hot stuff

When we got back to SLC after that nice, warm Moab weekend, we all but went into shock as a cold front moved in, dropped the northern Utah temperatures precipitously and deposited over two feet of new snow in the Cottonwood Canyons during a three day storm.  It isn't often that it rains for three days straight in Salt Lake City but it did this time and by the time the clouds moved out, the Wasatch mountains had a lovely new coating of white.

View from Fred's Trees

On Saturday, H went up to Alta for their official closing weekend (they will open for one more three-day weekend but will have ceased daily operations on April 18).  It was chilly, never getting out of the low 30s, which did wonders for preserving the snow, and he reported that the conditions were quite good.  Both the Supreme and Sugarloaf lifts got busy enough that he didn't care to do more than a couple of runs apiece over there, but the Collins lift wasn't too bad once the initial crowds moved out and he was able to get some good, soft runs in and around Fred's Trees.

Risk

After some slight maneuvering to get out of his parking space (the Wildcat base lot was crammed with tailgaters), he got home around 1 p.m.  Milton and I had spent our morning with a four mile walk, where we saw lots of birds and got to meet a couple of nice dogs, then doing some meal prep and tackling the mountain of laundry.  When H got home, he hadn't had lunch so I suggested that we go up to Grid City Beer Works.  We hadn't been in a while and they were having a "Dirty South" hot seitan wing challenge.

Reward

Their roofdeck still isn't open, so Milton had to stay in the car while we went in.  There were a decent number of folks there, and they've been able to put a few more tables in so they can be at 75% capacity.  We sat at the bar, well-distanced from everyone, and ordered our beers (pale ales) and food.  If H could finish the seitan hot wings in fifteen minutes, he'd win two Grid City beer cozies.  He did so handily, with six minutes to spare, and said that while he didn't think they were all that hot - he didn't even break a sweat although he did drink a decent amount of water - the toughest part was having to eat so quickly.  I don't have the affinity for spicy foods that he does so I had an order of jackfruit burnt ends, served with sweet pickles, spicy pickled green tomatoes on a bed of lightly dressed arugula.  It was delicious! So good, in fact, that I didn't manage to get a photo of it before snarfing it down.  The staff did say that permitting for the roofdeck has come through, it's been painted and they're just doing finishing touches now; the most difficult part is hiring - they don't have enough folks to staff it.  But it should be open soon and, since it is dog-friendly, Milton will soon be able to make even more new friends.