December 8th, 2009 by Sha

Within a matter of hours our Indian summer has turned to winter. The huge storm moving across the United States dumped two feet of snow on south west Colorado overnight. The sun is trying to break out this morning but the weather forecast is telling us more storm is on the way. There’s already too much snow for the four wheeler to plow; it keeps getting stuck and Pete is having a heck of a time trying to clear our road. We’re definitely not going anywhere today. It’s okay though, we have plenty of supplies and the internet is working – that’s all we can ask for in this kind of weather.

November 24th, 2009 by Sha

November 14th, 2009 by Sha

So here’s a couple pics of winter 2009’s first baking project: my first ever attempt at baking 100% homemade cinnamon buns. I used the “Almost Famous Cinnamon Buns” recipe that was in the Thanksgiving issue of Food Network Magazine. It’s a copy-cat recipe for CinnaB–, well, you-know-who’s cinnamon buns. We don’t want any trouble; just good cinnamon rolls. Anyway…I made the dough and filled and rolled the buns the night before; after cutting and proofing the buns in what would ultimately be the baking dish they went into the refrigerator overnight. (By the way, the recipe said to cut the rolled dough log into six buns but as you can see in the photo I wound up with eight counting the funny looking ends.) I took the buns out of the refrigerator as soon as we got up the next morning so they could warm up a little bit, then we popped them into the oven for 30 minutes and oh my – they were fabulous! Slightly crunchy outside, light and fluffy inside; a nearly impossible feat when it comes to baking breads at 7,600 feet elevation. Baking is one thing that has been quite a challenge since moving here; the arid climate and the altitude have huge effects on the outcome of anything that contains yeast. You know, I think this is the first time that something baked came out good the first time!

Oh, and the frosting was a perfect copy of you-know-who’s, and I even had to improvise on that part of the recipe because I did not have any heavy cream! (A storm was rolling into B.F.C. and I couldn’t justify a 30 mile round trip to the grocery store just for heavy cream, so I got online and found several substitution suggestions. This is the one I went with and it worked great: 2/3 cup whole milk + 1/3 cup butter, warm the milk, melt the butter in the milk, let it cool down, and use as you would heavy cream.) The only thing I will do differently next time is to use less cinnamon in the filling, which was also great but because we used  Morton & Bassett organic pure ground cinnamon it was just a little too cinnamon-y in my opinion. I think next time I’ll try using 1/3 less, that will probably work better with the organic ground cinnamon. All in all they came out really good, and we decided to call them CinnaBoos – after me! The best part of making these cinnamon buns just may be how amazing the house smelled all morning. This recipe is definitely worth the effort, and I’m sure I’ll be making these again very soon!

November 1st, 2009 by Sha

Okay, back to the fourth and final installment of our 10th anniversary trip to Las Vegas in early September. (Read Part I; Part II; Part III) The last two places we ate at were Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace and Yellowtail at the Bellagio where we were staying. Mesa Grill was on the list before we left home, and we were both really looking forward to eating at one of our favorite celebrity chef’s restaurants. So was it good? Yes, the food was excellent as we thought it would be. We started with the Squash Blossom appetizer. They were very good and disappeared quickly. (We love these and always get them at any restaurant that has them.) For dinner I ordered the Fire Roasted Veal Chop with horseradish maple glaze and a wild rice tamale with sage butter. The veal chop was perfectly cooked and so tender; and the horseradish maple glaze was really good, a little heat and a little sweet – just right and not overpowering on the veal. It was wonderful. The wild rice tamale however was really dry, I did not finish it. Pete’s entrée was the Southwestern Spiced Duck Breast with carrot habanero sauce and a chorizo & goat cheese tamale with thyme butter. He said the duck was very flavorful and good, but it was a tiny bit dry and could have used more sauce. The chorizo & goat cheese tamale was much better than mine; he said he could have eaten another one. We enjoyed the food but there was something missing from the overall experience; the ambiance felt like that of a chain restaurant and frankly we felt a tad rushed through the dinner by the servers. Who, by the way, were very nice but a bit cold at the same time. Would I eat at Mesa Grill again? Probably not.

