Eating

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May 26, 2026 in Eating, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

Greetings from the garden and Juniper with her sniff on! It’s quite green and lovely and lush, and we are ever so grateful for the work we put in, starting ten years ago, for a xeric landscape. Nearly all of this is possible without any supplemental water, every plant in tune with their surroundings. The water the evergreens and single backyard aspen (the front garden trees are fine without) receive comes from what we have collected on site, and it isn’t a ton. We go around, old-school, with watering cans and buckets, to deliver it exactly where needed.

It is pretty amazing and timely, as the West is starting the summer season with a bananas water deficit. Remember how I told you there wasn’t much of a winter here? Turns out, it was not just our neighborhood, but vast swaths without. This means some reservoirs are at startlingly low levels of water. Think good thoughts, say a prayer, dance a jiggety-jig for rain! We sure are.

Apple cider brined pork chop with sauteed apples. It looks much sadder than it was.

Hot drumsticks, black-eyed peas with olive oil and flake salt, citrus dressed salad.

Mahi-Mahi, made spicy, with a heavy on the cilantro salad.

Greek patty and salad to match

How have you been? Aside from enjoying our first coffee sips on the now warm enough patio (YAY!), we’ve been eating well, and enjoying some new cook books, trading out a few that no longer served. I also tried my hand at gluten-free bread, pictured above, and gotta say, it is HARD. You’re basically trying to make a dense pancake batter into an actual loaf of bread, at least with the recipes I tried. Not fun.

Greg was in Germany for work, so I need only worry about pleasing myself, which was a relief because the first loaf was just gross. It looked great on the outside, and despite following the recipe perfectly, it was really gooey in the middle. No amount of toasting could salvage that mess. Off to the compost heap!

The second, pictured above, was much, much better. It had a nice crumb, toasted well, and made for a really great shrimp sandwich (inspired by the La Copine cookbook). The bad bit? It only tasted good on the first day out of the oven. Afterwards, just very, very bad. So, experiment over. I thought it might be nice to eat more gluten-free, as neither of our aging bellies copes as well as before, but, oh well!

Back to the La Copine cookbook. This is a Parisian cafe steak, with compounded butter; the saddest looking roasted green beans, which were actually very tasty; and a salad with shaved fennel and a riff on their green peppercorn dressing (I generally refuse to make my own mayo-like products, these days, and use jarred), which was fantastic.

Gigante beans with homemade alfredo, which came together so very fast. Huzzah!

When I was little, this was one of my mom’s go to desserts, Devil’s Float. Today, it would be called a self saucing pudding, which doesn’t sound nearly as cool, but tastes awesome, regardless.

Do you have those restaurants where you only order one thing? When I was younger, I used to lament this in my older friends. Why not try something different, mix it up? Then, it became me. If you have a craving, honor it! This tostada honors my favorite at Que Pasa Cantina in Portland, a place we went for many years; I ordered only this, and maybe a margarita. It is still there! I have yet to achieve the perfect cheese to pinto bean ratio they had, but am definitely getting closer.

More from the La Copine cookbook. We are working it, peeps! This is the chicken agrodolce, grilled to perfection by my favorite man of the flame, Greg. It is brined in a homemade buttermilk of your choice, and is ridiculously tender and delicious. The salad used the last of the green peppercorn dressing.

When looking for something else in the basement, I found our last bottle of wine, bought who knows when, because we don’t really drink it, or much of anything boozy, anymore. Anyhoo, I decided to turn it into sangria, and boy was it delicious.

Bagel with cream cheese and all the things…

Finally, when we travel, as at home, we like to use as few plastics as possible. We often stay at hotels with breakfast included, and every manner of plastic plate, cup, and utensil, so we bring our own, plus cloth napkins. For a while, we had really cute enamel plates, but they do not withstand any sort of banging that occurs with travel, and chipped badly. So, a different kind of cute divided luncheon style plate it is! This is our test run with salmon and roasted squash puree.

Happy Day!

