Best Burgers

Steve and I have been eating many typical summer meals. As part of our CSA, we receive a box full of fresh vegetables every week. Aside from the local, organic and seasonal vegetables, my favorite part of the CSA is that I don't have to wander up and down the Boulder Farmer's Market trying to decide what to buy and where to get the best deal. With our CSA through Cure Farm, someone else does my shopping.

Thanks to our CSA share, our meals are usually built around vegetables - grilled zucchini and squash, tomato and onion salads, carrots of some sort, braised greens, more salads, etc. These vegetables would be wonderful on their own, and usually are, but Steve and I usually prepare a "side" of meat to go with our vegetables. We've eaten a lot of burgers this summer, and have developed a few tricks to make them as delicious as possible. Notably, some sort of mayonnaise- or oil-based sauce, grilled onions, and a very simple burger preparation.

A few weeks ago, I made a mayo sauce with toasted and ground cumin and coriander seeds, and garlic. Yesterday, I used at least a cup of garden basil to make an aioli. Our sauce usually replaces the ketchup.

Then I grill large onion circles (just cut the onion down its length, keeping the rounds intact with eachother, coat with oil and salt, and grill on each side until grill marks appear). It's an easy twist on the regular burger toppings.

Lastly, I used to put all sorts of junk in my ground meat - onions, garlic, ketchup, Worcestereshire sauce, etc. I've learned that this not only makes the meat too crumbly, but it's difficult to grill, and it falls apart easily in the final burger. So, now I only mix with a pound of ground beef salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder to taste; one egg; and about one quarter cup of fine bread crumbs. The seasonings do add a lot of flavor; and the eggs and breadcrumbs help keep the meat together not only while assembling the patties, but on the grill and in the burger.

I will take pictures next time!

Here is a link to our CSA, with newsletters, and links to recipes: http://www.cureorganicfarm.com/csa.htm

Wet And Wild

Steve and I couldn't figure out where to spend our three day Memorial Day weekend. Not on the Front Range, not too far from Colorado... We had debated the Picketwire Canyonlands, in the vicinity of the Comanche National Grasslands. That area has some of the oldest dinosaur fossils in the world and would be fun to hike and camp. We decided, though, to head to Crested Butte with two other couples to hike, mountain bike and watch our friend Kris race in the Gunnisson Growler.

The weather forecast was rain, rain, rain. That's ok! Adventure! I love road trips because you don't have to worry about filling those ridiculously small travel containers of shampoo, pulling a deltoid because you refuse to check your luggage and haul it all through security, or cram your purse and laptop under the seat in front of you. Not to mention the planning part. On a road trip, there's minimal planning involved. You can shove your stuff in the back of the Jeep and take off. I'm especially lucky because I don't have to drive. Anyway, Steve, Schivonne, Kris and I shoved in our four mountain bikes, two tents, four mats, four sleeping bags, four backpacks, one cooler, numerous 6-packs of beer, four camping chairs, blankets, pillows, fly rods, and other camping necessities. Emphasis on shove!
So on the road, eating pasta salad and cookies, we sang songs and shared dark secrets. You can't do that on a plane - someone will inevitably hear you. It rained our entire trip down to CB, and was still raining when we arrived at our camp spot, at 10:00 p.m. We rolled up to our secret camping spot on National Forest land, right outside of Crested Butte. We were still excited about camping, completely dry, and didn't mind setting up camp and bearing with the weather. (Kind of like how you can always tell that a waitress is new - she's still smiling, eager to help, and happy to be there.) So we slid in the mud, slipped on corn lilies, and set up camp. It was still raining.

