A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Marmots are large, herbivorous ground squirrels known for their stout bodies and deep underground burrows. As some of the largest members of the squirrel family, they are famous for spending up to half the year in deep hibernation and for using loud whistles to alert their colonies to predators. There are 15 species worldwide. In Colorado, the Yellow-bellied Marmot is the most common, while hikers in places like Glacier or Washington state might spot the Hoary Marmot. Sometimes they are called whistle pigs, because when threatened by predators (like eagles, coyotes, or badgers), they emit a piercing whistle. They live in rocky, mountainous talus slopes and alpine meadows where they can easily sunbathe, forage, and dig deep burrows to escape the cold. They don’t store food for the winter. Instead, they gorge themselves during the summer, packing on layers of fat, and then hibernate for 6 to 8 months.

We made it to the peak of Rocky Mountain National Park, up to Alpine Peak, at 11,796 feet above sea level.

There was still quite a lot of snow up there, and it was considerably cooler than it was at the lower elevations.

The cooler weather didn’t seem to bother the marmots though. In fact, they liked it and were out playing hide & seek and running all around and having a lot of fun. Some where even posing for my camera too, and they seemed to love the attention.

You’re never too old to have fun and play around. Life is short. Make the most out of everyday and live life to the fullest. Enjoy the ride. Be like the marmots, and be a little mischievous. ‘Til next time.

The mercury is soaring right now, which means we are eating a lot of salads. We are definitely carnivores, and when I make main meal salads, they contain meat. So we eat a lot of chicken salads, steak salads, salads with shrimp or seafood, and much more. This time I made another steak salad. The cumin vinaigrette was what I really focusing on though, but I needed a delicious salad to to with it in order to highlight the dressing. 🙂

The salads were made with a bed of Romaine lettuce with corn, black beans, red onions, green onions, grape tomatoes, red bell peppers and cucumber. Larry’s salad had some shaved white cheddar cheese and fried tortilla strips. I was making my salad with little bits of this and that and I did not have enough fried tortilla strips for both of us, and I didn’t feel like making more because I wanted to use what I already had, so I added some pepitas to mine. I love pepitas, so no problem for me.

Cumin Vinaigrette

1/3 cup olive oil

2-3 TBSP red wine vinegar

1-2 TBSP orange juice

1-2 tsp spicy honey

1 tsp cumin

1-2 tsp garlic

salt to taste

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste

fresh cilantro, chopped

1 red chili pepper, diced fine

lemon verbena, optional

Mix everything together well and dress up your salad right before serving.

I have so much lemon verbena growing in my backyard and am trying to use it as much as I can, while I can. It seems like I have an endless supply though. But whatever I do use it for, it adds a nice fresh, lemony taste to it.

I made a little extra dressing because I marinated my steak in it as well. I marinated the steak for about 2-3 hours before cooking it.

Be creative and play with your food. Have fun with it. Life is short. Make the most out of everyday. Live life to the fullest and enjoy the ride. ‘Til next time.

We saw so many critters on this particular trip to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), that I had to separate it into multiple days worth of posts. It was most definitely a banner day.

After seeing the beautiful birds and the friendly chipmunk Chippy, Nature Walks – Headed Up To Rocky Mountain National Park we also saw a whole bunch of deer. They were mostly lounging around beneath the shade of the trees, but some were wondering about too. Since some were on the move, it was hard to get good shots of them, but I did what I could. Sometimes, that’s all you can do. The primary type of deer found in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, is the Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus), known for its large, mule-like ears and black-tipped tail.

We were heading to the peak, since it was now open for the season. There is still a lot more yet to come. Stay tuned for more views and more critters. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Life is short. Make the most out of everyday and live life to the fullest. Enjoy the ride. ‘Til next time.

