A Week in the Mile High State…Part IV

— THE TRIP HOME —

The plane trip home.

Oh yeah. I forgot to finish my trip. I flew home. THE END!

A Week in the Mile High State…Part III

— ESTES PARK, CO. —

Outside the cabin, Thursday morning.

Wednesday evening we drove up to Estes Park—a place I haven't visited since around the time I moved to Arizona 10 years ago. It's almost exactly like I remember with only a little bit of new developments along the route up there.

Sister and I treated Mom to a day in the mountains, and we cooked pasta with the Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle from Peneys Spices, garlic toast, a green salad with avocado and a couple bottles of wine. Let me tell you about those! When we got to the cabin, we found the corkscrew provided was broken and had no way of opening the wine bottles. In my good mood, I decided to ask our neighbors—whom we could see through the window—if we might be able to borrow theirs. I trotted over to the cabin, knocked on the door and got a very vocal

“THIS ISN’T THE OFFICE!!”
“Uh…yeah, I know…just wanted to see if I could borrow a corkscrew?”
“Oh, oh, OK.”

When I brought the thing back—nearly immediately after borrowing—as I started saying "thanks!" the guy at the door goes, "You're welcome"—really rude family, I tell you. Sometimes altitude does strange things to people.

Mr. Happy, after watching an evening of American Idle.

Next day, we went into town to do a little window shopping. We sat and watched an entire presentation at the glass blowers, where I snapped a picture of these as of yet unopened poppies.


And on our way out of town we all stopped by the famous Stanley Hotel, one of the many sets used in Stephen King's "The Shining". Though they say it's haunted, I saw no evidence of that whatsoever.


Next up: The end of the week.

A Week in the Mile High State…Part II

— PENZEYS SPICES —

Tuesday started out a rainy and dreary–albeit hot—day and Sister, Mom and I went to Arvada to go to the retail store for Penzeys Spices. I'm kind of a spice nut as I really don't like using salt and feel almost any meal can be made better with the right spice. I had my eye on getting really good cinnamon and found the Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia (not a true cinnamon by the way). I enjoy it so much I put it in my coffee as well as breakfast smoothies.


I would definitely recommend going to this store if you have the time. My family each bought a number of bags, then divided them up into the jars, which they sell at the shop. I walked away with about 15 new spices to try out.

— WHAT I MADE —

Fresh gingerbread. This recipe is super moist, but now that I've made it I'll be changing up some of the ingredients. First, I'll be substituting most of the butter with applesauce, doubling the cinnamon and ginger and serving it with hot coffee. Delicious! The recipe as modified is below.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
  
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup mild molasses (not robust or blackstrap)
• 3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk (I used 3/4 Tbsp lemon juice and 1%milk to make 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup hot water

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF with rack in middle. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.
• Whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Beat applesauce, butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg until blended, then beat in molasses and buttermilk. Mix in flour mixture on low speed until smooth, then add hot water and beat 1 minute (batter may look curdled.)
• Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until a wooded pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack.

Next up: Estes Park, CO.

A week in the Mile High State…Part I

The week started off with a trip to the Butterfly Pavillion just outside of Denver. I had read on their front door that this was an invertebrate museum, and knew fully well that all species of insects would be found here. I had already made up my mind, that no way, no how am I letting a tarantula touch my hand—I don't care if they are fuzzy and light and don't bite or are not poisonous. Yikes! No way! We walked into the main building and of course, this is where all the spiders, scorpions and cockroaches are. I actually had to leave the room for a few minutes after seeing this guy! I don't know exactly how big this was, but if memory serves me right it was something like 10 feet across.


After leaving the room for a bit, I finally worked up the nerve to let Rosie walk across my hand. I was literally shaking from SpiderFreakoutis™, but let her walk across me. Light, fuzzy and not that bad. I still don't want one in my house, but not the most horrifying experience in the world. Of course, Mom didn't get my camera to work so all I have is a sticker for proof and a picture of the insect walking on her hand. I will admit, my camera does funny things sometimes.


Next up were the cockroaches. They don't bother me nearly as much as the spiders and what is even weirder still, I had butterflies land on me left and right and had no problem at all with them. The top image is the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach and for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the roaches on the bottom image. They're actually quite pretty in person.