Corn lily.
Evening adventure. View from our camp spot. You can see the red dust that blew over the Rockies in early April.
Road up to our camp.
Saturday morning, oh my God, it wasn't raining. This turned out to be an anomaly, but it just makes everything seem so much brighter when it's not raining. We hiked the in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park that day. It rained off an on, but not enough to dampen our spirits. We were just happy to be outside. Steve and I had hiked the down the canyon over Memorial Day 2007, and camped at the bottom. That year, we started from the North Rim, which was easily accessible from the direction in which we arrived, around Paonia. This year we accessed the Park from the South Rim, the more traveled side. To hike down to the Gunnison River - usually a mile or two of actually hiking over at least 1,700 feet - you need a permit, a lecture on the dangers of hiking, a warning that you need to know how to self rescue, clear instructions to not poop in the woods, a thorough review what poison ivy is, and how you could and probably will die down in the canyon. We happily obliged - it's a filter process that keeps the other hoohas out of dangerous situations that would otherwise eliminate those opportunities for adventurers like us. We received our permit, spoke with the nice lady, and hiked down. It's not an easy hike, but it's amazing to be down in that canyon, on a River that was completely undiscovered until about 100 years ago. It's a very special place. Unlike two years ago, the poison ivy was mild and Steve didn't make me wash my face the second he saw me brush up against poison ivy.

Canyon view from the top.
River at the bottom, with the canyon walls


Poison ivy - beware!
Our two hour ride back to the camp site was peppered with casual comments along the lines of, well, what should we do if it's raining tonight? How are we going to cook our food? Will our tents be wet? Are there hostels in the area? All comments were non-committal, as if the person mentioning them didn't want to be the one who made the group go to a hotel, or didn't want to bail, but didn't want to be blamed for making the group sleep indoors and quit our adventure. We stopped at WallyWorld, bought some fire wood, a tarp, and hoped for the best, despite the fact that the rain was unrelenting. I know that people say that it's just water, it will dry, but whatever, when it's just water that's keeping you wet for a steady 48 hours, you start to evaluate your options, and wonder what the meaning of vacation is.

In any event, we pull up to our camp to my new best friend, rain/mud, and look at each other. What are our options? I'm not sure at what point we decide to stay, perhaps it was a gradual decision fueled by both ingenuity and beer, but we did. Steve and I replaced the large tarp that was under our tent with the new WallyWorld tarp (this turned out to be a bad decision, and was the impetus for our hostel stay the next night), and Steve put those dendrites to work! He created a shelter for us by stringing a tarp through a few trees, some stakes and the Jeep. It was a wonderful little dry spot for us. We were able to build a fire under the tarp, make dinner, set up our camp chairs and relax under the pitter patter of the rain on our tent. It was a wonderful adventure.

Steve, Schivonne and Cory under our temporary housing unit.
On Sunday, we woke early to drive down to Gunnison with Kris for his mountain bike race. It was a chilly, wet morning, but he was off, and the five of us sat in a coffee shop for two hours and read magazines. It was one of my most relaxing memories in recent months. I love the feeling of being away from home, with no obligations, just the freedom to hang out and not worry about the time. After a while, we drove to a spot where we thought we could both run (Steve and I needed to get in a 8-mile run for our marathon training) and see Kris race.

Run in, Kris done, we then stood around wondering what to do now. Our tents were getting wet (especially ours, due to the tarp switch out that allowed water to seep in), we were not warming /drying up, and we had heard about a nice little warm and cozy hostel up in CB. I called, bargained with the dude, and got us a 6-person, private room for $15/person. Not too shabby! We packed up our camping gear, shoved it all back into the car. At this point, we still hadn't used our mountain bikes. We lugged them all the way across Colorado, but it was too muddy to ride. We didn't want to ruin the trails.

The rest of our trip was warm. We drove up to CB, walked around, I bought a Hershey's Kiss halloween costume for $2.50 (here's a preview: http://tinyurl.com/l578md), ate delicious pizza, and conked out. We had been on an adventure all day! We still had to polish off some of the beer we lugged around, so we did that, watched Tommy Boy, and fell asleep in our warm hostel beds. If ever you're in CB and need an affordable, convenient, clean and accommodating place to stay, I would highly recommend the Crested Butte International Lodge and Hostel. It was cheap for us because of the off-season, but the prices are reasonable year round, you can cook in the kitchen, and it's just a fun way to travel. And, they have Tommy Boy on DVD. Here's the movie in a nutshell:

I got a D+! I'm gonna graduate!
You're right! You're not your dad! He could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves!
It's called reading! Top to bottom, left to right... a group of words together is called a sentence. Take Tylenol for any headaches... Midol for any cramps.
Shut up, Richard.

