Under a Red Roof

Well Jammy

November 27, 2024 in Cooking + Baking, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

Hello, and Happy day before Thanksgiving for my fellow celebrants! Are you knee deep in preparations? After a bit of blog work, I am heading to the kitchen to make pie crusts, definitely pecan, maybe a wee pumpkin, too.

It is a snowy day, the fifth in the past few weeks, which is a bit excessive for November, just sayin’.

We’ve had a lot of activity, with Greg flying to Florida for a week of biz-ness ( I did miss him!), a weekend visit from Jett and his girlfriend Peyton, a sleepover at Michael and Mary’s. All very good things that have kept me occupied.

Let us begin. Firstly, with a most colorful selection of windfall apples from around the neighborhood that were turned into the equally colorful jelly above. It is quite delicious!

I am a slow adopter of technology, and since the library very frequently only has electronic copies of books in my Goodreads queue, we resorted to buying a tablet for such reading adventures. One day, while browsig the ridiculously vast collection of media on offer, I stumbled upon the Kitten and the Bear Cookbook, a diverse collection of jellies, jams, and scones. This is their apple jam, which, to my mind, is a beautiful and delectable marriage of jelly and apple butter, made extra special by the addition of apple chunks, sadly not made from windfalls, but store bought. You can’t have everything, at least not all at once, peeps.

That dog is super fly…

This was our first snow, which, like the song, went on and on til the break of dawn! Seriously, we got 24″, the icicles pictured below, and a ridiculously long melt time.

Backyard Scene

July 10, 2024 in Cooking + Baking, Drinking, Friendship, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

currants

rabbit brush

yarrow

ratibida

mallow

orange horned poppy

prickly poppy

A slice of the backyard garden scene. This year may be one of the most lush and green – plants enormous, birds plentiful, smiles abound!

We are settling into our summer routine. Greg works on the back porch, mostly with Juniper, very often with me, sipping coffee, fountain babbling and brook-like, birds chirping, until the heat becomes too much. We head in, work some more, and enjoy a meal. The afternoon is a battle against heat, of closed blinds and fans, reading and cleaning and programming and dog jaunts.

On special days, we host a visitor – Jeff! We play games and eat exceptionally well. This time was a feast of Korean style summer favorites, bulgogi burgers, homemade pickles of the cucumber, onion, and bell pepper variety, topped with a gochujang sauce that also served as salad dressing, poutine with gochujang gravy (fries courtesy of Wendy’s!). Traditional cherry pie, made with a bounty of home grown cherries. That we had enough for pie and two jars of jam was pure joy! Then there were rum and cherry cokes, with syrup made from the cherry pits (Seriously!). Exquisite and fun and the height of summer flavors.

Happy, happy…hope you are, too.

It’s Official

May 18, 2024 in Cooking + Baking, Decorating, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

Despite the snow on the mountain horizon, I do believe spring has officially arrived in Colorado Springs! As ever, it feels as though it came at exactly the right moment, too. It was so thouroughly balmy that I wore shorts today. Huzzah!

Cherry blossoms blooming

Lilacs bursting and filling the air with their intoxicating scent

A cacophony of birdsong, here, there, everywhere! I do believe this is a Phoebe.

This guest room refresh happened ages go, but I only just remembered to photograph it. We painted the closet and paneling, got new lamps after a horrific electrical storm burned out the other two, updated the bedding, got a new rug, and slip-covered the headboard. I am super pleased!

Two of our latest eats: steamed eggs, which taste like the most delicate savory custard, Hummus Bling Bling with pickled raisins and homemade pita, jazzed up with store bought tulips. Happy Spring!

April Things

April 19, 2024 in Cooking + Baking, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

I continue to make the super easy berry margaritas! You can, too. Fill a pint or quart jar with berries, this was quartered strawberries, top off with your favorite tequila, let sit in the fridge for a week, strain, and enjoy in your preferred recipe. Mine, perhaps?

Homemade red chile, possibly my best batch ever, topped a deliciously rare flank steak, with perfect pintos and homemade tortillas, too. We do alright.

I am a big fan of Korea (the Southern part, anyway) and their wonderfully tasty food and bought a super cookbook by Aaron Huh called Simply Korean. This salad is topped with a close riff on his beef bulgogi patties and my own gochujang dressing. I’ve also made them into some freaking fantastic Korean burgers. Highly recommend.

This is what happens when you mix lye and prickly pear juice (home grown and made) to make soap. It will all eventually be the golden color at the bottom but still feel pretty luxurious on the skin. Chemistry!

Saving the most beautiful until the last, with the sweetest scents of the season for the moment. It has been a slow unfolding here, with us late to clear the gardens of their fall and winter accumulations, unearthing green and ruby shoots aplenty. While I clipped and piled and raked, Greg spread compost from our massive pile, the not-so-magical alchemy of debris and time that makes our garden thrive.

Tags: Cooking and Baking

Chocolate Cake

April 18, 2024 in Cooking + Baking, Decorating, Friendship by Colleen | Permalink

Hello! How are you this not-so-fine, at least in Colorado, weather afternoon? Spring time in the Rockies – a real crap shoot, I tell ya.

But chocolate cake is nearly always a win! I hadn’t made any in ages, got the itch, and got it done. Greg was delighted. I was, too! I saw a recipe somewhere that had salted caramel frosting, which added a jar of caramel to buttercream, but that seemed like a lot, so I caramelized a little sugar in the cutest tiny pot from Grandma Tess, added some vanilla paste and a little water, and voila! Fabulous chocolate cake.

Bebe, my first and best beading pal! We’ve been friends for thirty years (I am nearly the age she was when we met) and making jewelry together for six. She is my sister from another mister and positively lights up my life.

And now, for a little presto-change-o! The Sundance Catalog had a ridiculously good sale on their outlet items (Thank you, Robert Redford!), and I had been eyeing these chairs for a while, so I went for it! For the original price of one chair, I bought two, a very cool shirt, and a gold necklace. I mean, seriously.

We were saving the rug for Taos, but those plans, as construction materials are still crazy expensive, are on the back burner. But this is looking more and more like our living room once the house is built, which makes my heart so happy. Plus, that chair model! More, please.

Tags: Cooking and Baking