use real butter

Recipe: roasted pepper, prosciutto, and goat cheese tart

Flowers are blooming down in Boulder. That is typical for this time of year. The tulips are on grand display on Pearl Street right now. So many colors and varieties. I went back to catch some in the rain Sunday evening.

but how do they keep the deer away?

love this purple

The tulips are no surprise. I’ll tell you what was a surprise… last Tuesday, Jeremy and I took Kaweah on a walk and scoped for flowers. None. Still early. On Saturday, we did the same walk in the rain and found the first pasque flowers emerging from the pine litter. They always bloom first up here, and they are a curious flower – short, low to the ground, but the flower itself is quite large and pretty neat. Thus we begin the start of the wildflower season!

a few days old, tops

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Recipe: triple layer lemon cake

I like spring. I do. I do. Love the sound of birds singing in the early morning. Love seeing the foxes traipse through our yard at dusk. The light is different outside and in the house. The sun is bright and high, but not yet oppressive as it will be in summer. This alternates with chilly, overcast, drizzly days that hover around freezing. The air is just cool enough that you need a jacket, but warm enough that you take the jacket off after hiking for an hour. Yesterday: sunny and warm (70°F, which borders on hot for me). Kaweah engaged in her seasonal brain-baking on the deck and then staggered into the office to cool down. Friday will be rainy/snowy and cold again – and Kaweah will stand at the deck door, making little grunting sounds, asking to be let out… because she thinks it’s always nice and sunny on the deck.

where could we take this?

No one fruit represents sunshine to me more than the lemon. It’s not just the vibrant yellow, but the liveliness of the juice and the scent of the freshly grated zest. It wakes me up, keeps me interested. I was recently asked to post a couple of links back to the website of a certain national magazine. But you know, I can’t endorse something I haven’t tried and to be honest, I have never tried any of their recipes before. I agreed to test-drive one of their desserts. [UPDATE: 5/28/09] Because those brilliant people can’t hold up their end of a simple agreement, I’ve removed the links. Food bloggers – I recommend not having anything to do with Better Homes and Gardens.

grating some lemon zest

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Recipe: chocolate chunk bundt cake

yup, this one

Talk about superconnected. That would be Andrew. I feel like a mountain hermit as it is, but hanging out with Andrew makes me feel like I’m visiting Boulder… from Mars. We met for lunch at The Kitchen yesterday and indulged in some good conversation over awesome salads. It’s always a struggle for me to figure out whether to go with what I love or try something new. You ever have that problem at a restaurant? I went with what I knew – the poached salmon salad – since I felt risk-averse (read: tired).

andrew’s chopped chicken salad

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