Oh gosh, such a good movie.

Anyway, still too rainy to ride on Monday, so we decided to go home. Not before eating the fluffiest pancakes in the world! Go to the Paradise Cafe on Elk Ave for a delicious breakfast next time you're in Crested Butte. Just delightful! The last highlight of the weekend (aside from a drive through Tiny Town on the way home, which doesn't deserve more than these sparse words), we visited Peanut Lake, about one mile NW of Crested Butte. I saw Peanut Lake on a map, and since that's the cutest name for a Lake in the entire universe (try me), we had to visit. I would still call it Peanut Lake, but with an asterisk and an indication that it's somewhat anticlimactic, given the grandeur of a name such as Peanut Lake, and the small little lake that it was. It was very pretty, though.

I think that despite the rain, the lugging around of stuff and the fact that Peanut Lake could have been shaped into a more defined peanut, this was an excellent weekend. I was happy to be with friends, eat fluffy pancakes, enjoy Crested Butte and Gunnison again, drink good beer, find my next Halloween costume, and more importantly, not sit at a desk.

Steve at Peanut Lake.
A beautiful house in Crested Butte.

Neko Case

Neko Case comes out with her new album tomorrow.

Steve and I were blown away by one of the best radio interview segments we've ever heard yesterday, Scott Simon interviewing Neko Case.

Here's a preview, and I highly recommend listening to the full 10-minute interview. It's enlightening and fulfilling and very thoughtful:

"I just really dig feeling subservient to nature," she says. "It brings me a peace and calm. Kind of like a Faustian thing, I think, where you want the devil's minion to tell you, 'You know, Faust, I could tell you what the meaning of life is, but your human brain is so tiny, you just wouldn't get it.'"

Intense Resistance

There are things I need to do sometimes that I really do not want to do. And they're usually the simplest things. Like an hour of research, calling my insurance agent, or doing dishes. I can't get myself to do it, but I usually have no choice. So by the time I actually get it done, the appropriate late window has elapsed, and I just look like a dumb ass for being so late or for putting it off for so long. I know all this, but I don't do a single thing to change it, aside from procrastinate a bit more.

I've gotten away with it so far, so unless there's a serious incentive - or threat - to do otherwise, I guess it's not so bad.

Yes, I've Cried at Chipotle Before. So What.

I love Chipotle, I really do. It's quick, efficient, tasty, fresh, healthy. I sometimes look forward to a Chipotle burrito as much as a vacation. Vacation for my mouth. Ay Ay Ay, burrrrrito! What. You like Illegal Petes? Really? Is is the shithouse-grade sanitation, the snarky service, the bottom of the barrel ingredients, or the dim lights? Really? Which one's your favorite?

Yes, I have cried at Chipotle because of burritomaker/customer miscommunications, mostly due to the fact that I don't like to be rushed down the line, and I sometimes can't can't put two words together to say what I want, but the tastiness of the burrito is redemption, salvation, and cooperation.

I like this guy, with his rice issues: Breaking News Chipotle Employee Just Gave Guy In Front Of You More Rice.

Three disturbingly real excerpts:

"Adding to your frustration are new reports that the customer behind you has received the same amount of rice as the customer ahead of you, thereby confirming your suspicion of wrongdoing. However, if an earlier incident at the coffee shop or yesterday's conversation with your landlord are any indication, you are expected to take this lying down, like you always do."

"More shockingly, birth records indicate that you are a full-grown adult presumably capable of communicating your thoughts and desires to an unthreatening 19-year-old burrito-assembler. Yet you reportedly continue to avoid even the most minor confrontation, despite the ramifications it may have on your upcoming sour cream and cheese allocation."

"If consulted, the Chipotle employee manual would surely verify that this is a clear breach of company policy, which dictates that a scoop and a half of rice be provided to every customer regardless of age, race, or inexcusable cowardice. Therefore, all sources confirm that you should stop acting like a little bitch who allows the entire world to walk all over him and just say something already."