Our final meal in Las Vegas was at Yellowtail in the Bellagio hotel where we were staying. I have to say that this restaurant and Olives, both in the Bellagio, were our favorites of the entire trip. We started with the Big Eye Tuna Pizza, a thin almost cracker like “pizza” drizzled with truffle oil and topped with big eye tuna and micro shiso – it was fantastic! Pete also ordered Akira’s “Shooter” – a Kumamoto Oyster in Blueberry Infused Vodka with Wasabi. I didn’t order one because I don’t like oysters, but the blueberry vodka in that shooter smelled so amazing I doubt I’d even taste the oyster. Pete said Akira’s “Shooter” is probably the best oyster dish he’s ever had! Next we ordered a Strawberry specialty roll (spicy tuna & cucumber), a Soft Shell Crab roll (a must have for me at any sushi restaurant!), an Unagi roll (another must have, we both love eel!), and a Yellowtail Kampachi sashimi plate with cilantro and yuzu-soy sauce. Every dish was gorgeous, as well as being a wonderfully balanced harmony of flavors and textures, and the restaurant itself had a great ambiance. The lighting was very nice, dim but not too dark. The decor is modern and yet traditional Japanese; minimal and artistic. The wait staff was very attentive and pleasant. Oh, and I almost forgot the piece de la resistance of the entire meal was this fabulous custom cocktail they have called a Shiso Sunset – Absolut Mandarin vodka, pink grapefruit juice, and blood orange juice with a shiso leaf garnish. (Shiso is the Japanese word for Perilla, an annual herb in the mint family whose taste is similar to that of mint or fennel.) Let me tell you this is one great cocktail; it’s my new favorite drink. A few days after we returned home our server, Carol, sent us a thank you card – how sweet! Yellowtail was a great dining experience and we would eat there again in a heartbeat. It was a terrific way to spend our last evening in Las Vegas!

October 11th, 2009 by Sha

10/13 UPDATE: We had so much fun with the first three pumpkins Saturday night that we did in fact head out to the Chimney Rock Organic Farm pumpkin patch on Sunday. The pumpkin patch was a blast; I hadn’t tromped through one in more years than I’d care to remember. We bought three large pumpkins and three small ones; pictured at left is the Haunted House pumpkin I carved Monday, Oct. 13. I’ve still got a template of a witch flying on a broom, that will probably be the one I do today. Then I think I’ll do scary pumpkin faces with the little ones we bought. Our neighbor has horses so we’re going to ask if we can borrow two hay bales to make a display with our carved pumpkins by the front door. So come back again over the next week to see more photos from our Halloween 2009 pumpkin extravaganza! 10/31 UPDATE: Well, it came and went and I did not finish the Halloween porch decorations. I got busy, and we had a small but unexpected snowfall on the 25th that made us realize we are not quite ready for winter and we’d better get on it before the real snows come.

Yesterday we celebrated fall and the harvest season with an old fashioned pumpkin carving. Pete and I wanted to do something different, so I got online and found some cool pumpkin carving templates at SpookMaster.com. Pete and I carved a black cat pumpkin (shown at left), Pete’s son Connor carved a ghost pumpkin, and his friend Caleb carved a pumpkin head of his own design (click on the image at left to see the full image of all three pumpkins). After we got done carving the pumpkins we lit them and put them on the patio, then we lit a fire in the chiminea and roasted marshmallows while we watched our spooky pumpkins glow in the darkness of night. It was so much fun that we are going to the local organic farm today to buy more pumpkins to carve! (BTW – Chimney Rock Certified Organic Farm is for sale, click here to view the property.)

September 16th, 2009 by Sha

Our first dinner was at Todd English’s Olives inside the Bellagio hotel where we were staying. The restaurant had a great ambiance, and perfectly dim dinner lighting. (I think lighting plays a huge part in a dining experience, and good lighting is always a treat that I appreciate.) This was where Pete had a fabulous Salmon BLT (pictured at left) and I had the Sea Scallops with wild mushroom risotto and spinach. The Salmon BLT was so pretty, and Pete said the fish was perfectly cooked. He also really enjoyed the flavorful heirloom tomato, much different than the unripe tomatoes we get in B.F.C., and the apple wood bacon was the perfect topper. My scallops were also perfectly cooked, tender and moist, and the wild mushroom risotto was delicious. I have not had a good risotto since I worked in West Hollywood and was eating at all the wonderful restaurants in the area. It made me remember how much I like risotto, when it is made correctly, and mushroom has always been my favorite. The spinach was slightly wilted and tossed in champagne vinaigrette; it was wonderfully light and fresh tasting.

The next day we took a drive through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 20 miles northwest of the Strip. It’s a 13 mile scenic loop, and costs $5 to enter but it is well worth it if you have never been there before. Of all the rocks I have seen and taken photos of I have never seen rocks like these before. We stopped at the first view point where the sign was to find out what these rocks were all about. It turns out that about 180 million years ago the area was one of the largest sand dunes that has ever existed on earth, and covered almost the entire Southwest. Over time underground water washed away the red color and left calcium carbonate, turning the sand into rock. The plant life was also very interesting; desert plants that look like they lived under water at one time and even pine trees in one area of the park. Pete and I both really enjoyed the time we spent at Red Rock Canyon, where I took lots of photos of rocks that you can see here, but we were getting hungry so we headed back into town and had lunch at a local sushi restaurant called Yama Sushi. It was really good; we especially enjoyed their house special Harry Potter roll. There were other great names like Hand Job, Who’s Your Daddy, Happy Ending, and Strip Tease! (I’m not kidding, just take a look at their menu.) They also had a yummy spider roll (soft shell crab), and an excellent unagi roll (barbequed eel). Mmm, makes my mouth water just writing about it. Okay, I have to stop now. Next up: Mesa Grill and Yellowtail.