Sorry the photo isn’t better – I brightened it up as much as I could. It’s orzo. And corn, and dark greens, loaded with flavor – I mean LOADED. Yes, it has cream in it too. No wonder it’s so good!

Someone asked me just this week why, if I’ve cooked for so many years, do I still go to cooking classes. Surely (they thought) I would know everything there was to know about cooking anything. Perhaps I do know a lot about technique (but not as much as a professional chef, someone who’s gone to culinary school – I’m just a good home cook). But I never tire of finding new ways to cook things. Not methods, but food combos. Like this one – corn added in, plus the greens. I wouldn’t have thought to add cream to orzo, either. But why not? So I go to classes (usually with my dear friend Cherrie who also loves to cook like I do) to learn something new. And we always – always – learn something. I can count on one hand the number of classes I’ve been to over the years where I didn’t want to cook at least one of the items demonstrated. Just recently we went to a class and I knew I’d never make a single one of the dishes. That set of recipes went into the trash. But that’s very, very rare.

All that said, let’s get to this recipe, which was a real winner. It was a Tarla Fallgatter class, and we met in the home of a lovely friend who lives in Laguna Beach and has about a 210° hilltop view of the Pacific Ocean. It was a gorgeous day, but the ambient light in her stone-lined Tuscan-style kitchen was not the best for taking close-up food photos! I’ll be making this orzo one of these days, so I’ll take a better picture.

If you glance at the ingredient list below you’ll see “Mediterranean” herbs. Tarla called for “Mediterranean Spices” which she buys (labeled as such) at a local ethnic market. It’s sold in a little tiny box (about 1 inch square) and she uses it up within a month or so and buys more. She’s buying most of her herbs and spices this way instead of the big jars that end up aging on our pantry shelves. I don’t actually know what is in that boxed combination, but I didn’t think this dish would work so well with the spices from Morocco, for instance (saffron, cumin, lemon, cinnamon) so I interpreted the combination as more Southern European (France, Italy, Spain), which meant herbs not spices. If all you have is thyme, that’s fine. Go easy on the rosemary since it’s so potent. Italian herb mixes would be fine with this too. It only calls for 2 teaspoons of it, anyway.

The fresh corn, cut off the cob, is tossed with the spices and roasted for about 10 minutes in the oven, then you cook the orzo as you would with any pasta, except barely under-done, and combine everything in a big sauté pan, adding the bitter greens along the way, and the cheese as the very last thing. This dish tastes much like risotto – but it’s pasta instead of rice. And yes, there is cream in it. You might be able to use less cream – next time I’d try using half a cup and using more chicken broth instead. It might be just fine!

What I liked: well, once I realized there was cream in it, what can I say? It’s delicious. Creamy for sure, but I loved the flavor combo with the corn, spinach and arugula. All things I love. The Parmesan cheese adds a lot of flavor too – there’s not all that much in it (just sufficient)!

What I didn’t like: gee, nothing. It was scrumptious. Tarla’s original recipe had called for kale, but when she’d served it, most people weren’t so crazy about the kale, so she changed the recipe to include spinach and arugula. Similar, but less chewy probably.

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This is almost a soup. Yet it’s served kind of like a stew with rice. In either case, it’s a filling and very tasty way to use shellfish (especially the “Seafood Blend” at Trader Joe’s that combines all of those things in one convenient package).

At a cooking class a couple of weeks ago (all about fish) Phillis Carey fixed this delicious soup or stew or whatever you want to call it. I love these kinds of Thai-inspired saucy soups. It was easy to make and full of flavors I enjoy. If you happened to be in Trader Joe’s territory, do use their “Seafood Blend,” available in the freezer area (pictured at right). It’s just perfect for this! Phillis actually isn’t crazy about fish, so she likes to camouflage it with lots of other flavors (like sugar, Worcestershire, onions and oodles of coconut milk). Camouflaged or not, I like the flavors in this a lot. The shellfish is cooked only briefly (important), then combined with all the rest of the sauce ingredients, including the full-fat coconut milk. And do serve it over fragrant jasmine rice. Save a few of the herbs to sprinkle on top for garnish.

