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Recipe: chicken teriyaki bowl

YES! TWO FEET of snow graced our mountains by storm’s end (we averaged 16 inches around our house). Jeremy and I were patient, letting the snow settle for 24 hours before diving into it. Our assessment over two days of backcountry skiing is that the bottom of the snowpack was a wet spring base, but the upper 12 inches of fresh snow was good and wintry. Even Kaweah enjoys feeling the snow underfoot when she does her rounds in the yard. We’re all snow lovers in this house.

jeremy breaking trail into 2 feet of fresh

winding up into the high country

beautiful, untouched snow

plus a little sunshine and bluebird

jeremy ripping skins as a squall approaches

Our temperatures are on the upswing now. Piles of snow that adorned our yard Wednesday morning were gone by the close of business. That’s fast melt. The good news is that the high country keeps getting more snow as guerilla snow storms pop up on the Continental Divide. I know people want the roads to campgrounds, access to trailheads, and trails cleared of snow. Me? I go with the flow. As long as there is good snow, I can ski it and it keeps most of the crowds away. And when it all melts out? We hit the trails running, fast packing, backpacking, mountain biking, or hiking. I love the mountains year-round, every single day.

a glorious sunset

Some of my friends look at me with suspicion. Why is it that I prefer schlepping gear up a steep trail to sleep on the ground (with the bears) and not shower for days on end as opposed to staying in some posh hotel and partaking of fine dining and other luxuries? I find if I don’t go outside and get my heart pumping on a regular basis, I get into a funk. This was especially clear to me during my chemo on days when I didn’t have the strength to sit up in bed. If I don’t stay in nice places and eat fine food, I don’t really miss it. And besides, we are not deprived of fine food. We make damn fine food in the House of Butter. Let’s work some chicken magic.

chicken teriyaki: dark soy sauce, soy sauce, mirin, water, sake, honey, brown sugar, chicken thighs

I have a prejudice against many fast foods. It’s not that I haven’t had my share. Sometimes when you’re road tripping through the sticks on a photo shoot, the only options are the lonely burger outposts or the ubiquitous KenTacoHuts. But more and more I’ve come to realize that a homemade version of a burrito or fried chicken or burger can not only be far healthier (you know what ingredients you put in your food), but way way tastier. Walk past any mall food court and you’ll probably encounter a place that serves some sort of teriyaki rice bowl. I have no idea what those taste like, but all of the parts add up in my brain to something good. How hard could it be to make it yourself?

pouring mirin into a ziploc with soy sauce and dark brown sugar

adding water

drop some chicken thighs in

marinate for up to 24 hours

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Recipe: roasted strawberry ice cream

I hope Mother’s Day was a good one for all of you moms out there. I gave my mom a call earlier in the day and my dad got on the phone to discuss wine, health, Kaweah, and other things. When he was done, Mom and I were able to chat. She’s always been like that – letting everyone else go first. I used to think that was a mom thing, but I’ve learned over the years that it is MY mom’s thing. She still moms me to this day and I’m still learning how special she is. Last month on the ski lift, I told my girlfriend that Mom is always reminding me about retirement contribution deadlines and limits. I said it as if it was a bit of a drag, but my friend turned to me, “You’re so lucky to have someone looking out for you like that. We don’t get that kind of advice from anyone in our families.” I’m so glad she said that, because it dope-slapped me into recognizing that my mom has always looked out for my (and now, Jeremy’s) best interests since the day she brought me into this world.

thanks for everything, mom – i love you!

Dad had taken Mom out for a nice lunch, so they decided to opt out of some yacht club shindig later in the day. Actually, yacht clubs don’t have shindigs – I believe it was a fancy cocktail party at the marina. Mom said, “We just can’t eat that much after a big lunch, and it’s too hot anyway. It’s 84 degrees.” I blinked. We had 5 inches of snow on our deck and it was still coming down. Kaweah was curled up in her doggy bed wrapped in her flannel quilt. It’s always around this time of year I’m about ready to concede the snow to the progression of the seasons. And then it snows. And then I begin to salivate in anticipation of more ski days. Jeremy and I logged some long trail runs on Saturday since they wouldn’t be clear of snow for several days.

the storm engulfing the mountains (and eventually me) on my trail run

MOAR snow!!!

I’ll let you in on a little secret. It’s not uncommon for Colorado to get snow in May. It happens more often than one might deduce from all of the howls of incredulity on the flats. I’m good with it, as you know. I’m never fully ready to accept the blast furnace of summer.

may of 2008

may of 2011

may of 2012

may of 2013

Here’s another little secret I learned this past week. There is strawberry ice cream and then there is STRAWBERRY ice cream. ‘Tis the season for juicy red strawberries and I was determined to find a good and proper strawberry ice cream recipe. Scouring my books and the interwebs, I came across a recipe from Zoë who is as knowledgeable and trustworthy as she is friendly and kind. The trick to intensely strawberry-flavored ice cream is to roast the berries. If you’ve ever roasted vegetables, you know that it concentrates the flavors and enhances the sweetness.

eggs, vanilla extract, corn syrup, vanilla bean, sugar, more sugar, salt, balsamic vinegar, strawberries, cream, milk

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Recipe: grilled salmon cucumber dill salad

It’s important for us to keep one finger on the pulse of our local backcountry. We are always desiring to know the state of the snow, be it the avalanche conditions or the overall quality of the snow. Is the approach clear of snow, patchy snow, full snow, ice, slush, snirt, corn snow, powder. Part of the reason is to know what gear to bring and the other part is to gauge when we should transition from skiing to hiking.

we hoofed it up to lost lake

the continental divide in the distance

willows in bloom

It has been so warm that we figured the snowpack had another couple of weeks before turning into a junk show. We have been trying to get some turns before putting the skis away for the season. Of course, we’re not the only ones interested in the backcountry conditions. My friend, Erin Block, is a highly-regarded angler whose ears and eyes perk up whenever I post photos and issue an alpine lake report from our ski noodlings in the mountains. See, it’s not just ski whores who love on the mountains.

zipping out through the trees

jeremy skirts the shore of left hand reservoir

If anyone was hoping for an early melt, it looks like Nature has other plans. Stormy volatile weather is moving in and we’ve been experiencing lots of thundersnow, graupel, and hail at our house. They are forecasting a foot of snow for Mother’s Day!

nothing like hail on a trail run to keep your pace up

Despite our return to cold weather, my food cravings have barreled ahead into the heart of spring. I noticed king salmon is showing up at the seafood counters as it is the season. King salmon is amazing stuff, but it’s also outrageously expensive here in landlocked Colorado. I opted for the wild coho salmon that was previously frozen and on sale. It suited my purposes perfectly.

spring greens, cucumbers, dill, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon, greek yogurt, red onion, salmon

rub the salmon pieces on both sides in a light coat of olive oil

season both sides with salt and pepper

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