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Good-Bye Telluride!

In this photo: the entire family poses on the deck of Castlewood Manor before heading back to Texas. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m back home in Dallas, but wanted to finish posting from our adventurous family trip to Telluride, Colorado. Again…pretend like I am still there! Today was our last day in Telluride. I don’t know about the others, but I was not ready to come home. I had a blast skiing, relaxing, and enjoying the cold & snowy Colorado weather. Dale and Renee, if you are reading this, thank you so much for getting the entire family together on this wondrous trip! It was a Christmas I will never forget.

 In this photo: my in-laws, husband and I pose for another quick picture by the fire pit.

On the bus ride from Montrose to Telluride last week, our driver pointed out some interesting and historic sites. One happened to be Ralph Lauren’s 17,000 acre ranch. We didn’t have time to stop, but on the way back to Montrose, our bus driver kindly pulled off the highway so that we could take some pictures. I was actually the only one to have my picture taken under the Double RL Ranch sign, but I guess that’s because we share the same name! Thanks Paula for taking the picture!
I love Ralph Lauren clothes for men. My husband has about 20 polos…one in every color (I hung them in rainbow order in his closet)! They are so classy and never go out of style.
In addition to clothes, Ralph’s wife Ricky has a wonderful cookbook titled “Ricky Lauren, Cuisine, Lifestyle, and Legend of the Double RL Ranch” which I strongly recommend.

 

The book’s description reads:

 

“Inspired by the colors, flavors, and life of her Colorado Ranch, Ricky Lauren presents an epic and unprecedented tribute to the West, as both a great destination and a state of mind. 
 
Nestled at the base of the San Juan Mountains, the Lauren family’s double RL Ranch is rich in history, both personal and regional. From the legends of the earliest settlers of the Wild Wild West to the fascinating pasts of such towns as Ridgway, Ouray, Telluride, and Montrose, Ricky Lauren illuminates the history of the region, connecting and inspiring readers along the way.
Lauren opens the doors to her family kitchen, sharing her culinary secrets, cherished heirloom recipes, favorite Western-style dishes, and innovative decorating techniques for creating the perfect table setting and dining atmosphere.”
 
This book is a keeper…not only is it a pretty coffee table book, the recipes are quite delicious! My mom and I really enjoy the chicken kiev recipe!

 

In this photo: me at the gate of Ralph Lauren’s Double RL Ranch.
 
Our next stop was the True Grit Cafe in Ridgway, Colorado. Unfortunately we did not get to stop and eat here, but we did get to snap a few photos!  The True Grit Cafe was actually built in 1985, however it was built to honor the filming of the academy award winning 1969 movie “True Grit” starring John Wayne. From the cafe you can sit on the deck and enjoy the beautiful background seen throughout the movie.
For those that are huge “Duke” fans, Heritage Auctions of Dallas recently auctioned more than 700 costumes, scripts, awards and memorabilia from the estate of legendary film star John Wayne. The auction brought over $5.38 million, with dozens of items selling for 2-3 times their pre-auction estimates! To see the items that sold, click here!
In this photo: True Grit Cafe…where the original True Grit movie with John Wayne was filmed. 
 In this photo: my mother-in-law Paula and brother-in-law Jeffery in front of the True Grit Cafe.
Good-bye Telluride, Colorado…I hope to see you sooner than later!
In this photo: a view of the beautiful mountains in Colorado as we fly home to Texas.

 

Telluride Day 6

In this photo: the town of Telluride…it was 12 degrees outside and snowing!

As I am writing this, it is actually “Day 1” back in good ole Dallas, Texas,  but I’m going to continue writing about our adventures of day 6 in Telluride, Colorado….just pretend I’m still there!

Today was the first day I did NOT ski. It is pretty exhausting skiing 4 days in a row, plus with yesterday’s battle with the cold, I figured today would be even worse since there was no sun! 