Fit for a Woman who Offers Indiscriminately for Sexual Intercourse Especially for Money

Puttanesca is one of my favorite and easiest weeknight dishes. It's a perfect dish - it basically requires a saucepan, and limited prep time.

It's somewhat of an Italian pasta dish (not entirely traditional) whose name has to do with hookers - something about a dish fit for a whore. There are other liberties taken with the interpretation. I'm not too interested. Back to food. Make it with garlic, tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, anchovies, and crushed red pepper. It takes no more than 10 minutes to prepare, and has no fancy ingredients. I keep all these ingredients as pantry staples, and usually stock up at the store, so I have the items ready when I'm in a pinch for dinner. It's a basic tomato sauce with some acidity and spice. Just make sure that you have about an hour to let it simmer. No supervision is necessary during the simmering, you can stir occasionally if you're able. Just note that it's exponentially tastier when it has the chance to cook together for an hour (and it's always better the next day too).

All you need is a 2 oz can of anchovies, 4-6 garlic cloves, a +/- 32 oz can of crushed tomatoes, a +/-16 oz can of tomato sauce, a jar of capers, a jar of pitted/halved kalamata olives, crushed red pepper, and penne pasta (a light wheat version is excellent, or white also works - the sauce can hold up to wheat). This is all fluid - use what you have, that's the beauty of the dish. These are just my favorite components of the dish, and the way my mom and aunt used to make it. If you're worried about anchovies, don't worry - you can't taste it (a kin to fish sauce in Asian food). It just adds depth of flavor.

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat, and add the garlic and anchovies. As they soften, crush them together to form a rough paste with the back of a wooden spoon (I've started using a mortar and pestle to do make the paste before adding it - this is just easier for me, but does not affect taste). Once the garlic and anchovies cook together for about 5 minutes, toss in the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce, capers, olives and about 1/2 of the brine (personal trick), and as little or as much crushed red pepper for your taste. Stir it all together, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer, uncovered, for about an hour.

Once it's simmered, generously spoon over penne pasta, serve with green salad. Delicious and satisfying. And easy!

Putting the F-U-N back in C-A-R-E-E-R

I've been meaning to post this thought for a while, but didn't want to make it seem like I wanted to change my career. I don't. I like my job and the its overarching objectives. Who knows what I'll be doing in 10 years, but for now, this works.

But I always wonder, how do you make a career? Is it ever too late to create a career? Does it need to begin after college, and end with retirement? A career is essentially a set of building blocks in the same overall direction, but do you need all of those building blocks in order to make the next step? Can you carry over any of them in order to move in a different direction? Basically, can you be doing the same thing for 5-10-20 years, then pick up and attempt to start a new career? Is it ever too late? If you're 31 and somewhat enjoying what your job entails and where you're going, but always have a longing for something different (which you can define, just don't know how to reach), have you wasted around 8 years of your life in another direction? What if you make an uneducated guess and take the first job that comes out of college, and end up sticking with it, just because it would take too much effort to go backwards, for 40 years? Is it worth it? Any why don't Americans generally support the "gap" year either between high school and college, and college and "life," to help us become who we truly want to become? I think that many of us would not be facing these challenges if we just slowed down and reprioritized.

I'm not sure about all this. Maybe it's that changing a career mid-life requires time, effort, and risk, which many are unable to take. For many reasons - family, location, financial, etc. I guess you can have anything you want, ever, if you are able to take the risk and work hard.

There's no team in blog

Blogging is self indulgent. I mostly started this blog with no intended audience but my own piece of mind. I like to write, but never get to write exactly what I want. I'd like to write whatever I want, whenever I want, with no limitations. Like when I hear a funny joke. I just feel the need to get some things off my mind, even if they're inane, selfish, boring, or completely off topic. I also like to write down ideas that I think are good, or things that I would like to remember. Those are the main purposes of this blog. Help me organize my thoughts, share interesting/funny news with people, share items that I think other people might like to know about me, and finally, let friends and family know what's up!

