Monday, March 27, 2023

A March Hodgepodge


Springtime along the Colorado Front Range.  The sun shines bright and warm, the foothills have a dusting of snow, and the winds still blow cold at times.  We often see clouds rising up in the early morning when the sun shines on the frozen ground, and although we get "chance of rain" warnings on our Alexa device the rain never comes.  This winter the frequent Pacific storms that have besieged California with torrential snow and rain have also traveled west to bring the Colorado Rocky Mountains beneficial snowfall. Steamboat Springs recently announced they have had over 500 inches of snow this season at their summit, and SW Colorado San Juan mountains reported its best snowfall in almost 30 years!



It was exciting to fly over the beautiful and rugged San Juan Mountains after we flew back to Denver from San Diego in early February when we were returning from our Disney Wonder Cruise.  We have visited towns in these mountains in the past ten years--Telluride, Ouray, Ridgway, Lake City, and Creede, and I've blogged about them all, but seeing these 14,000-foot mountains from a birds-eye view from an airplane window was an unexpected thrill for me.



One of the first wildflowers that we see in Spring on the Colorado foothills is the miniature but hardy Starlily  (Leucocrinum montanum)  It is always exciting to spot it on a hike when it first appears in March. 




With Easter approaching in a few weeks I already prepared and froze a couple trays of Manicotti.-- click here--for my recipe that I posted many years ago.

I make them in a small Wearever brand frying pan I've had for my entire marriage.  It makes small five-inch shells which are just the right size for us as we serve them as a "primo" or first course after appetizers and before the "second" which is usually ham, leg of lamb, or both, depending upon how many guests we have for dinner.  Everyone goes home with trays full of leftovers, so nothing goes to waste.




Gumbo is one of our favorite soups and I made it recently on a chilly breezy March day. I first tasted gumbo soup when my husband and I first visited New Orleans in 2007, when we dined at Paul Prudhomme's restaurant "K Pauls Louisiana Kitchen. I was so infatuated with his food that upon returning home I purchased his cookbook "Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen" and I've been making his Seafood and Andouille Gumbo ever since. You can see the recipe on this blog link--the only additions I make now are adding a 12oz bag of frozen okra and some File Powder to the soup as a thickener.

Sadly, when researching to write this blog post,  I learned that K Paul's Louisiana Kitchen restaurant closed in 2020 after 41 years.  Paul Prudhomme passed away in 2015 and a niece and her husband were keeping his restaurant open, serving his famous Cajun cuisine, but closures during the pandemic lead to its demise. Happily, his line of Magic Seasonings Blends is still in production and a pleasure to use to add a New Orleans dash of flavor to any dish.



Last winter I experimented with saving tomato and pepper seeds and growing them by a sunny window. I had great success and decided to do the same this March. They are all sprouting and soon I will replant each plant into a larger container.  When the danger of frost is over --usually late May here, I will take the individual plants pots outside for a couple hours each day to "harden them off" and then when they are acclimated to the outdoors I'll plant them in large pots on my patio, where they will be enclosed with a chicken wire fence to prevent the deer from eating them. Last summer, by late August, and early September I harvested plentiful tomatoes, Calabrian Red Peppers, and Hatch Style Peppers. This year I'm growing the same and adding Poblano Peppers. It will be fun watching them grow and I'll record their progress here.



Our daughter had a business trip to Connecticut and she was able to take a day to visit The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, and took the photos above.  The celebrated author, Mark Twain, sat at the desk in the photo to write his famous novels.  Mark Twain and his family enjoyed what the author would later call the happiest and most productive years of his life in their Hartford home.

So, it seems fitting to finish this post with one of Mark Twain's famous quotes:

"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside 24 hours." 

Mr. Twain, you sum up Colorado's weather perfectly!




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27 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello,
Love the mountain views, it is great that Colorado had so much snow this winter. Your manicotti and gumbo soup both look delicious, thanks for sharing the recipes. My hubby has used tomato seeds from the previous year to start plants, he is successful too. Take care, have a happy new week!

A Bit of the Blarney said...

I do enjoy your posts! Brings me close to home from here in Indiana. The photos of the mountains look so beautiful! OH!!! your manicotti look so delicious! Thank you! Have a grand week!