We had a leisurely morning, and after lunch, my sister-in-law Leah, her husband Jeffery, and I went to the town of Telluride (we are staying in Mountain Village, which is about a 20 minute gondola ride to town).  Telluride is a former silver mining camp in San Miguel county in the Southwestern portion of Colorado.  Telluride Historic District, which includes a significant portion of the town, is listed as one of Colorado’s 20 National Historical Landmarks, and is on the National Register of Historic Places list.
The shops were all local….there are no Starbucks, McDonalds, or any familiar shop you would recognize. There was a cute little shop that I could have broke the bank on called “Two Skirts”. They had nothing but cute sweaters, skinny jeans, accessories and more…it reminded me of Neimans!!!  I’d like to tell you other places we shopped, but if I did that…those people I shopped for would know their Christmas presents! Haha.
In this photo: Leah and I shopping in Telluride…standing in front of the New Sheridan Hotel – the steak restaurant we ate at two nights ago.

When we returned, it was nearly time for dinner. Paula made a wonderful chicken spaghetti casserole and I made Triple Orange Ambrosial Salad (without the ambrosial part). We had a flavorful mixed green salad, prepared by my cousin Sayer, garlic bread, and leftover Christmas dinner, including desserts, from the night before. Everything was delicious!
After dinner we sat by the fire, enjoyed the house, and enjoyed being with family on the last night before heading back to Texas. I was definitely NOT ready to come home!

In this photo: Paula’s chicken spaghetti

In this photo: mixed green salad

Telluride Day 5

 In this photo: Rusty, Jeffery, Matt, me, Drew, Renee, Sayer, Merritt, Dale
Today was another gorgeous day of skiing. It was sunny, clear and cold!!! Today was the first day my feet froze, in addition to my fingers! On the last run before lunch, we went to the top of the Telluride Mountain and skiied down “See Forever”. About halfway down, I literally broke down and started crying because I was soooo cold! I think this has happend to me everytime I have skiied. It doesn’t matter how many liners and hand warmers I have, I still get cold!
Other than freezing, it was a great day for skiing. My favorite run of the day was “Ute Park”, where we did some mini ski jumps. It was fun, and Aunt Renee got all of us on video. Each ski jump got progressively harder, and by the last jump, you were flying through the air! On my last jump I probably flew about 2 feet in the air, and despite almost wiping out in the end, I stuck the landing….my former gymnastics skills prevailed!
In this photo: Matt and I 

For lunch we ate a Southwestern-style bistro called 9545 Restaurant. It was actually my favorite meal on the trip. My Uncle Dale strongly recommended the Posole, and he was right…it was awesome! Posole is a traditional Pre-Columbian soup of stew from Mexico. It has is made from a nixtamalized cachuazintle corn (hominy), meat (usually pork), chili peppers, and other seasonings and garnish. Again, it was my absolute favorite meal on the trip, and I plan on making a homemade recipe when I return to Dallas.

In this photo: Posole soup…half eaten!
After a few more ski runs, I finished my last day of skiing in Telluride. I had a blast, and am happy to say there were no broken bones on this trip!
At the house, all of the ladies gathered in the kitchen to make Christmas dinner. We had spiraled ham, roasted turkey, corn casserole, stuffing, and sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecans…yum! We also had more mashed potatoes than 26 people could eat, dinner rolls, Easy Mac, coleslaw, and cranberry relish. The desserts were something to talk about. Paula made her classic cold banana pudding, I made my Aunt Jolene’s chocolate ice box pie, and Aunt Gaytha made pumpkin pie… all topped with a dollop of Cool Whip.
Aunt Renee also brought Christmas napkins, nutcrackers, and party poppers to decorate the dining room and kitchen table with. It was so festive and gorgeous! The party poppers had two jokes, a trivia question, and a little charm inside.
  
 In this photo: the dining room is set for Christmas dinner

In this photo: the kitchen table all ready for our Christmas dinner
In this photo: spiral ham and roasted turkey breast
 In this photo: cranberry sauce, corn casserole, sweet potatoe casserole, stuffing, and macaroni & cheese. 
In this photo: two chocolate ice box pies, two pumpkin pies, and Paula’s cold banana pudding for dessert.
In this photo: Paula’s cold banana pudding.
Dinner was so good, that I am not even craving my family’s annual Christmas meal on Christmas Day. No one went hungry on this trip to Colorado! I’m ready to eat smoothies and yogurt I’m so full!  

