The Grand Canyon, from 39,000 ft

Sadly, all good trips must come to an end. But at least we got these spectacular views of the Grand Canyon on our way home!

comparitive cello tasting

We brought some of our homemade limoncello for Mike & Sherry (on the right). They had recently made some "clemoncello" -- from not-yet-ripe Clementines from their garden. I found Mike & Sherry's to be more subtle, but both were delicious. This was the perfect prelude to our night of Rock Band. [Notes: 1) there are no photos from Rock Band, and 2) Rock Band doesn't stop for dinner -- which is why this was an after-dinner activity.]

all things from the sea

For our last night, Sherry and Tom started out by going to their local fish-procurement place. I don't exactly say "store" or "fish-monger," because this was (as Tom describes it) basically an industrial location that provides fish to local restaurants. Sherry shops there weekly, so she has access to anything that a restaurant chef would.

Sherry prepared a breaded-scallop & tomato dish, as well as a snapper (served on diced & sauteed tomatoes & chorizo).

Mike prepared an octopus ceviche, which was excellent. This was my first foray into octopus, and I approved!

home-made cream cheese

Sherry introduced us to home-made cream cheese (more on this to come). This was served with toast and 4 different kinds of smoked fish. Wow!

night #2: Tapas extravaganza

 For Christmas this year, we sent Mike & Sherry some Serrano ham.  This prompted Sherry to make us a feast of Tapas for our second night.  The first dish was the Serrano ham, thin-sliced, served on fresh bread with a tomato topping.

 Next were carrots, which came from Mike & Sherry's garden, with roasted garlice & herbs.

 This dish translates as "fiery potatoes."  They weren't so much fiery as warm & delicious.  I would definitely make these!

 This was the only contribution from me & Tom: an excellent Rioja, which came from Trader Joe's.  Oh, how we miss Trader Joe's!

 Next were golden beets and peas (also from the garden)

  and then a mushroom dish.

 This was a twice-cooked sausage (pan seared, then sliced, then cooked again -- to maximize the crispy-goodness).

 What is a delicious meal without cod-cakes?

 Then there were shrimp...

And don't forget the fresh greens and radishes (again, from the garden).  We ate & drank these lovely bits for hours.... it doesn't get any better than that!

bottling wine

We accompanied Sherry & Mike to their friend Gisela's store, Curds & Wine (www.curdsandwine.com). The shop is set up so that you can buy ingredients/materials to make your own cheese, and you can also buy ingredients to make/bottle your own wine. Gisela will store the wine for you as it is fermenting, and she also has all of the equipment to do the bottling. Each batch makes approximately 30 bottles of wine; Sherry had both a Pinot Grigio and a Chardonnay for us to bottle, so we were busy!

In the top photo, Sherry is dispensing the wine that she had made into bottles. In the middle: Tom is corking the bottles. And at the bottom: I am applying the foils. Jobs well done.

visiting Mike & Sherry: night #1

Sherry & Mike have been making/bottling their own wine. This was a lovely glass of Chardonay.

For our first dinner, Sherry prepared an Asian-inspired meal. The dish on the left was Mapo Tofu (but also had ground beef) -- all prepared in a mildly spicy black bean paste with chilies. This was served with zuchhini and spare ribs, all over rice.  It was all delicious.

hangin' with the neighbors

We decided to spend our Christmas down-time with the neighbors. One of Lynne's students had given her a very unique gift for Christmas: edible hibiscus flowers. The instructions were to place a flower in the bottom of a champagne flute, add a small amount of the syrup (that came in the jar) and then add champagne. If you look carefully, you can see the flower at the bottom -- it opened up as it sat in the bottom of the flute. Pretty.

Thank you, Lynne, for taking this photo for us!

Merry Christmas!

Well, we're not exactly having a white christmas, but we sure are having an incredibly gorgeous christmas. This is the view from our neighborhood; it's been 50+ degrees and beautifully sunny.

Tom got me a very cool SLR camera for christmas -- so I'm learning how to use it. It's a Canon EOS, and it has all kinds of spiffy "features." Since I haven't put a "Snow Capped Rockies" photo on the blog for a while, I thought this would be a good chance.

our responsibility: dessert

Originally, Tom had wanted to serve some kind of a caramel apple. However, I was inspired by a baking book that Mark gave to Tom several months ago, and wanted to tackle pastry. We chose two: a classic chocolate ganache (topped with toasted almonds), and a play on the caramel apple. Tom sauted the apple in white wine and ginger, and made a caramel sauce to coat the apple filling. We served this with an Australian antique Tawny. Yum!

main course: rabbit

The main course was Mitzi's doing: braised rabbit. She described the process -- which I suspect took at least two days! (The process seemed similar to preparing a beef bourguignon.) It was very intense, and unbelievably delicious. She served it over homemade pasta, and fresh broccoli. The wine pairing was a wonderfully smoky Chateauneuf du Pape from 1999.

another successful gourmet potluck dinner

We had a fantastic dinner with our friends Mark & Joanna, and Tom and Mitzi. Mark prepared the first course: a whole wheat crepe with salmon and dill sauce, served with a brussel-sprout 'peasant salad.'

He served this with a delicious white burgundy -- it was a perfect complement.

almost Winter Solstice party

We had a party last weekend, which was loads of fun. We didn't end up taking photos during the party -- as Tom was busy behind the drums, and I was busy behind the bar. But we took these pictures before the crowd descended upon us...

Our friends Jim and Sheila were here from Phoenix. Since Jim is a graphic designer (who specializes in making signs) we employed him to make signs for the cheeses. I thought they turned out pretty cool.

a gorgeous day overall

We had such an awesome visit... we hope to visit Cherie in Australia some day.

cool clouds at the Boulder Canyon Overlook

We also took Cherie to Meyer's Gulch, to the Boulder Canyon Overlook. There was no snow, but there were some pretty amazing clouds. Tom thought the clouds in the photo below looked pretty angry...