I didn’t have to thicken (reduce down) the sauce at all – it was sufficiently thick just from the flour that you toss the seafood mixture in before you add it to the pot. I didn’t use as much butter as her recipe called for, and I didn’t use as much brown sugar OR lime juice either. I started out with less (she suggested this might work) and didn’t think after tasting it that it needed more sugar (Phillis actually prefers a sweeter soup – she thinks it helps mask the fishy flavor). I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly. I actually served it with brown jasmine rice, but after reading about all the arsenic in rice, I’ve thrown out the rest of the box and will use white rice in the future. Probably white jasmine – it’s wonderfully flavorful for this dish. Next time I’ll make it with low fat coconut milk – I really doubt it would make that much difference – Phillis said it would, but I may try it anyway.

What I liked: everything about it – maybe that it was easy to make! I served it to dinner guests and they both loved it. My hubby told me it was a real keeper. He doesn’t say that about very many recipes I make, so I take notice when he says it!

What I didn’t like: nothing at all!

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We were on our recent trip, and in a hotel where we had a TV. I’d flipped on Good Morning America, I think it was. And they explained in a very short blurb that rice contains arsenic. More than we’d ever thought. And more than we should be eating. That was about it. A week later, I mentioned it to my cousin Gary, who consumes a lot of rice and rice products (because he’s gluten intolerant). His jaw dropped. Really? he said. Yup, really, but I didn’t have much detail.

Once home I found what was probably the genesis of the news item – an article in Consumer Reports. It’s in the November 2012 issue which you can read here. I’ll give you a synopsis. And if you read nothing more than this: the scientists say we should not consume more than 2 portions of rice per week. A portion is 1/2 cup for an adult. Or 1 full cup a week. And that’s a combination of all rice products. The level of arsenic varies greatly by type and by brand. Inorganic arsenic is known as a carcinogen. Bad news. And particularly worrisome are rice-based baby cereals. They’re not the worst, but then infants don’t eat much quantity of any cereal. Down at the bottom of this post I’ll give you some bullet points with recommendations.

So, here’s what happened . . . back in January Consumer Reports published an article about the level of arsenic in apple and grape juices. That was the original arsenic eye-opener. The folks at CR thought maybe they should do some more scientific study about arsenic in other foods. They chose rice, and they tested over 200 brands of rice products (everything from common white rice to rice syrups, rice cereals, baby food, rice pasta and rice crackers – my cousin is gluten intolerant, so he eats a lot of rice crackers and other rice-based products – hence my concern for him).

The scientific part of it – there are two types of arsenic that we consume in food – inorganic and organic. It’s the inorganic we need to be more concerned about, although the FDA and EPA both say there are no safe arsenic levels. Period. Scientists think the arsenic has increased because of insecticides that have been used in the past hundred years. Here’s what the article says:

. . . The U.S. is the world’s leading user of arsenic and since 1910 about 1.6 million tons have been used for agricultural and industrial purposes, about half of it only since the mid-1960’s. Residues from the decades of use of lead arsenate insecticides linger in agricultural soil today, even though their use was banned in the 1980’s. Other arsenical ingredients in animal feed to prevent disease and promote growth are still permitted. Moreover, fertilizer made from poultry waste can contaminate crops with inorganic arsenic.

I’m sorry folks. I’m just stunned. Ashamed. Angry. Angry that the gosh-darned profit engines of food commerce will, at every juncture, choose to promote growth and therefore profit (in vegetables and grains and in meat production) to the possible detriment of our health. Doesn’t it seem logical that arsenic in anything, at any level, is not good for us? For gosh sakes, it’s a POISON! So even though arsenic-enhanced insecticide was banned in the 1980’s, the ground still contains it and it passes through into crops grown in that same soil. AND, animal feed still does contain arsenic and it’s allowed. How come? And of course, chicken farmers have all that chicken poop they consider a product as well, and it’s made into fertilizer, yet IT contains higher levels of arsenic. It goes back into the ground for our food.

