yellowstone national park, part 2

And then there were the mountains, valleys, rivers, falls, the glacier-carved canyon, and wildlife.

buffalo

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Yellowstone Falls

elk

grizzly

blue bells

Golden Gate Bridge of Yellowstone

Mountain Bluebird

Calcite Springs

herd

Lamar Valley

yellowstone national park, part 1

While the Grand Tetons were formed by the collision of tectonic plates, Yellowstone was formed by volcanic eruptions that resulted in a caldera (essentially a volcano with its top blown off). The Yellowstone volcano is still active, and has created more than half of the world’s geothermal features combined: hot springs, geysers, mudpots, and fumaroles.

Viewing these geothermal features with my own eyes was otherworldly. It was like I had been transported into a fantasy land, with fountains spewing from the ground, steam escaping from the depths of the earth, mud bubbling angrily, and turquoise-blue and jade waters that looked so inviting, but would scald you upon touch.

grand teton national park

Before school began in early August, J and I took a road trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. We backpacked for three nights in Grand Teton National Park before heading into Yellowstone. The experience filled me with awe and wonder, and at times made me feel like a tiny speck of dust. The beauty was indescribable. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

driving into Grand Teton National Park

Paintbrush Canyon

Holly Lake

going up the divide

portrait session

Paintbrush Divide

soak at Lake Solitude

view from our campsite in the North Fork

South Fork, on the trail

the Tetons

to Hurricane Pass

Grand Teton

Cascade Canyon, on the trail

update

My apologies for neglecting this space. I didn’t mean to. It’s just that I’ve been swallowed up by school. School started six weeks ago, and tomorrow marks the end of the fourth week of middle school. Between student teaching, classes, and homework, I’ve had little time for anything else. I find myself scrambling to finish my reading and homework every night, or pushing myself to get ahead so that J and I can actually enjoy our weekends together. J has been really great about picking up my slack around the house (well, he pretty much does everything now) while I work on my assignments on the living room floor. All in all, being a student again is not as bad as I had envisioned it. I’m learning a lot, and I’m having fun doing it.

I also have an incredible demonstration teacher showing me the ropes. She is seriously amazing, and the 8th graders absolutely love her. I have so much to learn from her.

And I didn’t think it possible, but I find middle school students crazy adorable.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings.

the enchantments

About a week ago, we were in Washington visiting with friends. We also hiked the Enchantment Lakes. To say that the hike was challenging would be an understatement, as it was one of the most grueling “day” hikes I have ever been on. By the end of the hike, the five of us were like zombies marching in the dark, down the endless switchbacks in a trance-like state. How our feet managed to move of their own accord to navigate around roots and large rocks, I do not know.

Difficult as it was with multiple obstacles along the way, the hike was not without rewards. The views were incredible, and we were also blessed with multiple goat sightings.

Tomorrow morning, we leave for Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. It will be a long road trip, but we have audiobooks from the library and sandwiches, kimbap, muffins, and other snacks to keep us entertained (and alert while driving) and well-fed on the road. In my numbed state in the Enchantments, I vowed to myself that it would be a long time before I would want to go hiking again. (J had this thought as well, as I found out the day after the hike.) But as we prepare for this trip, again we’re giddy at the thought of being in nature’s paradise, where wildlife abounds.

black and blue

I hope you all had a great July 4th weekend. We spent the entire Saturday at Great America, and another day in the sun at a barbecue with friends. And then there was time with family to round out the three-day weekend.

It’s been almost a couple of days, but I’m still recovering. I didn’t even want to write this post, but J said that he would punch me in the face if I didn’t. I kid, people. I kid. We like to joke around like that.

Here’s a joke for you (warning – it may or may not be funny): “What’s black and blue and creamy all over?”

A: “Someone who gets punched in the face with a cheesecake.”

Ha ha! Okay, maybe not. (Is it even physically possible to throw a punch and a cheesecake at the same time? This must be a two-handed exercise.)

The real answer to “what’s black and blue and creamy all over” is this blackberry and blueberry cheesecake.  J said it would be a shame if I waited until next year’s berry season to write about this cheesecake (I was trying to hold off until then. I am that lazy…I mean, um, tired.) So, here it is.