Telluride Day 4

In this photo: a view of the mountains from Castlewood Manor
It was a gorgeous morning when I woke up this morning. The sun was shinning, the air was cool and crisp…it was a perfect day for skiing. 
Starting today, members from our family will be cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner…no more Chef John and Andie. We have quite the culinary family, and since most of us enjoy cooking, we no longer needed the chefs.  Breakfast was great. We had fluffy buttermilk biscuits, roasted potatoes with chopped peppers, scrambled eggs, applewood smoked bacon, and sausage links. Tasty!
In this photo: applewood smoked bacon, biscuits, potatoes, and scrambled eggs
After a leisurely morning, we hit the slopes for another day of skiing. Thankfully I’ve only fallen once, and technically, it wasn’t a “fall”.  Yesterday I “fell over” on a blue run. It was icy since it was 4:00 pm, the blue run was extremely steep, and my skis were nearly perpendicular to the slopes as I was maneuvering some intense switchbacks.  I only toppled over by 12 inches since the run was so steep.
Success was achieved today! No falls, nice and easy runs, and another perfect day of skiing. For lunch we came back to the house for some homemade chicken noodle soup (sorry, no picture this time). Chef John made it two days ago, and the flavor was great! I also liked how instead of egg noodles or spaghetti, the chef used fettuccine pasta. There were also huge chunks of chicken and large pieces of carrots and celery.  After lunch, we fininshed out the afternoon skiing.
In this photo: (back) Kristina, Will, me, Merritt, Sayer, Renee, Dale, Rusty, (front) Drew, Kaden

We arrived back at the house around 4:30 pm, and had less than an hour to get ready for dinner. We had dinner reservations at a nice steak restaurant at the New Sheridan Hotel in Telluride, called the Chop House Restaurant. We ordered Maryland crabcakes for an appetizer…the best crabcakes I’ve ever had! My husband and in-laws ordered the 10 oz. Prime Filet Mignon, and I ordered Coq au Vin. I’ve never ordered this before, so I was in for a shock when I saw that it was quite soupy! My Coq au Vin had smoked chicken, herb gnocchi (my favorite), and a seasonal medly of vegetables. For dessert my mother-in-law, Paula and I split the cappuccino cheesecake. I’m not a fan of coffee, but that cheesecake was amazing! The chocolate chips added a nice crunch, and the graham cracker crust was to die for! (As you can see in the half-eaten photo below.)

In this photo: Matt and I

     In this photo: Coq au Vin

In this photo: 10 oz. Prime Filet Mignon

In this photo: A more than half-eaten cappuccino cheesecake!

In this photo: cousins Sayer, me, Merritt, Kristina and Drew

To get home, we took the gondola, which was about a 20 minute ride from Telluride back to our house in Mountain Village. The ride was quite scenic as we could see the gorgeous city lights contrasted against the white snow and pitch black sky.
In this photo: the Great Room at Castlewood Manor

Telluride Day 3

In this photo: the back of Castlewood Manor
Today started out as a very overcast day. You won’t believe how much the sun impacts the weather out here. Since it was cloudy, it felt about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday and my hands just about froze! After only one ski run, I had to go purchase some hand warmers, as did my cousins Merritt and Sayer. Hand warmers are an amazing invention. Made out of sawdust and sand-looking particles, simply shake it, and it gets warm. The only problem was that my fingers were frozen, not the palms of my hands. Someone needs to invent full glove-warmers! Nevertheless, the handwarmers were a huge help in yesterday’s cold weather. I’m not sure why my hands get so cold…but it was miserable!
After a few more ski runs, we stopped for lunch at Bar M at the Hotel Madeline for lunch. For appetizers we ordered 1 to 2-inch thick onions rings and chips & pumpkin-ricotta cheese dip (sound bad, but was very delicious).  For lunch I had a veggie wrap and mixed green salad, which was very good. The others ordered hamburgers, lamb burgers, and veggie burgers…all which were about an inch and a half thick!
In this photo: from the left: me, Merritt, Uncle Dale, and Sayer

After a full day of skiing, we arrived back at the house to relax. In addition to Chef John, Executive Chef Andie was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Chef Andie has had 30 years experience in the culinary field and has cooked for families across the U.S. including the Hamptons, New York City, Dallas, and here in Telluride. She used to work in the Westin Galleria Dallas, as well as the Hilton Anatole. She has met Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), cooked for Jessica Simpson, and prepared meals for politcal campaign events and more.