After visiting the Arthropods, you get to see a few creatures of the ocean—starfish and horseshoe crabs. I didn't take any pictures of them as I was still getting my shaking hands under control after "petting" Rosie. After all the interior sections, you get to go out into a huge arboretum where all the butterflies and plants are. All of them were quite pretty and very active as the day was rather warm.

"MOTHRA… MOTHRA…"

Up next… Penzies Spice Company in Arvada Colorado.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

To celebrate, Lindsay and I made a few of our more favorite Mexican style dishes. Chile Verde, Nacho Dip and Key Lime Pie.


Chile Verde (This is a variation of my chile verde, found HERE)

• 2 Lbs. pork rib meat
  
• 1 Lb. tomtatillos
  
• 2 jalapeños
• 3 green chile peppers
• 1 Small chopped onion
  
• 1/2 cup cilantro
  
• pork rub or seasoning
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 Bay Leaf
  
• 2 cans white beans
• Cumin to taste (I use about 1/4 cup!)

Accomaniments:

• Cubed jack cheese
• White jasmine rice

Prep:

Roast chili peppers, jalapeños and tomatillos under broiler until skins turn brown and bubbly, then place peppers in covered container for approx. 10 minutes for skins to loosen.

While vegetables are broiling, place pork in crock pot and season with desired seasoning.

After removing skins, combine peppers, tomatillos, cilantro, garlic and onion in blender and blend until smooth. Poor mixture over pork and add in bay leaf; cook covered until pork is tender and can be pulled apart with a fork.

Finish:

After shredding pork, add in white beans and cumin and cook an additional hour.

Serve with cubed jack cheese and rice if desired.

Nacho Dip

• 1 can refried black beans
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 cup guacamole
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 small can chopped olives
• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 small can chopped jalapeños
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cups shredded cheddar/jack mix

Accomaniments:

• Tortilla chips
  

Prep:
Mix refried beans with chili powder and spread in 9" casserole.
Layer remaining ingredients in order and top with shredded cheese.

Finish:

Serve with tortilla chips.


Key Lime Pie (as adapted from Gourmet, May 2003)
For crust

• 18 graham cracker squares; crumbed
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling

• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 20 Key Limes; juiced
  

For topping

• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Make crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (4-cup) glass pie plate.

Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.

Make filling and bake pie:
Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly).

Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream.

Backstory…

So, in case some of you thought I was off my rocker with my last post, here's the back story. While working at "The Puzzle Company," my coworkers and I were discussing movies and at one point someone said, "there is only one trilogy." And I piped up, "Yeah, Jurassic Park!" I do like the movies, as I really like dinosaurs, but c'mon—they're kind of goofy.

Anyway, one particular coworker would randomly play the Jurassic Park theme for me to hear and ultimately it was revealed that I breed raptors. We would even sneak in raptors into puzzle boxes on occasion for our Creative Director to find.* I would discuss at times that I would photograph them and reveal my plot to reintroduce these magnificent (albeit extinct) animals to the world again. Then last week, said coworker snuck it in again—the Jurassic Park theme. Do de do do dooo, do dee do do doo… It just had to be done.

So now you know the rest of the story.

*No, this did not take a lot of time and before anyone asks, I never missed a deadline and always worked long hours.

A Little Experiment…

BACK HISTORY:

As many of you know, I've been developing a program for the scientific community for a number of years now: the Raptor Breeding Program. After nearly 5 years of waiting for my permits, I was finally granted the opportunity to start breeding full sized dinosaurs—the Velociraptor. This fascinating species shall walk the earth again.

ENTRY DATE: Friday, April 24

Something horrible happened today. I've included a quick shot of my field journal. If I don't make it out of here, my only hope is that someone can carry on my work. The raptors got out today. I don't know if it was the weather or something more sinister. One of my three subjects is missing and I can only hope she doesn't run amok in downtown Tucson.


ENTRY DATE: Friday, April 24 … edit.

I've been able to round up the two with minimal effort. Turns out—they really like key lime pie! This is good to know, but I am worried about Subject 13. I'll have to start researching purveyors of key lime pie and warn them.