I also don’t like GM (genetically modified) food. I wrote up an essay about genetically modified seed a couple of years ago about Monsanto, and the genetically modified corn and canola seed that is almost everything we eat now. Monsanto is a weasel of a company. And they wield great power. Scary power. Here in California, we are voting on a proposition next month about whether food labeling must state if something is a GM product. Obviously I’m voting for that. Most people, when questioned, probably would choose not to eat GM corn; yet it’s very pervasive and I’m guilty of not asking the corner farmstand employee whether the corn I buy there is GM or not. The produce man in my market has no idea. He doesn’t care. He just preps the produce. However, more people are paying attention (I think and hope) to where food products come from. Last night my DH and I were at Costco and he was looking at a frozen case of shellfish. I walked right on by because in past trips I know the shrimp came from Vietnam. I’m not buying shrimp from Vietnam. Articles I’ve read tell me for health’s sake, I should buy only shrimp manufactured in U.S. waters. I’m all for that. But they’re very hard to find! The lobster in the case was from Brazil. I don’t know anything about lobster farming or trapping in Brazil. They were beautiful things – and expensive I might add. We bought none of them. We did buy fresh halibut from Alaska, though. New recipe coming up soon.

I’m sorry, I got sidetracked there. We’re talking about arsenic in rice. I’ll get back to that now. The bottom line is that in an extensive study CR did, people who ate more rice – logically – tested high for arsenic in their systems. Arsenic is known to cause a variety of cancers (lung and bladder first and foremost). Organic arsenic, so far as scientists know, is not harmful. We eat it in several types of seafood, actually, so in the tests, they eliminated any results from people who had eaten seafood within 24 hours of the urine test used. Over a lifetime of eating rice (and in many countries eating rice is a 3-times a day national pastime) this could cause significant cancers.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. If you’re pregnant, cut way, way down on rice in any way, shape or form. Adults, it is suggested, should eat no more than 2 servings (so about 1 cup total) per WEEK. That includes rice cakes, rice cereals, rice drinks, rice pasta, rice cakes.
2. Consumer Reports recommends you find out about your drinking water – if you’re on public water, you’re okay generally. Only if you use a well water or other sources, should you have the water tested for arsenic.
3. Change the way you cook rice – rinse it thoroughly in any case and discard that drained water. Use more water than called for when you cook it (that removes more of the arsenic to that cooking water that you’d also discard). They recommend using 6 cups of water for every cup of rice. That will remove about 30% of the arsenic in the rice. Yes, you wash away some of the nutrients, but it’s safer for eating.
4. Don’t eat brown rice – it has higher doses of arsenic than white rice – because much of the arsenic is held in the outer layers of the grain. Remember, rice is grown in a specialized pond and the rice leeches stuff from the underlying soil.

Consumer Reports has made a bunch of recommendations to the USDA, FDA and EPA, including: (1) the industry needs to set a standard for arsenic in rice [there is none at this time]; (2) producers should develop rice types that don’t “take up” so much arsenic from the water/soil, and then use the one(s) that perform the best; (3) the EPA should phase out all pesticides [period] that contain arsenic; (4) the USDA and EPA should end the use of arsenic-laden fertilizers and manure; (5) the FDA should ban the feeding of arsenic-containing drugs and animal byproducts to animals. To learn more about this part, go to the main article (at the bottom). Of course, the U.S. Rice Federation is vehemently arguing that arsenic in our rice is way overblown as a health risk. I’m sorry, ANY arsenic in my rice is too much.

If you go to the article, you can review the entire chart about the rice products they tested. I’m going to give you a short list, though, of the products that were high (bad) that you should, for now, avoid (in my opinion anyway). And I’ll give you the names of the rice products that were better than others. No rice products were free of arsenic. If you eat any rice products at all, you’re ingesting arsenic. No way around it. Rice raised in the American South has higher levels than others – probably because of the years and years of insecticides used on that same land. It appears that rice from Indian and Thailand have lower levels, but CR didn’t test some of the more obscure brands I see in my local Indian store.

