Winter weather

The weather service forecast a 10-30% chance of up to a half inch of snow for the past few days. They got it wrong. I think there's at least a foot of snow on the ground, and it's still snowing. The wind is blowing, too. School is already guaranteed to have a 2-hour delay, and will possibly be canceled. It depends on when the snow stops.

Although we've had a few snows so far this fall, this is the first big storm of the season. We can always use the precipitation.

Poor NOAA. They've not been very accurate this month. To be fair, the Palmer Divide is a tough area to forecast. Most weather maps stick their labels over the area, thus avoiding the issue. NOAA is forced to come up with something anyway. The spot where we live is lumped in with some other areas in the Rampart Range that aren't on the Divide and aren't even on this side of the Ramparts. We find it more accurate to look at the forecasts for a couple of local towns and extrapolate from there.

We took a few photos. I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet. I want to get a few more in the morning. It's always glorious to see the sun shining on fresh snow.

It might be time to change the header photo for this blog from autumn colors to winter snow.

High-country hiking is probably over for the year. It's time to haul out the snowshoes, yak trax, and snow-proof clothing. We also enjoy winter hiking at the lower elevations. There's not much snow on the ground most of the time, the rattlesnakes are hibernating, and the prickly pear cacti are dormant and not as vicious.

Here's a cactus photo. I don't remember exactly where I took it, but it was probably on the banks of the Arkansas River near Buena Vista. I can't remember if it was this spring or last spring. Many small prickly pear cacti were nestled in the pine needles, full of sharp cactus spines and pretty yellow flowers.

In winter, the prickly pears flop over on the ground and get all reddish and wrinkly. The spines don't seem quite as threatening. The cacti around here easily survive -20F to -30F temperatures during the winter and bounce back quickly in the spring. They are very tough plants. The flowers are beautiful.

I don't have any photos of the local rattlesnakes. We usually back off when we see or hear them instead of reaching for our camera. Our instincts are for survival rather than photography.

Nutcracker season

The time from Thanksgiving to about New Year's is Nutcracker season. The ballet, that is. It seems to be a seasonal favorite. The local cities have productions, either locally produced or performed by out-of-town ballet companies. The local ballet studios add plenty of cute kids to the productions.

We went to one tonight. A friend of ours was in it. She was charming and lovely, as always. We enjoyed the show. What's not to like? It may not be grand and novel art, but it is fine entertainment. The costumes were attractive, the scenery was simple but effective, and we liked the way the snow machine dripped occasional bits of snow throughout the ballet and not just during the snow scene.

The weather matched the show. It's snowing up here. Down there, there were only a few flakes. Up here, there are a few inches. We made it home safely. It is still snowing.

This version had a live orchestra. Some of them only have canned music. We enjoyed listening to music played by actual musicians directly in front of us.

The locals in the show included a choir and several dozen cute young dancers, ranging from little ones, 4-5 years old, to older dancers in their teens.

We all agree that we ought to get out to cultural events more often. They're usually quite fun.

Recipe corner:vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies

ingredients 1/2 pound (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked) 1 cup raisins

preparation 1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well. 2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. 3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered. Servings: ABOUT 4 DOZEN

variations Bar Cookies: Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered,24 BARS VARIATIONS: Stir in 1 cup chopped nuts. Substitute 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or candy-coated chocolate pieces for raisins; omit cinnamon. Substitute 1 cup diced dried mixed fruit. HIGH ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Increase flour to 1-3/4 cups and bake as directed.

Pikes Peak or Bust

Recently, a fun new geocache series was published. There are 15 caches at various points around Pikes Peak on the Ring The Peak trail. Each cache has a clue representing one digit of the 15 digits of the coordinates of the final cache. I've found all the clues and am planning to head to the final location tomorrow.

The system is 63 miles long and about 80% complete. There is a major missing section on the southwest side between Seven Lakes (Portal 8 on FR 379) and Pancacke Rocks area (Portal 6). Another smaller section is missing on the northeast side between Chipita Park (Portal 2) and the Waldo Canyon trailhead (NW of Portal 1). The highest point is 11,400 ft in Bull Park (near Portal 8) and the lowest point is 6,400 feet at the Barr trailhead in Manitou Springs.