Chinchillas

Chinchillas a very funny and adventurous animals.
My favorite character trait of the chinchilla is that they like to burrow. This is great for me. I also like to burrow. They are also very cute. Very very cute and soft, and especially prone to needing love. I like to give love.

Chinchillas are native to the Andes, named after the Chincha people of the Andes. Chinchillas have an interesting history. Look them up and learn a little. However, I'm most interested in what it means to me. It's very hard to breed chinchillas in captivity. They like to do their own thing, on their own time. I'm sure they probably can't even get out of their own way. Hmm. They're also elusive. Despite those two things, they have become household pets, although they still live in the wild. I'm not interested in glorifying the chinchilla, nor romanticizing on its virtues.

I'm endeared to them, probably because the remind me of things I like to think about, and that make me laugh:

- In their native habitat, chinchillas live in burrows or crevices in rocks. They are agile jumpers and can jump very high, up to 5 ft (1.5 m). Chinchillas have a variety of defence tactics including spraying urine and releasing fur if bitten. In the wild, chinchillas have been observed eating plants, fruits, seeds, and small insects, though this diet could irritate the digestive system of a domestic chinchilla whose diet should be primarily hay-based.

- In nature, chinchillas live in social groups that resemble colonies but are properly called herds. Chinchilla females are significantly bigger than males. Chinchillas can breed any time of the year.

- Chinchillas are naturally very skittish creatures and generally do not like to be held, although they can become very attached to their owners.

- Chinchillas make a variety of vocalizations, including chirps, squeaks, and barks. They use these sounds to locate each other and express themselves, from a calm, loving chirp given to a potential mate to a loud, aggressive bark when threatened. Chinchilla kits often greet their parents with a very high pitched chirp, usually to indicate that they are hungry.

- Since they are active at night, it is not uncommon for them to vocalize in the early hours of the morning. If irritated or frightened, the female chinchillas may cluck loudly and spray urine at the offender.

- Chinchillas require extensive exercise.

- Active and inquisitive by nature, chinchillas need to spend some time outside of the cage to exercise and to satisfy their curiosity.

- A wet chinchilla must be dried immediately with towels and a no-heat hair dryer. The fur is so thick that it resists parasites such as fleas.

- Chinchillas eat and digest desert grasses and cannot efficiently process fatty foods, high protein foods, or too many green plants.

- Sweets and dried fruit treats, such as raisins should be limited to two or three per week. Chinchillas also eat and drink in very small amounts, therefore, overfeeding is easy.

I love my chinchilla.

Writing

I find it liberating to write without an audience. I always write for an audience - a family member, a friend, a group of friends, a prospective employer, stakeholders , the public. A government official. A coworker. A client. An email trying to pitch our services. A proposal that will likely get us no where. A memo that will update people on a specific topic. An email that I spend 30 minutes on trying to get the right tone, that one person will inevitably feel is passive agressive, or not to the point, or that I will worry about and reread over an over again.

Writing to no one, about what is on my mind, instead of tailoring it to someone else's need, is therapeutic. I'm a bit self involved, but I like to explore ideas, too. I get stuck writing other things. I admire investigative news journalists. They need to come up with a story, and put together the pieces themselves. Most journalists follow the news around. Investigative news journalists, rather, make the news.

I have so many people to talk to about so many things, but it's never as cohesive as I'd like. I'd rather just write it down and get it over with.

Motivation

It's difficult to stay motivated. It helps when there is an exciting event, occasion, trip, work project or new adventure that can keep me motivated to get through whatever I have to get through now, because I know there's something else out there that will make it all worthwhile in the end. Staying positive is key. However, it's just hard to remind myself that getting through what I am trying to get through now won't hurt me when I actually get to that exciting part. Will it dampen my spirit? Crush my positivity? Make me a stronger person? I'm not sure. Everything's a trade off, I just want to make sure what I'm trading is actually worth it. I don't like sitting at this desk and wishing I was running through ponderosa pines with my lungs pounding. At this desk, my lungs are pissed off. I have a nice view though.

In any event, I fall asleep next to an angel every night, who needs me more than I need myself. I can put up with all this.