We
got back from Vail last night to 80 degree weather- a very welcome change despite the fact that I was still wearing my wool socks and my feet almost melted off walking to the car. Vail was amazing! I have not been to Colorado in over 20 years and never in the winter, and it is breathtakingly beautiful. It certainly helped that the weather was excellent- it was in the 50s by mid morning of the first three days we skied which made the snow like mashed potatoes, and it was spring skiing at its finest. The last day it was about 20 degrees, and I had not packed for 20 degrees. Lets just say that Corby spent the majority of the last day skiing by himself while I walked around Vail village looking for a present for Walker and then hunkered down the awesome coffee shop the Yeti’s Grind (www.yetisgrind.com) which has the best cupcakes. On St. Patrick’s day, we went in there before we hit the slopes and got an Irish Carbomb cupcake- holy amazing Batman, that cupcake set me right for the rest of the day. 
One of other fun places we checked out was the Red Lion (www.theredlion.com). This is probably the most famous apres ski place in Vail, and it is not to be missed. Phil Long puts on a fantastic show while you are indulging in their GI-NORMOUS plate of nachos and sipping on your favorite cocktail. It might be worth getting of the mountain early just to grab a seat. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we spend one day skiing at Beaver Creek and had lunch at the Ritz Carlton. This place is kind 
of silly it is so nice. We had lunch on big couches (the couch in the picture is the one we sat on) in front of a huge window watching skiers come down the hill, and we sat next to Joe Kern from CNBC (I had no idea who he was, but Corby is a big CNBC watcher). Corby and I spilt a turkey club and a bowl of tomato parmesan soup. Honestly, I am not sure it it was the setting or the relief of taking my ski boots off, but that was the best damn soup ever!
Now we are back in Charleston- it is full on Spring with the azaleas blooming everywhere and tank tops and flip flops have taken back over, and to put the ski season and winter behind me, I found this very spring time recipe on www.GoodHousekeeping.com for a Lemon Ricotta Cheese cake. Enjoy!!
Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3 to 4 lemons
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 packages (8-ounce) reduced-fat cream cheese softened
1 container (15-ounce) part-skim ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half or light cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wrap outside of 9-inch springform pan with heavy-duty foil to prevent batter from leaking out during baking.
In springform pan, with fork, mix graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. With hand, press mixture firmly onto bottom of pan. Bake crust 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack, about 15 minutes.
Reset oven to 325 degrees F. Meanwhile, from 2 lemons, grate 2 teaspoons peel and squeeze 1/3 cup juice. In small bowl, stir together sugar and cornstarch until blended. In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and ricotta until smooth, about 5 minutes. Slowly beat in sugar mixture. Reduce speed to low; beat in eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, and lemon peel and juice just until blended, scraping bowl often with rubber spatula.
Pour batter onto crust. Bake cheesecake 1 hour. Turn off oven; let cheesecake remain in oven 1 hour.
Remove cheesecake from oven. To help prevent cracking during cooling, run a thin knife between edge of cheesecake and pan as soon as cheesecake comes out of oven. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate cheesecake at least 6 hours or overnight, until well chilled.
To serve, remove foil and side of pan and place cake on plate. From remaining lemons, with sharp knife, cut 8 very thin center slices; use to garnish top of cheesecake.
