Under a Red Roof

Sparks Fly

May 30, 2022 in Cooking + Baking, Drinking, Gardening + Nature, Making by Colleen | Permalink

The late snow kept Pike’s Peak in prime prettiness for days. Another silver lining…

Our girl gets the bestest belly rubs and poses with brilliant iris blooms. She is all that and then some.

The petal parade has begun….

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary, twenty-nine years!! It is quite the number, which leaves us both pleased as punch. In celebration, we went to Dos Santos, our favorite taco joint, on Friday, and yesterday I made bouillabaisse and homemade garlic and red pepper aioli (high falutin’ word for lip-smackin’ good mayo) for the day-of celebration. It is slathered on extra crunchy French bread croutons before being delicately dipped in the broth. Every manner of happy tastebud sound follows. We enjoyed it with a bottle of wine purchased on our Missouri vacation last year – Hermanhoff White Lady. It made for one heck of a way to celebrate!

While I labored in the kitchen, the hubster labored in the garden and on our screen door. Juniper is sometimes an impatient little booger when it comes to getting in and out of the house and had made enough of a wreck of the screen that insects could get in, no problema. So we had a heavier duty one installed (by Mullet Screens – a kindly guy who comes round in a van!) and bought the “screen saver” (HA!) to keep further damage from occurring. It needed a little trim, and Greg made it so. It looks quite nice and seems built to last.

All the sprouts tended since January are snug in the ground and looking quite lovely! The stick structure in the middle is made for beans to climb and came from fallen branches in all these terrible winds we’ve been having. I am super excited to think about our summer harvest. Though I won’t be counting any beans until they’re actually off the vine. Now that snow is out of the picture, we are in prime hail season. Oh, Colorado….

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Happy 73rd Birthday to my MOM!!

Back to the Ranch

April 25, 2022 in Cooking + Baking, Exploring by Colleen | Permalink

After the resounding success of our 50th birthday espresso machine, we decided to do it again. We love my homemade pizza, but the stifling heat of a 550 degree oven, especially when a craving hits in the thick of summer, is not so fun. So when I saw this wood-fired oven, we jumped at the opportunity. We’ve used it once thus far and made four pizzas. The first saw the crust catch fire, the second was a little under-done, and the third and fourth were pretty spectacular. There’s definitely more finesse involved, but we’ll get it perfect in no time!

Herons

We took my nephew Tyler to visit the graves and homesteads of our Maes-Williams-Casias(Casillas) ancestors this past weekend, keeping just ahead of the storm. I never fail to marvel at how lucky they were to live in such an astoundingly beautiful location.

Little bits…

April 4, 2022 in Cooking + Baking by Colleen | Permalink

Caught up in the first real warmth of the year, however desperate for green. I love my full shade hat!

It had been ages since we’d enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich! This was smoked gouda on rye with my homemade spicy tomato chutney for dipping. The word is splendid.

Our first burger of the season, also with spicy tomato chutney and a homemade brioche bun. Summer on a plate!

Refreshed

April 1, 2022 in Cooking + Baking, Loving by Colleen | Permalink

Does anyone else remember the 80s t-shirt of Richard Nixon – Tan, Rested, & Ready? Well, I’m not exactly tan, but am feeling refreshed, thank goodness. Could be the dazzle of sunlight on my keyboard or maybe something else. Whatever it is, I’ll take it!

Biscuits two ways! With crunchy-sugary blanched almonds and and ye olde gravy topped version with left over smoked chicken and mushrooms. Small luxuries.

Homemade minestrone, damn good. When I was a teen and bussing tables at the Italian joint, I ate this all the time, dunking crispy hunks of garlic bread like there was no tomorrow. It didn’t have zucchini noodles but did have tortellini, which was better, truth be told, but I made do.

Sunday is raw marrow bone day for the Juper-dog, and darn it if she doesn’t know. She gets it in place of her usual afternoon snack and is positively wild with anticipation. She works herself into a lather for about half an hour, utterly cleaning it of any doggy desirable, before collapsing with exhaustion on the couch. It is ALL the things and keeps her teeth clean, too.

In a strange reversal, my constant coldness pre-menopause has turned to coziness or straight up hot flashing, barefoot on the frozen porch and loving it! Poor Greg is often left shivering. So this started as a joke, a weird contraption from Poler called a Napsack that had me chuckling. It’s basically a sleeping bag with arm and leg holes! Then the genius of it sunk in, and here we are, peeps. The hubster loves it!

In an attempt to be less wasteful, instead of donating a sheet that got a small tear (Juniper and her bed hopping!), I repaired it. Looks nifty, I think.

It’s been a minute…

February 21, 2022 in Cooking + Baking by Colleen | Permalink

Buffalo Chicken Zoodles with Blue Cheese – hot damn, peeps! Seriously *hot*.

Beer Bread – using almond meal from making milk. Yes!

Japanese Glazed Sweet Potatoes – that color!!

Cheaters Latte Art – I use a tool to make the swirls – no badass pouring here.

Chicken soft taco sticking it’s tongue out.

Pizza! Pizza! And some super fizzy Popup wine. All the things…

Aloha, dear reader! It’s been a minute since I posted a talkie type. Not gonna lie, I was a little stuck in a rut. None of the thoughts I was having seemed share worthy. Simple as that.

During that time, I did, however, make some delicious foodstuffs, and here we are with them. It had been a long while since I’d made pizza or drank wine, so why not? There were many sounds indicative of gustatory pleasure in that meal, boy howdy! In all of them, truth be told. We’ve got our system down here.

Save this past weekend, where we were out sans coats in the near seventy-degree garden doing our final rake up, it’s been feeling rather wintry. Several storms have brought actual accumulation, which has yet to fully melt. YAY! Unless something biblical occurs, we are always in need of moisture in the high desert. I will make no complaints. No, ma’am.

Hope life in your corner of the world is aces. Until next time…

Tags: Cooking and Baking