Latest Eats

February 10, 2026 in Cooking + Baking, Eating, Remembering by Colleen | Permalink

Hello! With this, our latest favorite and most photo-worthy eats, I thought I’d give you a little behind the scenes action. Quite frequently, if not every time, I set food on the dining table to snap a photo, this is what our intrepid pooch does. A longing look and gentle sniff, with the great hope of getting a bite or two.

This was leftover Christmas ham made into a delectable savory bread pudding. All the stars.

A batch of focaccia made to accompany a delicious fettucini alfredo, with seared scallops. The tops…

Last year, in keeping with my love for all things New Mexico, including wonderful foodways, I bought the Big Book of Hatch Chile. This was my first time making their red chile, which had such amazing flavor, and super easy, too! The tortillas are also homemade, but from Rick Martinez, whose Mi Cocina cookbook is also pretty darn fabulous.

In another effort to reduce our environmental footprint, we traded our gas stove, which had several annoying quirks I won’t get into, and generated a lot of indoor air pollution, with an induction range. There’s been quite the learning curve with the cooktop: heating VERY quickly, boiling water ridiculously fast, burning an item or two, but we are getting there, and could not be more pleased, overall. The oven part, which these chocolate chip cookies serve as testament, bakes quite perfectly and evenly!

Another oven success, a dutch baby! Look at the steam go… I made a sauce with pears, and Greg did a fine bacon frying job. Happy, happy!

A foray into Japanese cuisine, with an udon dish. We had no idea what to expect and found it somewhat wanting. That said, it was almost there. I’ve added notes and will make corrections next time.

Chickpeas stewed in onion, golden raisins, and Major Grey chutney, with a generous sprinkle of cilantro, pickled red onions, fresh jalapeno slices, and feta cheese. A lovely belly warmer on a freezing winter day.

Finally, a story at the end. While on our honeymoon, very many moons ago, we spent several days with a friend at her Grandmother’s home outside Helsinki. It was high summer, with very, very long days of the most exquisite light. We slept in the summer house, a basic, yet delightful bed in a shed, just steps across the garden. There were long days adventuring, nibbling currants in the garden, being introduced to Moomins via a day at Moominworld, buying two adorable, and still much cherished mugs depicting their adventures, unwinding (and very much getting hooked) in our first sauna, and traipsing around the city at all hours, including the farmer’s market along the waterfront on the Gulf of Finland.

As instructed by Grandmother Hanna, we bought new potatoes and onions, to which Greg and I thought, okay, fine. She prepared them for some lunch or dinner, looking similar to the photo above, only with golden potatoes of very round proportions, and the same generous puddle of butter. Not expecting much besides sustenance, Greg and I tucked in to the most truly amazing potatoes of our life. So creamy! So buttery! And that nice contrasting snap of barely cooked onion! How did they taste so special when all she did was boil them?! Initially, and for many years, we thought we hadn’t found the right potato. But after many tries, with truly great taters, we realized there had to be more to it.

After more than thirty years, I FINALLY found out! In another Libby library scroll, I found a New England cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase, an astounding 300 recipe tome, with a recipe for boiled potatoes. My ears perked up as I read the description of bites of ridiculously creamy vegetable glory, hearkening back to that wonderful summer meal. It sounded like it might just be the secret to Grandmother Hanna’s. And it was! Can you guess? Boiling two pounds of small potatoes, like fingerlings or new, or with even greater luck, Finn Golds, in six cups of water and a bananas six tablespoons of sea salt (the recipe calls for kosher, but I made adjustments). What a thrill to take that first very special bite. Exactly the same texture and wonderfully good flavor and a fabulous trip down memory lane. Oh, happy eating!

Muncha Muncha

October 28, 2025 in Eating, Exploring, Loving by Colleen | Permalink

I don’t suppose, after any sort of absence, that it is surprising that I would highlight food. Our daily “bread”, if you will. So here we are. Unlike the legions I assume are purchasing every manner of pumpkin spice product I spy on offer at the local grocery, because ’tis the season, my fall and winter tastes lie firmly in turkey and cranberry land, even more particularly, jellied. I can, to be quite crass, eat a shit-ton, joyfully, unapologetically.