Even though we have been home from Portugal for a couple of months now, I guess I am still in a Portugal frame of mind; certainly when it comes to food. I have been real good about not making or eating desserts for quite awhile now, but I do make exceptions for special occasions. Having my friend Bob come in and stay with us was a special occasion. I broke the rules, but only slightly. I made a Portuguese almond custard cake, or Morgado or Bolo de Amêndoa e Doce de Ovo, for the occasion. This cake is native to the southern Algarve region of Portugal. But I have been good. I’ve only had 1 tiny little piece, as good as it is. 🙂

Custards are very popular all over Portugal. Back in it’s early days, the priests wore starched collars. Their collars were starched with egg whites. They had so many egg yolks leftover that they needed to find ways to use all the egg yolks. The nuns decided to make custards with all the yolks. Custards of all kinds, for many of their desserts was their answer.

Almond trees tend to grow in tandem with grape vines in a lot of wine regions, so almonds were another product that were readily available and in abundance. Almonds are also prevalent in Middle Eastern cooking and particularly the Moorish cooking from the early Moorish influences in Portugal. In the 8th century, the Moors brought both almond trees and citrus trees to the Algarve region of Portugal. The nuns of the area created this dense almond cake or the morgado, and added the custard or the doce de ovo (a thick, sweet egg custard) as a sweet treat. When religious orders were suppressed and convents were closed in the wake of the 1834 Liberal Revolution, nuns and monks lost their funding and were forced to sell their treasured recipes to survive. The recipes seeped into the general public and became closely tied to regional Portuguese bakeries. The Portuguese love their sweets and especially love their custards.

Almond Custard Cake

This recipe only has a few basic ingredients that are blended together for a perfect dessert and sweet treat. Since my cookbook is from Portugal, it has everything in grams and ml. I will be nice and give you both. 🙂

The Cake

3 cups or 400 g ground almonds

6 eggs spearated

1 1/4 cup or 250 g sugar

1-2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180*C.

Spray an 8 1/2 inch cake pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Place the almonds in a food processor and mix until they become a powder. You can mix in the salt, cinnamon and lemon zest with the almonds or mix them in with the eggs. Either way is fine.

Mix the egg yolks with the sugar until it is thick and foamy, then fold into the almond mixture.

Fold everything together gently, so to not flatten the egg whites, then pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until the cake is browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan, then slice in half through the middle.

The Custard

This custard is a lot more dense than an English custard.

3oo g or 1 1/2 cups sugar

150 ml or 2/3 cup water

10 egg yolks

10 g or 1 heaping TBSP cornstarch

Mix the sugar and water together and place in a medium saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then bring to a boil without stirring. Let boil for about 3-4 minutes or until it reaches a temperature of 105-107*C or 225* F on a candy thermometer. Allow to cool slightly

Mix the egg yolks and cornstarch together well.

Slowly pour the egg mixture into the sugar water, whisking constantly while pouring. This is called tempering. It prevents the eggs from scrambling in the hot liquid. Whisk until the the mixture thickens.

Spread half the mixture on one layer of the cake, then place the other layer on top and spread the rest of the mixture on top of the cake.

I toasted some almond slivers, made whipped cream and topped my cake with them.

Cover and chill until ready to serve. Delicious! This was yet another smashing success. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Life is short. Make the most out of it and live life to the fullest. Enjoy the ride. ‘Til next time.

Larry only worked a half day on Friday. When he got home, we packed up some snacks and took Bob up to Rocky Mountain Nation Park (RMNP) for some sight seeing. But Bob and I had already had a nice long walk at one of our nearby trails before Larry even came home. So we got a double dose of sunshine and exercise. SWEET!!!!! Whenever we take our little drives, we are always watching for critters. We had a banner day this time, we saw so much wildlife. It’s like they all came out to say hi to Bob.

We took the back roads up and stopped at my favorite little mountain church for a quick photo. We couldn’t go inside because they were preparing it for a wedding. But we could see it from outside. This just looks like a postcard.

We were welcomed by a friendly little Black-headed Grosbeak.

Then we kept heading up through the mountains to RMNP.

