Crested Butte and Gunnison

Last night, Thayer helped me to make chocolate biscotti. We used the recipe here. Our motivation was the large amounts of cocoa powder left behind by previous occupants. We ended up using some of the dagoba organic cocao powder, which was just heavenly. Neither of us have much experience making biscotti, but I think they turned out pretty darn good. Here's a photo of the logs before their first baking.

[T-I personally think we should have just eaten the batter and called it a day, but that probably wouldn't have been the best choice in the long run. Also, the lumps in the lower roll are cranberries, not rat poo. I know you were thinking it.]
After baking for a bit, we let the logs cool and sliced them into strips, which were then baked again (making them biscotti!). Here's a photo of the completed product, as part of my breakfast this morning. Mmmmmm....

[T- I had one too and it was really good, although I somehow didn't manage to think of dipping it in my morning tea, which would have been superb. I will tomorrow though. There are quite a few left. If anyone likes the idea of sending us things, baked goods like cookies are a tremendous idea. J's mom sent us pumpkin muffins and we ate the whole bag in a day.]
Today we went into a nearby town, Gunnison, to pick up some groceries and Walmarty things. It was about a 40 minute drive or so, through some very pretty country. I think I've mentionned that our aspens around Gothic aren't turning 'right' this year. I happen to think they're pretty, but the aspens along our drive put them to shame. These ones were flaming orange, but the best that ours have managed is a greenish yellow.

[T- first we stopped in Crested Butte on official caretaker business! Billy had some paperwork to send to the office, since it's moved from Gothic to Crested Butte for the winter, and we dropped that off and chatted for a little bit, where we got our SECOND official winter caretaker business assignment for the day - pick up a nametag from a shop in Gunnison while we were down there. They keep us pretty busy here...]

In Walmart, we got all sorts of fun things, like mouse-proof bins and sand paper! The grocery store was a little more exciting, with gummy bears and cheese and cauliflower for me and frozen juice and cheese crackers and bulk cookie cereal for Thayer. Yeah, we went a little crazy.

[T- I also got boiled linseed oil as a nice neutral wood finisher that I can use indoors without killing us. We also got some hoisin sauce, stir fry sauce, and sri racha (whatever, that was a total guess on spelling) hot sauce for cooking. We already have soy sauce, ponzu, and oyster sauce. I've been making stir fries lately and enjoying it a lot]

On our drive home, we stopped in Crested Butte and had burritos at Teocali Tamale.

[T- I think it should be called Crested Burrito, but whatever. They were delicious either way, so I'm not going to argue. They also have mahi mahi tacos I'm going to have to try, but I just got the delicious veggie burrito this time.]

The weather was gorgeous today- really amazing- 70's and brilliantly sunny, so we walked around town for a bit. On our walk, we remembered that we had been meaning to visit the Crested Butte library, so we wandered over there. It's a wonderful little library and they kindly gave us library cards even though we don't have a permanent street address. We explained that we were winter caretakers at RMBL and they laughed and said that we would definitely need books! Thayer and I each got a few books. I'm reading Being Caribou by Karsten Heuer right now, and I am loving it so much. It tells the story of two people who follow (on foot, mostly) the caribou migration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge throughout five months and 1,500 km. It's a quick read, so if you're looking for some fun nature reading, you should give it a try. I should also mention that there's a documentary that tells the same story. The husband and wife who undertook this are a writer and filmmaker, respectively.

[T- I just got a trashy fantasy book in the series I've been reading. I'm also reading a Best American Short Stories collection, and will soon read The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood]

While at the library, we discovered that we will be able to interlibrary loan nearly anything we want throughout the winter!

[T- we're a part of the Marmot library system, which uses trained marmots with books tied to their backs for interlibrary loan deliveries. The system is very, very inefficient in the winter. It really is called the marmot library network, though.]

So, with this in mind, I'd like to solicit book suggestions. Is there anything you've read recently and loved? Or maybe a favorite book that I haven't read yet? I appreciate any and all suggestions!