use real butter

Recipe: coconut tea cake

Last week my friend and mentor, Michael Frye, sent me a review copy of his latest ebook release Landscapes in Lightroom 5. I know most of you are here for the food and pictures of the dog, but there is a fraction that is interested in nature photography and photography in general. I have always used Photoshop for my processing and Lightroom for my file management. But after reading Michael’s ebook, I think I’m ready to make the upgrade from Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 5 because it looks like Adobe has kitted out Lightroom 5 with most of the capabilities I want and use in Photoshop on my post processing.

Michael walks you through the functionalities and improvements of Lightroom 5 (and Lightroom 4 – he points out where the two are different) such that you can be a complete newcomer to the software or a Lightroom veteran. All the while, he adds his own very good advice on how to get the most out of Lightroom 5 for a nature photographer (and photographer in general). Michael has a thorough and methodical teaching style both in person and on the page. Here, he uses his own beautiful photographs in his hands-on tutorials and makes the RAW files available for you to follow along in the processing. There are eight instructional videos to accompany the material.

In addition to the Lightroom 5 guide, Michael shares his great insight into digital post processing and the artistic motivations that drive his technical decisions. I always learn something about my own photography when I talk to Michael or read his blog, articles, or books. You can order the book here.

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We’re back in Crested Butte, spending our mornings getting outside and the rest of each day working. It’s amazing how much work you can accomplish when you are removed from your normal environment. I always refer to Crested Butte as my second office (I’m getting there slowly), but it’s really more of a retreat for both of us where we can find blocks of time to think and be mentally productive. There are still flowers, but most of the showiest displays have gone to seed. Still, it’s quite lovely riding or running or hiking through the meadows and hillsides and forests. The weather has been cool and rainy since Tuesday, and I am loving it.

mountain biking

kaweah loves to walk on the lawn

a cold and rainy trail run – my favorite conditions

I’m sure the weather will swing back into warm (nay, hot) summer again, but these rainy mountain days put me in the mood for baking. One recipe I’ve had dog-eared forever is Dorie Greenspan’s coconut tea cake. So let’s get to it.

coconut milk, coconut, rum, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, flour, sugar

butter the pan

whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together

melt the coconut milk and butter

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: salmon cakes

For those of you interested in the good eats around Boulder, I wrote a little article for The Guardian that was published over the weekend in their travel section. Of course, Boulder has WAY more than 10 great restaurants (and bakeries and coffeeshops), so this is really just a sampling of the awesomeness that is the Boulder Food Scene.

It’s been a girls’ weekend here at Butter Headquarters. Jeremy is in Hawai’i for a meeting, a trip I declined to join because even though Kaweah does not require high-maintenance care, she does require specific care and attention for her various medical issues. We took her to the vet a few weeks ago for a check up and her conditions (laryngeal collapse, kidney failure, canine degenerative myelopathy, deafness) continue to decline, but slowly.

those old legs have hiked many mountains

I asked Doc Clements how we would know when it is time, but I couldn’t finish my sentence as I looked at the ground and blinked away my tears. Quality of life, dignity, happiness, he answered. All the while, Kaweah was wagging her brains out because she absolutely loves being at the vet. He raised his eyebrows in a thoughtful manner as he handed Kaweah a treat, “When I first saw her symptoms a few years ago, I would have given her a few months. But it’s been a couple of years and she is doing very well, considering. So she just might surprise us yet.” He smiled and reached down to give her a pat and another treat.

she still keeps her girlish figure

Kaweah is my first dog. I mean MY first dog. I used to wonder when she was ever going to slow down because she was so full of energy and enthusiasm for over a decade. We just got used to her dragging us up and down the mountain for 18 miles and taking running leaps into icy alpine lakes and acting like every single person she met had just promised her a lifetime supply of raw beef. When it did happen, it was gradual and rather pleasant. She stopped pulling at the very end of her leash anytime we hit the trails. Kaweah began to behave herself after 10 minutes instead of 2 hours when guests came over to the house. Her après hike naps grew longer.

