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Rocky Mountain National Park: Day 1 Of The Alpine Adventures, Mind Officially Blown

July 23, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

I’m in Heaven. I mean, I might as well be because I’m so freaking high in the air. Altitude sickness is awful. When Ashley and I got to Estes Park, CO yesterday we felt sort of drunk and queasy and dizzy and headache-y…ick. But we woke up this morning and felt awesome, so awesome that we ate a giant breakfast at Notchtop Bakery and Cafe. I had a French toast sandwich, which is every bit as amazing as it sounds. French toast with ham, eggs, and cheese squished between it, accompanied by a pile of potatoes. Perfect hiking meal.

I have to tell you, this place is magical. It’s doing a number on my brain. The landscape is so incredibly vast that I simply can’t take it all in. We headed to Rocky Mountain National Park after breakfast to do some hiking and we started with the basic trails. As we were driving into the park it dawned on us that there are not enough words in the English language to adequately describe in sheer beauty of a place like this. So I will tell you what we did and let these two dimensional pictures sort of speak for themselves. Please come here. If you have legs and eyes you need to come here to experience this place.

The first stop we made was at a meadow called Sheep Lakes where we looked out on a few ponds with grasses and wildflowers swaying in the breeze. We also met a fabulous volunteer named Darrell who was very knowledgeable and told us where to head. We then headed to the Alluvial Fan which was a waterfall that had broken through a dam in the 80s and flooded the valley.

Onward and upward to Bear Lake, probably the most popular easy trail in the park. We parked at the park & ride on Bear Lake Road, which just reopened on Saturday, and took a shuttle bus up to Bear Lake. Crazy ton of people…and a terribly easy walk to this pretty lake with epic views from all angles.

July is peak wildflower season and they were everywhere. Reds, yellows, purples, whites, pinks peaking out of rocks, showing up in the most challenging of places during this short season of blooming. Dining needles were also having a heyday and their blue bodies looked gorgeous against the deep greens of the landscape.

The Bear Lake trail continues to several other lakes and I wanted to see them all, so we headed next to Nymph Lake, a small body of water with wild yellow water lilies dotting the surface.

The trail continues onto Dream Lake. Each lake had about .6 miles in between but, my Lord, we were huffing and puffing all the way up. There were these little old ladies pacing us and were like, dang, if they can do it so can we! With the air being so thin it was tough at times to get a full breath of air, so we stopped often and drank lots of water. The views up to Dream Lake were the most magnificent we saw all day. I could have just parked myself on that trail and sat all day looking out into the vastness.

Dream Lake was lovely, so tranquil and blue. There were trout swimming near the surface, hanging out, chipmunks scampered up right next to Ashley, and the trees framed the lake perfectly.

I continued onto Emerald Lake by myself and the incline was ridiculous. I had to stop a few times just to catch my breath, but the view kept getting better and better. Emerald Lake was pretty deep and the trail basically dead-ended at the lake so there was no walking along the edge.

Across the lake was a giant waterfall that sounded like it was crashing to earth. It looked so small from where I stood, but there was no mistaking its actual size based on the sound.

My legs didn’t give out and I didn’t die, so I had some soccer dad take a pic.

A marmot!!!!! I was so excited to see this little guy! He looks like the mountain version of a groundhog. He ambled around for a bit and then scurried off.

As we headed back down we realized why everyone heading down earlier had looked so refreshed. It was a total piece of cake! We took some longing last gazes at our favorite spot and headed into town for dinner. Tomorrow we head up Trail Ridge Road for more crazy alpine adventures!!

A Season Of Plenty: Harvest And Home

July 20, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

I’ve been eating insane amounts of tomatoes. I think eating tomatoes makes a person happier. I’ve been eating so many tomatoes I fear I might start to look like one. The Sun Sugar little yellow cherries are ridiculously delicious. It’s wrong. A vegetable shouldn’t taste this good.

A plate of homemade pasta with Sun Sugar tomatoes, zucchini, fresh basil, garlic, and capers.

I’ve also been eating tons of cucumbers and zucchini. The beans are finished. I ate those. The peppers are doing well. I am also consuming those at an alarming rate. The downside to all this produce consumption is that I can picture my body going into some kind of jittery withdrawal when the growing season ends and I am forced to haul myself to the grocery store to buy food again.

It is almost the end of zucchini season here, but I was distressed to find that my plants have succumbed to the squash bug. I was hoping my plants were stronger than that, but no. They cheated on me…with a bug. At this point, all I can do is tear the eggs off the plant, squash them on the patio and spray with insecticidal soap, a mixture of diluted Murphy’s Oil and water.

I’ve hardly had to do any spraying. I’ve sprayed the soap on some aphids, but for the most part, mother nature is helping me out. I have two garden spider webs with small spiders in them that are taking care of some bugs. And I’ve also noticed the birds hanging out on the tomatoes every now and then. So far, I’ve seen two dead tomato hornworms, but no damage and no more worms, so thank you, birdies!!!

The watermelon are slowly getting bigger. Excitement!!! These are the Doll Baby variety.

I went to Long Island for a week at the beginning of the month. It was wonderful. I wrote a piece about home for Women You Should Know that posted while I was up there. Being near the beach made everything better for a while. I mean, tell me, how could anyone be in the presence of such beauty and not be changed in some way for the better?

Bridgehampton beach on a summer day.

Ye olde mighty Atlantic.

A potato field down the street from mom and dad’s house in Mattituck on a walk to Bailie Beach.

