February 27th, 2010 by Sha
We’re almost there, and it cannot come soon enough. This winter has been particularly difficult, not that we got more snow than usual it’s just that our quad has been down for over a month making any amount of snow an absolute bear to deal with. No pun intended by the way; I know first hand about dealing with bears. We’ve got a regular visitor who will no doubt be showing up shortly after spring arrives looking for his first meal of the season. Anyway, I thought I’d update the site with a spring theme. I know this is really an Easter theme, which I used on the day last year, but I just think it is so cute that one day is not enough. So here it is, with a reposted image from the spring of 2009 photo gallery. Okay Mr. Sun, come on out and make with the warmth!
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 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!
August 11th, 2009 by Sha
It’s hard to believe that Pete and I adopted Max nine years ago. He’s my best-est pal, so I was very concerned when he started losing weight rather quickly a couple of months ago. He had all but lost his appetite, and was very lethargic and quiet – very un-like his normal self. We took him to the vet and ran a blood test, and they also checked his teeth. It turned out that he had an abscessed tooth and needed his teeth cleaned pretty badly. So we made an appointment for a cleaning and for the tooth to be removed. A few days later we heard back from the vet about the blood tests, and thankfully everything is fine. No kidney or liver problems for my Beastie, hooray! A few more days and it was time for the surgery, which went fine except that he wound up losing four teeth instead of just one. It’s been just over two weeks since the surgery and he is doing so much better. He’s talkative and energetic, and as of yesterday is allowed to eat whatever he wants again. Some people would say he is just a cat, but I couldn’t disagree more. Max has more personality than a lot of people I know, and I love spending my days with him. He is worth every penny that it took to make him better, and now my Max is back to his old self again and I couldn’t be happier.
July 4th, 2009 by Sha
The photo of the bison sculpture is from the trip and was taken in front of Wells Fargo Bank on Main Street in downtown Grand Junction, CO. The group I was with, a bunch of gearheads, was geeking out on this because it is made entirely of old bumpers. How cool! We walked around and marveled at it for at least ten minutes, it is very impressive – and large. By the time I returned on July 1st the trip had lasted 19 days, a bit longer than expected. Pete picked me up from the airport and we went directly to East By Southwest for sushi. We got to try something new, Pacific Blue Marlin, and wow was that ever terrific! Very similar to Walu, a light colored flesh with a mild flavor and very “meaty” in texture. It was presented sashimi style (my favorite) with a balsamic fig sauce and peppery micro greens, delicious! Before picking me up at the airport Pete had stopped at Wal-Mart for some new shirts and also picked up a huge lodge-style tent so we can go camping. He set the tent up yesterday, all 11’ x 20’ feet of it and boy is it great! We’re planning on going camping for a couple days next week in nearby South Fork along the Rio Grande river. It’s really pretty over there, and it’s only a little more than an hour away. I have a lot of data entry to do before we go, but there has to be time for fun with all the work I’ve done over the past three weeks. I haven’t worked this many hours in years. Oh well, feast or famine as they say. One thing is for certain though, it is so nice to be home and to be with my honey and all our kitty kids. I missed them all so much!
