It is an interesting phenomenon when the definition and location of “home” changes. As a kid, “home” was where I lived with my parents. During college, the lines got blurred. Was home college or “home-home”, as in my parents’ house? I left the mid-west fifteen years ago, and consider Colorado home now. But a part of me certainly considers Indiana home-home, although it is a home that I do not often visit. My grandmother passed away and her memorial was held in southern Indiana. Southern Indiana was not  a part of my life anymore and the thought of returning there brought up a lot of mem ..read more

So, what is Mexican puchero? Fair question. It is a delicious, hearty, Mexican stew that utilizes shank, neck, or ox tail. If you hunt or purchase an entire animal (a side of beef, for example) you will inevitably find yourself with bizarre cuts of meat that you do not know how to use. In my house, we hunt big game and waterfowl, we fish (maybe too much) and we purchase whole animals. So, needless to say, we end up with strange cuts. That is where Hank Shaw comes in. Hank Shaw is a hunter, angler, and chef. He is a James Beard award winner and truly amazing. Although I have never met him, I ..read more

As a kid, I went “mushroom hunting” in Indiana; as an adult I am learning to “forage.” It’s the same thing. Until last summer, I had not been mushroom hunting in close to 20 years. My neighbor reached out and told me she had been going quite a lot and asked if I wanted to join her. I was incredibly stressed at work and really did not have time to go traipsing around the mountains in the middle of the week, but I agreed to go with her. It was a pretty life changing experience. I walked to her house and she drove the 45 minutes up to her spot. It was a beautiful day and we had an unseasonably ..read more

A wild goose chase is defined by Meriam Webster’s dictionary as “a complicated or lengthy and usually fruitless pursuit or search.” Jump shooting Canadian geese in the Rocky Mountains is absolutely complicated, lengthy, and usually fruitless. It is surprising how difficult it is to kill a Canadian goose. Yes, I mean those large birds that attack children in parks and men on golf courses. The same birds that saunter across the street in city parks, without any regard for people in cars, are elusive in the forest. ​ Maybe all species change in nature: I become calmer and more at peace; geese be ..read more

Trying to find an elk during hunting season is the most difficult game of hide and seek that I have ever played. For years, I have been going with my husband on his elk hunts in the Rocky Mountains and I cannot recall even seeing an elk. He has shot plenty of elk, but never when I have been with him. We have hiked for hours each day for days on end without seeing any elk at all. Sometimes, we do not even see any sign (poop, etc). And, without a doubt, as soon as elk season is over, they pop their heads out and are all over the place. My college roommate, who lives in a major metropolitan are ..read more

The differences between the Rocky Mountains and the mid-west present themselves again when it comes to wild duck hunting. In the Rockies, the ducks are typically diver ducks, which means that they eat fish. In the mid-west, the ducks eat grain and corn from the fields. This produces a very different tasting duck. Over the past year, my husband and I have made a lot of terrible tasting duck. I mean absolutely not suitable for human consumption. We want you to benefit from our mistakes so here are some cooking techniques that you should never use for Rocky Mountain fowl: Smoking an entire duck ..read more

Apricots are plentiful in my area of the Rocky Mountains. Last year, a friend of mine graciously gave me what can only be described as a copious amount of apricots. I would guess that she gave me at least thirty pounds! Here is the tricky thing: my household consists of my husband and myself. Thirty pounds of apricots is at least a year’s worth of fruit for us. So, naturally, I decided to can the apricots. I did not have a recipe, which is always risky business. I decided to make an apricot ice cream topping. My husband graciously agreed to help me pit the apricots. Luckily, the fruit was ve ..read more

Although COVID turned me into a food hoarder, my canning habit pre-dates COVID. And I have been canning homemade stock for years. When I say “stock,” I am referring to the liquid produced after slow cooking/simmering bones in water for days. I started making stock for a few reasons. First, and most importantly, I can never remember to buy it at the grocery store. Inevitably, I will be in the kitchen, 30 minutes into dinner prep, and realize that the recipe calls for stock. I guess that I am not great at reading the entire recipe before I begin! While I am very blessed to live in the mountain ..read more

Similar to most topics on this blog, I never thought that I would want to go fly fishing. My husband has been a fly fisherman the entire time that I have known him. To me, fly fishing meant standing in a freezing cold river and getting endlessly stuck in trees and reeds. My initial interpretation is not far from my actual experience. In the fall of 2018, I started to become slightly interested in fly fishing. While in Estes Park, Colorado for a conference, my husband started teaching me a little about how to fly fish. I mostly stood in the river and watched him. Throughout COVID, I started t ..read more

Years ago, I lived in Buenos Aires with an Argentine couple. I remember that they always had an entire cow tongue in the refrigerator. It had taste buds and everything. They would cut it up and eat it on bread as a sandwich. At the time, I was young and could not imagine eating tongue. I never tried the tongue and that was a mistake. Things have certainly changed. I believe that it is unethical to kill an animal and not use as much of it as possible. My husband and I do not believe in sport hunting, or even slaughtering an animal and only taking choice pieces. If you kill it, you eat it. Eve ..read more