spring skiing at snowbird

With the first installment of the next wave of visitors from back East having arrived Tuesday night, H and I made plans with them to ski at Snowbird on Wednesday.  (My first vacation day!)  Although it was forecast - this time correctly - to be sunny and very warm, our friends Melissa and Judy were advised upon checking in at the resort that it would be pretty crusty first thing in the morning and taking the first chair was probably not what we wanted to do.  So we leisurely got up, swung by the Lift House for tickets for everyone ($54 chair tickets - those tram tickets are a total rip-off because there's a chair from the back side of Snowbird that takes you right up next to where the tram unloads) and met the girls as they were finishing their breakfasts at the Forklift restaurant at Snowbird Center. 

By the time everyone had gotten organized and in line at the chairlift at 10 a.m., we were already overdressed and sweating.  The snow hadn't softened yet, however, so we rode the Peruvian Express chair to the tunnel through the mountain to Mineral Basin on the back side.  Here, in the bowl, the sun was beating down fiercely and after a couple of groomed runs we were ready to tackle the traverses into the rough stuff.  We stayed over at Mineral Basin all morning, then had lunch (expensive and not that good, but the lunch we'd packed and left in the car was waaaaay too far away at that point) at the Mid-Gad lodge. 

Way overdressed

After lunch, everything had softened up, even the snow in the shade under the trees, and we had a blast.  We skied tons of bumps runs - huge, soft moguls - over in the Gad Valley, flirted with some trees and bowls and just road the Gad 2 and Little Cloud lifts all afternoon.  By about 3:30 our legs were beat - Melissa and Judy were wicked good sports, having only gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before - and we took a steep (Cirque Traverse to Lower Cirque) and bumpy (Lower Silver Fox) run out.

Judy and Melissa look pretty happy!

It was just awesome, probably the best day of spring skiing I've ever had.  The sunshine and scenery were spectacular - Snowbird is quite dramatic - and the snow, although there wasn't a ton of it, was marvelous: soft and creamy, sticky only in a couple of places and never deteriorating into slush.  Magnificent.

Don't know who this is, but just look at those mountains

We split up for a couple of hours to shower and change and then re-met Melissa and Judy for dinner and brews at the Porcupine, which was completely slammed what with being St. Patrick's Day and all.  Still, we got seated, fed and rehydrated ... and H and I were on our way to the airport at 9:00 p.m. to pick up the next arrivals.  To be continued!

the first wave

The Easterners are coming! The Easterners are coming!  In fact, we already skied one of them into the ground at Solitude on Sunday. 

Our friend Tom (one of H's oldest friends from Portland) has business in SLC today and tomorrow, so he took advantage of the location to see us and flew in Saturday afternoon.  We picked him up at the airport, right in the middle of a snowstorm, and drove him through downtown to show him the sights - except that said snowstorm had the cloud ceiling at about the tops of the SLC skyscrapers (which aren't that big actually) and you couldn't see the mountains at all.  Regardless, we drove down Wasatch Boulevard, commenting on all the stuff he would be seeing if he were able to see, and stopped in at the Porcupine for beers and dinner (chile verde burritos for the boys, Thai chicken pizza for me, Squatter's Full Suspension Pale Ale for everyone).

Sunday morning dawned overcast but no longer snowing and although we had three inches at our house, the Canyon roads were clear.  We'd already picked up tickets so after a strong coffee and bagel breakfast, we jumped in the truck and headed to Solitude where Saturday's storm had kindly left eleven new inches.  It was, of course, great: the groomers were soft and creamy; the ungroomed light and puffy.  Even when the ungroomed runs got chopped up, the snow was so light that you could cruise right through the clumps.  Tom stuck to the blue runs mostly, trying to get used to his longer rental snowboard, but H and I got him on a couple of black bump runs and he was a wicked good sport about it.

