My parents and Randal's son came to visit for 2 weeks.. after driving it was far closer to 1 week.. boo. We didn't all fit in one vehicle, so we rarely went anywhere as a family. My parents, and my two kids went to Cody a few times, as well as Yellowstone once. Randal and trevor went to YEllowstone multiple times, as well as the Dino Museum and up to Billings among other things.
Since I wasn't there, I won't talk about their travels. but.. heres my adventures
I decided that there was one day that looked decent enough to make an attempt to go to Yellowstone. I was worried it was going to rain on us, but wanted them to get to the park at least once this vacation. We headed up towards teh Northwest Entrance...except I was a dork and missed my turn. We ended up in Red Lodge, which, normally wouldn't be that big of an issue, except the Beartooth highway was closed. doh! We turned around, stopped in Bear Creek at this little cafe that boasts to have the best banana cream pie in teh world. I don't know if it was the best in the world, but it was definetely extremely good!! I highly reccommend this little cafe! The folks that run it are super nice, and have delicious food! It was a great "oops" find :) After lunch and turning around we finally got back up track and headed up the Chief Joseph scenic highway. No animals, but probably for the best since dad was driving. We got to the park and headed towards the Lamar Valley. We saw buffalo, Elk, deer, geese, and Finally... bears! First we saw a big old grizz dining on a pronghorn, which was gruesome, but quite cool as well. People were extremely stupid as they were WAY too close to this bruin! Had he gotten territorial about his dinner, there would have been much chaos, mayhem and death and maimings!! Then a drive further down the road found a black bear. People were even closer to this young bear!! crazy! We drove past, and dad and I hopped out. I started walking towards it and noticed it was coming our direction. We backed up... then it started running in our direction.. which caused us to run towards the car. He stopped, climbed a tree, we paused, back down the tree. Screw this! in the car we went. I got some great pictures hanging out the window from teh safety of the car. We went into mammoth, had dinner at teh new grill, and then headed back the way we came. The grizz was still there, this time he was facing the road. awesome. I should have gotten great photos, but I was dumb and took them while standing on the edge of a running car, so it was a bit blurry :( All in all, not a bad trip.
Randal, and I and the kids went to the geyser basin yesterday for the first time in forever (he and trevor went, but the rest of us hadn't been there in a while). We ate lunch at Grotto and Rocket, and Randal and Sierra wandered down to check out a few of the geysers/ pools down the boardwalk. While they were gone Rocket errupted! I love that geyser, it's pretty dang impressive. I held Jasper up so he could look at it, and told him it was his very first geyser. He stared at it was a "what the heck is that" expression. :) Randal and Sierra came back and we headed to Oblong. Daisy errupted in the distance, and I had the opportunity to share it with an elderly couple walking behind me. We waited at Oblong for about 15 minutes, but Sierra was getting restless. We headed for the car, pausing to admire a trout in the Firehole River momentarily. Sawmill was errupting as we went past, and got us wet. sierra liked it, until we hit the steam. She couldn't see, and it scared her. About that time, Oblong errupted.. dang it. oh well. We saw plume, and Lion errupt from a distance as well. We saw a few elk, deer, and buffalo on the way there and home.. but nothing super impressive. Still a fun day all in all.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Memorial Day
Memorial weekend has come and gone. It was a bit on the chilly and rainy side all weekend, which pretty much sucked. We attempted to go to YEllowstone on Friday, but we didn't even get halfway up the Northfork Road and it was raining hard and the temperature had dropped by about 10 degree, leaving it pretty unappealing. We saw a bunch of bighorns and mule deer at least. Monday finally brought 70 degree temps, but a chance of rain. We were determined to get out of the house, and decided to head to the Bighorns to avoid the traffic and unappealing looking weather over yellowstone.
We headed up the bighorns Via lovell and Burgess Junction. The mountains were beautiful. We saw a couple moose and what we think was a sandhill crane, as well as a ton of pronghorns and mule deer and one white tail deer. The white tail made me miss home just a little bit, and also got me thinking about my grandpa, who passed away on Memorial day about 8 years ago. I think we saw several "seasons" while going through the mountains. There was distinctly winter and spring depending on the elevation. There was a lot of snow still up at the top of the mountains, and wildflowers at lower elevation. I was a bit disappointed the trail my mom wants to go on next week is closed and still full of snow. Quite disappointing.