Some of my favorite parts:

• Horsethief Park/Pancacke Rocks -- Portal 6. The trail up to the rocks gains a lot of altitude but once there, it is gently rolling. The rocks in the area are horizontally oriented layers that have eroded to look something like stacks of pancakes. HikerRon has a cache at the end of this trail.
• Pipeline Trail, between 9 and 10. I got onto this segment via the 7 Bridges Trail near Gold Camp Road and walked southwest toward Frostys Park. The trail is nicely flattish and passes through a great canyon that feels really isolated. I hid a cache there a while back called 66 Minutes Out of the Way.

Tomorrow's trip to the final cache should beat out the snow predicted for the day after tomorrow. That may be the last hike above 10,000 feet on Pikes Peak this year.

A mid-November weekend

Last weekend, we decided it was time to clean up the plant stand and do some re-potting. The geraniums and coleus plants had gotten totally out of hand. Several Euphorbia trigona plants were outgrowing their pots. Ditto for several other plants. And we wanted to start a few cuttings.

After much hacking and slashing and playing in the dirt, we were done. It was a lot of fun.

The sunset was glorious.


Here's the view in the other direction, towards Pikes Peak. We might use this for the blog heading one of these days.



When the outdoor world is brown and cold, we enjoy having indoor greenery and flowers.

Here's a blooming geranium. The flowers looked nicer a few days ago.



We started several cuttings of coleus and geraniums. We have good luck with some varieties and bad luck with others. I hope we can get some rooted cuttings of the harder-to-root varieties.

A week later, the geraniums are sitting there. It's too soon to know what will root and what won't, but nothing has obviously kicked the bucket yet. The coleus are doing their usual thing -- the easy-to-root varieties are obviously doing well. The harder-to-root ones are sulking badly. Bummer. Oh, well. We buy coleus on impulse. If we can keep them going, that's great. If not, we'll buy more next time we get overcome by impulse.


Here's a view of some Euphorbia trigona plants. The big one is well over 6 feet tall. We still need to re-pot it, since it's gotten rather top-heavy. We didn't have any big enough pots around the house last weekend and thus had to buy a new, larger pot. The smaller one is maybe 4 feet tall. It's in a smaller pot which is sitting on an end table.



The large Euphorbia trigona is several decades old. The cutting came from the Denver Art Museum. EE was on a school field trip and found a piece of the plant on the floor next to the main plant. He took it home and secretly put it into a pot at home that already had another plant in it. A few months later, his mother discovered the new addition. ("It followed me home, Mom. Can I keep it? It's so cute!") It's been around ever since. A few years ago, we brought it to our house, where it has thrived. Really thrived. We've repotted it a few times, started several more of the plants, given away endless numbers of cuttings, and we're about to go through the process yet again.


We tend to acquire new houseplants during the cold months. Here are a few acquisitions.

This first one is a Euphorbia suzannae. It's so cute! It followed me home. It's small, maybe 2-3" tall. We'll see if we can keep it happy.



This is a holiday cactus, sometimes known as a Zygocactus or Schlumbergera. They're sold this time of year as Christmas Cactus, though I think most of them are technically a Thanksgiving Cactus aka crab cactus. The plant had a few small pinkish buds when I bought it on impulse. One flower opened this morning. I really like the way the petals shade from white on the inside to a lovely magenta/fuchsia color on the edges. I have no idea what the variety name is.


I'll probably buy more holiday cacti when they go on sale. They're so cute!

10% chance of snow, with little or no accumulation expected

That was the forecast as of last night. This morning, with 2" of snow on the ground, the local forecasters conceded that the chance of snow was as high as 60%, with up to an inch of accumulation expected.


We got 4".

That's life on the Divide.

This was a typical upslope snow. We got 4". The areas about 1000' lower and a few miles east got about 2-3". The area about 1500-2000' lower and maybe 10 miles east got about 1-2". I didn't wander farther than that, so I don't know how much other areas got.