Our first stop at the RMNP was at Bear Lake. We stopped at the parking lot for the shuttle that took us up to Bear Lake. That is always a beautiful place to stop and visit. It was a beautiful day and the weather was just perfect for a hike around the lake.

There was a friendly Stellar Jay that was posing for us too.

There was also a little chipmunk, I’ll call him Chippy, who wanted his picture taken too. Chippy couldn’t let the jay get all the attention.

After going around the lake, we got back to the car and continued our mountain journey. We stopped at one of the creeks for another quick photo shoot. The waters were raging.

On our way back to the car, we had an added bonus of seeing the horses on their trail ride. It was a big group of riders too.

We saw lots more, but I will stop it here for a little intermission. I don’t want to overwhelm you all at once. 🙂 Have I mentioned how beautiful our state is before? 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Life is short. Enjoy every moment and live life to the fullest. ‘Til next time.

I just made a simple meal for us when Bob was out, but he gobbled it up and asked for more. Then he ate more of it again on the next day. I think he liked it. 🙂 I made my piri-piri chicken, Mozambique style, which you have seen before Chicken Piri Piri Mozambique Style, Portuguese fried potatoes, and an orange salad with toasted pine nuts and an orange vinaigrette as our meal. Dessert will follow later.

Fortunately Bob took this picture, because I didn’t get a chance to take any. I was busy getting dinner ready, and we wanted to go to Denver after we ate, so I was a bit rushed. It’s a simple salad, but it is full of color and flavor.

Orange Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts and Orange Vinaigrette

mixed baby greens

1 blood orange, peeled and cut into wedges

1/4 cucumber, sliced thin

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

3-4 green onions, sliced

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

Arrange the salad on a platter and top with the orange vinaigrette right before serving.

Orange Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4-1/3 cup orange juice

2-3 TBSP white wine or proseco vinegar

fresh ground black pepper

1-2 TBSP honey

Mix everything together well and use just enough to dress the salad without having the salad swimming in dressing.

This is perfect for anytime, but is especially good on a hot summer day.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Life is short. Enjoy every moment and live life to the fullest. ‘Til next time.

Thursday was the day of the big celebrations for all the engineers in the EMI (Engineering Mechanics Institute). But before attending the celebrations, Bob and I were waiting for his brother and his family to arrive at our house. Once his brother Steve and his son Micah joined us, the four us all went for a nice walk around my lakes. I love our lakes, and I love to proudly show them off as much as possible. I introduced them to a lot of my “feathered friends”. They were impressed with our lakes, but they also seemed to be impressed with how much I know about my birds as well.

After our walk, Bob, Micah and I all headed into Boulder to catch a little bit of the lectures that were taking place. Steve went to go pick up his wife and daughter to bring them back to the house. Bob and Micha both enjoyed meeting with and talking to a lot of the presenters and fellow engineers. We couldn’t stay too long though, because we had to go back to the house and get ready for the big night of celebrations and honors, and to pick everyone else up.

We all got dressed up and headed back to Boulder for the big dinner and awards celebration. It was held at the Limelight Hotel in Boulder.

From left to right – Bob, his nephew Micah, Bob’s brother Steve, Steve’s wife Cindy, their daughter Carissa, me, and Larry at the end. See. I do clean up OK. 🙂

As people were arriving, there was a jazz trio playing for everyone.

We got to sit at one of the reserved tables because Bob was actually giving a little speech in honor of his dad. Bob’s dad was an esteemed professor at Cal Tech, a very prestigious university that specializes in mechanics, mathematics, technology and engineering, located in Pasadena, CA, where Bob and I both grew up. Bob still lives in the area.

The dinner was delicious. We all started with a salad.

Then everyone had the option of a bison loin steak, halibut or a harissa cauliflower steak for their entree.

The food was delicious and the company was very good too. It gave us a good chance to get to know Bob’s family. Bob was having a good conversation with one of his dad’s colleagues.

