Past 2 weekends away, really good to be Colorado home — mighty FAAANNNTASTIC. And this weekend, a rare non-snow reprieve. I dig the white stuff but outdoor run miles been super limited in 2019, lotta treadmill ticks. Every Wednesday/every Saturday, precip pattern this season. Mountain snowpack over 100% now, reservoirs expected high once Spring melt begins. Happy water news for high altitude/arid Colorado (300 days of annual sunshine, notta lotta summer rain).
Saturday run, new run. Hour-15 south to Littleton, day destination: Waterton Canyon. Parking lot still ice-packed with remnants of winter past. Crampons, no crampons? Micro spikes? Hmm. Just trail shoes & a hydration pack today. Tenth mile in, dirt road CLEAR, plowed & DRY. SUCCESS!
Early start, notta lotta faces on the trek out. Peaceful, quiet. Foot pulsed easy on packed clay. Outdoor eye-candy, crazy beautiful. Big scenic walls, reminiscent of local Boulder Canyon.
GREAT day for a Colorado run! SUNSHINE, snow & mile-high attitude 🙂 Outta road 6 ½ miles in, just past the Dam. 9 minute clip, gradual grade UP, gonna make the return FAST.
BIGHORN SHEEP run reverse. On the road, surrounding rock walls, high plains grazing – all food foraging for Spring green. Mostly female, single ram spotted high. Unexpected. WOW!
Thin air, outdoor-adventure every day — even in February.
Ski. Hike. Ice fish. Climb. Or take in a canyon run. LOVE LOVE my Colorado life ❤️
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- feb FUN run
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- outdoor eye-candy
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- gradual UP
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- dirt road CLEAR
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- Strontia Springs Dam
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- end of the road
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- BIGHORN SHEEP
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- lone Ram
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- Spring green foraging
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- tableside GUAC reward
BESTIE in town. Awesome opportunity to try never-before activities. Life share, show some host creativity, LIVE a GREAT STORY. Pearl Street? Been there, done that. Hike? Wrong time of year.
Chocolate tour & cheesemaking – bang on. My truth. Really thought I purchased ‘cheese & wine pairing’ tickets. Creamery walk, bunch of local cheeses, professionally-paired wine selection.
Creamery, check ✅ Haystack Mountain in Longmont.
Local cheeses, check ✅✅ Board on the wall highlighted fresh offerings. Long table guest prepared, each spot white plate-garnished, wine glass at 1 o’clock. FAAANNNTASTIC, my kinda afternoon.
Took turns introducing ourselves, home location – AND our favourite cheese. (Mine: Goat cheese – reality, mostly purchase cheddar.) Very couple centric activity. Glad to have a plus +1 today.
World TILT.
How many of you have ever made cheese before? ALL hands go up. Discussion start. Number of classes attended, types of cheeses produced. Reliable enzymes, most useful equipment.
College freshman all over. Second semester calculus – first college class, 7:30am, right outta high school. Must’va been an amazing multiple-GUESS day on that placement exam. L-O-S-T.
Hundred years later, same freshman. What would I do different today? [We all have those thoughts.] Laugh, talk more – but essentially, same ‘deer in headlight’ moment. Just more coping tools. LOL>
Mesophilic starter culture. Penicillium candidum. Rennet. Bloomy rind stabilization?
NIGHTMARE. Truth – I store pots in MY oven. Notta chef, can’t even fake it.
Another truth: single bottle of white for 12 people? Sober Saturday.
Upbeat helpful fromager (master instructor), eager excited learners & two self-made take-home cheeses end-of-the-day. Not for eating of course – well, not now. THREE weeks of flipping, draining, wrapping, re-wrapping, in/outta fridge, twice a day attention.
Crazy interesting/whatta science but ONE ‘n DONE folks (never-ever-again add: ‘2016 pottery wheel‘ list). $5 slice in the supermarket never looked so good.
‘That time I made cheese.’
Sunday BREAKFAST at Lucile’s. BEIGNETS! Plate of heaven, powdered in sugar.
Same time next year, friend? Gonna build a rocket ship. Can’t be that hard 😊
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- bloomy rind FRESH
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- Haystack Mtn Creamery
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- table set & ready
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- Cheesemaking 101
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- freshman FEAR
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- self-made, take-home
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- minimum 3 weeks aged
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- gotta/hafta/must GO
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- cocoa & BEIGNETS ❤️
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- Super Bowl snooze
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- March UPDATE
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- Camembert SUCCESS!
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- plated & SHARED
Shanao Cacao
Start of a new month. Hola February. East Coast guests next TWO months. Y-E-S ✅
Trekked NZ with my bestie Dawn (Mar 2017) – both islands, self-drive holiday. Rotorua to Christchurch, Queenstown to Hobbiton. Life adventure shared. Hint, hint. Travel ready again.
FUN FACT: Dawn was my first manager after finishing college in Massachusetts. SUPER smart, honest open pure. On a single hand, friends I‘ve known more than 20 years. TWENTY years.
We’ve card-played & talked (& talked & listened to music & talked) ‘til 3am. Feasted on gourmet meals outta her kitchen – Beef Wellington, a Christmas goose. Known each other’s life mates. Survived a whiskey flight in Kentucky (‘fire water’). I HEART this gal, everything about her.
Weekend stopover in Denver? Heck yeah!
Foodie tour’d the Front Range, learned ‘bean to bar’ how chocolate is made AND inadvertently, made camembert cheese (really thought I purchased ‘cheese & wine pairing’ tickets).
Times goes by fast with this one. 2013 Iceland, 2017 New Zealand. 2020 plans? 🙂
Miss you friend…already. xoxo ❤️
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- Front Range foodie tour
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- bean-to-bar CHOCOLATE
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- Alto Mayo Valley, Peru
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- bean ROASTIN’
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- bean COOLIN’
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- organic native superfood
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- bean & cacao butter
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- tour TASTING
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- farm-to-bar products
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- can’t eat just ONE 🙂