We came home through Buffalo and then around through ten sleep and back up via Worland. It was a nice loop drive, albeit a bit long. The kids did great through most of the journey but got a bit restless around Ten Sleep. We stopped in Worland for dinner, and they both settled down for the rest of the drive home.
A bit of trivia for you. Ten Sleep got it's name because there were two large indian nations in Wyoming. One in Casper, and I don't remember where the other one was, Lander area maybe? Anyway, they would meet in Ten Sleep, and it got it's name because it was exactly 10 sleeps from their home base to get to the meeting point. Kinda cool history!
We headed up the bighorns Via lovell and Burgess Junction. The mountains were beautiful. We saw a couple moose and what we think was a sandhill crane, as well as a ton of pronghorns and mule deer and one white tail deer. The white tail made me miss home just a little bit, and also got me thinking about my grandpa, who passed away on Memorial day about 8 years ago. I think we saw several "seasons" while going through the mountains. There was distinctly winter and spring depending on the elevation. There was a lot of snow still up at the top of the mountains, and wildflowers at lower elevation. I was a bit disappointed the trail my mom wants to go on next week is closed and still full of snow. Quite disappointing.
We came home through Buffalo and then around through ten sleep and back up via Worland. It was a nice loop drive, albeit a bit long. The kids did great through most of the journey but got a bit restless around Ten Sleep. We stopped in Worland for dinner, and they both settled down for the rest of the drive home.
A bit of trivia for you. Ten Sleep got it's name because there were two large indian nations in Wyoming. One in Casper, and I don't remember where the other one was, Lander area maybe? Anyway, they would meet in Ten Sleep, and it got it's name because it was exactly 10 sleeps from their home base to get to the meeting point. Kinda cool history!
cranberry almond biscotti--passed on from budget bytes
these sound absolutely amazing and you can make them for under 4 dollars, making them about 12 cents each. yum! I'm pretty sure a person could doctor these up a big to make them just a bit more healthy friendly.
Here is her blog posting.
Why haven't I made these before? I have seriously been missing out on some extra enjoyable morning coffee time! I will, without a doubt, be making these on a regular basis.
Here's a little background... A long time ago in a land far away (no joke), I earned my wages as a barista for a small coffee roasting company. Every few days we would have homemade biscotti delivered to our shop by a local baker. These biscotti were like no other biscotti. They were crisp enough to stand up to dunking but not dry or "cut your mouth" hard. Cutting your mouth is not okay... unless we're talking about Captain Crunch, but I digress.
Anyway, I've since been on the search for another biscotti that was so perfectly balanced between crisp and tender. I do believe that today my quest has ended. After searching through biscotti recipes all across the internet, I finally decided to make a hybrid of this one and this one. I like the Food Diary recipe because of the texture (not cut-your-mouth dry) and I like the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest in the Not Derby Pie recipe. I intended on making just almond biscotti but then half way through remembered that I had some dried cranberries so I added them to half. They're good either way and dried cranberries are expensive so if you don't have them on hand, don't worry. I also reduced the amount of sliced almonds from 1 cup to 1/2 cup (because they're expensive also) and it seemed to be plenty.
In the end, I made two weeks worth of biscotti (assuming I eat two every morning... let's be realistic) for the same price as two biscotti at a coffee shop. I consider that a victory.
Oh, did I mention that they're ridiculously easy? Yeah.
Total Recipe cost: $3.64
Servings Per Recipe: 30 pieces
Cost per serving: $0.12 ea.
Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 45 min. Total: 1 hr.
INGREDIENTS COST
2 cups all-purpose flour $0.12
1 tsp baking powder $0.03
1/4 tsp salt $0.02
1 cup granulated sugar $0.18
4 Tbsp butter $0.20
2 large eggs $0.24
1/2 tsp vanilla extract $0.15
1/4 tsp almond extract $0.54
1/2 cup sliced almonds $1.12
1 small lemon, zested $0.25
1/2 tsp cinnamon $0.05
1/4 tsp nutmeg $0.05
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional) $0.67
TOTAL $3.64
STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir very well so that the baking powder is evenly distributed.
