s demanding my attention right now (pawing at me, resting her chin on my lap, shoving her nose under my forearm so I can’t type). This happens whenever one of us is on travel. Jeremy used to think it only happened when I was away because I’m her alpha, but it’s clear that she doesn’t like it when Jeremy is on travel either. This post will have to be quick.

I tried a recipe on Tuesday and liked it so much that I had it jump the queue to share with you. The first time I had this dish was last April in Seattle at Black Bottle. Fried olives with remoulade sauce. Salty? Check! Crunchy? Check! Bite-size? Check! It’s kinda like olive-katsu, but not really.

pitted spanish olives, goat cheese, eggs, flour, panko crumbs, parmesan

Make the remoulade sauce first because it requires a few hours of mellowing out in the refrigerator which is plenty of time to prepare the olives. The remoulade involves gathering a bunch of ingredients:

creole seasoning, mayo, pickle juice, horseradish, paprika, tabasco, garlic, mustard

mashing up a clove of garlic

placing all of the remoulade ingredients in a bowl

and stirring it together

pretty color

**Jump for more butter**