The only downside was that the weather was totally socked in.  Any of the higher peaks were completely encased in cloud so that the visibility was not only poor, but rather nerve-wracking.  The wind was blowing pretty strongly and we caught snatches of blue sky from time to time (and also an occasional face-scouring from the blowing snow) but it wasn't until sunset that the clouds really began to open up.  Still, the snow was soft and plentiful, the temperatures were quite comfortable and the company was good.

The smiles are sunny even if the day isn't

By 2:00 p.m. Tom's legs had given up so we called it a good day and headed back to the house to clean up.  He was staying at a hotel downtown, right near Squatter's where we stopped in for dinner and more Full Suspension before dropping him off.  I think that H is going to try to meet him after work tomorrow before he heads back East; even if that doesn't work out, it was great to see him and catch up.  He's a really good guy.

The next wave of folks from back east starts arriving tomorrow!

cleaning up

We're closing in on being fully applianced, what with the new washer and dryer having recently been delivered, installed and put through their paces.  Having new appliances is pretty cool, not least because they work, but also because they're so quiet.  The first time we ran the new washer, B walked right up to it as it was swishing softly and stared at it, doing that adorable head-tilt that dogs do when they hear something new for the first time.  Super-cute.

In my mind, the last accoutrements that we need to purchase are a gas grill, because I'm tired of cooking indoors, and the oft spoken of/longed after beater beer fridge.

OMG STOP THESE BORING POSTS

ABOUT YOUR HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES!!!

That was my inner commenter bursting forth.  I promise to have non-appliance posts in the very near future as we are about to be descended upon by various and sundry friends of the skiing/'boarding variety.  Fun and downhilling to commence shortly!

right outside my front door

I don't really have that much to say today - work, gym, laundry, blah blah blah - but I thought you all might like to see what I get to see when I walk out of my house.  I wish I were a better photographer but you get the general gist.

Looking east and very slightly south (Little Cottonwood Canyon is just to the left)

Looking east: Little Cottonwood Canyon is just to the right of this peak

Pretty! but will block the view of the mountains come leaf-time

tb or not tb?

That was the question; the answer, fortunately, is no, I do not have tuberculosis! And now my mom is frowning, wondering why such a thing would even be an issue.

It’s an issue because way back in January, for my 40th birthday H got me the opportunity to be a Zookeeper for a Day at SLC’s Hogle Zoo. The ZfaD program is a fundraiser, basically, where you can pay (and call it a charitable donation) for the privilege of following a real zookeeper around for most of a day, and help clean cages and feed animals. But to be allowed to be a ZfaD, you have to prove that you do not have TB so as not to infect all the zoo critters.

This was actually an easy way to establish a presence at the new doctor’s office (yeah, established as the crazy lady who requested a TB test) and it went smoothly. I didn’t have an appointment but walked in around 4:45 p.m. last Friday; they injected my forearm with a small amount of tuberculosis squirmies and told me to come back in 48-72 hours to have the test “read” – but if the injection site got red, hot or swollen, I should come in sooner. Because that meant I definitely had TB, you see. I stopped back in this morning on the way to work and a NP took a quick look at my arm – no bump, no heat and no redness, just a teensy bruise – and deemed me ready to be a zookeeper. Well, not in so many words but that’s the effect anyway.

I don’t have my zoo keeping date scheduled yet but I’m hoping to go sometime in April when it’s a little warmer but schools (and multitudes of school children) have not yet gotten out. And in the meantime, you can all rest assured that I am TB-free!

taste of punjab

Remember that story about how on my birthday we tried to go to this Indian restaurant that my coworker Jody found for us, only to end up driving all over the east valley because that Indian restaurant was closed for January and also February?  Remember that?  Well, we finally went back and lo and behold, Taste of Punjab (1241 E 8600 S, Sandy) was open!

We got there around 7ish on Friday night.  There were several tables already seated in the pink and fuschia restaurant, and lots more parties arrived right after we did.  We did notice as we were leaving that we'd been the only table who had beers with their dinner; seems like this restaurant might be a favorite with the local LDS residents.