STEP 2: In a second bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest. Whisk it all together until it is evenly incorporated and has a light creamy appearance (see photos below).
STEP 3: Pour the wet mixture into the dry flour mixture. Stir until it is evenly combined and you have a wet dough that is similar to cookie batter. Fold in the sliced almonds and dried cranberries (if using).
STEP 4: On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, form two semi-flat logs about 2 inches wide and 12 inches long (see photos below). Make sure the logs are a few inches apart because they will expand slightly while baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
STEP 5: Using a spatula, remove the logs to a cutting board. Cut the logs into 1 inch thick slices on a diagonal (this makes the biscotti longer). A serrated knife works best for slicing the biscotti. Place the slices back on the baking sheet. Bake the slices for 5-7 minutes more on each side (depending on how crisp you like them). Larger, thicker logs will require a more time to crisp up.
STEP 6: Allow the biscotti to cool. Enjoy the biscotti plain or dunked in coffee!
Here is her blog posting.
Why haven't I made these before? I have seriously been missing out on some extra enjoyable morning coffee time! I will, without a doubt, be making these on a regular basis.
Here's a little background... A long time ago in a land far away (no joke), I earned my wages as a barista for a small coffee roasting company. Every few days we would have homemade biscotti delivered to our shop by a local baker. These biscotti were like no other biscotti. They were crisp enough to stand up to dunking but not dry or "cut your mouth" hard. Cutting your mouth is not okay... unless we're talking about Captain Crunch, but I digress.
Anyway, I've since been on the search for another biscotti that was so perfectly balanced between crisp and tender. I do believe that today my quest has ended. After searching through biscotti recipes all across the internet, I finally decided to make a hybrid of this one and this one. I like the Food Diary recipe because of the texture (not cut-your-mouth dry) and I like the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest in the Not Derby Pie recipe. I intended on making just almond biscotti but then half way through remembered that I had some dried cranberries so I added them to half. They're good either way and dried cranberries are expensive so if you don't have them on hand, don't worry. I also reduced the amount of sliced almonds from 1 cup to 1/2 cup (because they're expensive also) and it seemed to be plenty.
In the end, I made two weeks worth of biscotti (assuming I eat two every morning... let's be realistic) for the same price as two biscotti at a coffee shop. I consider that a victory.
Oh, did I mention that they're ridiculously easy? Yeah.
Total Recipe cost: $3.64
Servings Per Recipe: 30 pieces
Cost per serving: $0.12 ea.
Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 45 min. Total: 1 hr.
INGREDIENTS COST
2 cups all-purpose flour $0.12
1 tsp baking powder $0.03
1/4 tsp salt $0.02
1 cup granulated sugar $0.18
4 Tbsp butter $0.20
2 large eggs $0.24
1/2 tsp vanilla extract $0.15
1/4 tsp almond extract $0.54
1/2 cup sliced almonds $1.12
1 small lemon, zested $0.25
1/2 tsp cinnamon $0.05
1/4 tsp nutmeg $0.05
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional) $0.67
TOTAL $3.64
STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir very well so that the baking powder is evenly distributed.
STEP 2: In a second bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest. Whisk it all together until it is evenly incorporated and has a light creamy appearance (see photos below).
STEP 3: Pour the wet mixture into the dry flour mixture. Stir until it is evenly combined and you have a wet dough that is similar to cookie batter. Fold in the sliced almonds and dried cranberries (if using).
STEP 4: On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, form two semi-flat logs about 2 inches wide and 12 inches long (see photos below). Make sure the logs are a few inches apart because they will expand slightly while baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
STEP 5: Using a spatula, remove the logs to a cutting board. Cut the logs into 1 inch thick slices on a diagonal (this makes the biscotti longer). A serrated knife works best for slicing the biscotti. Place the slices back on the baking sheet. Bake the slices for 5-7 minutes more on each side (depending on how crisp you like them). Larger, thicker logs will require a more time to crisp up.
STEP 6: Allow the biscotti to cool. Enjoy the biscotti plain or dunked in coffee!
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