Tracks

Cross country Skiing, March 2013

Grotto Falls and Chickadee Valley

Chickadee Valley. A beautiful half day ski in Kootenay National Park.
Wish I had known about it a couple years earlier!

Challenging wax conditions as the temperature hovered around 0'
 in the Chickadee Valley.

Biking on the Sunnyside Bluff

Downtown

It's that time of year. Spring fever hits. 

Despite the cold, Calgary can be pretty friendly to winter bikers.

 The snows are light and short lived, it's almost desert after all. The river valley through downtown is flat and there's a good pathway system. And best of all Chinooks come through, regularly drying the streets.

But I know it's nearing spring when I go biking with no destination in mind. I left the house late in the afternoon, after the temperature had already dipped enough to need a toque and gloves. I ran into Meghan just down the street then proceeded to the Sunnyside Bluff. This particular piece of the Bluff is one of my favourite places in Calgary. The other being Edworthy Park. I stayed there till dark filming my bicycle and  runners and wind in the grass. I'll watch it in a few months and be amazed that amid the summer lush, even the mud and dry spring grasses are beautiful to behold.

How to Use "Labels" to create Topic Pages

Time to get nerdy about Blogs!

When I started this blog I wanted just one platform to write about my various interests - the outdoors, food, and bicycling. I didn't want to frig around with separate blogs for these topics. So I faced the dilemma of a non-specific blog - and the issue of various topics cluttering and hiding each other. For example if my Mom :) came to read my recipes I wanted her to be able to focus in on just those posts and not wade through photos from climbing and hiking.

Over the course of a year I fiddled around with blogger, wordpress, and tumblr to find a way that I could separate out my topics into different pages. At first I tried setting up actual "Pages" but I found these to be static. I wanted each topic page to be look and act like blog.

I figured it out first with Wordpress and then just recently with Blogger. I chose Blogger in the end because of how easy it was add photos through Picasa and online albums. Wordpress has a sleek look but it's painfully clunky in the photo department and has limited space. 

So here's a step by step way to get your Blog Topics to act like Pages:

** I added notes to the screenshots. You may need to open them to read more easily.

The "Labels" you select will show up like Pages below your header. Each will take the reader to a list of all posts fitting into that category.

When you write Posts give them Labels. You can create any label you'd like to fit your topic. Think of them as categories/topics/ or tags. The Labels that you create here will be available as links below your header (you choose which).

Go to your "Layout" page and add the "Labels" Widget. You can place it along the bottom, sidebar, or top. I prefer putting it at the top so that it mimics "Pages". 

In this dialog box you can select which Labels you want to appear. You may find it cleaner to select only a few primary Labels to display (so that it's not messy with 2 dozen different labels).  For instance I chose generic labels such as "Outdoors" and "Food" to display on my main page.

But you needn't be limited to just those principle labels on your posts. When I gave something the "Outdoors" label I also further identified it with "climbing", "rockies", "winter".

Happy blogging

Rock and Ice

Rock and Ice

Mexican Pulled Pork Stew

This was a total experiment. I had brought home a Pork Shoulder Roast on the weekend and planned to slow cook it for dinner on Monday night. As the afternoon passed I realized that I wouldn't have enough time to roast the big hunk of meat - not the first time that's happened. So out of necessity I started tinkering.

It was partly inspired by both a recent Cook's Illustrated Magazine and a Michael Smith Mexican stew recipe I had browsed in the mall while waiting for passport photos to develop. My end result certainly doesn't have much in common with it's roots but it sure tasted good.

I also throw some potatoes in the oven while doing a roast. It's an easy companion to the meat and the makes use of the oven which is already fired up. In this case I roasted sweet potato and russet wedges to put on top of the stew. Serve up a bowl of stew and top with a few big potato wedges. The sweetness of the potatoes compliments the subtle spice and smokiness of the stew. 

Mexican Pork Stew

Spice Roasted Sweet and Russet Potato Wedges

Mexican Stew
 
Browning the Meat (this step is all about flavour)
3lb Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt Roast (a touch fatty cut, usually tied up with string)
1 onion (big slices with grain)
2 cups button mushrooms  (quartered)
1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil (to coat veggies)
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
Liberal shake of salt and pepper

For Stewing Sauce (mix it all together)
1-500ml can of Diced Tomatoes
2 Tbsp Honey + 1 Tsp Maple Syrup (added at the last minute)
2 Tbsp Lime Juice ( about 1 lime)
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Chipotles in Adobo Sauce (from a small can at the grocery store) (spicy stuff!)
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Oregano  (all herbs dried)
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Crushed whole Corriander Seeds
1/4 tsp Fennel Seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

You'll need Roasting Pan ( high sides)
Casserole dish with lid.

