Wahoo Crudo with Popcorn Crema and Serrano Vinaigrette

October 17, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

Some cooking from last week…

Upping my game a notch (date night) – The original recipe is from Food & Wine under “Striped Bass Crudo with Popcorn Crema and Shishito Vinaigrette”.

I found some Wahoo fish instead and thought I’d spice things up (literally) by swapping the Shishito pepper with Serrano…

Also made some Lentil Purée with Cilantro (Bon Appétit mag) and Flatbread and a nice Salted Caramel / Chocolate tart for desert.

The wine pairing was Maipe Torrontes from Mendoza, Argentina. Pretty happy about my selection on that note.

Note: The food was the highlight of the evening really 😉

Also, more Cannelés. This time I added some raisins & rum.

Cooking, Food, Pastries

Cannelés bordelais

September 30, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

Baking a lot of Cannelés these days. Trying to perfect this specialty from Bordeaux, France.
Bought both copper and aluminum molds and used melted beeswax instead of butter to coat the molds.
So far my recipe looks like this but I’m modifying it at every try.
Next step? Buy more molds 🙂

1L Milk
300g Flour
400g Confectioner Sugar
100g Sugar (mixed with the milk)
100g Butter (browned and filtered gives 80g really)
80g Rum
8g Vanilla Extract
(for about 20 Cannelés)

Cooking, Food, Pastries

Chocolate Cake

September 14, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

Chocolate Cake with Coffee Meringue

(Dark Chocolate Ganache + Salted Milk Chocolate Glaze)
#baking

Colorado 14er, Hiking

Chicago Basin – San Juan Mountains

September 10, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

08-27-2017

This group of +14000ft mountains required a little bit more work than usual. After driving for seven hours we took the train (narrow gauge) for a little while until a drop off at Needleton. Then we hiked…

These mountains (mostly Sunlight & Windom) are more technical and have more exposure than your regular 14er but are so much fun 🙂

Climbed North Eolus and Mt Eolus on Saturday 26th
Climbed Sumlight Peak and Windom Mnt on Sunday 27th before hiking the 13 miles back to the Purgatory trailhead. We failed 1.5 miles before the TH and setup camp for one more night in the wild…

There was a fox near North Eolus playing / fighting with a marmot. The marmot ended up scaring the hell out of that fox 🙂
I also have quite a few shots of a mountain goat at the very summit of Mount Eolus.

Overall a great & long weekend of backpacking / climbing to bring my total number of 14ers to 54. Four to go…

Colorado 14er, Hiking

Mt Sneffels, Colorado

September 9, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

08-19-2017

Since I was in the neighborhood after climbing El Diente Peak and Mt Wilson I thought I’d try Mt Sneffels…

Soon after the start at the Yankee Boy Basin…

Passed the saddle. First view of the gully…

Getting crowded here. Only Class 3 pitch of this 14er…

Summit view:

Parking lot on the way back. Mostly Jeeps 🙂

Road on the way back. Carved into the mountain.

Colorado 14er, Hiking

El Diente Peak, Wilson Mountain

September 5, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

August has been crazy busy. Trying to finish all the Colorado 14ers I have left.

So far this summer; Wilson Peak, North Maroon Bell, El Diente Peak, Wilson Mountain, Mt Sneffels, N Eolus, Eolus Mountain, Sunlight Peak and Windom Mountain.

I’ve climbed / hiked 54 Colorado 14ers out of 58. Getting there…

Late afternoon arrival following the Dolores River. View of El Diente in the distance:

Class 3 only. Final approach through a gully:

Summit view of El Diente:

Traverse from El Diente to Mt Wilson. A few Class 4 along the way. It was a long long way…

From a gully about 200ft below Mt Wilson:

Mt Wilson summit view:

Cooking, Pastries

Lemon Cake

September 5, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

Not baking much this summer but it was a co-worker’s 30th birthday so I thought I’d make a cake. Something to celebrate.

Travel

Wyoming – Solar Eclipse 2017

September 5, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

Mandatory solar eclipse photos 🙂
Note: I don’t really have the right photographic equipment for this.

I drove to Wyoming and managed to see it in good conditions. Exceptional event for sure. I will definitely be more prepared for the next one in 2024…

Colorado 14er, Hiking

North Maroon Peak

August 10, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

Hiked / climbed North Maroon Peak last Sunday. A bit foggy but great climb.

Photo selection with comments. My shoes are awful for technical climbing I must say so I need to fix that problem before the next one.

Above: View of Pyramid Peak

Above: Maroon Lake / Crater Lake at sunrise

Climbing up the second gully…

Rest of the climb; big mess…

Summit view

View of Maroon Peak

On my way back. View of the trail up the first green gully.

View back at Maroon Lake. North Maroon Peak is the one in front / center.

Colorado 14er, Hiking

Wilson Peak Climb

July 30, 2017 davidf27_wp Leave a comment

Climb of Wilson Peak from Navajo Basin Trailhead.

16 miles total and 5,000 feet elevation gain.
Here’s a visit of our beautiful Colorado. It‘s been an exceptional year in terms of snow pack and summer hiking still feels like Springs. The West Dolores river up to Navajo Lake is roaring. The weather was not particularly friendly but I managed to climb one 14000+ feet peak out of three. I guess I’ll have to come back…