This is a turkey meatloaf (I initially typed “meatlove,” and damn, the accuracy!) topped with a glorious, mushroom with a dash of sherry, gravy, to state the obvious. I was deeply saddened when I realized I had no jellied cranberry in the house (rectified forthwith!) but made due with a little tart apple jelly I made earlier. Heaven on a plate, my dear peeps.

Further evidence of our very high-low tastes, a little snack plate of favorites, including, the sharpest of cheddar, cheetos, and slices of american. We take our cheesy products any which way.

In the olden days, I would nearly hack my fingers to pieces in order to peel and dice a ridiculously hard winter squash, bits flying hither and thither, and generally making a mess. Until, one brilliant light bulb afternoon, I decided to put the whole thing in the oven at 400 and bake until tender. The downside to this, I suspect, is not having cute cubes drizzled in olive oil, but a nice puree with said oil or butter(!) is equally tasty. My fingers are happy and Greg, too, as there is no angry cursing involved, either. Plus, how beautiful to photograph!

A few highlights from earlier ambles about. How lucky we are to have such lovely views in walking distance.

Speaking of easy on the eyes, this is my desk immediately before posting. Actually clean and tidy! For a relatively small surface, it took nearly two hours to sort through the mess. Our life has been a little upside down, as of late, and I kept robotically moving piles of this and that, in helter skelter fashion, on and on and on, until the piles became their own chaotic entities, sliding about the desk. Madness. Fingers crossed I can keep it together for a bit.

Also, a quick note about Ducky, who has been one of my best loved toys for fifty years! How cute is he, keeping company at the keyboard.

Food Related

September 10, 2025 in Cooking + Baking, Eating by Colleen | Permalink

Hello from a wee hiatus! I am back with food, which I daresay is no surprise. I mentioned a while ago that we’ve been buying bags of avocados at Costco and freezing guacamole. Here it is before popping into the freezer. I am still in awe of how great this is. It does get a tad watery, but I’m not running a restaurant here, peeps, so who needs perfection when you’ve got guacamole on demand?!

Unlike when we lived in Portland, Greg and I aren’t generally roaming the city in search of new and exciting foods on a regular basis. We have our favorite places for Indian, Korean, Italian, Japanese, bar food, and tacos, but, sadly, not Mexican, in general, because we’ve largely been disappointed or gotten food poisoning, no joke.

That said, every once in a while, we do want to try something new. I heard about a food hall called C.O.A.T.I., read some menus, and off we went! I got an arepa from Arepapi, which is basically a sandwich made with a very thick corn tortilla. Mine had steak and shrimp and amazing cheese and sauces (no longer on the menu???). I did not take a picture! It was also very messy, and I used a LOT of napkins. Greg got this gorgeous sandwich, fries, and a beer.

At the end, we shared a taro paleta (Mexican popsicle), which was creamy-dreamy delicious! They had options to fill the paper boat with every topping imaginable, but alas, we decided to be flavor purists and felt zero sadness.

It is jam and jelly making season, my friends. Pictured are apple jelly, peach, and strawberry jam. Absolutely fabulous!

Adorable peach hand pies, made with a jar of the homemade jam. This is one of those instances when the execution is NOT worth the final product. Don’t get me wrong, they were truly delicious, but dang, I tried a new dough that was ridiculously fussy, making everything take ages longer than necessary. That heart cutout, though. Sigh.

Weather predictions indicated optimal temperatures outdoors for firing the oven to 550 indoors! God bless rainy days. The pizza was as good as it looks. Also, if you never ate at BeauJo’s pizza in Boulder as a whippersnapping teen or young adult, you may not be familiar with dipping your crust in honey. Highly recommended.

We grew this gorgeous Blue Pearmain Apple! Sadly, neighborhood varmints got the majority of the harvest. It did save me from having to do something with it, however. Small mercies?

