use real butter

Recipe: alfajores macarons

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you have a group of people who are willing to work hard together. On Friday I met with a group of ladies for a bridal shoot. No, I am not a wedding photographer AT ALL, and here I was teaching a couple of friends about shooting weddings! We had a lovely bride-to-be who was willing to drive up to Boulder and don her beautiful new dress and sit in the dirt and dry, prickly weeds for our shoot in the hot sun and blowing dust.

who wouldn’t marry this woman?

it’s all about the accessories

Lynn was a dream to work with: cooperative, patient, very sweet, and she looked awesome. Beth and Erin were terrific assistants and when it came time for each of them to shoot, they each did a great job. Considering we were shooting at the worst time of day, it went really well and Lynn loved the photos.

in the grasses

beth and erin resting in the shade of my car after a long and hot shoot

And now fall is really here! There were plenty of leaf peepers around the mountains today. I’m glad to see that so many people enjoy the fall colors although I’ll be happy when they are out of my frame while I am shooting during the week :)

hint of reds

still lots of green aspen

There is snow in our forecast for the next several days, which I’m quite excited about. It’s not even technically autumn yet. I used to associate fall with the start of a sports season – whatever sport I was playing (field hockey or volleyball). These days my thoughts immediately turn to the fall shoot, fall hikes, snow, and… ski season :) I also find my cooking mojo kicking into gear once more now that it’s cool enough to turn on the stove or oven. That has me thinking about apples, pomegranates, persimmons, roasting vegetables, hot spiced drinks, crock pot recipes… and a GIVEAWAY! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? That’s because I couldn’t decide on what to give away. That is, until I got one of these:

a 16Gb ipod nano

It came with my new laptop, but Jeremy and I both have iphones, so we were like, “We don’t need the nano.” The lady at the Apple store said it was free, so I said, “I’ll take the nano.” But I’m not keen on keeping stuff that I don’t need and I figured it would make a great prize for someone who would like to have 16 gigs worth of music, podcasts, and other aural stimuli in a shiny, black device as big as a business card. It’s brand-spanking-new, slick, and comes in its own Apple Sleeping Beauty clear faux-glass (plastic) case. How ’bout that?! So how can you make this little pal your own?

The Rules: To enter, leave a comment on THIS post telling me what is quintessential autumn for you! Please, no novels. One entry/comment per person. Multiple comments by the same author will result in disqualification and deletion. You have until midnight (MST), Sunday, September 27th, to enter. The winner will be chosen at random (method was officially approved by resident astrophysicist) in San Francisco and announced on Monday, the 28th of September. I will ship anywhere in the world. Good luck!

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Recipe: blueberry peach crisp

There are times I dream of the day when I can have a shunt put into my head so I can be “plugged in” 24/7, not unlike that awful Keanu Reeves movie (Johnny Mnemonic). I refer to the concept of plugging in and not the bad acting despite Keanu’s strapping physique. Strapping :) Heeee! Where was I? Oh yes… I sometimes forget how utterly glorious it is to just unplug.

backpacking in the san juans at 12,500 feet

The plan was to kill two birds with one stone, but I ended up wounding one and missing the other completely. We backpacked into the San Juans to shoot the Perseids (meteor shower) only to be socked with weather. I love weather. If you’ve read more than two posts on use real butter you know that my idea of a rockin’ good Friday night is to shoot a lightning storm. Yes, I am that much of a dork. Still, that threatening system kept us off the high passes we were to cross over the next couple of days. I love a lightning storm, but I am not so keen on standing under one at 13,000 feet. Instead, we returned to our puppy who was staying at Camp Grandparents in southern Colorado where I could shoot the storms from a safe distance away.

there is good lightning to be had from the deck

We spent the weekend cooking, baking, quilting, Wii bowling (and boxing – omg, I haven’t laughed that hard in ages), and eating at the compound. I call it The Compound because it’s like a giant vacation retreat in the mountains. The Hatch green chile crop is early this year and they were roasting them in town. My ILs picked up a couple of bags one day and for dinner we had green chiles fried in blue cornmeal, chile rellenos, shredded beef tacos with green chiles, and green chile blue corn muffins. Better than any restaurant, that’s for sure. There are no pictures from that meal because I was too busy eating it.

roasting the beautiful lovelies

from the front porch

Did I mention my MIL can outquilt just about anyone? She’s like… she’s like Billy the Kid of the quilting world. We have a little ritual where I teach her pastry recipes and she teaches me nifty quilting techniques when we visit with each other. Well – we only quilt at their place because MIL has a gorgeous and dedicated sewing room, which isn’t a room but more like a cottage. Call it Quilting Central at The Compound. As an early birthday gift, she took me to the quilt store in town and bought me some beautiful fabrics. Neat quilt shop. They also sell pet food, fishing tackle, and heavy artillery enough guns and ammo to arm a small country. It’s important to be able to get all of your shopping done in one place. I started two quilts, two baby quilts for kids who are probably driving already. By the time I finish those two quilts, my friends will have collectively popped out another 8 babies and I will have 26 babies to make gifts for. Maybe some of you should cool it for a while. Just sayin’.

the quilting room

Kaweah had a wonderful time playing with Bumpy and Buffle(head), the ILs’ pups. In fact, I think she sort of hates us now for taking her away from Camp Grandparents where there is bear poop to roll in, an endless supply of toys to shred, plenty of dog butts to sniff, round-the-clock wrestling, and more deck square footage than our entire house. Sorry pup, you’ll have to settle for Paradise B. Despite getting stormed out of our trip early, we picked up an extra day at The Compound and for the most part remained unplugged. It was pleasant, but we were happy to come home to our own bed last night.

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Recipe: chopped shrimp waldorf salad

Frenzied. I’m feeling frenzied here. There is much going on at use real butter headquarters because summer is when everything except sleep gets turned up to maximum intensity: travel, visits, socializing, entertaining, outdoor pursuits, house maintenance. Like a nearly empty tube of toothpaste, we’re trying to squeeze every last bit of summer out of August before Jeremy resumes teaching. [Even though my summer runs through September, his does not.] You know the drill. Or maybe you don’t? You might be one of those types who likes to relax. My idea of relaxing is doing something, so in essence, I can’t relax. It’s okay, I am happier functioning that way. From the still photographs, you’d never be the wiser for the flurry of activity going on behind the scenes.

can’t resist fruity cocktails: piña coladas

brilliant mammata clouds after sunset

dinner at sushi den in denver with my parents and friends

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