--
Start by broiling meat and veggies to develop flavour (get the Maillard reaction going). Once this is complete you'll mix all the ingredients in a casserole dish and bake for 2-3 hours.

-Cut the roast into large 2" chunks (helps it cook more quickly), remove only big bits of fat/connective tissue
-Rub with S&P, Smoked Paprika, Cumin, and Coriander powders.

-Lay the pork in a roasting pan
-Surround the pork with chopped Onions, Mushrooms, and quashed garlic all  tossed in Olive Oil.
-Broil on High in oven until each side is browned and starting to sizzle. 10-15 minutes each side. Stir the Onions and Mushrooms so they don't burn but they should soften/caramelize a bit. Putting it on the lower rack helps even out the broil.

Meanwhile, add the rest of the ingredients to the casserole dish. The can of diced tomatoes, honey, lime juice, red wine vinegar,  and spices - chipotles in adobo, smoked paprika, cumin, chili pdr, oregano, thyme, corriander seeds, fennel seeds, and of course salt and pepper.

If you get it all together and are waiting for the pork then start preheating the casserole dish so that it doesn't cool down the meat.

Add the meat, onions, mushrooms, and garlic to the casserole dish.

Bake (covered) in a 325'F oven for 2 hours. At two hours it'll be plenty soft to eat (with nice texture) but if you want it to fall apart go longer (2.5 -3 hrs?).

The tomato base was thick and flavourful. It's not a spicy stew  - more on the side of cumin and smoke. A bit more Chipotle would have been good.
--

Roasted Sweet and Russet Wedges 

Meanwhile I roasted Sweet Potatoes and Russet Potatoes (with a few leftover beets from the garden). These made an excellent topping for the stew.

Cut wedges in order from largest to smallest  pieces Sweet Potatoes, Russets, and beets.  Sweet's cook quicker then potatoes and beets so they need to be in bigger chunks. Beets are the slowest.

Toss first in:
2 tsp Cumin powder
2 tsp Chili powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp black ground pepper

Now add Olive oil and toss. I learnt from my sister that tossing first in spices helps the spices stick to the surface of the potatoes, underneath the oil.

I baked in oven with roast (@ 325) for about  60 minutes, stirred them, then decided to cover them so they wouldn't dry out from the long slow roasting. I stirred them again before finally uncovered at the end to caramelize them a bit.

 They had a nice soft texture, with caramelized and spicy flavour. They were not like my normal oven roasted dense chewy wedges (roasted hot and fast).

Coire Dubh Integrale

On Friday Seb and I climbed Coire Dubh Integrale. It ascends a gully on Goat Mountain, at the edge of the Rockies. In fact you start among the prairie grasses. The route climbs through short steps of waterfall ice, snow slopes, and a couple interesting rock sections. The wind was ridiculous as we descended the ridge - knocking us off our feet. 

Coire Dubh Integrale ascends the gully in the center of the photo, topping out on the ridge.

Hiking the snow slopes

Fun rock climbing in Crampons and gloves on the first rock band.

Seb starting the final rock section

Reedonkulus wind on the ridge.

Almost down to the highway with sun setting in the Bow Valley.

Grotto Falls Ice Climb

Seb leading Grotto Falls

On the final day of our climbing week, Seb and I headed into Grotto Canyon for some mixed climbing. We started off the day with a ramble up Grotto Falls, a friendly WI3 at the back of a pretty little canyon.

Vivid shadows on the ice

Rappelling out of a blue sky

Seb on the left hand side of the "His" mixed climb.

Chanilly Falls

Topping out Chantilly Falls at Evan Thomas Creek in Kananaskis, Alberta

Fernie Hashbrowns

Cooked up these hashbrowns while I was in Fernie. BC with family. I key is to use Russet Potatoes and Bacon fat. This past year I've been doing hashbrowns backwards. Instead of frying boiled or baked potatoes, I start by frying raw potatoes until they are caramelized then I add a touch of water to steam them soft. This way I get the flavour of a fried potato with interior of a soft steamed potato while only having to use 1 pan and no additional steps to pre-cook the potato. Makes for a quick breakfast! Topping with bacon and green onion is a nice touch.