SUN VALLEY INN

Once upon a time, I met a kindred spirit on a boat snorkelling off of Key West, Florida. She invited me skiing in Idaho, and we had another great week, this time in snow. We had a great rhythm of breakfast in the room, skiing, sharing a meal on the mountainside (healthy and economical!), skiing, hot-tub, yoga and supper. 

Here is my homage to eating.

The first day, I felt like I was in a movie. The Rockies are so beautiful, they looked like a painting.

Mother Earth Salad at Seattle Ridge
Winter greens, roasted root vegetables, quinoa, chick peas, pepitas, sun dried tomato, lemon basil vinaigrette

A room with a view

An upgraded room for two

Breakfast lounge

Shishito and cauliflower at the Ram Bar with a glass of felino Malbec, Patatas Bravas, and Pork Bao buns

Swan cream puffs at Konditorei

Chocolate "Moose" Mousse

American portions  of pasta and eggplant parmigiana at Village Station

Ernest Hemingway stayed here. Another link to Key West.

Fondue at the Roundhouse

Styling

Fresh powder at lunch

Broccoli stirfry at River Run Day Lodge

Grilled prawns
Ram Bar

Semolina Croquets

Sun Valley charger plates and mountain peak napkins

Ram Restaurant. Eating at a fancy restaurant in ski season is not as dressy as in the city, thankfully, but the food was just as good. 

Fresh warm bread and cold salted butter

Idaho ruby trout with herbed spaetzle (Idaho potatoes) and leek pistou.
I had the schnitzel from the Heritage meal menu.

SKYGAZING AND LAST SNOW

Skygazer

What she sees (Can you see the crescent moon right there in the center?)

I don't know how much snow is left but what is left has sure been fun. A lot of Princess Pirate's classmates have stopped wearing snow pants, but not her, and for good reason. Here we are walking through the park. She throws herself on the ground constantly where there is snow, but this was an unusual pose, causing me (who also is still wearing snow pants in -4 weather so that I can keep up but not go home soaking wet) to lay down and see the view. I find myself more often injured though, wearing snow pants in the last of the season's snow. What with icy hills and rolling snowmen, I have bruises all over my knees!

A blizzard of snow people 

This last photo makes me feel such joy! Instead of a snow angel, she made a snow alien, but I think it just looks like the happiest imprint around! Happy spring everybody! But enjoy every last scrap of snow because we will miss it!

Snow Alien

DAVID WEBB AND THE IDES OF APRIL

I thought time could not pass faster after a busy winter that felt like it was slowing down after Valentine's Day, but here I am near the end of March with a lot of thoughts in my head. Warning to my readers: this is going to be a jumbled up, loose ends of a brain dump. This might be a treasure chest of random thoughts or complete garbage comprehensible only by me. But today is Monday on a momma week. My princess pirate made the bus and I have my birthday cat, 17 years old today, in my lap. So it is time to clear the search history on my phone's safari app, and put a few thoughts down.

Last fall I volunteered for a cross country run. I saw the list of volunteers while I was looking for a file, and had to google the name of Jason Bourne to be sure that one station was not manned by him! The name of the volunteer was David Webster, but Jason Bourne was named David Webb. I tend to conflate things like that. Google helps me clarify! In this case, I found out that I am born the same year as Jason Bourne, and apparently his birthday is April 15th.

I am looking for two types of chairs. Maybe I am just looking for trouble, but I like the look of white. First was an idea for the living room. I have looking for a coffee table that is not so enormous, and have a symetrical room with 4 dining room chairs, but although it is great for an annual party, day to day it doesn't it feel that cosy. Plus I have an orphan chair, and I think finding a match might do the trick. So I am in the market for a Tullsta covered chair, but don't want to pay $200. So I am on the prowl. I am willing to buy the cover new but the rest of the living room has older covers, so I prefer it to match. I am also looking for a white tall backed desk chair like I sat in once at the Bessborough.


Then again, I may just vacuum my current chairs, wipe down my gigantic coffee table, and keep walking around it.

My Princess Pirate has been reading Max Finder Mystery. There are short graphic stories with enough clues to figure out the suspect and the story. These are interspersed with puzzles. It reminds me of the obsession I had at her age about spies and mysteries. I was reading Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and how-to spy books I keep looking for but can't find.