This cheesecake is a plain (vanilla) cheesecake topped with blueberry syrup, fresh blackberries, and blueberries. My original intent was to make a cheesecake with only fresh blackberries, but I thought a little something more was needed to hold the blackberries and cheesecake together. I had frozen blueberries on hand, so I cooked the juice of a large handful of blueberries down to a syrup. The top of the cheesecake was coated with blueberry syrup, and piled high with fresh blackberries. And then, to tie it altogether, some blueberries were dribbled on as well.

The black and blue cheesecake was a huge success with the family. It also passed the test of a ten-year-old who, without a doubt, knows his desserts. He didn’t eat much lunch that day, but interestingly enough, he did have room for two large helpings of cheesecake.

Graham Cracker Crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted (you can also use less than 1/2 cup; it should work)
15-16 cinnamon graham crackers from Trader Joe’s

First, take a 10 inch springform pan and wrap the bottom tightly with foil. (The pans are not leak-proof.) Place graham crackers in a large ziplock bag, and crush the crackers to a crumb by using a rolling and pressing with a large rolling pin. Press crumbs onto the bottom of the springform pan to form a tightly packed, smooth and even layer of crumbs. (Recipes I’ve come across call for baking the crust before adding the cheesecake filling, but I accidentally skipped this step and all was well).

Creamy Cheesecake

3 – 8 oz package cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
3 tbsp flour
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix first seven ingredients together, beating on medium-high speed until smooth. Add the flour and beat until incorporated. Add the eggs and beat until the mixture is just blended together. Pour mixture on top of the graham cracker crust and gently tap the pan on the counter top to ease out the bigger bubbles in the batter. Bake cheesecake for 45 minutes at 350°F. Turn off the oven and allow for cheesecake to slowly cool in the oven. (If the cheesecake cools too quickly, cracks will form as it shrinks and pulls away from the sides of the pan.) Leave the cheesecake in the oven for about an hour before pulling it out. Allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature. At this point, you can either refrigerate the cheesecake overnight and serve it the next day, or you can chill it just so that it is firm enough to withstand the weight of the berry topping.

Black and Blue berry topping

2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed
squeeze of lemon juice
12 oz fresh blackberries

Make the blueberry syrup. Mash 1-1/2 cup of the thawed blueberries through a strainer over a bowl, using a spoon/spatula. The blueberry skins should be left in the strainer. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the resulting blueberry juice and heat over medium-high heat until a thick (but not too thick) syrup forms. Allow syrup to cool (the syrup will also thicken as it cools).

Carefully unmold the cheesecake from the pan. Spread blueberry syrup on top of the cheesecake. Pile on the fresh blackberries, and sprinkle on the remaining thawed blueberries (use fresh blueberries if you have them). Keep chilled until ready to serve.

hot summer nights

When it gets warm — hot enough so that my blood vessels dilate instantly as I step outside (nice weather does come to San Francisco once in awhile) — all I want to do is curl up in a shady spot, and hope for a cool breeze to pass through. If I spend enough time in the heat, my appetite goes out the window (as does my desire to cook in a stifling kitchen). All of a sudden, I can’t stand to think of the foods that I love so much. What shall we have for dinner tonight? Chinese? Bleh. Grilled sausages and fries? Bleh!

On one of these hot summer nights, J suggested making our own Vietnamese summer rolls. We gathered up some boiled shrimp, lettuce, sprouts, cilantro, thai basil, mint, vermicelli, and tapioca starch wrappers, and wrapped up our summer rolls at the table as we ate, dipping them in lime juice/fish sauce and peanut sauce. It was marvelous.

Another night, we had watermelon salad. Cubed watermelon with tomatoes and avocado, tossed together in lime dressing. An amazing balance of sweetness and acid. We had this with a sliced baguette on the side, and it was the ideal summer supper in all ways imaginable — refreshing, light, and filling.