The weather has cleared now. It's clear but cold. The sunset is very colorful. (And I forgot to snap a photo until the light dimmed.) The snow is compacting quickly and even melting in a few of the sunnier spots that got plowed. Tomorrow's sunrise should also be pretty, with the pink early morning light making the snow glow.

We had a dusting several days ago, but I didn't take any photos.

The leaves are gone for the year. A few trees at lower elevations still have a few leaves, but most of the deciduous plants have given up and gone to sleep for the winter. I like the lacy look of the bare branches against the sky.

Recipe Corner: Taiwan Potstickers

We spent several months in Taiwan one year many years ago. While we were there, one of EE's co-workers shared his (the co-worker's) mother-in-law's recipe for potstickers. I don't know if she was native to Taiwan or if she had immigrated from the Mainland. I don't know where she got the recipe or if there were any secret ingredients or methods she didn't share with us.

This recipe needs some photos. Maybe we can do another post on potstickers the next time we make them. I do want to get this recipe written down somewhere so that it doesn't get lost.

This recipe can be used for boiled dumplings or for the fried/steamed combination we call potstickers. It makes 32 potstickers.


Dough

3 cups flour
~1 cup hot water

Add very hot water (even as hot as boiling) to the flour to make a dough. Knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes. The food processor will work for these steps.  If you use a food processor with a dough-kneading blade, run it for only 1-2 minutes.

Let the dough rest for ~ 1 hour (optional, though it does help)

Divide the dough into 32 equal pieces. This is easy to do -- divide into halves or quarters, divide each piece into halves or quarters, and then do a final dividing so that you have 32 pieces. I usually divide into quarters and work with one quarter at a time. Each quarter gets divided into 8 pieces, so I quarter the quarter, then divide each blob in half just before I roll it out. Each blob is maybe 1" or so in diameter, about like a pingpong or golf ball.

Roll each dough blob into a circle, maybe 4" in diameter, on a flour-covered surface. I need to measure this the next time I do it. The rolling-out can happen at the same time as the filling and sealing occurs.

The texture of the dough and the thickness of the resulting circles is something that's hard for me to describe. Experience helps me understand what works best. The dough needs to be soft but not too soft, and neither too sticky nor too dry.

Filling

1 package of ground pork (~ 1/2 to 1 lb.)
~1" of ginger root, peeled and minced
~2-3 scallions (green onions), chopped
~1/2 of a small head of Chinese cabbage (see note for what to do with it)
a few tablespoons sesame oil.

We aren't too picky about how much of each ingredient we use. Each time it's a bit different. The ground pork in this country is different from what was available in Taiwan. I don't know how to describe it, or if it's possible to get the same kind of stuff here.

The Chinese cabbage gets sliced and chopped. Then, sprinkle it with about 1 teaspoon of salt. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then, squeeze out some of the excess moisture.

Mix together all of the filling ingredients. This can be prepared ahead of time.

Assembly

Put a blob of filling into each potsticker wrapper. Seal it with a little bit of water and flour. (We fill a small container with water and add some flour; this serves as the glue to hold the wrapper halves together.)

We sometimes divide the filling into equal blobs so that it comes out perfectly. Other times, we eyeball it. This may require a bit of adjusting near the end, or we might end up with some leftover filling.

If you're going to make these as boiled dumplings, seal the wrapper completely. For the potstickers, we'll seal the top but leave the sides a bit open. That's how they did it in the restaurants we went to in Taiwan. We put them on a floured baking sheet to await cooking, often grouped in sets of four for easy counting and handling. Yes, we need to add photos.

If you want to boil dumplings, it works like ravioli. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the dumplings, and simmer for a while until they're cooked. Drain and eat. But we usually make potstickers instead.

Cooking

Put about 1/4 cup peanut oil (or other high-smoke-point oil) into a cast-iron frying pan. Yes, you can use a wok, but our wok is smaller than the monster woks in Taiwan restaurants. Also, since we have an electric stove, it's hard to get any wok hot enough. The cast-iron skillet works better for us. Heat the skillet until the oil is barely smoking.