Bailie Beach on a clear summer day.

My spot on Bailie Beach after braving the icy Long Island Sound water up to my calves.

Dad’s daylily garden. Every single one of these plants was hybridized by dad so they are each unique in their own special way. This is where the magic happens.

The docks in Greenport have finally been repaired following Sandy. I never get tired of this familiar sight.

A lavender farm in East Marion in full bloom. The color was almost as intoxicating as the smell. Perfumed rows.

A pretty sunset on Bailie Beach after a steamy summer afternoon.

Then I came back to my garden. And next week I head to Denver to be in my best friend’s wedding. Before the wedding, another BFF and I are hitting Estes Park to become one with nature in the Rocky Mountain National Park. We plan on hiking till we’re sore, drinking ungodly amounts of tea, and hopefully still being able to fit into our bridesmaid dresses at the end of the week. This is a big moment, when a bestie gets married. She will be my third bestie tying the knot. I have 5 who I consider BFFs because we’ve been friends so long it’s hard to imagine not knowing them. They have made my life better in so many ways. So I’ll stand beside my girl and try not to cry and thank God that she found a good man. That’s a really good prayer for a girl to have for her girlfriends…that they find good men who will love them like crazy.

I hope to post pictures of the trip next week if a bear doesn’t attack us in the park.

Freezing Green Beans Fresh From The Garden…And Eating Zucchini While Doing So

June 27, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

Let’s just take a second and talk about how delicious my dinner was. I don’t know what to do with all the zucchini I have, so if you have recipes, please share them! Tonight I sliced one up, threw it in a baking pan with some olive oil, and layered it. On each layer I put more olive oil, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a bit of pecorino romano. Then I covered with foil, threw it in the over for about, I don’t know, 30 minutes on 375, until it was tender…and my gosh, it was good.

In the meantime…

I’m getting a ton of green beans from the garden, which is awesome, and I’m determined to get the most out of every plant and not lose a single bean. But, I’m about to go to Long Island for a week at home and I need to do something with these crazy beans! I’m freezing them.

Prep the beans by rinsing and cutting off the ends.

Boil a big pot of water. Get another big pot of ice water ready.

Stick the beans in the boiling water for about a minute until they turn a pretty, bright, Kate Spade green. This is called blanching. Dramatically place your hand on your forehead and say, “Oh, Blanch, what in Heaven’s name am aah gonna do with all theeeese beeaans?”

Transfer the beans to the ice water to immediately stop them from cooking further.

Drain the beans and throw them on a towel to air dry.

Throw those crazy beans in some freezer bags and go on vacation!

Making Ravioli: Because Italians Should Know How

June 17, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

So, I’m Italian. People are never sure. Here in the south, some are easily confused by anyone who isn’t blonde with blue-eyes, so I hear a lot of things. Are you: Greek, Egyptian, Spanish, Mexican, Arab…? Or my favorite, “Where are you from?” New York. “Yes, but where are you from?” It’s a major pet peeve of mine. Home on Long Island, this never happens. I blend in with the rest of the Italian population, and if someone’s blonde, people assume it’s not natural. When I went to Italy several years ago, my identity crisis came to an end. I looked like EVERYONE else and it was amazing, that sense of not being out of place. The people were so much fun, I mean, they had exuberant joy and smiled and said “Ciao, bella!” and gave us free wine and pasta. Ah, pasta. Which brings us to today. Being Italian, it seems wrong to not at least try making my own pasta every now and then, and let me tell you, it has been a blast.

There is a man named Bill who I met in Italian class. The recipe that I used for Asparagus Ravioli is his, which you can also learn how to make if you attend one of his classes. Bill is going to Italy for the month of July to teach Americans how to cook. That’s right, an American is going over to Italy to teach other Americans how to cook Italian food. Following this stint of bliss in Tuscany, Bill will return to Franklin and begin teaching cooking classes to us non-Mediterranean locals under the moniker of “The Cook.” His first class will take place on August 10th at Stoney Creek Farm in Franklin, TN. For more information on upcoming classes, you can email Bill at [email protected].

To get started I mixed some flour, semolina, and salt to make a well for some eggs which would all be blended to form the dough for the pasta.

Ok, so the well was a little shallow, but we fixed it.

Rob helped me out. We had a blast! It was a party with some whiskey and ginger to help things along.

While the dough sat in the fridge for a while getting all gluten-y, we prepared the filling, which consisted of asparagus, onion, ricotta, other Italian cheeses, and some nutmeg.

Tools on hand included a ravioli maker and a lovely pink Kitchenaid mixer with a pasta roller attached. Ladies, this is why you get all the appliances before you get married.

I was terribly excited to realize that the pasta attachments for the Kitchenaid mixers are made in Italy! I mean, why not go to the experts when creating a product? The dough goes through the rollers to form thin sheets which serve as the top and bottom layers of the ravioli.

The filling was added to a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off for easy filling of the little cheese wells.

Another sheet of pasta was added to the top of the filled ravioli. Here you can see manly Rob expertly using the pretty pink Kitchenaid.

The top layer is added and a rolling pin is used to press the dough into the mold to form the shape of the ravioli.

This is what we ended up with. Don’t they look professional?!

We made a simple butter-cream sauce with the remaining asparagus spears and boiled the pasta for about 5 minutes until it was tender.

Buon appetite! These were absolutely delicious in every way. When we were finished Rob looked down at his plate forlornly and said, “I’m so sad that’s over.” Me too. Until the next pasta adventure…

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