Carl Jung coined the word "synchronicity" at the same time as Albert Einstein was coming up with relativity. I don't understand either of them, even with the dummies' version. But I will at least try and remember what that dummies' version is. Synchronicity is the temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events. Is it randomness? The opposite of fatalism? meaningful coincidence? I'm too tired and too busy to reflect on this further but maybe one day these lines may restart a new thread of thoughts.

JULIETTE ET CHOCOLATE

I took a friend to the ballet, and after it finished, we went for dessert, by her suggestion. It's a rare thing to go out downtown, so against my better judgement, and to the detriment of my sleep and German homework, we left the car and walked up to the Prince Arthur/St. Laurent location of one of my favourite dessert places. The menu is expansive, but I always come back to the petits pots. Often I get the Fleur de Sel Petit Pot with salted caramel, and I have never been disappointed.

This time, though, since my friend was going for the same thing, I decided to choose something different, so I ordered the Caramel Hazelnut Praline Petit Pot. It was outstanding! I am not sure why the jars changed shape. Maybe they are smaller or maybe they are just easier to clean. In any case, it was all good, and I think this is my new favourite. The hazelnuts covered the top layer of caramel. They were blanched and a little less woody tasting, but enough to contrast the sweetness of the rest of the conconction. Maybe I had maple syrup on the brain, because it is the time of the Sugar shack, but the caramel tasted a little maple-y.

The most surprising taste of the night, however (and that's a big statement from a sweet tooth) was the earl grey tea I ordered on a whim. I am still not sure what the source is, since the menu online and my google search for the answer did not clarify, but the tea was served without milk or sugar so I took a sip when it had steeped, and it was floral and fragrant and I am ruined forever for the ordinary tea bag! It came in an open bag of sorts, and I don't know leaf tea enough to know where it came from, but it sure was lovely. Maybe it was an error to serve without the usual accoutrements, but the tea was, by itself, a masterpiece! Even beside another masterpiece, it was the superior choice. Fortunately, no choice had to be made!

The Easter showpieces were on display, as well as the usual takeaways. It was tempting and there were many original cute ideas, but my favorite one was the mice on a Swiss cheese chocolate covered marshmallow. Here is the how-to video by Juliette herself I shared with Princess Pirate. It looks  like a lot of fun!

SUN VALLEY INN ROOM 248

A shuttle from the airport, to the ski hill, ski storage, and enormous hot tub with a view to the mountain. Neighbouring restaurants and shops. Opera house carillon with a new song every hour, but never disruptive. Cozy blazing fire, newspapers and morning coffee. In room coffee and refrigerator. Satellite tv with channel 66 looping endlessly the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade.

Amazing view of Mount Baldy 

Classic decor

Alcove with dresser and extra sink

Reading and breakfast chairs

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO

I met a woman on a boat just off of Key West last February. I was nauseous and cold after my first snorkeling expedition. She offered me Dramamine. We exchanged numbers, did yoga together, and chatted. She invited me to South Carolina to visit her home in Hilton Head. I couldn't make it. She invited me to stay with her for March break in Sun Valley. I said yes!

From Mount Baldy, Seattle Ridge, in the Smoky Mountains of Idaho

HAZEL, MY GRANDMA

Good-bye Grandma,

I will miss you. This is what I will remember:

Many of my memories, like many others, are of Grandma making music. How she could play anything any style with anyone, effortlessly. I remember holidays with candy dishes full of at least 3 kinds of fudge, and never any shortage of food. I remember her closet stuffed with clothes and a matching pair of clip-on earrings and necklace to coordinate. I remember her driving lunch out to grandpa and driving the grain truck beside the combine as if was no effort. I remember she loved her “stories”, and eating on tv chairs in the living room. But most of all I remember her soft hands, her affectionate squeezes and the squeals of delight in seeing strangers and family alike, even to the very last visit.

She will live on in my memory, squeezing my hands and squealing with delight with the world’s softest hands that made the most beautiful music, on piano, accordion and organ, and feeding a crowd without batting an eyelash.

Love you,

Your granddaughter

TORONTO AIRPORT TACO

 

Baja taco at the Distillery Bar