On our trip to the Mid-West three summers ago (???), we tried as many local specialties as we could: Juicy Lucy burgers, Trenary Toast, Dutchcorn, Dr. Sprecher soda, divinely crispy fried cheese curds (!!), and a Kringle Cake. I found a recipe for one (in Shauna Sever’s MidWest Made) and, with ample almond pulp to make paste and a jar of cherry jam (from our own cherries!), I forged ahead with the recipe. It uses, not a pie crust, but a danish pastry I’d never made before, but was really quite easy. It is a two day process, as there is much waiting for the dough, but totally worth it! I think I might try it with cream cheese next time. Oh, I also did not have the bandwidth to make it in the wreath shape of its origin, because, why?

Eating and Birthday love…

July 29, 2025 in Celebrating, Cooking + Baking, Eating, Friendship by Colleen | Permalink

Hello there! I hope your summer is a splendid one. We are quite well. We decided not to travel this year, and honestly, it’s been kind of nice. We’ve enjoyed long lounge sessions on the patio, enjoying the burble of the fountain whilst puzzling, sipping coffee and cool drinks, mostly the bubbly variety, sometimes with alcohol. We’ve also got a spa day planned, some restaurant adventures, and started some maintenance projects: cutting wood, redoing the raised bed borders, and general upkeep and trimming.

Two almond pulp soups! I am always so jazzed when I realize another way to use the bounty from milk-making. The top has chicken and pinto beans, the bottom, roasted bell pepper and tomato, both quite excellent. If you are a frequent flyer here, you will soon experience double vision, as I’ll post about these again, with their recipes!

We had ugly bananas, so I whipped up a delicious little cake with walnut frosting – using both liqueur and the toasted variety on top. It was most delicious! Plus, how cute is our butter dish?

As per usual, we shared our cherries with the birds and squirrels, finding heaps of pits littered on the ground. Also, as usual, there was still plenty for a human pie!

I was in the mood for something different, so I adapted a rhubarb custard pie recipe, and this vision of sweetness it it. It is also an almond pulp recipe, so I’ll be sharing it later. I believe it would work great with stone fruits or blueberries (maybe both!), too, so here’s to versatility.

Two firsts: An Oregon institution, McMenamins are a collection of brewpubs, restaurants, theaters, and boutique hotels located all around the state, often in formerly underused buildings, like former schools, even a reformatory and old folks home . They tend to have pretty wild and fantastical murals, an eccentric staff, and very good food and drink. At the first McMenamins we visited in Portland, the Ringler’s Annex, not too far from Powell’s on Burnside, I had a spinach salad with pickled red onion on it. They used red wine vinegar that was really dark, and I was eating in a dark restaurant, so I honestly didn’t know what I was tasting, at first. Boy, was it delicious, with this great crisp texture, and I have loved it ever since.

No surprise, I have decided that keeping a jar of pickled onion in the fridge is a must do, as it really does complement so many dishes. They’re also ridiculously easy to make: pint jar full of sliced red onion; add 2/3 cup of water and 2/3 cup white or red vinegar that’s been brought to boiling with 2 tablespoons or so of sugar (more or less to your taste); pour over sliced onion; cool and refrigerate. This taco plate is just one way we enjoy them, in which we also used the bottom of the jar of last year’s ultra-fiery cowboy candy, too. I do love a pickle!

I’ve also been buying bags of avocados at Costco, making a giant batch of guacamole and freezing half. I didn’t even know this was possible until recently, so what a pleasant surprise that was! Now to get in the territory of too much information, has anyone else, after hitting fifty (male or female), found that avocados create quite the burp fest? I used to think it was my gallbladder or the the fresh garlic (I’ve only been able to tolerate dried for probably five years, wah!), but I still had problems, so now I (and Greg) eat it in much smaller quantities and early in the day. Aging is so weird.

And now, to my friendliest friend of all friends, my best Buddy, and forever partner in loving, joking, and dreaming ~ GREG! He celebrated his birthday recently, and since it is Greg, of course the cake I made was chocolate. I filled it with a ridiculously good marshmallow frosting, and we ate it up in no time at all.

Hope you are having some fun eating adventures, wherever you may be…

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