use real butter

Recipe: pumpkin soup

I have 36 hours, but I need about 72. It’s times like these that sleep takes a back seat. Oh well… I plowed through the photos from this last shoot in record time knowing full well if I didn’t get them processed now, it would be 2011 before I’d look at them again. So here ya go:

this hillside was ablaze (in the good way)

mixed bag: reds, greens, yellows, stripped

sunset

aspens lean

You can see the rest of this fall shoot set on my photo blog.

I have many fond associations with autumn. Besides the fall colors and our (mine and Jeremy’s) birthdays, it’s also that time of year for BlogHer Food in San Francisco. BlogHer Food ’09 is where I met Shauna and Danny and little Lu. I don’t go to these conferences intent on meeting (or stalking) specific people unless they are already my friends. So when I met Shauna, I was vaguely aware that she was Gluten-Free Girl. I just knew she was incredibly sweet and that her baby girl kinda ran off with my heart. It was only on our second meeting together at Kingsford University that I became aware of her rock star status (so I’m slow on the uptake, cut me some slack!). But that rock star status is nothing compared to the lovely woman she is. I got to talk with her and Danny on the bus ride into wine country and by our final dinner of the trip they told me about The Beatles, their first date, tattoos, and why Danny was sharing his bottle of lemonade with me.

and now they share this act of love

When I was at IFBC in Seattle, I got to flip through Shauna’s only copy of the book. It made me hungry. I don’t go out of my way to be gluten-free since I like gluten and I can eat it. I can eat the hell out of gluten. So a gluten-free cookbook has to appeal to me at the cooking level, not at the gluten-free level. And this is what I find so special about the book: if you were to erase all mention of gluten-free in the book, it would stand on its own merit as a damn fine cookbook. That’s the magic in the book. That’s the magic in how Danny and Shauna cook and live their lives.

i couldn’t wait to try their pumpkin soup

little pie pumpkin

By the way, this isn’t a proper review – it is merely my heavily biased opinion. I haven’t read the book cover to cover yet as autumn is my busiest time of year. But when I began flipping through the book to tag the recipes I wanted to try, I found myself reading. Shauna has a beautiful writing style and writing voice. A couple of paragraphs into the introduction, her words made me catch my breath and I had to blink back a few tears… because Shauna and Danny are two people I care about very much and their hopes and happiness bring me great joy. It’s about the journeys of discovery, growth, love, happiness, learning, and really incredible food.

oiled and seasoned, ready to roast

scrape out the flesh after the pumpkin has cooled

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: parmesan bacon crackers

There was frost on the ground when I was waiting for the sun to rise. I wasn’t alone. A few other nutjobs were scattered about, standing in the dark and cold, all pointed toward the mountains. We were waiting for magic. Jeremy was in the car either reading a scientific paper or getting some shut eye. Shivering in the blue glow of twilight, I moved my feet in a silly little dance to keep warm. But, I do like sunrise shoots better than sunset shoots. Mornings tend to be quiet, thoughtful. By sunset, I’m usually tired, hungry, hot, dusty, and smelly. Sunset requires a little more discipline to remain inspired.

i love mornings

On this last shoot, Jeremy accompanied me for the 1000-mile drive around southwestern Colorado. This is my fifth year shooting the fall colors in Colorado and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. I know the location of remote favorite stands of aspen better than how to get to most of my friends’ houses in town. The aspens feel like old friends. There is something to be said for the tranquility you find among mature aspens – majestic white trunks, shimmering yellow and red canopy, gold leaves gently floating down around you. Autumn delights and soothes. And winter is just around the corner.

token “we were here” photo

my subaru ad

the moon high overhead

Normally, I don’t think about winter during the fall shoot unless there is an early season snowstorm. There hasn’t been a real snow storm yet. In fact, it’s been outrageously hot. However, we swung by Telluride to scope out the colors and some of the trails. As we stared down from the top of a grassy green field dotted with late season thistles and salsify, I looked up at the sign: a black diamond run. I got antsy for ski season. Despite the sun beating down on me, I envisioned the gorgeous mogul field which must grace that slope in winter. I turned to say as much to Jeremy whose glazed over look indicated he was dreaming of tele turns in hip-deep powder. Oh Telluride…

On our way back, we spied the Telluride airstrip. Jason wasn’t kidding when he told me it’s a cliff.

it’s a cliff

As far as my schedule goes, the fall shoot is done. Stick a fork in it! I have my sights set further west for the next couple of months and then hopefully by then it will be cold enough to start cooking again – I mean really cooking. But if you want a quick baking project that doesn’t turn the entire house into a furnace, might I suggest trying homemade crackers? They are so unbelievably quick and easy, and of course they taste better than any store-bought cracker. How is it that we don’t all make our own? There ought to be a revolution.

all you need to know is that there is bacon

…well okay – and butter and cheese

The greatest hurdle to finally making my own crackers was deciding on a flavor. I knew I wanted it to be savory, so that helped to narrow down my choices a little bit. Ultimately the winner was a baconized version of a New York Times Parmesan cream cracker. Well, I made both versions – one with and one without the bacon in the off chance the bacon cracker didn’t turn out to my liking. Off chance, ha!

add cream, because butter alone doesn’t make it decadent enough

this pinch test is quite handy

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chinese stir-fried scallops

That cool down was a lie. It cooled down for all of one day and then it flipped back to summer. Nature is a fickle lover and so it is that I am waiting for and chasing and waiting for and chasing her fall colors. She flirts and teases and disappoints. Right when I think I have had enough, she flaunts a little more and entices me to chase again. And I can’t help it, because I am so in love with her.

autumn’s grandeur is a little diminished this season

sparkling sunlight through the aspens

Nature photographers and lay persons have very different standards for what a good leaf show is, or so we found out from all of the locals’ reports. The average leaf-peeper passes miles of forest taking it all in without commitment to any of the colors, the light, the trees, the landscape. It’s purely passive. They don’t crawl around looking, thinking, analyzing, choosing, gaining intimate knowledge of the surroundings. Jeremy has asked me if photography has ruined my enjoyment of the outdoors. Yes and no, but mostly no. It’s a heightened sense of what is there, much the way becoming a connoisseur of fine foods might enhance your appreciation for food. But in addition to that soaring joy of getting the shot when the light and the land and the planets align, I can actively back away from shooting and love the mountains and forests for what they are. Because ultimately, this is about love and passion – the fire in my belly.

i’d love this for a living room floor

in stand

aspens provide a nursery for young pines

dusk

You can find the rest from this trip on the photo blog.

My friend Shauna is always talking about joy in the belly because that’s what she and Danny bring to people. They are pretty amazing at it too. Me? I’m more about joy in the heart because I like FIRE in my belly. That’s right. Figuratively speaking, it is what drives me to do what I do. When Jeremy’s stomach is feeling unsettled, he seeks dairy to soothe it (uh, that would be disastrous for my lactose intolerant self). When my stomach is unhappy, I look for spicy foods to make me feel better. I’m the one who wakes up in the morning craving kimchi, jalapeno potato chips (Tim’s Cascade are Diane’s and my favorite brand), or salsa. So when I tried this recipe for Chinese stir-fried scallops, mine was of the fiery persuasion.

chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, scallops, ginger, garlic, cornstarch, sugar, chinese black bean paste

soak the scallops in the cooking wine and cornstarch

**Jump for more butter**