Lundberg, the small company here in California, that raises a lot of rice, has, generally, lower levels of arsenic in their products. There was one exception. But their company (and the CEO, Grant Lundberg) is investing lots of resources to test all of their products more extensively. Good for them. They may be one of the first on the bandwagon to improve the problem.

Here’s a list from Consumer Reports with THE BAD ONES – higher incidences of arsenic in their products (listed in rice type order, then alpha order, not the level of arsenic). Some had lower ratings, but CR used 3 tests of each product from different packages and some showed varying results. The ones in red had the highest levels: RICE: 365 Everyday Value (Whole Foods); Cajun Country Enriched Long Grain; Cajun Country Popcorn Long Grain; Canilla Extra Long Grain Enriched; Carolina Whole Grain Brown; Della Basmati Brown; Doguet’s Brown; Goya Enriched Medium Grain; Great Value Brown (Walmart); Jazzmen Louisiana Aromatic Brown (this one had the highest number of all); Lundberg Short Grain Brown; Martin Long Grain Brown; Texas Best Organics Long Grain Brown; Uncle Ben’s Original Enriched Parboiled Long Grain; and Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown. INFANT CEREAL: None exceeded 5 micrograms per liter, but of the 4 types listed, two were higher – Earth’s Best Organic Whole Grain Rice and Gerber Rice. HOT CEREAL: Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Farina Creamy White. READY-TO-EAT CEREAL: Barbara’s Brown Rice Crisps. RICE CAKES & CRACKERS: Suzie’s Whole Grain Thin Cakes. RICE PASTA: DeBoles Rice Spirals, Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta Shells and Trader Joe’s Organic Brown Rice Fusilli. RICE FLOUR: Arrowhead Mills Organic Brown. RICE DRINKS: neither tested brands exceeded the arsenic levels for concern. RICE SYRUP: Lundberg Sweet Dreams Eco-Farmed Brown and their Organic Brown (both). RICE VINEGAR: only one brand tested and it is very low.

Now, here’s the list of THE BETTER ONES – lower incidence of arsenic, not necessarily healthy levels, but still beneath the 5 micrograms considered a level of concern: RICE: there are about 20+ brands listed – I’m only listing the ones that had the lowest incidence – seek them out if you can – Archer Farms Organic Basmati (Target – it’s from India), 365 Everyday Value Organic Indian Basmati White (Whole Foods, from India), Archer Farms Organic Jasmine (Target, and it’s from Thailand), Lundberg California White Basmati (California), Martin Long Grain Enriched (Missouri), and Trader Joe’s White Basmati (India). INFANT CEREAL: Beech-Nut Homestyle Rice and Gerber SmartNourish Organic Brown Rice. HOT CEREAL: Bob’s Red Mill Organicv Brown Rice Farina Creamy Rice and Cream of Rice. READY-TO-EAT CEREAL: Arrowhead Mills Organic Sweetened Rice Flakes, General Mills Rice Chex Gluten Free, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Gluten Free and Trader Joe’s Crisp Rice Cereal. RICE CAKES & CRACKERS: Asian Gourmet Plain Rice Crackers, Edward & Sons Organic Brown Rice Snaps Unsalted Plain Rice Cracker, Lundberg Brown Rice Organic Rice Cake, Quaker Lightly Salted Rice Cake. RICE PASTA: Annie Chun’s Maifun Rice Noodles. RICE FLOUR: Arrowhead Mills Organic White and Goya Enriched. RICE DRINKS: Pacific Rice Low Fat Plain Beverage and Rice Dream Classic Original Rice Drink. RICE VINEGAR: Asian Gourmet Plain.

So what’s all that say . . . well, that we shouldn’t eat as much rice as we thought we could. Eat white rice. Be extra careful about feeding rice products to infants. Pregnant moms should be extra careful too.