Add ~10-12 potstickers to the pan. Immediately pour in a teacup full of water with a pinch of flour mixed in, so that the potstickers are sitting in about 1/4" of liquid (water plus oil). Put the lid on the pan, leaving a small hole for steam to escape.

Cook the potstickers until they smell like they're done. The steam will have almost stopped at this point. Remove the lid, take out the potstickers, and put them on a paper towel to drain.

Continue cooking until all the potstickers are done, adding more peanut oil when necessary. The already-cooked ones can stay in a warm oven if you'd like. Serve them with sauce. Eat them up, yum. Leftovers are good, too, if you have any.

Potsticker Dipping SauceMix approximately equal amounts of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, plus sesame oil, and chili paste (sriracha works fine) or hot chili oil. We like the Taiwan brands of soy sauce, though the Korean ones work well, too. The Japanese brands taste different and are a bit harsh for this sauce. I sometimes add a small bit of warm water to the sauce, too.

Final NotesThis recipe makes a huge mess. There will be flour all over the preparation area. The cooking area will be spattered with oil droplets. The pan will have bits of stuff stuck to it (they're called potstickers, duh). The oil spattering can be reduced by putting paper grocery bags or newspaper on all surfaces near the stove. The rest is certainly cleanable. The mess is worth it.

Black Sabbath and Beethoven

I have finally decided to join the modern music world. I am loading CDs into my computer, and will load a variety of things onto an mp3 player. Most of the other family members have already done so. I am the laggard.

My musical tastes are somewhat eclectic -- ethnic/world, classical, rock, punk, country, blues, folk, alternative, some New Age, and several other genres, depending on how you define the genres.

I am going to have to set up some playlists, so I don't necessarily listen to Black Sabbath followed by Beethoven. Not that there's anything wrong with the juxtaposition if one is in the mood, of course.

I'm not sure why I finally decided to do this. I think it's because I've recently been listening to different versions of Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata (Sonata #23, Opus 57). I've listened to versions by Arthur Rubenstein, John O'Conor, Vladimir Horowitz, and Tatiana Nikolayeva. I'm probably going to search out a few more. It's been a pain to find the CDs, deal with changing them in the CD player, listening only to the tracks I had time for or was interested in, and having to be near the CD player instead of being able to listen wherever I was.

It's very interesting to listen to the different interpretations of the Appassionata. All of the pianists are both talented and skilled, way beyond what I'll ever be able to aspire to. Beethoven is a brilliant composer, and this is an amazing piece of music. The way that different people bring out different aspects of the composition is very satisfying to listen to.

I hesitate to give even a mini-review of the different pianists' versions. I am not much of a music critic. I also need to listen to them again. I haven't even had time to listen to the full sonata on each CD. I like all of the versions, for different reasons. So far, the John O'Conor version seems tame and understated compared to the others. I might well rate it higher when I listen to it again.

I will give an opinion about Black Sabbath. I almost always prefer the Black Sabbath version of a song over the later Ozzy Osbourne version. So there. Too bad I haven't yet figured out how to crank the bass up to 11 on my computer's speakers. Black Sabbath is even better when you can hear it through your bones.

My kids seem to like both Black Sabbath and Beethoven's Appassionata sonata. They listened to the Vladimir Horowitz CD with me last night. Mr. Horowitz is a fine, fine pianist, even without the bass cranked up to 11. We all enjoyed his Appassionata performance thoroughly.

Recipe Corner: Crockpot Black Bean Chili/Stew/Soup

This is easy and convenient to make in the crockpot. I use different methods depending on how much time I have, whether or not I'll be home during the day, and so on. It's not an authentic chili, but it's pretty good anyway.

* 1 cup black turtle beans (uncooked)
* ~3 cups liquid

~1 pound meat (such as ground buffalo, ground beef, chili-grind meat, stew meat, diced leftover meat from a previous meal, etc.)