The Wilfred D. Iwan award for mentors in mechanics research. This is the mentors award given in Bob’s dad’s name and honor.

After a very busy day, we all headed back to the house. We all had another very busy day again the next day. Bob and Steve and the rest of the family were very proud of their father and grandfather and all his accomplishments and contributions to the engineering field. We were very honored to be included in the celebrations.

Life is a celebration. We need to celebrate all our achievements and accomplishments, and honor our friends and family for their greatness too. Life is so good and so full of things to celebrate. Have a great day and make everyday great. ‘Til next time.

My friend Bob has already come and gone. He was only here for a short time, but we did A LOT while he was here. Bob and I go way, way, way back. The main reason for his visit was that his dad was being posthumously recognized for his achievements in the world of engineering; and of course to visit with us. 🙂 He came in Wednesday afternoon and just left early this morning.

The first day he was here, I cooked the three of us a nice dinner. I made us all some piri-piri chicken https://ajeanneinthekitchen.com/2026/05/02/chicken-piri-piri-mozambique-style/, Portuguese style fried potatoes, an orange pine nut salad with an orange vinaigrette, and a Portuguese almond custard cake for dessert. Pictures will come for those later.

After dinner, Bob wanted to see Denver, so we just did a little drive around downtown to show him some of the highlights. We drove mostly, but we stopped and walked around our Capitol Building too.

After our short little tour of Denver, we came back home, caught up, watched some TV and enjoyed our dessert. We had busy, busy days the next couple of days. So we took advantage of the quiet evening while we could. 🙂

Life is short, make the most of it while you can and enjoy every moment. Life is always better with friends too. Have a great day and make everyday great. Live life to the fullest and enjoy the ride. ‘Til next time.

I go months and months without seeing any killdeer, then sometimes, I see them on a fairly regular basis. Mother Nature is funny sometimes. She is always throwing us a lot of surprises. This is one one of those times that I have been seeing them fairly often. I don’t mind one bit. They are such pretty birds, with their distinctive markings and bright big eyes.

Have a great day and make everyday great. ‘Til next time.

We eat a lot of chicken, and particularly when it is just the two of us, a lot of Costco rotisserie chicken. Larry thinks I should write a cookbook just featuring Costco chicken. Maybe one day. 🙂

My latest chicken, and specifically Costco chicke, recipe was chicken with bacon, cream and peas. What’s not to love about this one, right? I love chicken, and creamy sauces. Bacon is one of the world’s favorite foods, and certainly one of our favorite foods. And I have always loved peas. I served it all over a bed of brown rice, with garlic bread and white wine on the side. YUMMY!

Chicken with Bacon, Cream and Peas

If you are cooking your chicken, brown it on all sides in a hot skillet first. Once it is browned, remove the chicken and keep warm until ready to place it back in the sauce to continue cooking. If you are cheating like I did, don’t worry about this step. 🙂

4-5 pieces cooked bacon

1 TBSP olive oil

4 chicken breasts

salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream or mascarpone cheese

1 TBSP flour

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup mushrooms, quartered

Cook the bacon to a nice, light crispiness, then remove and slice.

Cook the garlic and mushrooms in the bacon fat, with the additional olive oil for about 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Bring to a boil and continue to cook until the liquid is reduced and almost completely evaporated, for about 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring back to a boil. If you are cooking your own chicken, this would be the time to add it back to the pan. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to a medium heat, and cook for about 6 minutes.

Add the cream, the flour, the seasonings and the peas. Mix together thoroughly. Once again, bring it all to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Stir frequently.

Mix the cooked bacon in right before serving.

Serve your chicken over rice or pasta and top with the cream sauce. Bon appetite.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Life is short. Make the most out of everyday and live life to the fullest. Enjoy the ride.

I have company coming in today and will be busy for the next few days, so more than likely I will not be posting anything. But I will be back again before too long. ‘Til next time.