afternoon delight.

Coffee, glowing fireplace, cream of wheat, online paper reading & old crow medicine show playlist. are you sure i'm meant to go to work today?

we live in a beautiful world. 

Macho Salad

Spotty internet has gotten me rather behind on posting meals and other photos regularly. Sometime last month I made my best effort at recreating one of the best salads I have had. The Cherry Creek Grill in Denver serves a salad called the "Macho Salad." I had it last spring with Kat, after hearing about it from her for ages. It was heavenly. My recreation was nearly as good... a spinach base, topped with shreddy chicken, goat cheese, dates, corn, walnuts & dried cherries. Topped with a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, agave & sea salt. It was definitely my own modification, but it was delicious. I think I had it for five meals in a row before I decided to ease off. The dates were the best part... melty and sweet and yummy.

Here are a few other snapshots of the weekend:

feast for ten

 ladies at t bar

torre in action

Opening Day.

season 5, episode 1 in "e.dodd on the mountain"

this weekend consisted of 4 days on the slopes with various companions and terrain. toss in two thanksgiving feasts, a few visits to the t-bar, one yoga class, one dance rehearsal, and two loaves of banana bread. this equals one horizontal girl! 

Gratitude Yoga.

I promised I'd be back yesterday with a little piece on my creation of 'gratitude yoga', but you know what? I had too much fun. I hit the slopes, which had full patches of powder on the second day of ski season, with Kim & Schmeltz. It was cold, but not as cold as we thought it was going to be, I grinned. We skied. I kept grinning. We met Torre and went for Hazie's Bloodies, and there I was positively giddy with gratitude. Three of the people who make my Steamboat world go 'round, slap-happy from skiing, with a touch of vodka & tomato & pickled vegetables up the wazoo.
Kim came over and I moved onto cooking-- stuffing, artichoke dip, creamed onions & pumpkin pie. And then it was a whirlwind to get showered & dressed and transport ourselves and all of the food up to Teen's house for a giant feast of thanks with ten friends. The food was awesome, the friends were fun, and we played dominos and I was kind of good at it!

So, the bustle of the great day made me glad I had chosen to do my yoga first thing, as I don't think I ever would have gotten to it later on. The idea came to me early yesterday. In one of the yoga classes I attend semi-regularly, we do surya namaskara, which is a type of sun salutation. It involves twelve asanas (poses). It looks a little something like this:

So, I decided that I would make a list of twelve things I am grateful for in my life, and I dedicated one round of surya namaskara to each. Through the flow I kept my thoughts channeled on that theme. And it worked. It was awesome. I finished with a huge sense of gratitude (and a couple tree poses, because that is my favorite). Here were my twelve:

1. Family

2. Health/My Body

3. Friends

4. Steamboat

5. Home

6. Snow

7. Those who have passed away

8. Yoga

9. The Natural World (particularly trees & mountains)

10. Choice

11. Music

12. Myself

The list could have gone on and on, but these are the themes cover the biggest categories. 

What are you grateful for? 

Thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm scooting up to the slopes despite temps of 1 degree out my window. Until I get back, I'll keep you occupied with thoughts of "Gratitude Yoga", a creation of this morning, and last year's gratitude post... which still rings true in every respect.

Bearfoot Bluegrass playing, Sauv Blanc in the glass, stuffing concocting on the stove. Heading to the first feast of the weekend in an hour. Cheers!

why not kick off a long weekend that will be filled with many delicious morsels with a little mushroom brie and bread? yes please. 

in other news, i have an official crush on sauv blanc wines from new zealand. 

today:

coffee. broken wiper. late lunch. bustling ski area. office laughter. february discovery. yoga. hot springs. sushi. pumpkin pie in the oven. fire. sleeping boy. letter writing. 

Driving with E, Part I.

descending on the yampa valley, early october. 

a delightful day.

two sundays ago brett and i had a cozy little sunday, full of pumpkin pancakes, xcountry skiing on rabbit ears pass, and an apres ski spread. for the life of me i can't get the photo of us skiing to show upright on this page, so you'll just have to turn your head!

weekend.

• 80's gaper dance party.
• clean apartment.
• steak tacos.
• finished book.
• coffee in bed.
• leaping lunges.
• grilled cheese.
• thomas crown affair.
• two fun dance rehearsals.
• homemade chicken soup, biscuits, brownies.
• football & friends.

after the storm.

it's been snowing forever. we're in the midst of full-on-winter, with way more snow than we typically have prior to the mountain opening. it's been beautiful to see it coming down, but also very grey and dark. today the sun is finally breaking back through, and all the world is a-sparkle. it seems only appropriate that i opened up pandora this morning and this song came on. i can't help but grin as i look out the window at giant heaps of snow, blue sky peeking through the trees, perfect white ski trails in sight. the only thing better would be heading out to play.

Homemade Brie LT and a goat cheese & date salad. 

gratitude.

i had a great yoga practice this morning. i've discovered a new yoga teacher at the gym -jenny- who leads a very invigorating and groovy class. her music rocks and she keeps you flowing. not always the slow, stretchy class i often crave, but sometimes i really enjoy a harder class that keeps me burning. at the beginning of class she encouraged us to dedicate our class to something we were grateful for, as we enter into the holiday season. i chose to dedicate my practice today to my friends. i've always been blessed with a variety of beautiful caring people in my life-- many who have become my 'chosen family.'  today, my gratitude is particularly strong for my steamboat friends. my first few years here were wonderful and filled with rich and new experiences, but my world here has truly been transformed in the last year as i've formed many new friendships and finally found a solid crew of companions. so thanks, friends, for being a part of my journey. cheesy as this post may be, i really mean it. namaste.

grey skies spitting snowflakes, chai tea, letter editing, sweater dress & cowboy boots, sleepy haze, spent muscles, blueberry bagel, grant reading, new music.

happiness is...

14 friends for a birthday dinner, a good excuse for cake, and tears of laughter over blue teeth.

honeycrisp apples with boulder-made honey peanut butter.

perfect blue skies, sun reflecting on snow, making all the world a-glitter.

having all six of my cubs in town for 2 days.

making time for long cardio workouts.

burgers & sweet potato fries.

a really good book.

long walks.

knowing the mountain opens in two weeks & this stands a good chance of being the best winter in the boat yet. entering my fifth winter, i have a hunch that a combo of snowstorms & friends could make this epic!

today, the boy is finally healthy. breakfast, long chilly walk, delicious lunch. now he's watching football with the boys while i read & listen to bluegrass. yoga & dance rehearsal, then i'll meet up. what a lovely little sunday.

nothing like a techno dance party in the kitchen. with your favorites.

al fresco

i (finally) thawed some of these sausages that my parents brought out (a really long time ago) as a treat that i had stowed away in the freezer. they are still good! holy goodness. i had forgotten just how amazing they are. go find them. and eat them. the sweet apples ones have vt syrup, and they really are sweet and juicy. i'm looking forward to cooking the rest of them up with some kale & apples & onions. now that i remember how good they are, i'll have to look for them in denver, as that seems to be the closest region to sell them.

in other news, van morrison pandora really does the trick today.

a return.

remember this guy?

after five months in indiana, he's finally coming back!!!

“Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
Imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
Or the gesture of a fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don’t wait another minute.”
-Mary Oliver