use real butter

Recipe: candied calamansi limes

There is so much going on here at urb and the holidays are poised just around the corner like a prank waiting to smack me in the face. It’s GREAT! Who doesn’t love being a frenzied mess? I get so much more done that way. Let’s quit with the chit chat and get to brass tacks.

this one is from the heart
Giveaways here, giveaways there. I wasn’t planning on a giveaway right now because we have a big one coming up to celebrate a certain black dog’s birthday. However, with Thanksgiving around the corner I’ve been thinking less about planning a giant meal (um, I still don’t know what we’re having for dinner and I’m not really caring at this point) and thinking more about what I’m thankful for. After this last trip to California where I sat in the back of the bus with some of my favorite food bloggers and talked about… BLOGGING, I was saddened to hear about the hateful comments and emails these fine people occasionally receive. In general, food blog readers are quite supportive. I have to say I felt a warm glow inside when I thought about my readers – you guys. I’m thankful that I have this awesome online community of fun, witty, creative, and caring people. And because you give me warm fuzzies, I’d like to give you a warm fuzzy in return.

one i made for katie in manos del uruguay wool (sage multi colorway)

Everything I’ve given away on the blog has been out of my pocket thus far. Today, I’m announcing a little giveaway that is from my pocket, my hands, and my heart. It’s a scarf. I haven’t made it yet! That’s because I want YOU to pick the colorway of the yarn. I’ve already selected the pattern: My So Called Scarf because um… it has to be something that I can actually knit and it’s a pattern that works for a man (all two of you) or a woman. Even if you don’t want a scarf, it makes a lovely gift for someone else. The winner will get to select one of these gorgeous yarns. I recommend choosing a multi (variegated) yarn because it looks particularly nice with the pattern. So here are the rules, kiddos:

1) Leave a comment on this post and share what Thanksgiving is about to you. Even if you don’t celebrate Yankee Thanksgiving, what does it mean to you? No novels, please :)

2) You have until midnight Mountain Standard Time (GMT minus 7 hours) on Wednesday, November 25th to enter (so 12:01 am will be Thanksgiving Day here).

3) Multiple comments from same person will be disqualified.

4) The winner will be selected at Crazy Random by The Dog and The Astrophysicist and announced on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009.

5) I will ship worldwide.

6) Good luck!

Not too long ago, my dear friends Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple shipped me a package of sharp objects I couldn’t fly home with from BlogHer Food 09. They included several precious fruits from their yard in the care package. [Okay, Diane told me last week that the passion fruits were bought because their passion fruit vines weren’t producing much – this does not diminish my gratitude one iota.] I ate the dragonfruits, froze the passion fruit pulp, and then what to do with those calamansi limes?

remember these?

i like that the lime is orange

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: grilled steak and cheese sandwich

Congratulations to Laura of Laura’s Best Recipes for winning the Quaker Oats challenge! My sincerest thanks to all of you who took me and Farm to School to the finals! You all are wonderful. While I’m disappointed that we didn’t win $10,000 for Farm to School, I think we raised awareness of the awesome work they are doing. You can always contribute independently – it is a great organization that gets at the root of helping farmers and helping our school children both immediately and for the long haul.

I can’t tell you how many times I have driven between 1 to 6 hours in order to get to a dark sky site and wait all night for meteor showers back in the day. I’ve gone with friends, but mostly I’ve gone with Jeremy. Jeremy and I would drive 4-6 hours out of Los Angeles to escape the light pollution and it was always on a weeknight so that we’d leave home sometime after dinner, arrive at the dark sky site by midnight, then watch for four hours and drive back bleary-eyed at 4 am only to hit the CRAZY 6 am traffic from Lancaster into the LA basin and then drag our carcasses into work. That made for some big headaches, let me tell you. These days, I just step out onto my deck and see if the weather is cooperating. When the skies are clear here, we can see the Milky Way as plain as if someone smacked you in the face with it. It is stunning to behold, every time. Some might think it would grow old seeing this on a daily basis, but like the beautiful mountains I live in – I never tire of seeing the Milky Way. I never tire of seeing the Pleiades overhead or Orion rising in the winter to chase them across the sky or Venus setting in the west. Ever since I was a little girl I would gaze up at the moon, the stars, the night sky. I still do. It takes my breath away.

