(some) signs of spring

some shots from this week

cinco de mayo

When Steve and I picked our wedding date three years ago, it didn't even occur to us that it was Cinco de Mayo. But we quickly got into the spirit, and served margaritas at our cocktail hour. (And boy were they tasty--I know many of our readers were able to enjoy them!)

Yesterday a snowstorm rolled in around 3 p.m., threatening to spoil our Cinco de Mayo / anniversary celebration. Luckily once we left the park the roads in the valley were dry and clear. It's an hour drive to Livingston, home of our favorite restaurant The 2nd Street Bistro. If you haven't already figured it out, we're a little obsessed with this place. If you visit, we will take you there. And you will like it. Their signature cocktail is a pineapple-jalapeno margarita--it's crazy delicious.


We had another incredible meal there, and it made the snowy drive home worth it.

We woke up to more snow this morning. While the rest of the world is experiencing sunshine and warm weather, I'm wrapped in a blanket eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup every day for lunch. And baking--thanks to the awesome website HighAltitudeBaking.com, we've had success after success (and we just ordered her book). Tonight I made lemon-blueberry muffins:


We need to keep warm. I've also discovered that the key to wilderness living is...drumroll please...MAIL ORDER! Today 2lbs of Intelligentsia coffee arrived, and I can't stop hugging the bag of beans. Steve thinks there's bound to be just as good coffee that's sold locally here. Steve doesn't drink coffee. I will continue to mail order.


Tomorrow I'll finally post the pics from our trip to Arches and Canyonlands. It will be nice to see some sun, even if it's only through those month-old photos.

spring in the mountains

The past few days have all had one thing in common: snow. A storm blew in Wednesday and temporarily closed all of the roads in the park, save for the northern road. The snow kept falling on Thursday, and the only road open that day was from West to Old Faithful. Same for Friday. When I woke up on Friday, this much snow had accumulated on our porch railing overnight:

Understandably, visitors were very frustrated. A popular triathlon, Park to Paradise, scheduled for Saturday, was canceled. Finally on Saturday the weather let up enough that the roads were opened again, though it's been spitting snow every day and the forecast calls for snow showers through next weekend.

Given the weather, we haven't been out much, save for work. We've been making heavy pasta sauces, eating cinnamon rolls, drinking lots of hot tea. But today the sun finally shined more than it snowed, and I went out for a short drive. Signs of spring--baby bison:



A black bear foraging:



And two moose hidden in the trees:


Lest you think there's been no excitement around here, today I went out for a run and had to wait for two separate herds of bison to cross the road in front of me. As I waited for the second herd, a kind family offered me a lift in their car; I hopped in, they drove me safely through the bison herd, and then I went back to running down the hill.

Oh and, on Wednesday, on his way to Bozeman, Steve found himself face-to-face with a driver who decided the best way to avoid the police who were chasing him was to go the wrong way on Highway 90. You can read about it here:

http://www.kbzk.com/news/interstate-shut-down-man-arrested-after-police-pursuit-near-bozeman/

Never a dull moment.

fail

I love to bake. I gave a passing thought to high altitude baking as we were moving in here (we currently live at 6239 feet), but not much. The other night I decided to make banana bread, and while it turned out ok it was "wetter" than it normally is. I vaguely remembered someone telling me to add more flour to compensate, so today when I tackled chocolate chip cookies I made a special point to add more flour than the recipe called for.

I took the first batch out of the oven and they looked like this:


Eek. They appeared to rise, and collapse onto themselves. They looked terrible. I googled "high altitude baking" and discovered that while you're generally supposed to add additional flour, you also cut back on sugar and the leavening agent. While I couldn't subtract baking soda, I could add more flour, so I did. The second batch looked better,


but still were, in my words, a fail. Steve is eating both batches right now and says "they don't taste that bad." Sigh.

I think I'll order a high altitude baking book from Amazon, and in the meantime I'll be experimenting with our favorite recipes. This will require some math on my part--wish me luck.

Like me, this elk looks like she had a rough day in the kitchen. Hey, I know how ya feel...