Watermelon Salad
Makes 2 big portions, or enough for 4 smaller servings
Adapted loosely from here

2 large tomatoes, mostly deseeded and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
2 cups 3/4-inch-cubed watermelon flesh
1 Hass avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
3 large fresh basil leaves, cut into small ribbons
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 serrano chili, finely diced
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Prepare watermelon and tomatoes, combining them in a large bowl. Place cut avocado in a smaller bowl. Add to the avocado juice from 1/2 lime, and using your fingers, toss around gently.

In another small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, remaining lime juice, basil, salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the tomato and watermelon and toss to coat evenly. Allow mixture to chill and marinate for 20 minutes.

Before serving, add the cubed avocado (along with the lime juice). Toss gently to mix, and drain excess liquid if you wish. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

good fortune

I picked up a magic 8-ball and stared at it intensely. “How will I eat you?” I asked the 8-ball, giving it a good shake. At first it quivered…then it responded, “You will stuff me with lamb, and I will be delicious.”

Before you begin questioning my mental well-being, I should tell you that this magic 8-ball was actually a squash (as if having conversations with squash makes me more sane). Described as buttery, the magic 8-ball bears a striking resemblance to zucchini. Zucchini’s portly cousin, perhaps?

To my bag of 8-balls, I  added a couple of Ronde de Nice squashes for variety.  At home, I did a quick scan of the fridge and pantry. There was ground lamb in the freezer (the 8-ball clearly knew the contents of our freezer), leftover wilting mint in the fridge, and some red quinoa that I never got around to using. It looked like the making of a good stuffing.

The pudgy magic 8-balls and Ronde de Nice were hollowed out with a spoon, and roasted in the oven for 20 minutes. Garlic, onion, ground lamb, squash pulp, and mint were tossed together in a hot pan, mixed with cooked quinoa, and then ladled into the tender squash vessels until there were small mountains of stuffing spilling over their tops. They were decked out with little hats before going back into the blazing hot oven.

And then out of the oven they came, satisfying portions of vegetable, grain, and meat, served up in their own small, individual bowls — a fantastical combination of textures from the squeaky squash and chewy quinoa, pungently flavored with lamb and mint.

Nice suggestion, 8-ball. Maybe I should talk to vegetables more often.

Roasted stuffing squash
Preheat oven to 400° F. Cut off tops of round squashes. Save the tops. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon (I like to face the spoon downward, having the curvature of the spoon go along the curvature of the squash as I dig. The tip of the spoon will be pointing toward the “rim” of the squash. Dig around the entire circumference before scooping, and shave off more pulp from the bottom if necessary.) Put the innards aside for the stuffing. With their tops put pack in place, put hollowed out squashes on a baking pan or dish. Drizzle some olive oil on top, and sprinkle on a bit of salt. Place in oven for 20 minutes (you can prepare the stuffing at this time). When time is up, take them out of the oven, and let them cool off enough to be handled. Leave oven on for roasting stuffed squashes.

Lamb and Quinoa Stuffing
Makes enough stuffing to fill 6 squashes.

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 medium onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 – 1/3 lb ground lamb
1-1/2 tsp fresh mint, chopped finely
1/2 of squash pulp (from above), roughly chopped into small chunks
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare quinoa by placing 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes. Let it sit for a few minutes for liquid to be completely absorbed if it hasn’t done so already. Set aside.

Heat about one tablespoon (or less) of olive oil  in a pan. Add garlic and onion, and toss around until soft and shimmering. Add ground lamb, breaking it up into small pieces. When lamb is cooked, add fresh mint and seasoning, along with the squash pulp. Cook for a couple more minutes, until squash is tender. Add cooked quinoa to the ground lamb mixture, and thoroughly mix.

Using a spoon, fill hollowed squash with stuffing. Press down with the back of the spoon while filling so that the squash can be stuffed as much as possible. Cover with squash tops and return them to the 400 degree oven, where they’ll bake for another 10 minutes.

Note: As an appetizer, one serving of stuffed squash should be more than plenty. Two should be enough for a main dish.

strawberry shortcake

Forgive me if the title of this blog post is a little misleading. This post isn’t really about a recipe for sweet biscuits layered with whipped cream and strawberries. It’s about strawberry cupcakes, which I suppose isn’t too far off, since there’s cake and strawberries involved.

