De Baking Psychopath

I have no words to explain. Just bask. T-shirt bought for Michael

Click to enlarge panoramic collage A couple of us took an afternoon to take a series of buses to get to this natural wonder, the Maroon Bells. They are perhaps one of the most iconic scenes from Colorado, gracing many a postcard. The elevation at Maroon Lake, at the base of the mountain, is 9,580 ft, even higher up than Snowmass, which is 8,209 ft. They are also nicknamed "The Deadly Bells" as many would-be climbers fall off due to the crumbly nature of the rock (it's basically hardened mud). A lot of wildlife can be spotted in the area around the Maroon Lake, including these cute little guys, running in and out of little burrows under rocks. We hiked on a little trail that took us into the forests next to the stream that flowed from the lake. And this is my favorite shot of the whole series: the Canadian geese with the Maroon Bells in the background.

With the gorgeous backdrop of ski slopes, downtown Aspen is a picturesque town with all your "basic" shopping venues: Gucci, LV, Burberry, The North Face...with a whole lot of art galleries and gourmet restaurants/eateries. For the plebeian, there were public parks/playgrounds/fountains, more reasonably priced stores such as the Gap and J. Crew, and the obligatory tourist souvenir stores. While I am poking fun, I'm totally not kidding that this is not for the average bargain-hunting Jane. More for the above-average Jane Rockefeller and her dog Fifi. I followed my advisor art gallery hopping, and the first place we stepped into was COVERED IN CARDBOARD. WALLS. FLOOR. CEILING. And on the walls were these "distressed" pieces of paper with random charcoal scribbles and other items projecting from the paper...yeah, this is art that is beyond my income level to understand. What I did see in other art galleries that I liked were metal buffalo statues! One ...

I'm back from a conference up in Snowmass, Colorado that happens every two years. Last time I attended this conference, there was little free time scheduled for adventures, but this time there were many additional afternoon hours to be had. I had planned to do work...and of course, that got sidetracked by trips to the Maroon Bells (pictured above), downtown Aspen (ritzy shopping!), hikes around picturesque Snowmass, and of course hitting up all the winter clothing sales racks both in Snowmass and Aspen! More beauty and pure awesomeness to come!

These were "to die for," as one of my co-workers said. They were made for a going away potluck lunch/snack ensemble to go with one last coffee run with the person who was leaving.  The seven layers are: graham cracker crust, walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, condensed milk, and coconut.  You basically sprinkle everything on sequentially and bake! The condensed milk oozes and bubbles and melds everything together beautifully. I sprinkled a bit of salt on top before baking for good measure, but that's not in the recipe. They're chewy, gooey, sweet, and addictive! You can find the recipe I used here .

This weekend, we headed out to central PA to check out the 47th Annual Bedford Fall Foliage Festival . We took a scenic trip down the turnpike and found ourselves in the midst of this craziness: A festival of epic proportions! Arts, crafts and decorations of all sorts, gourmet foods, and food trucks galore! We were acutely aware that we provided a full 25% of the Asian contingent at the whole festival...REPRESENT! Since I am mildly (i.e. completely) obsessed with Guy on a Buffalo , when we saw this truck... ...OF COURSE we had to eat a buffalo burger and buffalo polish sausage. Delicious! Since Bedford is fairly close to State College, we were filled with glee to see this sight: OH YEAH. This was our first taste of ice cream from the Penn State Creamery, and we selected Butter Pecan and Death by Chocolate. We give both flavors two thumbs up. It was rich, smooooth and creamy, and amazingly it was relatively heat stable. We walked around ...