A Daytrip to Aspen

This past weekend Mr X asked me what I wanted to do for the day. I told him that I didn't want to do any of our usual things - biking, hiking, etc. I wanted to do something different. So Mr X decided to put me in the car and go on a scenic drive all the way to Aspen, since I'd yet to see it. It was perfect.

We went through Leadville, where we stopped for lunch, and then we headed west and over the pass (shown in the first three photos below) to Aspen.

Once we made it to Aspen we parked the car and explored much of the town on foot for a few hours. Then we drove around to four of the local ski resorts to check those out. I told Mr X and I'd like to snowboard at every ski resort in Colorado eventually. So I at least had to check out how the mountains looked for that purpose. I like how the chair lifts really go right into town in Aspen. It's nice and convenient.

Stay tuned, there's another Aspen post to come in a few days...

A Return To My Favorite RMNP Hike: Sky Pond

You may remember this hike from my blog last summer. I declared then that it was my favorite hike to-date. Since then I've gone on many more hikes which I've loved. So it may not be my #1 anymore, but it's still most certainly grouped at the top of my list. I told Mr X and I liked it so much that I wanted to do it once every summer. 10 miles of incredible beauty:



Last year when we did this hike we saw a man fly fishing in this alpine lake and he was catching something just about everytime he cast his line. So this year Mr X brought up his fly fishing gear so he could try. I just basked in the warmth of the sun on the rocks while he fished. I wasn't about to lug my fishing gear 10 miles.

There were loads of wild raspberry bushes all around. So yummy.

Already?

When I went outside today I was greeted with this:

So it seems fall is starting already.

A Recent Work Getaway

A couple weeks ago I had to go to San Diego for work. I convinced Mr X to use some of his use-or-lose vacation days and come with me. I had to work the entire week but we stayed over the weekend so I could play at the beach a little bit too. During the days Mr X stand-up-paddle boarded with some of his buddies that live there. I think it was a much needed break for Mr X.

In the evenings, when I wasn't working, Mr X and I feasted on fantastic San Diego food. I love Colorado but sometimes I really, really miss the food scene from Southern California. I think we had some sort of tacos each day and most of those tacos were of the seafood variety. We found a new place to eat that is new to SD since we moved away. It's now our favorite restaurant. It's called Fish 101. If you're ever in San Diego it would be well worth your time to go to this place. It's incredibly delicious.

My 2nd 14er: Quandary Peak

A few weekends ago Mr X and I did our second 14er of the summer. We had to catch up to our goal of one each summer and since we failed to climb one last summer, we had some make-up work to do. We chose Quandary Peak because it was the second quickest/easiest from what we'd read online. Even though it is considered rather easy for a 14er, it was quite a bit more difficult than Mt Bierstadt, I thought. Here are the stats for this one:

Location: Tenmile Range, Summit County (6 miles southwest of Breckenridge)

Trailhead Elevation: 10,850 feet

Peak Height: 14,265 feet

Elevation Gain: 3,450 feet

Length: 7 miles

We saw loads of Mountain Goats on both the way up and the way down. There was even a little tiny baby goat that kept walking straight at me. It was making me nervous because the mom goat was keeping a sharp eye on me. I kept baking away from the curous little baby so the mom wouldn't get protective and head butt me right off the ledge or something.

 





Interestingly enough we got great reception on our cell phones at the very top of this peak - we get horrible reception at our own home. Mr X even called his mom from the summit to tell her we'd made it.

Mr X's Manly Apron

My parents came to visit last month and during their stay they witnessed Mr X attempting to cook bacon without splattering grease all over himself. I eventually forced Mr X to wear my frilly girly apron to prevent him from ruining yet another shirt. My wonderful parents then sent Mr X this much more heterosexually-male-appropriate apron for his birthday. Camouflage. It even has a pouch in the bottom left hand corner that holds a cold beer. Or root beer. Or barbecue sauce. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Mr X: Another Year Older And (Hopefully) Wiser

Mr X celebrated his birthday this past week. Or rather I celebrated his birthday and he just endured it.

First on the birthday to-do list? A visit to the dentist. Blech! This wasn't my idea - Mr X just didn't think about it when he was at the dentist's office in January and they asked him if he could do the end of July for our next appointments. But it's an awful way to start out one's birthday. No cavities for either of us though so I guess it wasn't too bad.

Next I took the Birthday Boy out to lunch. Then we headed to a shop to purchase some more fly-fishing gear for Mr X. A net, a fly fishing pack, a new reel and some flies.

His pack looks somewhat similar to this one.

We went home after that so that I could get to work preparing his specially requested birthday meal and he could get to work organizing his fishing gear and setting up his pole with his new reel.

It's a birthday tradition in our house that on the person's birthday he/she gets to select all of the meals. Mr X couldn't decide in the days preceding his birthday so I helped him out by giving him a couple dozen options from which to pick. Out of all of those options he settled on KFC. Homemade KFC. The dessert he chose was much less fast food-esque. Here's the run-down (I didn't remember to take photos so I poached these from the interweb):

Buttermilk Fried Chicken.

Ina Garten's recipe for Coleslaw.

Buttermilk biscuits.

Mashed potatoes with chicken gravy.

Rustic Plum Crostata with Lemon Thyme.

The Crostata was the star of the dinner. Mr X loved it. I did too. You should definitely make this. Here's the recipe (courtesy of the NY Times):

Rustic Plum Crostata with Lemon Thyme

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 2 hours’ chilling

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (40 grams) whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) plus 1 tablespoon (15 grams) sugar
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) plus a pinch fine sea salt
1 large egg
Heavy cream
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 cups sliced and pitted ripe sugar plums or mix of other plums (about 1 1/2 pounds before pitting) *
1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) cornstarch
1 small bunch lemon thyme (or use 1 teaspoon lemon thyme leaves)**


1. In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse together the flours, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt until blended. In a measuring cup, lightly beat the egg, and add just enough cream to get to 1/3 cup. Lightly whisk the egg and cream together.
2. Add the butter to the flour mixture and pulse to break up the butter. Do not over-process; you need lima-bean-size chunks of butter. Drizzle the egg mixture over the dough and pulse until it just starts to come together but is still mostly large crumbs.

3. Put the dough on the counter and knead to make one uniform piece. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for 2 hours or up to 3 days.


4 Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough out to a 12-inch round (it can be ragged). Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and chill while preparing the filling.


5. Toss together the plums, all but a tablespoon of the remaining sugar, a pinch of salt and the cornstarch. Pile fruit on the dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Gently fold the pastry over the fruit, pleating to hold it in (sloppy is fine). Brush pastry with cream. Sprinkle remaining sugar on top, with the thyme.


6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender. Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Remove the thyme branches (some leaves will cling; you want this). Serve warm or at room temperature.

*I used a variety of plums: Friar, Mirabelle and Satsuma
**I couldn't find lemon thyme leaves so I grated lemon zest into the fruit mixture and squeezed a half a lemon's worth of juice into it as well.