No, it wasn’t the similarity in ingredients that led me to think of strawberry shortcake. Actually, the world of Strawberry Shortcake came to mind when I made these cupcakes — the world of Strawberryland, where Strawberry Shortcake lives in her strawberry shortcake house, lunches on cake with friends, and tends her strawberry gardens. The Strawberry Shortcake cartoon specials aired even before I could start remembering these things, but I do recall playing with the dolls. I even had a plastic doll of the Peculiar Purple Pie Man, the villain of Strawberryland. Come to think of it, I would contort him into the most awkward positions.

Anyway. I should get back to the cupcakes.

The base for these cupcakes, a moist white cake, was transformed into a strawberry cake with the incorporation of a concentrated puree of strawberries. The original white cake recipe was modified using some odd calculations I had made to balance the amount of oil and liquid in the cake batter.

The cupcakes came out a perfect blush pink and were full of strawberry flavor. As Strawberry Shortcake would say, they were “berry” delicious. Nestling a strawberry half into the frosting of each cupcake, I imagined the happy land of strawberries and sweets, and houses made of pies and cakes.

Can you imagine living in a house made of cake? I would love that.

Strawberry Puree

This “puree” is made without a blender. In a pot, slowly mash one pound of frozen strawberries (thawed or not) with a spatula over medium-low heat. The resulting puree makes up about 1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cups. Cook the strawberry puree further. This reduces the volume of liquid in the puree, allowing for easier adaptation of the white cake recipe. [It took about 15 to 20 minutes to reduce the volume to about one-half (3/4 cup), although I was pretty bad about recording how much time it took. It takes some time, so be patient.] 1/2 cup of this concentrated puree is then added to the cake batter. (You can make use of the leftover portion by making dessert with it. Mix it into some vanilla ice cream to get a great-tasting strawberry ice cream.)

Strawberry Cake
Adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated white cake recipe
Makes 24 cupcakes or a 9-inch round cake.

2-1/4 cups cake flour
3/4 cup reduced fat milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature (If you have frozen egg whites, you can use these as well. It is recommended to keep frozen egg whites in the freezer for no longer than a couple of weeks, but mine had been frozen for at least a couple of months, and they worked just fine for this purpose. As a note, 4 of the 6 egg whites I used were previously frozen.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter (1-1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
1/2 cup concentrated strawberry puree

1. Set oven rack in middle position. Preheat oven to 350° F. Place cupcake liners in tins.
2. Pour milk, egg whites, and vanilla extract into a bowl large enough to fit 2 cups, and mix with fork until blended.
3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder at a low speed. Add butter. Continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs.
4. Add half of the milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for about a minute and a half.
5. To the remaining half of the milk mixture, add the concentrated strawberry puree and mix with a whisk until homogenous. Add this to the batter and beat for 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.
6. Spoon batter into prepared tins, 2/3 to 3/4 full. The volume of batter should be the perfect amount for 24 cupcakes. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean, rotating three-quarters of the way through. (My cupcakes were ready by 22 minutes.)
7. Let cupcakes rest in pans for 3 minutes before taking them out of the tins. Let cool completely before frosting and decorating.

Cream Cheese Frosting
(Feel free to reduce this recipe by 1/3. Making the full amount will give you lots of leftover frosting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.)

1/2 cup (1 stick butter), room temperature
2 – 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat butter and cream cheese together on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing at low speed to incorporate.
3. Add vanilla extract and beat until smooth and creamy.

Assembly

After the cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe on the frosting. I used a round tip, continually piping the frosting onto the center of the cupcake and keeping the tip submerged in the frosting to let the frosting ooze and creep out to the sides of the cupcake. I also used the tip (no pressure applied) to flatten out the blob of frosting, in one swirly motion.

Wash and dry 12 fresh strawberries. Keeping the stems attached, slice each strawberry in half, from head to toe. Blot cut ends on a paper towel and place one strawberry half on top of each cupcake, slightly pressing the strawberry into the frosting.