and kaweah knows how to stop and smell the roses blanket flowers

It has been bittersweet to witness Kaweah’s body finally succumb to her age. She’s more affectionate now. She can no longer outrun us. She doesn’t bark anymore when the foxes call at dusk because she can’t hear them. In the past year she has started hiding out in dark corners or under tables on occasion. Her walks are down to a quarter of a mile and her hind legs tend to slip and stumble and give out every now and again. But each morning, she’s a bouncy, waggy, happy dog who pounces on her plush toys in anticipation of breakfast. I toggle between being ready for that day when I have to let her go and sobbing at the thought of saying good-bye (like I am right now). I know some people regard aging pets as a burden, but in many ways I feel the same compassion for Kaweah in her old age as I did for my beloved grandmother in her last years. Be kind. Be patient. Be understanding. Be loving. Be caring. Spoil her.

you will always be my baby puppy

Kaweah may or may not have gotten a few chunks of salmon while I was preparing this recipe. It’s getting hard to say no to that furry little face, especially when she tilts it to the side. When my parents came out to visit us in Crested Butte, Dad kept going over the menu for their stay as if these were critical military strategies. He told me he would make salmon cakes, freeze them, and cook them for us the first night. I heard so much about these salmon cakes that I almost didn’t want to eat them… but I did, and I really liked them.

removing the skin from the filet

salmon, onion, eggs, lemon, mayonnaise, salt, flour, bread crumbs, parsley (not pictured: panko)

chop the salmon

everything prepped to make the patties

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: blueberry scones

Right now, part of my work involves getting up early and hiking to alpine basins to assess the state of the wildflowers. You don’t always hit pay dirt, but I like that it gets me outside into the backcountry and that I’m not sitting on my bum all day. And in summer, you’re almost always guaranteed to be greeted by many familiar friends in the high country. I saw several favorites up high in marshy alpine meadows.

mountain bluebells

magenta paintbrush

I paid the price for those flowers too… in blood, so to speak. I wake up each morning with new mosquito bites despite my efforts to don pants and long-sleeves when I’m hiking and photographing. I have two requests for enterprising individuals: 1) please make a sunblock that I can take in pill form and 2) please make a mosquito repellant that I can take in pill form. I would pay good money for those things. And some mornings I want to see things a little faster than the pace of a hike, or even a trail run.

mountain biking makes it harder for the mosquitoes to get you

and then you ride to the local coffeehouse and wait in line with a random cute dog

Another part of my job is knowing when certain slopes or basins are reaching peak bloom and what time of day or which conditions are ideal for the images I want to capture. It starts to feel a little frenetic if you cover a wide area, especially if it takes half the day to reach some of these places. And by evening, when the mosquitoes are in their swarming frenzies, my mind often wanders to questions like, “Why haven’t more creatures evolved to hunt and eat mosquitoes?” Why, indeed.

tall larkspur

iphone behind the scenes (courtesy of jeremy)

Jobs have been on my mind lately because I recently sent a package of baked goods to my friend, Jamie, to thank her for the beautiful cutting boards she made. I sent it USPS priority and they said it was delivered two days later – except she never received it. She inquired after the package and with a little digging, I think the USPS realized that THEY SOMEHOW LIED ABOUT THE DELIVERY because they found the package and gave it to her 11 days after it was supposed to have been delivered. WTH?! More like USPOS. Of course, the baked goods were dead on arrival, because they were blueberry scones made with fresh organic blueberries. Smooth move, USPS. At least I had sense enough to send the second package via UPS (and those guys wear cute brown shorts). So let’s make some blueberry scones and have sense enough not to entrust them to the US Postal Service EVER AGAIN.

you’ll need: blueberries, flour, butter, lemon, eggs, sanding sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cream, and vanilla

whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together

cut the butter into the flour

grate lemon zest into the dry mixture

**Jump for more butter**