All that to say, I did see Leonids last night. I find shooting stars to be mesmerizing. I didn’t capture any to share, because even though I had enough foresight to call my neighbor to ask that they turn off any lights overnight, I didn’t call the OTHER neighbor who leaves this crazy giant floodlight on – which reflects remarkably well off all of the snow on the ground. *squinty eyes* Guess I’ll have two phone calls to make next time.

Right. There is snow on the ground, but it’s fast melting away because we here in Colorado get a lot of snow and a lot of sun. It’s a perfect combination especially on a blue bird morning.

beautiful and familiar view from my deck

I’m still sorting my brain, my photos, my schtuff from last week and will be sharing that fantastic trip with you soon enough (when brain is in order). I landed in Denver on Friday and raced the snow storm home (it beat me), fed the dog, downloaded photos, wiped a CF card clean, and headed back to Boulder just in time to pick up Jeremy and arrive at the Culinary School of the Rockies (CSR) Harvest Dinner. We had been invited by Sarah Blecher, the lovely woman I met at the Savory Spice Shop shoot. I have a special place in my heart for CSR because that’s where I learned how to make pastries and how to adjust for high altitude (it’s still an ongoing learning process, but at least I’m no longer floundering about like a turtle on its back thanks to CSR). When I walk into the professional kitchen, I almost feel like I’m coming home – it is that familiar for me. The people who work there are wonderful, happy, and enthusiastic. They teach, they learn, they have fun.

The Harvest Dinner is a meal planned, prepared, and served by the Culinary Arts Farm to Table Program students to a dining room of about 60 guests. I was so excited to go back into the kitchen and watch the students in action! You’d think after a week of fine food and fine wine that I’d be sick of it. To that I say: ELASTIC WAISTBANDS are your friends.

best plate of the night: ale-brined pork belly with polenta and apple cider reduction

a student preps the pappardelle

We sat with several members of the CSR staff and friends talking about the local restaurant and food scene, CSR classes and programs, food, wine, and more food. I feel fortunate that a town the size of Boulder can boast its own Culinary School and still offer fun home classes for cooking enthusiasts. CSR has a strong involvement with the local community as well – and that’s a great thing for all of us.

another winner: sherry-braised chick peas

students quickly gather to serve apple brioche bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce

Overall, the meal was superbly executed. I kept thinking to myself, “I must get these recipes!” followed by “I need to not eat for the next month.” You can see more photos from the evening on my photo blog. But now, it’s time for a recipe so simple that the only reason I don’t make it more often is because you’d have to plunger me through the door.

hello pretty ribeye steak, i think i love you

make that, i *definitely* love you

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: dragon roll sushi

The Daring Cooks are making sushi this month! We have done quite a bit of sushi making (and more eating) here at urb so I was quite excited for the selection. Even with the familiarity, I was hard pressed for time to get this done. Because of that, it is with great sadness and yet relief that I am withdrawing from the Daring Cooks. This will be my last DC challenge.

daring cooks – one last cha cha cha!

I really have to thank the ladies of the DARING KITCHEN: beloved Lis of La Mia Cucina and sweet Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice. These two fine women give and give and give to all of the Daring Cooks (and Bakers). I don’t know how they do it, but I admire them for their love and enthusiasm, and especially for their friendship. Thanks, you beautiful babes!

Here’s the official line: The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

And once again, I colored outside of the lines which is probably why I should be leaving the DCs… I didn’t use their sushi recipe, I used the one I always use because we had a very small window of time to get this done. But I still learned a new technique and the sushi totally rocked (because it always does). I decided to try my hand at tempura frying based on this recipe from Allison who does all things sushi-related.

i thought the egg and ice water looked neat before mixing

whisking the wet and dry ingredients together

I think the biggest barrier to making tempura for me has always been the mystery of how to do it. Allison’s recipe is SUPER easy to throw together and so the true hurdle in tempura is the frying. I hate frying, but the more I do it, the more I lose my dread of it. We decided to tempura fry some alba clamshell mushrooms, asparagus, and shrimp. I didn’t have any softshell crab on hand, but tempura shrimp in a roll is another favorite of mine.

ingredients including: alba mushrooms, masago (fish roe), quail eggs

the goods: maguro (tuna), large dry scallops, wild-caught gulf shrimp

**Jump for more butter**