If you wish to make these in advance, add the fresh strawberries just before you are ready to serve the cupcakes. Cupcakes should keep for a few days, refrigerated in an airtight container. Bring to room temperature before serving.

the lost coast

The Lost Coast is a rugged stretch of wilderness along the Mendocino coast. It was too expensive for the state to continue Highway 1 through this area, so the coastline was left undeveloped. We chose to take advantage of this untouched beauty with a weekend backpacking trip to the southern portion of the Lost Coast.

Our trip began with a a drive up north. We prepared for forecasted rain, but it turned out to be a sunshine-y day. On our way, we stopped in Fort Bragg for lunch in a cozy cafe and a side excursion to Glass Beach (a stop recommended to us by a friend).

Glass Beach used to be a public dump in the 1940s, and the broken bits of glass that were once part of the trash have been polished smooth by the sand and waves over the years. There used to be more glass, but there was a decent amount remaining when we visited. The seascape itself was incredible. J also found rows and rows of small crabs hiding under the intertidal rocks.

We continued our drive up the coast, hoping to make it to our destination in time for the hike to our first campsite. Unfortunately, after driving back and forth (17 miles each way) on the sinuous highway in search for an unmarked paved road and 6 miles of narrow, unpaved road full of potholes (still slick from the previous week of rain), we knew it was getting too late to begin our hike.

Usal road. Dirt road. I was never in my life so tense as I was traveling on this road. I gripped my seat until my knuckles turned white. And I stopped taking photos after this segment, which was the okay part. On the way back from our trip, we saw a 4×4 stuck in a deep, wide puddle. Another truck was trying to pull it out. The two drivers stared at us in disbelief while we chugged on by in our little Honda Fit. That made us chuckle. I have to say, J was an excellent driver.

So we gathered some driftwood from the nearby beach, and settled down on a spot in the campground. We didn’t have the best sleep that night because our neighbors were a loud bunch. They decided to kick off the Memorial Day weekend by having a yowling sing-along to booming country pop at 3 a.m.

The next morning, we woke feeling unrested, but our spirits were not dampened. We joked about our neighbors and assured each other that they would not be joining us on the trail. Due to our delay of half a day, our itinerary had to be shortened, but that would leave us more time to enjoy the scenery.

And beautiful scenery it was.

The trail climbed up and down, winding in and out of forests and coastal bluffs.

We saw the prettiest wildflowers in bloom along the trail,

and even picked and ate some wild strawberries. They were so tiny!

This is where we set up our base camp, at Little Jackass beach. We took off our hiking boots and sank our toes into the cool, black sand. We watched brown pelicans dive into the water for their catches, and giggled at a couple of seals who would pop their heads out of the waves every now and then to stare at campers on the beach.

We explored some of the beach caves, and then had a dinner of andouille sausage and mac n’ cheese.

After dinner, we went for a stroll on the beach to admire the sunset.

We climbed over some big rocks to get a good view. The light was magical.

The next day, we set out for a day hike to Wheeler beach.

Sunrise

On the trail, view from the top.

On our way to Wheeler, we encountered three sets of hikers who were coming from the opposite direction. Each one told us to be on the lookout for a group of Roosevelt elk. Three big bulls, they said. Right on the trail in the direction we were headed for.

And then, we caught up to them. Since they were taking the same trail, all we could do was follow them. They were massive. With velvety antlers that reminded me of reindeer antlers. J was daring and got pretty close to them. Of course, I followed.

These were very shy, yet curious creatures. One guy hung back to nosh on some good shrubbery, while two went ahead. Since we didn’t want to come between the bull and his friends, we lingered a safe distance behind him. I think he was a little nervous about us though, because then he decided to run up a steep hill. Boy, not only are these guys agile, they’re fast as lightning, too!

We eventually passed the elk when they found a grazing spot off the trail, and reached Wheeler in time for lunch. Then we napped under the sun on warm — and very therapeutic — pebbles. Later, we flipped over onto our bellies to search for pretty pebbles.

After a relaxing afternoon, we started back towards our camp.

Amazingly, right before our campsite, we encountered another group of elk! These were younger males.

close-up

hiding

On our last day, we woke at the crack of dawn for a hurried hike back to the trailhead. It would be a long drive home.

View more photos here.