use real butter

Recipe: lavender lemonade

I want to thank those of you who shared your pet stories for the giveaway. Since Kaweah is in her golden years, the comments about the senior doggies and kitties were particularly touching for me as were the stories of how our pets comfort us when we are grieving or very ill. So thank you for that, all of you. We try to make the selection of winners as impartial and as random as possible by letting Kaweah choose. Retirees though… they aren’t always in the mood to get back to their old jobs.

stretching out in the sun

aw yeah…

We tried again later when storm clouds blocked out the sun and Kaweah had gotten a sufficient amount of beauty rest. I lined up ten treats – each representing a number from 0 to 9 – and recorded the number of the first treat Kaweah went for. Then I replaced the eaten treat(s) (sometimes she ate two before I could get to her) and we repeated this nine times for a total of ten digits (5 winners).

that’s a four

The winners are #35: Ira (Boxers N Birds All Breed Animal Rescue Inc. in Oceanside, CA), #46: Jane, #52: Courtney (Boulder Humane Society), #65: Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary, and #80: Pat! Congratulations to the winners – you should be receiving an email from me shortly. Thank you all for listing so many wonderful animal shelters and rescue organizations who care for those animals in need of a home and someone to love.

sunset reflected off our house

love those summer storms

We are entering that thunderstorm cycle in the mountains now. Overnight temperatures are nowhere close to freezing anymore and nighttime is whittled down to a few hours at best. Le sigh. Oh, but you know what’s coming, don’t you? Summer things like blockbuster movies, a new tube of sunblock, eating outside, grilling, parties, hiking, and kicking back with an ice-cold drink. I had lunch at a soft opening for Native Foods in Boulder a couple of weeks ago. My friend, Michael (@BSidesNarrative on Twitter), told me the lavender lemonade at Native Foods was the best. So I tried it. I liked it! And you know where this is going. I know how to make lemonade…

lemons

juiced

Most people think of lavender as an odor, not a flavor. It’s widely used in de-stinking or perfuming the heck out of something, someplace, or someone. This is not that lavender. It *is* lavender – the herb – but it is culinary lavender which means it is okay to consume. Mine is organic and you can find it at places like Savory Spice Shop or the Whole Foods bulk spice section.

pretty purple

a few tablespoons

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: passion fruit iced tea

Flowers are EVERYWHERE. At first, I had a few lying around the house after a shoot (they were props). That’s about the only time we have flowers in the house. Our guests typically bring hostess gifts of food or wine, and Jeremy knows I’d rather we spend money on skis or outdoor gear over cut flowers any day. But if flowers are around, I love to study them: their structure, colors, shapes, flesh of the petals and leaves, the pollen, the geometries… Flowers are fascinating to me. And they’re lovely.

pink and yellow

reminds me of cotton candy

bolder colors are more my preference

So I was smiling to myself that I have spring going on in my mountain home, and then I drive into Boulder to see that the pink and white flowering trees are going gangbusters. GANGBUSTERS! That telltale yellow-green haze on the bare branches means we can look forward to trees leafing out in the next few weeks. That makes sense considering the unseasonable warmth, but it doesn’t end there. On a trail run last Friday, I nearly tripped over my own feet when I noticed a pasque flower blooming. It’s the first flower to make an appearance each spring in the mountains, but we typically see them in early May – NOT late March. Here is one from May 2, 2009:

first!

Of course, it’s snowing this morning and I feel like someone has put the world back on the right track. That’s a short-lived burst of joy for me as we are reverting back to warm (hot) and sunny weather within 48 hours. I’m obsessing a bit over how to combat the heat and recalled how I cooled off when I was last on the Big Island of Hawai’i: liliko’i iced tea.

passion fruit pulp, black tea, sugar

make the simple syrup first to give it time to cool

Liliko’i is passion fruit and it is one of my favorite fruits on the planet. My mouth waters just thinking of the tart and fragrant pulp. Now, I’m not talking about making iced tea with Tazo’s passion tea (which I think is disgusting and tastes nothing of passion fruit). No, this liliko’i iced tea is like an Arnold Palmer (my default summer beverage). Rather than half iced tea and half lemonade, it is half iced tea and half passion fruit juice. Yes, and yes again.

measure out your tea

steeping

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: pear ginger beer cocktail

Did you go to a Halloween party this weekend? It looked like everyone I know did! Driving through Boulder Saturday night on our way home, we saw a lot of zombies and other characters walking to their presumed social lives. I really love Halloween, but I don’t dress up for it anymore. In fact, the last time I dressed up was in college and I was a (very tipsy) white rabbit. Then the following year I went to a U2 concert at Dodger Stadium on Halloween night and made it back to campus in time for the pumpkin drop (see under annual events). I didn’t see a green flash, but I *did* run into a particular freshman I had been thinking about all day. We went to movie night in the dorm, made sure my housemate got home safely, walked around campus in the dark holding hands, and had our first kiss under the olive trees. Ah youth. Jeremy and I were so young nineteen years ago…

That’s one of the many reasons why I love Halloween.

As promised from my post cards over the weekend, I have some Yosemite photos…

sunset on half dome

fern springs

sunrise from gates of the valley

The whole set is on the photo blog. The snowstorm I missed while I was in California delivered a good 15 inches of snow to our house. This is the snow that will not melt away in the high country, setting up a base for us to play on through the winter and spring. We went to check it out this weekend and Kaweah wanted to come along. Some days she’s slow and stiff, but getting out into the snow always puts a spring in her step. It’s the same for me.

frozen lake and snowy peaks

sunshine, snow, and puppy dog

Winter is coming and my parents are heading back to Virginia soon. We had dinner with them Saturday, but they always want to do happy hour before dinner with us. Their definition of happy hour is wine and cheese, but I brought fixings for a new cocktail we really wanted to share with them. I’ve tried it on a few friends who have all given it a big thumbs up. It’s Jeremy’s new favorite cocktail which is saying a lot if it can unseat the Buddha’s hand citron lemon drop martini.

pear liqueur, a bundy, and lime wedges

Yes, it starts with pear liqueur and ginger beer. Beer not ale. It isn’t alcoholic, but it has a far stronger ginger taste than ginger ale. There are a few brands out there and some taste like cough syrup. My favorite mass produced ginger beer is Bundaberg, which comes from Australia. They call it a Bundy. Aussies are great, aren’t they? I get mine from Cost Plus World Market. They aren’t cheap. My favorite small batch ginger beer comes from Seattle and it is Rachel’s Ginger Beer. I met Rachel and sampled her ginger beer at Delancey when it was taking off. Her ginger beer is in huge demand for good reason – it’s the best.

fill a high ball with ice

pour in the pear liqueur

**Jump for more butter**