Tonight’s meal consisted of creamed spinach, sauteed carrots, oven-roasted potatoes, mixed green salad, and roasted chicken. For dessert we had berry cobbler and some type of spice cake. My favorite part was the roasted chicken. Not only was it impressive-looking, it was extremely moist, delicous, and flavorful.

In this photo: Oven-roasted chicken
 In this photo: Creamed spinach, eventually topped with bacon bits and Parmesan cheese 
In this photo: Sauteed carrots. The ingredients include baby carrots, brown sugar, tarragon, cinnamon, and a can of beer.

                                                     In this photo: my dinner plate! Sorry the photo is a little dark.

After dinner, we relaxed by the fire and sat next to the pretty Christmas tree. Since the tree is so tall, fishing wire was used to help hold it steady. It is also real! Our tree at home is fake, so I enjoyed the smell and look of a truly authentic Christmas tree. An end to another perfect day in the mountains of Telluride. 

In this photo: Aunt Gaytha and Betty relax by the Christmas tree.

Telluride Day 2

In this photo:  Matt, me, Leah…all dressed and ready to ski!

Our second day in Telluride, Colorado was a blast! We started the day bright and early and met our ski instructors, Willie and Colleen, at the base of Telluride Mountain. My husband Matt, his sister Leah, her husband Jeffery, and cousin Thomas went with Colleen to learn how to ski, while my aunt, uncle their two daughers, cousin Christina and I went with Willie…we were the experts! Just kidding…we’ve had previous experience skiing and brushed up on our technique while we hit the green and blue runs.

In the photo: my aunt Renee and our ski instructor, Willie. Willie is from Austria, and is a great instructor!


Skiing and the high altitude sure makes you hungry! After just a couple of hours we were starving and stopped for lunch at Gorrono Ranch Restaurant, a rustic-looking building with a cozy atmosphere. I had a veggie burger, which was very tasty, but the dessert was something to talk about! My cousin Sayer ordered the biggest brownie, I’ve ever seen in my life!  It was as big as a loaf of homemade quick-bread, and probably weighed a pound! It was huge, but it didn’t really taste like a brownie. It was extremely crumbly, very chocolate, and had the texture of a dense cake. Aunt Renee said it reminded her of a weight-watchers cake that was quite chewy and funny in taste. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

In the photo: the biggest brownie I’ve seen in my entire life!

After lunch, we hit the slopes for some afternoon skiing (and to burn off those brownie calories)! One of my favorite ski runs was called “See Forever”. This blue run totally exemplifies its name, as you can “see forever” from 12,245 feet on the top of the ski lift.  We saw Utah on the western horizon, Mount Wilson (the most recognizable icon on the Coors beer products) due west, and the quaint little town of Telluride to the east. At 4:00 pm, the ski lifts close, and the skiiers head home.

One great feature in Castlewood Manor, the house we are renting for the week, is that we can literally ski the slopes from our back door. It may be the #1 ski in ski out house in America, but we sure had trouble coming in! I was the last one to arrive, and after seeing my cousins Christina, Sayer, and Merritt completely fall on their faces, I thought I would ski full speed ahead to gain momentum. Well, that didn’t work…I ran into about 3 feet of powder and burried myself in snow. It was so deep, I felt like I was in quick-sand! Sayer couldn’t find one of her skis, and it was like we were searching for burried treasure as we tried to find it! As we hiked up the steps of our gorgous house, we finally crashed on the couch and called it a day.


In this photo: Castlewood Manor, the #1 Ski Estate in North America.