A Garden…Finally!

I have what you could call—a brown thumb. Most of my plants either die by under watering/over watering/too much plant food (oops!) or just plain old neglect. Much of that stemmed (hoo ha; did you get that pun?) from the fact that I used to work at the office about 50-60 hours a week. No way did I have any desire to do much of anything after getting home.

But, here it is—proof that my little planting experiment is working. Now I just hope that I have not started these woefully late. But, with the long growing season out here I'm not that worried. That's the blessing of living in Southern Arizona.

My experiment consisted of:

1. Using old natural no additives dirt put into recycled paper cups
2. Placing seeds, then adding more dirt
3. Marking all cups with a Sharpie marker so I knew what I was looking at
4. Placing all cups onto cookie sheets
5. Shooing away the cats now and again; no this is not catnip
6. Watering cups any time I notice the tops are dry

If all goes well, I will have

• Two types of tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Jalapeños
• Annaheim peppers
• Peaches and Cream corn
• Silver corn
• Summer squash
• Zucchini

Air Conditioning…

or … “How I became an HVA/C Technician”

Last September, about a week after I started my own home-based business, my Air Conditioner met the great compressor in the sky. As an A/C is a rather expensive piece of hardware, we decided to readdress this situation come springtime. That time is now. I sat through a few days of 86° in the house but overall, winter has been kind to us—and cold! Now it is hot again and I'm feeling the need, the need for sp-coldair?

First step: I signed on with AngiesList.com, as heard about on NPR and found A-rated HVA/C service companies. First up, a gentleman came out to measure the house, check the duct-work and figure out the overall needs of our A/C. After these, he discussed the various options his company could offer, and off he went. Oh … he forgot his ladder, so we have great new $60 ladder sitting in our garage.*

QUOTE: $4,400 for new A/C compressor, coil and install

Second step: Contact next company with A-list rating on AngiesList.com. Another technician in our house, looks over everything and we discuss options. He addresses some issues with specific brands and provides some reading materials and advice.

QUOTE: ~$3,500 for A/C compressor, coil, furnace and install

Now, after getting quite a bit of information I find myself on THIS page. So glad I found this information. I now know what R-22 is (dupont, I'm looking at you!) and SEER and R410A (Puron), what the ratings actually mean and how they can be used. Also, I know that you can in fact buy too large of an A/C unit. Know your square footage before anything else.

Yep, I'm pretty much an expert now. So, I'll be getting my license and bonding downtown tomorrow and starting in on the lucrative career of A/C install.**

______________________________
* I will actually call this company and return their ladder
** No, no I really will not become an A/C technician. That's a joke on my part. A pretty lame one, but…

Green Pozole with Chicken

I adapted this recipe from an issue of Gourmet some years ago. If you are interested in the original recipe, click HERE. I've made the original recipe exactly as stated and altered it along the way to quicken the cooking time.

Green Pozole with Chicken:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 onion
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 lb. tomatillos
• 2 jalapeños
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 2 15oz. cans hominy
• 1 bay leaf

Accompaniments:

• Diced radish
• Diced avocado
• Chopped fresh cilantro
  

1. Roast tomatillos and jalapeños until skins are browned in oven under broiler setting. After roasting, place peppers in plastic bag until skins are loose and peel from pepper. Slice peppers in 1/2, removing ribs and seeds; set aside for later.
2. Dice onion and chop garlic; sauté in 1 tbsp. olive oil in large pot.
3. Place tomatillos, jalapeños, onion, garlic chopped parsley, chopped cilantro into blender and blend until smooth.
4. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in large pan and add blended mix. Bring to boil and stir until thickened—about 5 minutes.
5. Add chicken broth, hominy, shredded chicken and bay leaf. Bring to boil and let simmer 1/2 hour. Add in seeds and ribs from reserved jalapeños to desired heat.
   
6. Serve as desired with accompaniments.

Thicken base under moderate heat about 5 minutes.

Serve with radish, avocado and fresh chopped cilantro.

I think this recipe could easily be converted to a vegetarian dish. The flavor is all in the broth and hominy.