obsessed: brown butter

Do you know about brown butter? I reallyreallyreally hope you know about brown butter. I was re-introduced to brown butter while through America's Test Kitchen Chocolate Chip Cookie, which I always thought was unobtainable until my friend Tori made them (and also spilled butter on her LLbean slippers). 

Food52 says that brown butter is grown up.

"Brown butter (or beurre noisette if you are feeling fancy) deserves a place in every cook’s repertoire, especially during fall and winter. With its nutty aroma and flavor, brown butter adds complexity to pretty much any dish, from vegetables to dessert. All you need is a good pan and a few minutes at the stove. Think outside the one-pound box of butter in your fridge with these delicious recipes, and enjoy butter -- all grown up. "

Once you brown butter, you can't stop, won't stop. Instead of feeling guilty for having butter and noodles for dinner, you're preparing an elegant dinner of brown butter and caramelized onion pasta.

Add it to everything.

pictures: tomatoes   pasta   tart

leaving a small town

I jokingly say I moved to Montana to escape the midwest heat and weather shifts. But the past week has been well above freezing and the mountains of snow are melting and there are only pockets of ice. I know it will be short lived-- I've been told this is odd and that winter lasts and lasts here.

But while it's sunny, I'll enjoy it.

I'm slowly packing my house in Philipsburg and getting ready to move to Bozeman. I've been hired as a paralegal and could not be more excited.  I'm going to miss being so close to wilderness and having only quiet distractions and no responsibility. I'll also miss the excuses of not being able to attend a yoga class or try a new restaurant.

Philipsburg is filled with little pleasures and a slow life. Nothing really starts on time and there's not much to do. Which means weekend hikes should take all day and most events can wait.

snow crazy

Winter days are short, and mine were taken up by a 40 minute drive to work and then work. Nights are dark and biting cold. In the summer's the moon is so bright, I foremen flashlights. The winters are cold that beards froze and ice forms on the inside of windows. I always thought mittens were a little silly, but I now understand their necessity.

In light of the winter storms in the Northeast, I wanted to post pictures from a few weeks ago. It snowed a little over 12 inches in one day and snowed an inch or two more every day after. No national news story, no canceled work, just the rancher's plowing the roads and more cautious driving.