– June 2, 2018
Sometime, working in basement is depressing. I try to remind myself that the house is older than any human alive. That it was built around 1894 and it has seen things…
Second room ceiling is all cleaned up.
Doing some experiment digging along the walls in a corner to check out the foundation. Looking good up to two feet at least.
I might dig out a foot and redo the concrete slab. Work work work…
– May 6, 2018
Making Croissants for the first time in a while…
– April 21, 2018
Snowshoeing for a few hours up Ruby Creek towards Mt Parnassus / Bard Peak. Except without snowshoes. Oops.
Oh well. Finished the day at Sushi Sasa & My Brother’s Bar for some glorious sushi and some Chartreuse. Yummy.
– April 14, 2018
St Mary’s Glacier with friends
Not the best weather. No visibility whatsoever but good hike nonetheless
St Mary’s Lake
Group of climbers practicing self-arrest
Are we having fun yet?
The dog seems pretty happy about the snow
Basement refinishing.
Cleaned up one brick wall and one wood panel. Also started cleaning up the joist and ceiling (wood floor really). It’s messy, it takes forever but the result is pretty good (see before / after photos below.)
Considering the wood is 120+ years old I’m happy with the result. Will probably be done with the entire cleanup in two months. Then I can start building on it…
Not spending too much time on cooking / baking but I survive somehow…
Snowshoeing near Byers Peak, Colorado
I ended up taking the wrong trail and the view below is actually a view of Byers Peak from the saddle along the Bottle Peak trail.
Poach Pears, Blueberries & Walnuts Pie
Lemon Tart with Swiss Meringue
Pears poached in red wine with orange, lemon zest & cinnamon
Pastry Cream with Nocello liquor and Walnuts
Sweet dough (recipe: Pierre Hermé)
Reason 47 I have a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 🙂
Capitol Reef, Utah is actually a desert (it receives barely 7 inch of rain per year) and has very little light pollution. Great place for night photography. Not the best time of the year though; apparently May-September is better for some reason.
Also it was -11c degree at night so I was freezing my butt. Did two sessions; one between 9pm-10pm and the other between 1am-2am.
February 18th, 2018
Corona Arch is right outside Moab, Utah but it is NOT located in Arches National Park.
A bit too crowded for my taste and way too windy on that day to bother with my nicer camera.
February 16th-17th, 2018
Short road trip to Capitol Reef, Utah with the Jeep and my brand new tires 🙂
Drove along the Cathedral Valley Road up to the Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Sun. Then I retraced a few miles and cross over to the Hartnet Rd (a bit rough but lots of fun) to check out both Lower & Upper Cathedral Valley overlook. Finally I exited the area via the north back to I70…
Before / After
Started removing the plaster from the brick wall. I started by hand using a hammer and a stiff wall scrapper but that wasn’t ideal. Ended up buying a oscillating multi tool and it works much better. Still an absolute pain but I’m getting there. I still need to clean up a few more bricks here and there, replace a few others and do the repointing.
No good photos of the lunar eclipse (super blood moon or something ) but seeing it was pretty cool. Froze my butt for two hours at the top of a parking lot near Colfax Ave & York. Good views from up there.
Did manage to take a photo of the moon in the evening but I still need to get used to my new mirror lens…
January 7th, 2018
Short hike up the road for a few hours. The weather was supposed to clear up early in the morning…it did not 🙂
Ended up helping out someone who got stuck in the snow with his Rev 4.
January 7th, 2018
I love my house (most of it is perfectly livable) but there’s no way around it; the basement is a complete disaster (see photos…). Since I’m not big on sitting around during vacation I thought I’d get started on that. I tore down the shelves, removed the concrete & plaster from the brick walls, got rid of crumbling ceiling and remove all the junk that’s been lying around for decades. Pretty much filling up a 15 yard dumpster roll-off with 4 tons of crap. I also clean up my backyard. Most importantly I have a plan and I’ve completed all the research. I know everything there is to know about code. I might even use some of it as “guideline”. Just kidding.
Apparently “Friendsgiving” is a thing.
Baking “Date & Pecan” Pie & Lemon Meringue Pie.
I followed this recipe which is pretty good: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brown-butter-pecan-pie-espresso-dates
As always for the Lemon Pie I used Pierre Hermé’ sweet dough & lemon cream recipe and added Swiss meringue on top.
Genoise, Caramel Syrup with Chambord liqueur, Mousseline Cream (pastry cream + butter cream + meringue), raspberry jelly, fondant and various red fruits
This song always makes me think of an old – former – friend of mine. In all fairness she’d probably tell me to look in the mirror. Oh well, I’m an idiot. Anyway, the sound on this particular recording (Live From the Village) is absolutely amazing. Great talent all around from the musicians to the producer & sound engineers.
An absolute must.
Enjoying lots of music from the Colorado Symphony at the Boettcher Concert Hall lately. The last few weeks:
