A Special Valentines Dinner

I love cooking and here is a special occasional recipe!

Chocolate Pasta
1 3/4 c Flour
1/4 c Cocoa powder
2 Egg
4 T Water
Mix let it sit for 30 minutes before rolling out.

Butternut Squash Filling
1 small to medium butternut squash
2 tablespoons dark molasses
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Flour, for dusting board

Cut squash in 1/2 and scrape out seeds. Cut squash into 1 inch cubes and Drizzle with 1 tablespoon molasses. Season with salt and pepper. Cook in the oven until very soft, about 1 hour. Puree squash until smooth, then spread on a baking sheet and return to the 375 degree oven to dry, about 10 minutes. The consistency will be like mashed potatoes. Scrape into a large mixing bowl.

Heat the unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it begins to brown. Immediately remove from heat and add remaining 1 tablespoon molasses and all the vinegar. Add to squash with mascarpone, Parmesan, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper and mix well. The recipe can be made ahead to this point (makes 2 cups filling,) Cover well and refrigerate 4 hours or up to 2 days.

To fill the raviolis: Lay out a sheet of pasta dough on a lightly floured board. Cut into circles with a 3 1/2 inch pastry cutter. Put 1 tablespoon squash filling in the center of 1/2 the rounds. Leave a 1/2-inch border all around the filling. Moisten borders with water and top with remaining rounds of dough. Press all the air out and seal firmly by pressing all around with fingertips. Lay raviolis out to dry on a lightly floured board or baking sheet and lightly flour the tops. Repeat until you run out of dough and/or filling. To cook, boil in lightly salted water until tender, about 3 minutes.

Sage Brown Butter Sauce
4 tblsp of sweet butter
8 sage leaves
While raviolis are cooking, in a large saute pan, melt the butter with the sage and a pinch of salt until it foams and becomes light brown. Toss the cooked raviolis in the sage butter then transfer to a serving platter. Add 2 ounces of the cooking water to the pan and swirl with any residual butter. Spoon the butter sauce over the raviolis, then finish with a generous grating of Parmesan and bittersweet chocolate.

Snow Day!!

I woke up today and turned on the news to see that school was canceled because of the snow we got last night. Now before I explain just know that so far we have gotten more snow this year than the valley has received for over 30 years. Usually we only get about an inch and it melts off by noon. Well this last week it has snowed everyday. Last night alone we got 5 inches in Fruita. I don't even think Fruita has a plow because when I woke up and went to the store there were tractors from the neighboring farm with buckets that were plowing the main road. Being raised in California this was my first snow day.



Some of the teachers that have been raised in the valley have said that they have never called off school because of the snow. I guess today was a first. I didn't mind because I have been sick and can't really talk all that well. I know you can't believe how much snow is on my truck. I nearly walked right past it and didn't realize it was there. I did have a wiper blade that broke from all the snow.

Pictures from the Christmas Eve hike

Like Catherine mentioned, I had most of the pictures from the hike on my camera. We started a new online photo album & placed the photos on there. We hiked up Little Wild Horse Canyon and down Bell Canyon. It's a 9 mile loop located in the San Rafael Swell, about 10 miles away from Goblin Valley. Check out the pictures!

http://greg-catherine.smugmug.com/gallery/4047174#235664285

Our Christmas Vacation...

On Christmas eve we went on a 9 mile hike up some slot canyons in Goblin Valley. We had a wonderful time. It was a little chilly (32-35 degrees) Daisy loved it, although she had to be helped in a few spots. This was the one picture I took, Greg has the majority of the photos on his camera.

After we got home form the Gardners (greg's parents) we slouched around our house for a while. I came into the living room to see this...



I would also like to add that Daisy is in my spot, not to mention that she shouldn't even be on the couch. Really though how cute is that?

Snowshoeing on the Grand Mesa

Well, winter is finally here! We've had 3 storms come thru Western Colorado in the last week, all leaving snow in Fruita. The last storm dumped nearly 6 inches, which is quite a bit for us. Normally Fruita doesn't get more than 2-3" and it melts off by noon. That is the perfect amount of snow in my opinion! With all the white stuff in the valley, we knew there would be a lot in the mountains, so we decided to break out the snow shoes today & head up on the Grand Mesa. The elevation up where we were playing was nearly 11,000 feet & the temps were in the single digits! Though it was a bit chilly, the sun was out and once we got moving we felt fine.
















Daisy was having a blast, she loves being out in the snow. There were quite a few other people out either on showshoes or on cross country skis and it seemed like they all had dogs with them. Daisy had so much fun playing with the other dogs, running thru the powdery snow!






















Catherine seemed to be having just as much fun as Daisy, she really gets a kick out of snowshoeing. Guess that's what happens when you grow up in Sunny SoCal! She also likes the 'workout benefit' of running around in the powder.






























Me, running thru the snow. With deep powder, elevation of near 11k feet and me being out of shape I had a hard time running more than 50 yrds! Sad, huh?

















Catherine seemed to think there was a pretty funny comparison going on here, the ice beard! What, it was cold!

Fall Family picture & a motorcycle ride

Around mid-November Catherine, Daisy & I took a drive to the La Sal Mountains, which is in the range that sits above Moab, UT. I had been up in this area the week before on my motorcycle & thought that it was a simply amazing area & I wanted to show Catherine.

We took our family photo up there, it was pretty hard getting Daisy to sit still for 30 seconds, but after a few tries we got it.














When I was up there on my motorcycle the week before I saw a Lynx, which was a first or me. It was just larger than a house cat, had big, pointy ears, massive paws & a round bobbed tail. It was a pretty amazing sight. That ride was my first 'big' ride on my new KLR, I rode from our place in Fruita to the La Sals by the way of the Onion Creek trail. I quit counting the stream crossings after 15, I think there ended up being near 20, it was pretty fun crossing the stream that many times, I had to try not getting too wet. Riding up the canyon was amazing, there's some neat scenery up there. Eventually I crossed into the La Sal Natl. Forest. While riding thru the forest I thought to myself, 'I have to get back in this area, it's amazing!' Huge pine trees, amazing views, etc! I stopped the bike & walked around the area as the road started to loose elevation.

























I saw some footprints from a massive wild turkey. I couldn't help but wonder where he would be around Thanksgiving, probably doing his best to hide. I rode into Moab for a early dinner, then rode back to Fruita. It ended up being nearly 250 miles round trip, with about 1/3 of it being offroad. I can't wait to do it again!

Halloween

Daisy dressed up for Halloween and gave all the trick or treaters candy. She only made 3 little kids cry. You would think that with her large tongue hanging out of her mouth it wouldn't be that scary.

She tried to get the costume off at first then realized that people gave her more attention with it on.


What a good dog. She didn't get any candy though.


I like to take nose shots of her. I think they are soo cute. She is a well behaved dog and knows like any child that I love to take pictures of her.