No wonder if it is, because the food was great.  We had a couple of orders of naan, one garlic and one chili, H had tandoori chicken and I had lamb korba.  The naan was delicious, piping hot and both crisp and chewy, and the chili version was blanketed in bright green and spicy ground up chilis.  My lamb korba was fantastic, spiced to medium upon request, with lots of tender chunks of lamb and a thick, tasty sauce with golden raisins and cashews.  I made liberal use of both the naan and the basmati rice to soak up every bit of it.  The star of the show was H's tandoori chicken, however.  He ordered it spiced to hot and it had a great burn that did not detract at all from the depth of flavor of the thick, deep sauce.

Taste of Punjab has a sizable menu (including many different kinds of lassi and several desserts, as well as bottled beer) and we'll definitely go back and explore it further.  Especially since the reviews I've read wax nearly ecstatic over the "butter chicken" - stay tuned!

bbq in slc (I)

H and I loooooove barbeque (a/k/a barbecue a/k/a BBQ for the rest of this blog).  We once started planning a BBQ road trip whereby we were going to fly to Charlotte, NC, trace a circle on the road map with a 300 mile diameter (or maybe radius, I disremember and am also no good at maths) and then hit as many BBQ joints as we possibly could within that circle in a week.  We are so going to do that trip some day.  I'm drooling just thinking about it.

When we moved here to SLC, we noticed that there didn't seem to be an overabundance of BBQ places.  Greater Portland (ME) has a bunch, all of them different, all of them good: Beale Street BBQ (in So. Portland and Bath), Buck's Naked BBQ (Freeport) and Norm's (Portland) were our most frequently visited spots, and I know there are more that I'm forgetting or don't know about.  [Sidebar: Is Uncle Billy's still around anywhere?]  We asked around and found that two places were recommended the most: Pat's BBQ (heartily endorsed by that kid at Lumpy's who couldn't say half a sentence without dropping an F-bomb) and Sugarhouse BBQ which I drive past twice each day.

There were a couple of H's coworkers from back east in town this week and we got together with them for after-work beers and BBQ at said Sugarhouse Barbeque Company (2207 S 700 E).  Even though we hadn't scoped it out for ourselves yet, we figured how bad could it be?  It's got smoked meats and hoppy brews - it's gotta be good!  And good it was.  They do Memphis-style - which is one of my favorites since the meat is cooked with a dry rub and served with sauce on the side - and also Carolina-style pulled pork - which is another of my favorites because of the tangy vinegar-based sauce - and also Texas-style beef brisket - which I know next to nothing about but am always willing to expand my BBQ knowledge base.

Two of us had the brisket platters, a large serving of chopping smoked brisket served with cornbread (kind of dry) and choice of two sides; two of us had a one-third slab of Memphis ribs (4 ribs) which were good sized, meaty and not too fatty, with a choice of two sides.  Sides include BBQ beans, mac & cheese, collard greens (the greens were quite good - not cooked into mush), several styles of potatoes and etc.  The sides themselves are fairly small but you're really there for the smoked animal parts, so whatever.  There's plenty to eat.

They had several local brews on tap, including Squatter's Full Suspension, as well as Bud bottles and PBR tall boys.  The best part about the beers was that they were only $2 that night.  Whether that's a Thursday night special (there were also musicians setting up to play later on) or an early bird price, it didn't matter. $2 beers are just a bonus when there's BBQ on your plate. 

We definitely have to check Pat's out to see how the two compare, but I'm relieved to know that there's at least one place in town where we can get our BBQ on.

a good deal at faustina

On one of the first days of our arrival in SLC we had breakfast at The Other Place diner where I noticed another restaurant, Faustina, across the street. I wrote it down in my little notebook so I wouldn’t forget that I wanted to check it out. Lo and behold, my work neighbor Jody announced that we were going to lunch there last Friday!

