Tag Archive for: skiing

Winter Fun and Vanilla Ice Cream

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We had the best time in the mountains with friends this past weekend.  With 8 kids, 6 adults and 2 snow storms it was definitely a little chaotic, but the kids had a great time sledding and building snowmen, and the adults had an even better time sitting by the fire eating and drinking.  The weather could not have been better- snowing then turning very warm and then snowing again.  Walker, Corby and I got one day of skiing in where Walker tackled his first black diamond and skied it like a champ.  We had amazing dinners of salmon one night, spaghetti the next and finished off the weekend with delicious steaks on the grill. It only took us two days to realized that 8 children require paper plates and cups especially since for some reason, the dishwasher up there literally takes 4 hours to run.  The last night we had a pinata for the kids and completely jacked them all up on candy and then expected them to stay downstairs and play quietly- obviously that didn’t happen, so we charged them with coming up with a play to put on for us.  This was a brilliant plan since it occupied them for a good hour and a half, and while the play was one of the weirdest and most discombobulated things I have ever seen- it was a riot, and they should all be on Broadway. After the play, they were all begging for ice cream, and since we were leaving the next day and the ice cream probably wouldn’t make the 5 hour drive back to Charleston, we relented, and then I made the mistake of promising them ice cream for breakfast as well.  While fixing the ice cream for breakfast the next morning, all 8 children could not have been happier with plain vanilla ice cream.  Sometimes there is nothing better.  It got me thinking that next time, we should bring an ice cream maker, and they could make their own ice cream.  I found this great recipe for vanilla ice cream and once I get an ice cream maker, I can’t wait to try it!

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 cups half-and-half cream

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the heavy cream and the half and half. Gradually whisk in the sugar until blended.  Whisk in the vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, until very cold, at least 3 hours or as long as 3 days. Whisk the mixture to blend and pour into the canister of an ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Eat at once or transfer to a covered container and freeze up to 8 hours.

All done skiing- its time for Spring!

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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!!

Lemon Ricotta Cheese cake

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 the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with heavy-duty foil to prevent batter from leaking out during baking.

In a 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 the cheesecake and pan as soon as the cheesecake comes  out of the 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 a sharp knife, cut 8 very thin center slices; use to garnish the top of the cheesecake.

 

Skiing, Swimming, Sledding, and a Pinata

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We took 14 people up to North Carolina with us this past weekend, so including us, there were 12 adults and 5 children (and 2 dogs). It was a packed house, but we all had so much fun!  Corby, Walker and I drove up on Thursday night which also happened to be Corby’s birthday- we stopped in Blowing Rock at Bistro Roca (www.bistroroca.com) for dinner which was fabulous.  I had a pulled pork crepe that was out of this world.  Walker had mussels that he said were delicious, and Corby had meatloaf that was really good.  The only drawback was that we saved one slice of meatloaf to put in our eggs on Friday morning, and when we stopped to get gas after dinner, Nemo- my pesky 10-year-old Springer Spaniel- ate the meatloaf- it was disappointing.  Oh well.  Friday, we skied all day at Sugar Mountain which was so much fun- bluebird day and 50 degrees- what more could you ask for! The rest of the gang arrived on Friday night.  Saturday, we woke up to another beautiful warm day and an amazing egg, cheese, and vegetable casserole made by Marguerite.  So, the way we set up the weekend was every family was in charge of one meal- we didn’t count lunch, and I was in charge of appetizers and desserts.  After our marvelous and healthy breakfast (the casserole consisted of the only vegetables we had all weekend) we set off on a hike to Lost Cove, while the kids went snow tubing.  It is a beautiful hike down to these amazing swimming holes generally used in the summer unless you are crazy like the men on our hike who decided to swim- in February- in 45 degree water- what?  Anyway, appetizers after we got home included “cheesy goodness” which is Edam cheese wrapped in Pillsbury Crescent Rolls baked at 350 for about 35-40 minutes, and a cheese plate- yay cheese.  Dinner was the Haynie’s famous hot dog bar- every topping you could ever want on a hot dog, and then for dessert, I made the Cheesecake Strawberries which were amazingly good and easy and Blondie Bars- also easy and delicious!  In one batch I cut up Twix Bars- that was something special.  Sunday morning was a breakfast for the history books.  Kendall and Robert made Bailey’s french toast with some sort of homemade heaven (aka syrup), venison sausage, and they added a bowl of fruit for good measure.  While we were eating, it started snowing which of course made the kids go crazy!  We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow throughout Sunday- the sledding, the games, the snowmen, and the snowball fights exhausted everyone!  To revive the group, I made Bacon appetizers which I found on the Pioneer Woman website (www.thepioneerwoman.com).  It was the most simple and fantastic thing ever!  Take a package of bacon- cut it in half.  Lay out the half strips of bacon on a baking sheet.  Place a club cracker in the center of the strip of bacon, place a spoonful of Parmesan cheese on top to the club cracker and wrap the bacon snugly around the cracker and cheese.  Bake at 250 for 2 hours. Really really good, and they did not last long!  After another amazing dinner cooked by Robert and Olivia- beef stew with baked potatoes, we brought out the pinata for the kids which was so fun!  The whole weekend was amazing, and not surprisingly, Walker slept for 3 and a half hours on the car ride home!  Such good food and good friends- can’t wait to do it again!