1 can (~14.5-15 oz.) diced tomatoes (or equivalent)

1 small or 1/2 large onion, chopped (optional, of course)

various herbs and spices, salt, pepper, seasonings, etc.

* You can use a can (~15 oz.) of cooked beans instead of the dry beans + liquid. There will be more comments about the beans later in this recipe. The liquid can be whatever you like as long as it's not too acidic. I use water, stock, beer, etc., or a combination.

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The basic method:

Brown the meat if it's something like ground beef. You can skip the browning for stew meat or for leftover meat, though it does add some nice flavor. Make sure the meat is in small chunks. Drain most or all grease that's released by the meat.

Throw the meat in the crockpot. Add the chopped onion, the canned tomatoes, 1 cup of dry beans, and 3 cups (more or less) of liquid. Turn the crockpot on and walk away.

Near the end of the cooking time (in the last half hour or so), add various seasonings and adjust the liquid level if desired. My usual seasonings for this are chili powder, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, cayenne to taste, and maybe a bay leaf or two. If I'm feeling especially ambitious, I might add a sploot or two of Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauce, hoisin sauce, miso, lime juice, etc. (not all of them, of course). I haven't been ambitious enough to add sour cream or yogurt or cheese to this yet.

I use the "low" setting if I have 6-8 hours of cooking time available. If I only have about 3-4 hours, I'll use the "high" setting.

Depending on the consistency (how much liquid there is) and the spices and what-not, this can be a chili, a stew, or a soup. If you think it's a soup, you can smash some of the beans to give it more body.

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No, you do not need to pre-soak the beans in any way. I will wash them and pick out any rocks or dirt. But that's it. They might take a little bit longer to cook than pre-soaked beans. But who's in a hurry? It's easier than all the planning ahead that would be necessary if I did want to pre-soak them. You do need to make sure that the cooking liquid is not too acidic before the beans are done. After the beans have softened to your liking, you can add wine or other acidic ingredients if desired.

In my experience, the flavors of the herbs and spices tends to get lost after several hours of crockpot cooking. That's why I add them shortly before serving. If your experience is different, feel free to add the seasonings whenever you like.

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The low-time, soccer-mom versions:

Version 1 (which I've never done, since I don't usually have canned beans around the house):

Replace the beans and liquid with a can of already-cooked black beans. Adjust the liquid level to your liking; you won't need the 3 cups you'd need for dry beans. Add the meat, tomatoes, and onion. Turn the crockpot on and walk away for several hours. Heck, you could probably do this one on the stove in less than an hour if you're really short for time.

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Version 2:

This is the first version I ever did. I realized in early afternoon that I was going to be running around all day and still needed to make something for dinner. For most of the day, I'd be home for 30-45 minutes, then head out again for 1-2 hours, then back home, rinse and repeat, all the way until bedtime.

Rinse 1 cup turtle beans (uncooked). Put them in a saucepan on the stove. Cover with plenty of water (about 3 cups, probably, or maybe a little bit more). Bring to a boil, give a quick stir, then cover the pan and turn the heat down to a simmer.

After that gets started, brown up a pound or so of ground beef. (We usually use ground buffalo instead.) Put this in the crockpot with a small can of diced tomatoes and a small chopped onion. Turn the crockpot to high.

About an hour to an hour-and-a-half later, add the half-cooked beans and their cooking liquid to the crockpot. Toss in a bay leaf if you're feeling festive. Turn the crockpot to low.

When you're at home, you can turn the heat to high. When gone, turn it to low. It's ready to eat in 3-6 hours, depending on how often you're home and when you're ready to eat. Add seasonings in the last half hour or so of cooking (or even just before serving).

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If you eliminate the meat, this would be vegetarian (duh...). I sometimes make a version of this with winter squash instead of meat. The squash is cut open, peeled, seeded, and chunked, and tossed into the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients. If the squash/pumpkin is too hard to peel, I microwave it for a few minutes.

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Last night's version was more of a stew than a chili. We used leftover diced meat. There was more liquid than usual. And I didn't spice it up in a chili-like way. It was good anyway.