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A really tasty piece of fish, if I ever had one. The buttermilk in the mix gives the coating a really light texture. What makes the coating, though, is the Ritz type crackers. Oh my!

No wonder this was so good! Ritz crackers. I never keep them on hand – I just know they’re bad for me. Trader Joe’s carries a cracker that’s similar, called Golden Rounds, which is what I used. Phillis Carey used the real thing in this recipe – an honest, to goodness, tube of Ritz (to serve 6 people requires 20 crackers). They went into a plastic bag and you use a meat pounder to reduce the crackers to fine crumbs. As flaky as they are, it didn’t take many raps to make them tiny pieces.

You can use a variety of fish – tilapia, or cod, halibut, sea bass or catfish, even. I used halibut because I got some nice fresh filets at Costco. The fish is dipped into flour first, then buttermilk, then the crumbs mixed up with Parmesan cheese. Ideally, do this part a few hours ahead and place the pieces on a sheet of parchment paper and refrigerate. When ready to cook, add oil and butter to the pan (you may have to do batches, so it’s 2 T. of butter for a pan full) and sauté the fish until they’re golden brown. Because of the butter, the cracker crumbs and the cheese, the fish browns beautifully. Turn over and brown the other side. Phillis’ recipe indicated to remove them to a rack, on a baking sheet and bake the fish for just a few minutes. The halibut I made wasn’t all that thick, so it didn’t require oven baking at all. To check, use a fork in the middle of a thicker piece, pull the fish apart slightly to see if it’s flaky. Have all the sauce ingredients all ready so the fish doesn’t get cold! It’s easy to make the sauce – lemon, wine, capers (in the pan the fish was browned in) and gently stir in the butter just at the last.

What I liked: the texture and the taste. This is going to become one of my regular rotation fish dinners. It was SO good.
What I didn’t like: well, you can’t make any of it ahead, really, except coating the fish, so you’ll spend the last 10-15 minutes at the stove and oven pulling it all together. But it’s worth it.

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A real down-home meal with blade cut, bone in pork chops and a lot of onions, with a very tasty beef broth based sauce to smother them with.

Ever since we got back from our driving trip last week, I’ve been kind of distracted with catching up on things. My car (my NEW 1-year old used car) has had some engine trouble and is in the shop for the 2nd time since our return, and we’ve had numerous other house-related difficulties (the wine cellar A/C quit working, our drains are plugged up as I write this – no flushing, no washing dishes, nuthin’ through the pipes or it’s pumping out onto the street below us), so meals have been a bit makeshift. So when I stood at the freezer, peering in at the assortment there, I thought about what we’ve had lately . . . burgers for one. Our oldest grandson is inordinately fond of burgers and I have to bribe him to get him to drive 30 minutes to visit, so I made sliders using the French Hamburgers recipe, just did small ones without the sauce and with Trader Joe’s slider buns. And with my favorite new Tomato Jam to scoop on them. I used the leftover burgers in a couple of ways (plain with more tomato jam and then chopped up in a Caesar salad). Anyway, we’ve also had chicken. And one all-veggie dinner. So, back to me standing in front of the freezer, and I pulled out a package of pork chops. They’re from the 4-H farm pig we got a year ago, and I’m winding down on what’s left, but there was this one package of blade chops – it was just what I needed for this recipe.

Since our return I’m also trying to catch up on all the shows that recorded on my Tivo – to make room for all the new shows that are starting up again for fall. So I watched a recent Cook’s Country TV show about smothered pork chops. Sounds like something my mother would have made – she loved Swiss steak (beef) and pot roasts with gravy (beef).

There was nothing difficult about making these – you just have to plan ahead and know that the chops need to bake for 90 minutes before you can eat them! The thin (no thicker than 1/2 inch) chops are seasoned (paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, onion powder), browned, then set aside. The onions are cooked in some butter, thyme, garlic and bay leaf added, then all is assembled, covered and baked for 90 minutes at 300°. Now here’s the next step – you must remove all the onions and chops (set aside covered in foil so it stays warm), strain the beef broth sauce and remove as much of the fat as you can with a spoon on the surface (otherwise it’s way too greasy), then thicken the sauce with cornstarch. Everything is added back in, rewarmed and you’re ready to serve.