For dinner, we were fortunate enough to have Chef John cook us dinner. Tonight he made homemade lasagna, tortellini and marinara sauce, caesar salad, and garlic bread. Banana cream pie and german chocolate cake was for dessert….an end to the perfect day! More to come tomorrow…

In this photo: lasagna, caesar salad, garlic bread, and tortellini

Dallas Duo in Telluride

 
The “uno” in Dallas Duo is not in Dallas anymore! For Christmas, Matt’s aunt and uncle rented a gorgeous house in the mountains of Telluride, Colorado for our entire family of 26 people! The house is made of nothing but logs and dark stone, and is extremely warm and comortable.  It is a cold 24 degree outside, and ten times better than being in Texas! 

This week I won’t be baking. Instead Chef John, a chef who has cooked for families in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Colorado, will be designing and preparing our meals. Last night, he made a delicious dinner, consisting of stuffed pork loin, sour cream & horseradish mashed potaotes, and a mixed green salad with chopped red onions, carrots and bell peppers, combined in a Italian dressing.  For dessert we had a delectable southern peach cobbler.

I took a picture of the meal with my camera, but won’t be able to upload it until I return to Dallas. Stay tuned, more pictures and 5-star meals to come from Telluride!

Thanksgiving Day Recap

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as I did! My family and I enjoyed a wonderful feast with all of our favorite dishes.  I thought this year was one of the best-tasting Thanksgiving meals!
Now that I’m married, my husband (Matt), and I rotate who we spend Thanksgiving with each year. This year, we were supposed to eat with his side of the family. Matt’s family tradition is to get together with all of his Dad’s side, including cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, and in-laws. Over 20 people show up every year. The host makes the turkey and dressing, while all of us bring the sides. I had originally planned on bringing Triple-Orange Ambrosial Salad and Summer Bounty Corn Casserole, until we had a change of plans due to….FOOTBALL!

My husband Matt, played football for Texas A&M in 2001 and 2002. As most of you know, A&M is leaving the Big 12 and joining the SEC next year.  That means, this year (2011) is the last year that A&M will play the University of Texas or T.U. (haha.)  Matt got a phone call Tuesday asking if he’d like to attend the last matchup between these two rivals, and of course, he said yes. Since Matt and his friends would be at the game, I decided to eat Thanksgiving with my side of the family. 
However before the big meal of the day, I ran the Dallas Turkey Trot with my sister-in-law, Leah, and my uncle-in-law, Rusty that morning. We had a blast! The only bad thing about the race was trying to maneuver between 40,000 people! Since I’m injured, I only ran the 3 mile; I usually run the 8 mile, so I was in for a little shock with the amount of people in one race. In the 8 mile, I can usually distance myself from the pack and run “alone”….not this time. Good thing I was injured and was not supposed to “race” because, had I tried, I would not have gotten very far. When I tell you that I was literally weaving through people the entire 3 miles, I am not kidding! It was crazy.  It was fun though, and Leah, Rusty and I will probably continue the tradition next year.
As I said earlier, dinner was delicious and we had a great time visiting with family. The minute Matt returned from his trip to College Station, he dug into our Thanksgiving leftovers…. I can’t blame him though….since he ate Freebirds on Thanksgiving Day rather than turkey and dressing! haha. 
My mom keeps a journal as to what our menu entails for each holiday (Thanksgiving and Christmas.)  She includes the main course, sides, desserts, who brought/made each dish, what we did or did not like, etc. It helps us decide for next year’s meal what to make. By now, our menu should be perfected after all this note-taking! Below is our Thanksgiving Menu for 2011.
Thanksgiving 2011 Menu
Karen’s Turkey and gravy 
brushed with butter to keep moist

Karen’s Cranberry Sauce 
with pineapples, oranges, pecans and mini marshmallows

Karen’s Stuffing/Dressing  
excellent…my favorite part of the meal

Green Beans  
with shallots

Frozen Cranberry Salad 
my family’s tradition

with orange sherbet and mandarin oranges

best rolls ever!

my sister’s favorite
Mashed Potatoes

Pumpkin Pie 
recipe from Libby’s 100% Pumpkin 

the only dessert my sister’s fiance likes 🙂

my Dad’s request
Here is my plate…I had another salad plate for the Triple-Orange Ambrosial Salad and my dessert! 

