use real butter

Recipe: chinese shaved ice dessert (bao bing)

The Crazy Rain stopped earlier this week and now we seem to be back to our late summer pattern of cooler nights, warm days, and afternoon showers. This ping-pong cycling of temperatures has me donning pants, long-sleeve tops, and fuzzy socks in the mornings and shorts by noon. At night, we tuck Kaweah into her doggy bed with her doggy quilt to ward the cold away from her old bones. I thought we were well on our way to fall, but a trip to Boulder (the long way) dragged me through temperatures in the 80s. It’s never too chilly for me to enjoy a frozen dessert, but late summer is a great time for everyone to indulge in a nice cold treat.

i got this on amazon for $25 this summer (glass bowl not included)

When we had the rare snow day in southern Virginia, Kris and I would stay at home and watch cartoons, slide down the stairs riding in our sleeping bags, jump from untold heights pretending to be superheroes (Green Lantern – I was always Green Lantern), and go play in the snow. To warm up, Kris would always make tea. But we were kids and the tea was bitter, so we added (too much) sugar. The tea was also too hot, so Kris would scoop up some fresh clean snow in a mug and then pour the hot sweet tea over it. I started my love affair with tea slushies at an early age.

the ice disk

shaved ice

The paucity of snow days didn’t deter us from our slushie fix. My parents had an old school manual crank shaved ice machine. Now that I think of it, it was dangerous as hell – but that’s what the 70s were all about! We’d freeze the ice disk and then take turns grinding the ice into soft fluffy flakes, then douse it with artificially flavored and colored syrups. Again – the 70s.

water and brown sugar

dissolve over high heat

brown sugar syrup

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Recipe: huckleberry ice cream

Last summer, my friend and expert wild foods forager, Wendy, introduced me to foraging. It was the inevitable marriage of two of my loves: the backcountry and food. Make that THREE of my loves: the backcountry, food, and plants. I’m a little bit of a plant geek, although nothing close to Wendy’s level of knowledge and geekdom. Truth be told, eating the food is probably the least favorite aspect of foraging for me. I really love the outdoors, the thrill of the hunt (I tell Wendy that I think porcini hunting would be far more exciting if the mushrooms could run… and scream), and learning the native plants. Familiarity with the plants and their various medicinal or culinary uses makes me cherish these mountains even more than I already do.

So when Wendy told me she was going to show me huckleberries last summer, she said, “You’re gonna kick yourself when you realize what they are.” And she was correct. The plant is a low-growing ground cover over a good portion of our mountains. It is EVERYWHERE and I’ve always admired it as a pretty understory on the forested slopes. It’s been there this whole time and I never knew they were huckleberry plants! The plants seem to thrive above 9000 feet, but peter out near treeline (somewhere around 10,800 or 11,000 feet). The berries are small here in the Rockies and quite well hidden, especially if you don’t know to look for them.

huckleberry plant

the berries are underneath

Of course, as with all things, please don’t go randomly picking berries that you aren’t familiar with and popping them into your mouth. That’s just bad form… and it’s dumb. The first time I tasted a fresh huckleberry, I was blown away by the intensity of it. Huckleberries have the perfect balance of tartness, sweetness, and a big flavor for such a tiny berry. Wendy described it perfectly, “Huckleberries are what blueberries aspire to be.” It’s so true. I had a hunch that the huckleberries were nearing peak a few weeks ago, but I was so busy with out-of-town visitors and work that I didn’t get out to pick any until last week. Most of the patches were bare, but a few choice locations had some dark purple berries. I managed half of what I needed for a batch of ice cream. My fear was that I would have to augment the huckleberries with store-bought blueberries and wind up with bluckleberry ice cream. I tried another trail the following morning and was able to squeak out enough for the recipe. These were a little less ripe, but still so full of flavor that some sugar would brighten them up easily enough.

my end-of-season haul

make a compote: huckleberries, water, lemon, sugar

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Recipe: blackberry peach coffee cake recipe

Jeremy and I love dining out in Boulder because there are so many great restaurants in town. But we can get restaurant burnout just like we do when we’re on travel. We cherish our home-cooked meals and quiet conversations together (and with Kaweah). Having visitors up to our mountain home isn’t terribly convenient though, so we usually meet in Boulder. It makes sense.

My aunt (Mom’s youngest sister) and uncle were in town at the end of last week which meant dinner with everyone Thursday and lunch the next day. Then Jeremy and I came to Boulder Saturday for dinner with my folks because they went home to Virginia Sunday morning. I used to feel that going out for dinner was an indulgence. With my parents spending summers in Boulder, we are always meeting up for meals – it’s the Chinese way. I’ve learned to pace myself and nibble at shared plates because even though eating together is so important, I think spending the time together is the most important.

jeremy’s cocktail at jax fish house: botany 101

tuna tartare with cucumber and summer melon

my seared escolar (walu)

I have always bonded with my parents over food. In the last couple of years, they have begun making “special” Chinese dishes that I never had growing up. Maybe it’s their desire to pass along some of their culture and heritage to their daughter who is more American than Chinese. Maybe it’s my increased interest in cooking. In turn, I share with them the foods that I’ve discovered and come to love. I think they enjoy it. Food and family time are so intricately intertwined.

When I saw my parents off at the bus station early Sunday morning, I felt that tiny pang in my heart. One of the reasons my summers are so busy is that I really try to make sure my parents have a good time while they are in Boulder. It’s partly that Good Chinese Daughter thing, partly because they’ve worked so hard all their lives, partly because they’ve been denied the joys of spending their retired years with Kris. I just want them to be happy. This is what we want most for those we love.

i love seeing my mom smile

Saturday evening, I handed my folks some coffee cake I had made. It was for their breakfast on Sunday before their flight home. I remember when I would wake up at puke-thirty in the morning to fly back to college and Mom would be up making breakfast and packing a lunch for me. It’s funny how we become our parents. And by funny I mean ha ha, I mean ridiculous, I mean crazy, I mean strange, but most of all, I mean awesome.

Speaking of awesome – we’ve had awesome rainbow action lately.

my house at the end of the rainbow

a pano of the whole thing from the edge of my neighborhood

So that coffee cake I gave my parents? That was some delightful coffee cake. I’m pretty meh about eating cakes, but add fruit and you’ve changed the whole equation. Right now, I’m obsessing over peaches – luscious, gorgeous, juicy, Palisade (Colorado) peaches. Toss in some blackberries and you’ve got a showstopper.

the streusel: butter, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour

beat the butter and sugars together

add the spices and flour

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