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Recipe: chile-lime chicken tacos

I love a good day!

1) I like waking up early in the morning and getting heaps of things done. It makes me feel like my days are fuller… I guess they ARE fuller because I don’t go to sleep any earlier (that’s the vicious sleepless cycle of summer).

2) While I did my sit ups, Kaweah sat at my feet and licked my shins. Every time I laughed, she wagged her tail and stamped her front paws because she wanted to play.

3) I tried out a new recipe that rocked my socks.

4) My lens is under full warranty for major repairs. Yay!

5) I bought another camera. The circuit is now complete. Something something Dark Side…

6) Met with Dan of Savory Spice Shop in Boulder to discuss sponsorship of the Food and Light workshop. I picked up several beautiful herbs and spices to boot. And my girlfriend, who was passing by on the street, saw me and popped into the shop to pinch my bum! Wooooo!

7) Had dinner with my buddy Jason while he helped me get my new search tool installed on the blog, and then we went to a local blogger meetup.

at the meetup (jason was still working on the search tool)

8) I brought fresh baked cranberry oatmeal cookies (and chocolate oatmeal cookies) for Jason and my pals Manisha and Kath at the meetup.

actually, these garlic fries weren’t so good, but jason liked his mojito(s)

iphone whore

9) Ran into my friends Jo and Jeremy plus a fellow Ignite Boulder speaker Peter! Met several local bloggers including a darling woman Rose (Rosie?).

lovely manisha

rosalicious addresses the group

And those were just the highlights of the day! But wait, here’s another highlight: chile-lime chicken tacos. After downing an exquisite taco from a taqueria in California’s Central Valley, I began thinking about all manner of Mexican food that I hadn’t had in a while. It’s just not the same in Colorado, you know? At least not until my friend opens his new Mexican Taqueria in Boulder – but I’ll tell you more about that later!

fresh lime juice

trimmed chicken thigh meat and chile powder

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Recipe: kung pao chicken

We are quite enjoying the “no cleaning” directive after Chinese New Year. Not that I am an avid house cleaner in general, just that for these two weeks my slacking is condoned. This morning it occurred to me that I am more like my dad than my mom when it comes to cleaning. Dad likes things to be tidy and neat whereas Mom likes to disinfect and scrub until prettier than new. Kaweah was always disappointed when she visited my parents’ house because there was never anything to sniff let alone eat off the floors. Not that we have burgers and cake sitting on the ground, but this dog routinely monitors the state of the kitchen floor and snarfs up the tiniest of crumbs… she’s a lab for crying out loud.

you say the word, and i will eat these grapefruits

Why no cleaning for 2 weeks? It’s because the traditional lunar new year festivities last until the next full moon (Lantern Festival), but my family typically celebrates with a feast on new year’s eve and then they refrain from cleaning for 2 weeks. I guess I also leave the Chinese symbol for luck pasted upside down on our front door until the Lantern Festival. Anyway, even though the big party is over, I’m just telling you that it’s not officially over. I’m sort of having a little party of my own here…

little tripod, meet tripod on steroids (it’s tall, i’m standing on a chair)

I’m learning that the upgrade never really ends and that compact, lightweight, durable precision instruments are beautiful and ridiculously pricey. Well, for that matter, large, heavy precision optics are also beautiful and ridiculously pricey. I’m pretty sure these are tears of joy falling down my face…

two newest members of the lens family (left)

There is only one recipe left from our Chinese New Year’s Eve menu to be posted and I wanted to share that with you before I resumed staring lovingly at the new lenses I am cradling in my arms. I had an old kung pao chicken recipe for years and it was decent. I never ordered it in restaurants because it was so easy to make at home. One day I saw Bee had posted a recipe for kung pao chicken, and it looked heavenly. I bookmarked it to try and never got around to doing so until last week. [Hey, I never said I wasn’t slow about some things.]

green onions, bamboo shoots, ginger, red chili peppers, garlic, cashews

diced chicken meat

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Recipe: boursin chicken

The winds have been fierce for a few days around here. It’s bad enough that my computer monitors are shaking with each gust that hits our house. I was skeptical that we’d even get to ride the lifts this morning as I drove up to our local hill in white out conditions. But… it was the first day of the women’s program and for some reason, when I’m with my betties, the winds and cold never seem to be as bad as when you ski alone.

meeting behind the nordic center

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