Snowshoe Sunday

After a shocking month of heavy snow, things have settled down around here. It's been sunny and balmy...and is making all of the skiers nervous! I've wanted to try snowshoeing and with my mind set on that, I've been scoping out likely places, for at least the past four years. We hiked last summer, in a lovely meadow. I decided that the meadow would be the best place to experiment, since we know our way around some, and wouldn't likely get lost...we rented snowshoes.

I was really charged up with the whole idea, so the Sunday brunch I planned was a bit more vivid than usual. We served bacon and cheddar stuffed croissant French toast with apple syrup, potatoes smashed and cooked on the stove with tablespoons of real butter, salt and pepper, bacon, sea salt roasted pearl onions, citrus, and a beautiful red pear clafouti with lots of vanilla and brandy! The kitchen blasted along all day and at the very stroke of 2 o'clock, Harrison and Carter and I darted for the car and raced up to the Mt. Rose summit.

The parking lot is now snowed in, so we had to park on the highway and scale a snow cliff...that is drippy and crusty from the warm days and freezing nights. We strapped in and set off, with chocolate milk boxes in our pockets. The going was strange at first, and we sometimes stepped on the sides of our own shoes. Though the shoes had crampons on the bottom, walking down a steep slope scared us silly at first. We walked far out of our way to find gentler access to the meadow floor. Down there though, the surface had been churned up by snowmobiles and frozen in ragged ridges. We picked and stumbled our way along on the rough surface and just started to look around us...and realize that we were in a sparkling white wonderland...under the bluest sky we'd ever seen. We got comfortable with our footing and started to explore.



The meadow was completely transformed by snow...it wasn't at all the familiar landscape we had known from the summer. We did recall that the trail was high up and that the meadow was enormous and swampy. We decided to climb to the area of the trail, and found that the snow there was still powder...soft, light, fluffy, powder. The snowshoes did keep us up on the surface! We could easily drive our poles down into soft snow, two or three feet down! Snow delineates the forest in such a stark way. During the spring and summer, everything is a blur of lush brown and green. But with snow on the ground, every tree is a Christmas tree! The forest is bright fragrant green, standing between crystal white snow and blue sky!

We hiked...and I mean this in the most strenuous way...up to the highest viewpoint. We stopped and drank our chocolate milk---Carter eloquently spoke to the great restorative power of chocolate milk---and we continued on to circle the meadow. There were great dangerous looking dips in the snow where we know there are streams, and the massive, magnificent bone-white skeletons of bristlecone pine. We covered a few miles before heading back to a golden sunset over Lake Tahoe! Altogether, we enjoyed the most exhiliarating afternoon...oh yeah, we are definitely going to buy our own snowshoes!

Gooey Cheese Sandwich for a Ski Day

Harrison and Carter went skiing this afternoon, and because it was icy, came home really sore. Carter skied into a tree and whacked his shin; Harrison scraped a large patch of chin when he skidded his face across icy surface in a crash. It all looks so romantic when they whisk away on the ski lift! Now that I think of it, they're oddly uncomplaining about these injuries!

At the end of the day, Harrison came flying down the mountain and flopped down on the snow. He stayed there until I made my way over, and smiled up at me...completely oblivious to all the blood on his face! When we got home, they took hot lavender baths and cuddled in my thick terry robes. I thought of comforting kinds of hot sandwiches that would soothe on a day like this.

Thoughts of cheese and fruit came to mind---smoked Gouda and pear---apple and cheddar---brie and cranberry sauce! Any of these grilled on buttered French bread would be delicious! I decided on the gouda and pear, and heated the sandwiches on an electric "Lean Mean Fat Grilling Machine!" I didn't have to turn on the stove, dinner was served in under five minutes, and the sandwiches were pretty spectacular! For a perfectly elegant lunch, I'll put these on my next menu, with a latte!

Cold Weather Salad

I love how you feel when you taste the food of the season! It hits my mind and heart like the delight of opening a Tiffany box on Christmas morning! Or any day, for that matter. Watermelon in winter is somehow unsatisfying as hot stew is wrong for summer. I stumbled upon a recipe for a cold weather salad that astonishes me every time I taste it.

The salad consists simply of roasted vegetables tossed with greens and splashed with a mustard vinaigrette. I roast the vegetables separately so that they'll keep their distinct flavors. As I finished mixing them together hot out of the oven yesterday, I scooped a spoonful for myself and practically swooned to the floor! This salad has the richest, most luxurious flavor to pair with a more gentle entree---like roasted chicken or a sausage/sauerkraut/boiled potato dinner. I'll come back to this salad over and over again, and I'm sure you will too:

Each serving of salad will require about 1/4 cup of roasted vegetables, so you can vary the quantity based on your serving needs.

Chop broccoli and tomatoes. Line a pan with foil and toss each vegetable separately with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Drain a can of white beans (cannelini, Great Northern) and rinse with cold water.

Combine the vegetables with the beans and toss.

Combine a large handful of greens with 1/4 cup of roasted vegetable/bean mixture per person, and toss with a pinch of salt and pepper, and mustard vinaigrette.

MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
Vinaigrette is a 2 to 1 ration of oil and acid (like vinegar or citrus juice)

ex.: 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

For mustard vinaigrette, mix the ratio and add a scoop of mustard to taste. The smaller quantity above would need 1 tsp and the larger, 1 Tbsp.

Shake it up in a jar, use what you need, and keep the rest in the refrigerator. It keeps well for about 2 weeks.

NOTE: The broccoli, tomato, and beans are important to this salad for the power of their flavor. I keep those three as the start, but have added roasted pumpkin (or any squash cubes), pearl onions, carrots, mushrooms, potato. You just roast any of these with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Tuxedo New Year

The tuxedos came home all pressed and protected in garment bags. We spoke of how they should be hung up until it was time to dress for dinner the next day. The instant, the INSTANT we got home, the boys all dressed and played "spy" late into the night. Emma, by complete contrast and oblivious to the wild boys, sat at a mirror in her lovely taffeta dress and rearranged her hair. She tried different earrings, necklaces, ribbons, tights, wraps. She moved quietly, slowly, regally and hung her dress carefully for the night.

In the morning, Emma was in the kitchen helping me...and the boys were upstairs playing "spy," again! When we set off for dinner on New Year's Eve, Emma was stylishly, beautifully dressed and accessorized. Harrison, Carter, and Dylan were sweaty and disheveled. They were rumpled and smudged, mis-buttoned and frayed...and deliriously happy to be dressed in formal wear. Despite their messy appearance, they looked very debonair in the low light of a casino dining room...very like...James Bond! We spent midnight on Virginia Street, in Reno's old downtown. We counted down to the New Year as a massive fireworks display exploded over our heads. On our way home, we stepped out of the bitter cold for hot tea, and toasted the New Year with sweet, funny, poignant, innocent hopes and dreams.

On seeing the frazzled appearance of the tuxedos earlier in the evening as we readied for dinner, I had been sorry I hadn't monitored the boys more carefully and held them to the original plan to preserve their clothes. At midnight though, as I watched their faces lit up by fireworks; lit up by the events of a fun and special, memorable New Year, I changed my mind. Childhood is too short to worry about a clean tuxedo!