use real butter

Recipe: red bell pepper honey vinaigrette

I’m out of the cave. ‘Tis a good thing.

Back when we were in Crested Butte for the wildflower shoot, Jeremy and I got chased off Daisy Pass by thunderstorms. I don’t mind shooting in rainy weather, but high winds are a deal breaker. This stormy weather lasted for a few hours each afternoon, so we’d take the opportunity to roll into the town of Crested Butte and grab a bite. As I’ve mentioned before, we know the backcountry around Crested Butte better than the town itself because we’ve always driven through it rather than walked around in it. It wasn’t until last summer when we met up with my aunt’s family for dinner one evening (we were shooting, they were on vacay) that we had a meal in town.

prayer flags

The first stop was Secret Stash for some pizza and salad. We get this way when we’re spending a lot of time hiking and shooting – we crave fresh vegetables. You know what I love about mountain towns? You can look like complete hell and smell worse and it’s okay. I nearly fell asleep in my salad, but we still had another 5 hours of shooting.

gringo greek salad

they are famous for their pizzas

The second day we moseyed down the main drag to grab a bite and chose a place at random – McGill’s. It’s a nice place for lunch. We both opted for salads. Jeremy ordered a seared ahi tuna salad and I had the blackened grilled skirt steak salad. The dressing was so good that I asked if they shared their recipe and was told that they don’t. Really? Okay… it’s not like they don’t give half of it away in the name of the dressing: red bell pepper honey vinaigrette. As Jeremy settled up the tab, I tasted the dregs and identified the flavors and jotted them down on my iphone. Guess what I did when we got home?

we’ll start with red bell peppers

and some honey

It’s not hard to deconstruct these things, so that’s what I did. I’m not much of a recipe developer. I don’t have that kind of patience. Salad dressings are relatively simple though. I could do this. I used some of the honey I had leftover from a client’s shoot. Have you heard of Grampa’s Gourmet Honey? They are local here in Colorado and the honey products are as gorgeous as they are delightful.

that blender is getting a lot of use this summer

red wine vinegar

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: italian meatballs

It snows here in June. It snows, it rains, it thunders, it sun showers, it gets misty.

it’s gorgeous

and we love it

miss kaweah especially loves it

And people get married. It’s like a conspiracy, but June is the time. Take my friend, Kitt, for instance. She got married this weekend. It’s June. I rest my case.

lookin’ good!

the gals get ready

the flower girls share a laugh with kitt’s mom

vows

congratulations, you two!

Since it is wedding season, I could not think of a better time to tell you about the book my friend, Lorna Yee, has written. It would make a fabulous gift for any couples getting married.

the newlywed kitchen

The subtitle is Delicious Meals for Couples Cooking Together, but I’ll tell ya – Jeremy and I don’t really cook together. 17+ years and the formula is as follows: I cook and he does some prep and washes the dishes. I figured the book wasn’t really meant for us (and by us, I mean me), but I was willing to flip through and see what it had to offer. I sat down for what I thought would be fifteen minutes of perusing. It turned into an hour reading the delightful interviews with well-known food couples, including two of my favorite people on the planet, Shauna and Danny. And don’t let me forget the recipes. I have about two dozen pages dog-eared; they all look so fresh and good. But there was one recipe that I just had to try.

start with bread soaked in milk

let’s make meatballs: beef, pork, veal, egg

Italian grandmother meatballs. The recipe looked authentic (I checked it against this meatball recipe from my dear Susan), quick, and easy. Remember, I am a fan of quick and easy right now!

egg, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, flat-leaf parsley

add the parmesan and mix

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: bibimbap

Having spent a good deal of my adult life in or around university settings, you’d think I’d be accustomed to the flow of people in and out of my geographic location. That’s the nature of a university and you come to expect that a lot of your friends will move away eventually. But I’m not accustomed to it. This week, we said good-bye to our neighbors. They are more than just neighbors, they are good friends.

at our place for barbecue

We have had all manner of “interesting” neighbors, but Tom and Kellie were the best ever. We kept an eye on each other’s houses when we were out of town. We borrowed their power tools, they borrowed our ladder. They were always willing to taste test my cookies, cakes, pastries, whatever! Anytime we dropped by for just a minute, it always ended up taking as much as an hour because we always had plenty to talk about, to share. We took care of each other’s dogs and cats when emergencies came up. We laughed and chattered together while shoveling the deep snow from our driveways in the middle of the night. So despite how crazy busy March had been (and continues to be), we had to have them over for dinner before they headed to their new home in Montana.

at a big anniversary party for tom’s parents

As they drove away Friday afternoon, they honked good-bye. Jeremy told me Sunday morning that it feels lonely with them gone. It does feel lonely. We’ll surely see them this summer, but in the meantime – we are already missing them very much. Yet, part of this flux of people in my life involves those who are arriving and also returning. Our good friend, Marianne is finally back after months spent on the ice (Antarctica). Manisha held a lovely dinner to celebrate her return as well as find an excuse to introduce us to some of her phenomenal regional cooking from the west coast of India. Oh mai!!

manisha presents fried monkfish

kitt refrained from making funny faces

ivy gourd (i am in love with this vegetable)

lemon pickle chutney and grated mango chutney

gathering for a feast

I don’t lose sight of the time spent with the people I love. I’ve learned enough by now to know that it matters when you are together because everyone is busy and we all take each other for granted to some degree. A lot of times, we never fully realize just how special some people are until they are gone. So I’m reminding myself that no matter how busy I get, I should try to make that time. [Of course, get-togethers seem to revolve around food in my circle of friends and family…]

making marinade for galbi

slice the beef thin

**Jump for more butter**