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

I do believe that you are a wonderful cook.

Sorry to hear about KPauls closing. My accompanied me to a convention years ago in New Orleans and we ate there and had a wonderful meal.

Tom said...

...wow, 500 inches, we barely had 30 inches. The moisture from that snow will be welcomed this summer. Have a wonderful week, Pat.

Ruth Hiebert said...

I think my favourite photo on this post is the bird's eye view of those majestic mountains .

William Kendall said...

Those mountains are gorgeous.

NCSue said...

It always thrills me to see the first spring blooms! Great post!
Thanks for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2023/03/gods-glory-all-around-us.html

Lydia C. Lee said...

Covid killed a lot of restaurants near us. Lifelong institutions. Very sad. And yes, you have all the seasons in this post it seems!! #BlueMonday

stevebethere said...

I enjoyed your photos, crikey that is a lot of snow I hope you saved me some of that food looks delicious :-)

Have a hodgepodgetastic week 👍

csuhpat1 said...

Such beautiful photos. That is a lot of snow.

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

I can't even imagine that much snow - mind blowing.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

You are such a good cook! I love to cook but don't make as many complicated meals any more. Thanks for links to the recipes. And your little seedlings look very healthy! It will be fun to watch them grow.

ellen b. said...

Wonderful views out and about and the food looks delicious. That's a great quote from Mark Twain and can be appropriate for a lot of areas! Happy Spring to you this last week of March!

Sharon Wagner said...

Yum! I made ravioli with homemade pesto last night. I make big batches in the summer and freeze it. Thanks for your kind words about my cover, and for saying you want to read my book someday soon. Hooray!

Jeanie said...

I would love to have a sunny window to start seeds. Mine are regrettably too shady (Michigan weather doesn't help, either!)

I love your hodgepodges -- always full of fun things and good photos. You remind me that it's time to make some Cajun food -- gumbo or jambalaya. Yum. I have a Chef Paul story -- I met him at a PBS meeting years ago when he was doing a show and sitting on my kitchen shelf at this minute is an personally autographed photo -- "Good cooking, good eating, good loving." Such a wonderful personality!

Ciao Chow Linda said...

I could go for a big helping of that manicotti, Pat. You are smart to get a head start on Easter prep. I love how you use those seeds from food you’ve eaten to start your own plants. Good luck with those deer.

Natasha said...

Lovely post and the seedlings are heartening to watch and grow.

And the food looks so yum.

https://natashamusing.com/2023/03/brain-fever-a-forest-escapade-guest-post-natasha-musing/

Anonymous said...

Yes, I love the books/ Films of Mark Twain.

The view on the Mountain is overwhelming.

Very interesting to read. I enjoyed. Thank you for sharing with

MosaicMonday

Have a wonderful week.

Rambling Woods said...

Wow.. jam-packed post. I love manicotti and need to make some. Your views are always so amazing..Michelle

Rambling Woods said...

My comments are going through...amazing photos...and making me hungry..Michelle

Jim said...

Beautiful views.

NKH said...

Excellent pics. Monsoon in India is also a hodgepodge when it pours plenty of rains in morning and clears everything by evening!

Joyful said...

I enjoyed all your photos and I'm always thrilled to see your scenic ones from Colorado. The Mark Tawin quote perfectly sums up our Spring weather here on the Canadian west coast.

Spare Parts and Pics said...

Gorgeous view out your window seat, and so happy to hear about the record snowfall. That's good news indeed!

Photo Cache said...

Beautiful photos. My husband is a big gumbo fan too, me not really.

Worth a Thousand Words

Light and Voices said...

I made jambalaya yesterday for dinner. Here one day it is in the 60s next day it is 37 degrees. Illinois had a very mild winter for a change. Your pasta for Easter looks delicious! Nothing grander than the Rocky Mountains in Colorado even from the air. Looks like the garden this year will be delicious.

Joanne said...

Wow; that is a lot of snow! Hopefully the melt will help fill a bit more of lake Mead back up; I know it was down to record lows this past year. Your manicotti looks delicious and I just realized it's a dish I've never made for my family! That used to be one of my favorite Italian dishes but I had to give it up years ago. Living in CT I've visited the Mark Twain house a few times and it is so neat to hear about his life and see so many of his treasures all around.