use real butter

Recipe: blood orange green tea slushie

For a girl who gushes about winter as much as I do, I must admit that I say “I can’t wait for summer!” a lot. Summer is a lovely concept: wildflowers, hiking and backpacking, cool evenings, mountain biking, summer produce, grilling, open windows, trail runs, hummingbirds, ice cold drinks, afternoon lightning storms, neighbor kids screaming and laughing on their trampoline. That’s because my brain has selectively forgotten about mosquitoes, sunburn, heat, the unrelenting sun, hordes of tourists, pine pollen, dusty trails, and tacky, greasy sunblock. Well, summer has arrived.

she can’t go as far anymore, but she still loves her hikes

and the aspens are finally starting to leaf

caught the tail end of the pasque flowers

a cluster of three

the ever-charming western wallflower

There are signs that usually cue me in to the arrival of summer like the first pasque flowers to bloom on our local trails or the yellow-green haze that develops on aspen stands as their leaves bud. We are typically out exploring and observing these changes throughout the month of May, but May got away from us for a number of reasons this year. Catching these visual signals sets my mind at ease as if Nature is on schedule and the routine resumes. But Nature isn’t on schedule. Spring is late in the mountains, hanging about on the couch like a guest who has overstayed their welcome. Now that Summer has arrived it must contend with the mess Spring left behind. It’s not such a bad mess though…

the intersection of spring and summer: the bike-ski

Spring left a lot of snow in the backcountry. A LOT of snow. I heard on my local public radio station that the Colorado snowpack is 254% of average. No kidding. As we rode to the trailhead with our skis on our packs, we passed 12-15 foot drifts of snow. A forest service ranger said we had a good thirty feet of snow sitting on the backcountry. Then he smiled at our skis and said, “Have fun!”

unpack the ski gear, stash the bikes

that’s what i’m talking about

jeremy ducking out of the wind

happy to have the ski boots off and a fast bike ride back

While I’m anxious to have the trails melt out for some good high-country hikes, I have to admit that I love the fact that there is so much snow. It’s like the best of both worlds because I can ski in short sleeves! More exhausting than the physical exertion is the sun exposure. That sun sucks the energy right out of me – or maybe it’s because I get cranky when I’m hot. The rest of the day, I crave cold beverages. My beverage of choice? Ice water. Next? Arnold Palmer (half lemonade, half iced tea). After that? Anything tea slushie with boba. I can dig a slushie year-round, but it is mandatory in summer.

how about a green tea slushie?

with raspberry and blood orange

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: kimchi fried rice

I hope everyone had a good weekend. And for those of you in the US, I hope you had a good long weekend as Monday was Memorial Day. Mine had a little bit of family, friends, food, outdoors, work, and all of that good stuff. But I was also mindful of those who died in the service of our country (the purpose of Memorial Day) as well as those who have served and those who are serving now. My friend’s husband just deployed to Afghanistan and some of us are feeling protective of her – we’re going to provide support and love to her here while he’s there. So it’s been on my mind a lot lately. As usual, the big things in life put in proper perspective the ridiculous things that get our panties in a wad. I wish more people had that perspective.

Our weekend kicked off with a little wine and cheese party so some of my friends could meet my parents. On Saturday we took my parents into Boulder to check out the Farmers’ Market before the Boulder Creek Festival got underway. Sunday morning we saw my parents off on their return home and then we tried to resume Normal Life which had basically left off a month ago. Jeremy and I did house maintenance, tended to an injured Kaweah (she re-sprained her neck sneezing, I know, right?!), got outside, watched a few movies (Black Swan – meh, and Inside Job – excellent), and tried to catch up on some work.

party: cheeses, charcuterie, crostini, smoked oysters

party: itty bitty caprese sticks

farmers’ market: pastas

farmers’ market: tomatoes (the good kind)

farmers’ market: radishes

flowers from manisha for my mother

hummingbird season means putting uv decals up on our windows

we went riding and found dirt, snow, and mud

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a planner. Maybe it’s the OCD in me, but I think it really boils down to the fact that I value my time and try to make the most of it according to my priorities. I even have a general schedule on my calendar for my blog posts. It keeps me on track or else you’d probably never hear from me again. On deck this week was kimchi fried rice mainly because I’m crazy for kimchi. But then I saw Molly’s post this morning and knew that I was clearly on to a good thing!

life is too short to eat crappy food

My mom and grandma spoke often to me of kimchi noodles (in fact, my mom mentioned them again on this most recent visit). I am a self-declared noodle girl and so I asked where they had kimchi noodles. Turns out they made them at home. It also turns out that it was inspired by a series of Korean soap operas they watched. Okaaaaay. But when I saw a recipe for kimchi fried rice in my December 2010 issue of Fine Cooking, the idea for kimchifying my favorite fried rice recipe wedged into my grey matter.

eggs, green onions, pork, brown rice, kimchi

slicing the kimchi

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: deviled eggs

This week has been abnormal. My parents are visiting. They just bought a place in Boulder. It’s a second home and so they needed to furnish it which involves a lot of driving around and shopping. In the process of furnishing their place they also gifted me with a non-grad student dining set (i.e. a nice dining set). Jeremy and I have been taking them to some of our favorite restaurants in town. They’ve been to Jax, The Kitchen, Flagstaff House, and Sushi Tora on previous visits. This time we introduced them to Frasca and L’Atelier.

frasca: jeremy’s guinea hen

frasca: i had the cobia

l’atelier: bouillabaisse

l’atelier: mom and dad enjoying themselves

Before my parents decided to purchase a second home in Boulder, my dad asked me if I was sure we’d be staying here. He worried that if we moved away for whatever reason, he’d be stuck in Boulder. After dinner this evening, he told me he’s no longer worried if we move away because he’s got plenty of things to do in Boulder – like eat at great restaurants. They love it here! I’ve been cooking some nice meals for them at our house and Kaweah can always be found right by my dad’s side. I think it’s because he used to feed her treats, but we’ve had to put the kibosh on that activity for her health. Still, she shadows him, ever hopeful.

It must be torture for a lab to live in a house with someone who loves to cook. Whenever I slice food on the cutting board or peel something into the compost bin, Kaweah is right there. When I peel boiled eggs and toss the shells into the compost, her nose drifts ever closer with each toss until she can’t help herself and gently snaps at the falling shells only to be reprimanded. She resets her position and starts all over again. This used to be really bad because I had horrible problems boiling eggs. The shells always stuck, made a mess, and took forever to peel. After my buddy Kitt brought these deviled eggs to a stitch-n-bitch, I knew I would have to make some and I knew that I would have to learn to boil eggs proper-like.

a dozen eggs

While visiting friends in Seattle a few years ago, one of them began preparing boiled eggs and had this nifty little gadget that essentially pierced the base of the egg before boiling. I was told it makes the eggs easy to peel. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I recalled the doohickey and thought, “All I really need is a pin.” So I tried it.

poke a hole through base of shell before boiling and try not to stab yourself like i did

it worked!

**Jump for more butter**