The lunch deal at Faustina (454 East 300 South, SLC) is great: $10 UPDATED on 3/8/10 $11 for any item on the lunch menu, plus dessert. I had a great salad, the Smoked Sonoma Chicken Salad, with mixed greens, dried blueberries, mild gorgonzola cheese, toasted almonds, shredded smoked chicken, green apple “laces” and served with a pomegranate vinaigrette. Jody and our coworker Susan had the steak sandwich: grilled beef tenderloins on marble rye with lettuce, onion, roasted red peppers and gorgonzola aioli.  With the sandwich, you also got a little salad - nice mixed greens garnished with crispy sweet beet chips.  The dessert that came with was a decent-sized slice of moist and tasty vanilla chiffon roulade cake.  I don't usually eat a dessert with lunch, and the salad and cake was way more than I usually eat in the middle of the day.

The restaurant itself is funky, sleek and modern with warm yet earthy colors, great light fixtures and funky modern art.  It seems like it would be a great place to go in the evening for cocktails - low-key yet chic.  The dinner menu has many of the lunch menu items on it (but not that great $10 deal) plus a bunch more.  The highest priced entree is a nightly three course special for $25; the rest of the entrees range from $16 to $22, so it's certainly not crazy-spendy.

I'm definitely game to go back for the lunch deal whenever the ladies want to go.  I'd also like to try dinner there if H and I are in the mood for something slightly sleeker than our usual pub grub go-to.  Faustina is simply fine!

" i think i like ... bumps"

This is a quote from me, midway through Sunday's excursion to Alta, despite the flat light (which meant you couldn't see anything, including the bumps), my having no legs to speak of (a result of skipping the gym for over a week) and our not having skied for a month.

Alta is cool.  The vibe is way mellow.  It's an older crowd with lots of locals, and no snowboarders - they're just not allowed.  I was intimidated to ski there but once we started, shaky legs notwithstanding, I realized that there's nothing there that I can't ski (cliffs notwithstanding) - there's just parts that I'll ski slower than others. 

These are on one of the Sugarloaf Lift towers - Maine represent!

There's lots of terrain - something for everybody, really - and we skied a bunch of it, staying away from the real steeps, but dipping into the traversing and dropping into the choppy powder bowls, bouncing our way down tree-lined ravines filled with big, soft moguls (I fell three times today but it's so soft that it doesn't hurt), soothing our screaming thighs on the groomers.  Although we were socked in with clouds for most of today, the temperatures were warm enough to be comfortable and we'll just save the bluebird skies for another day.  Because I already told H that I want to go back, after a week on the treadmill, and see how those bumps fit me then.

Bumps, baby.  And here come falls #2 and 3.  This is heading down into Glory Gulch.

And afterwards we stopped by ... not the Porcupine, because we'll go there Wednesday for our move-iversary, but to the place next door: the Canyon Inn.  It's pretty local and not too many skiers there, despite it being at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  We caught the end of the U.S. v. Canada hockey game and had a pitcher of Emigration Amber.  The bartender and the other folks sitting at the bar were friendly and good times were had by all.

friendly face

You know, I just knew the minute we bought a house, people from back east would start showing up.  This last week, our friend and H's coworker, Steve E., was in town, travelling for business, and we were lucky enough to coordinate schedules to have dinner (and beer) with him Wednesday and Thursday nights.  We went to Squatter's (where Steve reported that the mac & cheese with sausage was quite tasty) and to Fiddler's Elbow (where the pasta fagioli was yummy, if perhaps slightly over-intense on the seasonings).

It was delightful to see him (well, H probably wouldn't use the word "delightful" but I was thrilled to have someone besides H and B to talk to), to catch up on his family and the folks back east, and fun to play local for someone from away.  We promised him that next time he was in town, we'd even have the house cleaned up enough to have a beer there.