Even though I did not get to spend time with my extended family down in Houston, I did get a kick out of these Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes that my aunt Jolene and her 1st and 6th-grade granddaughters made for the holidays!

The cupcakes are chocolate with chocolate frosting. They used an Oreo to hold the turkey’s feathers, which were made out of candy corn. A malt ball was used for the head, and a half of a candy corn was used as the beak. So cute!

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

I hope you’re enjoying the first few hours of your holiday weekend.  I know I am.  Again, I wanted to thank you all for voting on my Dallas Duo Facebook Page for the 4th of July Dessert I should bring to the lakehouse this weekend.  I received some great feedback, and an overwhelming majority vote for making a strawberry cake! Yum!

 
Well, my plans have changed… Dr. Hussey, a long-time friend of my husband, Matt, bought us two gourmet pies from a wonderful little bakery in Plano, Texas (I don’t know the name, but when I do, I will let you know.)  Dr. Hussey knows Matt loves apple pie, so every so often he will buy us one or two (it always seems like two) pies from his favorite bakery.  Today we received not only apple, but a pecan pie as well!

Apple Pie from Dr. Hussey…

Since my mother-in-law, Paula, has made Cold Banana Pudding and 4 Layer Pudding Dessert for this weekend’s lake trip, I figured four desserts will be enough for us….we don’t need five.

With that said, I am going to give you the recipe for the Strawberry Cake that you voted on, and I planned on making.  When I recover from my “sugar-high” I’m about to get this weekend, Strawberry Cake will be the next dessert I will blog for you.

Stawberry Cake
Ingredients
Cake
1 white cake mix
2 small boxes strawberry Jell-O
2/3 cup salad oil (Crisco)
4 eggs
1 cup frozen strawberries, thawed (reserve the juice)

Icing
1/2 box powdered sugar
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup strawberry juice

Directions
1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour one tube pan or two loaf pans.
2. Mix all of the cake ingredients together in an electric mixer.
3. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until firm.  Do not underbake.
4. For the icing: Beat the icing ingredients together until smooth. Spread over hot cake.

In the meantime, if you want a “low-fat” Strawberry Layer Cake, try this one (which I made a few months ago)  from Cooking Light.

Enjoy your weekend and be sure to watch the fireworks…my favorite part!

Father’s Day Lunch

Well, I hope all the fathers out there had a wonderful Father’s Day weekend!  Hopefully mine did!  I think he enjoyed a day filled with enchiladas, strawberry pretzel dessert, St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, and a homemade chocolate chip cookie from McDermott Road Church of Christ this morning!  In addition, I got him a Dallas Mavericks NBA Championship t-shirt in one of his (and my) favorite colors, royal blue!  
In addition, we finally “christened” our dining room in our new house.  My husband and I normally just eat at our kitchen table, which seats four people, but today we had 5, plus it was a special occasion! I absolutely LOVE decorating table place settings for when I have guests.  As you can see, my favorite color is royal blue.  When my husband and I got married, I registered for Spode Blue Italian dinnerware.  I know most people just eat on white plates, but I love a pop of color, especially when it’s blue.  Later, I bought some really pretty yellow linen place mats and napkins to go with it, as you can see.

Anyways, back to cooking…. today’s Father’s Day Menu consisted of the following.  If you see any recipes worth trying, as always, let me know what you think of them!

Father’s Day Menu

Taco Salad with mixed green lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, ranch style beans, tortilla chips, and fat-free Catalina dressing

Seasonal Watermelon 

Chicken Enchiladas filled with poached chicken, onions, and Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. Topped with a sour cream sauce

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert with a graham cracker crust (instead of pretzels), a cool whip and cream cheese filling, and a strawberry gelatin topping

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake with a yeast-bread like base and a gooey, rich, and sweet buttery topping

Click “Chicken Enchiladas” for the recipe.

 Click “Strawberry Pretzel Dessert” for recipe.


St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake recipe to be blogged soon…