use real butter

Recipe: thai cucumber salad

The longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is coated in yellow over here. Every morning for the past couple of days and for the next two weeks, we will wake to a light dusting of pine pollen around our house. My morning ritual includes claritin, a nasal steroid spray, and allergy eye drops. So far so good.

But as most of you know, I straddle two seasons at any given time because Boulder is always warmer (nay, hotter!). So last week when I attended and photographed the grand opening for my friend’s awesome new restaurant Pica’s Boulder (5360 Arapahoe), it was hot. Not only was it hot, but the mosquitoes found me and loved my ankles to itty bitty bits, or bites. However, the hanger steak tacos were so absolutely worth it. Bite for bite, you know.

chef andy, chef trent

skewered amazing tantalizing shrimp

“you want some fire?”

temptation

Pica’s Boulder is open, kids. Head on down there to try their fabulous food, support a local business, and perhaps catch some World Cup action on the television. Authentic Mexican food has finally arrived in Boulder. Let’s show Pica’s some love.

And speaking of love… my world is blooming at last. Colorado’s high country will light up with colorful waves of wildflowers washing higher into the mountains as summer wears on. We like it. We like it very much.

the aspen leaves are getting bigger

snowfields give way to green alpine plants

alpine lakes paint their own watercolors

wild strawberry blossoms

western wallflower

Hot weather and the upcoming Food and Light workshop mean I need cooking to be simple, fast, and of low thermal consumption. I am a fool for pickles and I am especially so for Asian pickled vegetables.

rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt

rough peeling cucumbers

I used to frequent Min’s Kitchen during my Southern California days. It is popular with the NASA JPL lunch crowd and the owner is a darling little woman who always greeted me and my friend, Squid (that’s not her real name – it’s a term of endearment), with such warmth. Once we sat down, they always brought a small dish with a pickled cucumber salad. Pickles always come in small dishes. Why is that? I could eat pickles until my stomach aches (and I have).

scrape out the insides

slice thin

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: cream cheese brownies

[A huge thank you to Fine Cooking for highlighting use real butter in their newsletter as one of their favorite food blogs. I find myself in truly stellar company. It’s no secret to my readers that Fine Cooking is my favorite cooking magazine and a source of inspiration for urb.]

The excitement never ends over here at urb headquarters, but first… some proof that I am keeping off the streets this summer:

we are back to sunny weather here – great for a ride

or a romp in the high country

the snow is melting fast

kaweah wanted to go for a swim in the icy water

and she did!

See all of that blue sky in the pictures? That’s right. Blue Colorado sky, bright green aspens, dark green pine forests, white snow, and in a few weeks – multitudes of brilliant and colorful wildflowers. This is the place to be and if you sign up for the Food and Light photography workshop, you’ll be here to enjoy Colorado, a fantastic group of fellow food photographers, and all of the great things our sponsors have lined up for us. Speaking of sponsors, I am *really* excited to have the following companies (many of them local) supporting our workshop: Pro Photo Rental, Atlas Purveyors, Culinary School of the Rockies, Izze, Savory Spice Shop Boulder, Chocolove, Stonyfield Farm, New West KnifeWorks, Earthy Delights, and Nations Photo Lab.



And before we dive into the recipe, I’m psyched to be a judge for the Threadcakes Contest which is now live through Monday, August 16, 2010.

What’s Threadcakes? I’m glad you asked! It’s a competition where entrants bake and decorate a cake based on a Threadless t-shirt design. Some of the designs are absolutely stunning – as are the cakes! Here are the rules and you can follow Threadcakes on Twitter @threadcakes. You should go to the Threadcakes website to see last year’s winners. I was totally impressed and I know some of my readers and blogging pals have the talent to bring the smackdown this year. Check it out!

Last week when the weather was decidedly cooler and rainier than it is now, I baked four batches of these brownies for friends, neighbors, visitors, and Jeremy. Ever forget about a recipe for a while and then rediscover it? I actually got this recipe from Jeremy. Okay, I got this recipe from Jeremy’s mom. Jeremy told me these are his grandmother’s cream cheese brownies and he *loves* them. I never knew his maternal grandmother as she had passed away before Jeremy and I met, but I hear many loving and hilarious stories about this wonderful woman.

cream cheese and butter

making the cream cheese batter

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: italian meatballs

It snows here in June. It snows, it rains, it thunders, it sun showers, it gets misty.

it’s gorgeous

and we love it

miss kaweah especially loves it

And people get married. It’s like a conspiracy, but June is the time. Take my friend, Kitt, for instance. She got married this weekend. It’s June. I rest my case.

lookin’ good!

the gals get ready

the flower girls share a laugh with kitt’s mom

vows

congratulations, you two!

Since it is wedding season, I could not think of a better time to tell you about the book my friend, Lorna Yee, has written. It would make a fabulous gift for any couples getting married.

the newlywed kitchen

The subtitle is Delicious Meals for Couples Cooking Together, but I’ll tell ya – Jeremy and I don’t really cook together. 17+ years and the formula is as follows: I cook and he does some prep and washes the dishes. I figured the book wasn’t really meant for us (and by us, I mean me), but I was willing to flip through and see what it had to offer. I sat down for what I thought would be fifteen minutes of perusing. It turned into an hour reading the delightful interviews with well-known food couples, including two of my favorite people on the planet, Shauna and Danny. And don’t let me forget the recipes. I have about two dozen pages dog-eared; they all look so fresh and good. But there was one recipe that I just had to try.

start with bread soaked in milk

let’s make meatballs: beef, pork, veal, egg

Italian grandmother meatballs. The recipe looked authentic (I checked it against this meatball recipe from my dear Susan), quick, and easy. Remember, I am a fan of quick and easy right now!

egg, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, flat-leaf parsley

add the parmesan and mix

**Jump for more butter**