What I liked: the good, old-fashioned flavor; good onion and beefy flavor to the sauce; it was also relatively easy to make.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. Maybe not a blue-ribbon recipe, but it was good.

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These little guys are really a cake with a very thin icing on them. But they’re called cookies. Maybe they’re a cross between a cookie and a snack cake. Whatever, they’re delicious.

I’d forgotten all about this recipe. I dug into my very old recipes and found the 3×5 index card I’d written back in the 1960’s. I’m almost positive these came from Sunset Magazine, but I went to their website and couldn’t find it there. So I don’t really know where it’s origin . . . , but these things are so good. And they’re EASY. They do contain some coffee (I used espresso), but I swear, if you serve them to people they’ll never discern the coffee in them. It’s very subtle. I needed something for my DH’s Bible Study Group to nibble on at 7:00 am, and all I could think of was some kind of bar cookie. This fit the bill perfectly.

The cake batter is cinchy easy – brown sugar, butter, egg – mixed together, then you add the dry ingredients (flour, soda, B.P. and cinnamon) – then you add in some raisins and walnuts. Pour into the pan and bake. When you’ve removed the cookie from the oven, mix up the icing – melted butter, powdered sugar and a little hot water or hot coffee. It is a thin frosting – hardly could be called a frosting – and drizzle it all over the warm pan of cookie/cake and spread it around. Wait until the cake is completely cooled before you cut it – I used a soft plastic spatula to cut the squares.

Just an admonition – if you are sensitive to caffeine, either don’t eat these at night – or use decaf coffee in the recipe. The original recipe called for shortening, but I used butter instead. And I used walnuts, but I suppose any kind of nuts would be fine.

What I liked: they’re simple; they’re tasty; they’re addictive, I swear! Beware: they’re tender, though. Be careful when you cut and try to remove the squares. I actually eat them upside down because the icing provides a more solid surface (flat). Holding them normally, they sometimes will crumble.

What I didn’t like: nothing really – just know they’re a terribly tender cookie – a little hard to handle. I mentioned above that I eat these upside down (icing side down) because they’re sturdier that way. I wouldn’t make these for a cookie exchange – they’re hard to stack or store without breaking apart.

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Our visit to Temple Square, in downtown Salt Lake, was a real treat. We stayed at a hotel a few blocks away and walked to the Square itself, in time to attend their Sunday morning TV broadcast, with hundreds of people in the audience. The photo above I took before the broadcast started as the choir was practicing. As singers ourselves, we can’t begin to put ourselves on the same level as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They were nothing short of magnificent. Of course, the acoustics in this building were also unbelievable.

Here is one of the buildings in Temple Square. I don’t recall which one it was. And on the right, another view of the same building. The grounds were gorgeous with blooming flowers everywhere, ponds here and there.

I think I mentioned in my previous post that we visited the Mormon history museum, which was fascinating, telling the stories of the many families who wagon-trained west as part of the migration of Mormons from the Midwest.

One of the highlights of our visit to SLC was being able, finally, to meet Kalyn (that’s kay-lynn) Denny. When I first started my blog I wrote Kalyn and asked her a few questions, which she graciously answered. If you’ve never visited her blog, you should – Kalyn’s Kitchen. She’s a proponent of the South Beach Diet. Kalyn picked us up at our hotel, drove us around downtown and the lovely homes that overlook downtown, and took us to her house. I got to see the addition she built on her adorable home where she does all of her blogging – she has a real studio and an impressive array of plates, bowls, platters, silverware, napkins, placemats and other props.

We had a lovely dinner together. My hubby had to just sit and listen as Kalyn and I talked blogging from every dimension. It was such a thrill to meet her – she’s been blogging many more years than I have. Thank you, Kalyn, for our fun afternoon and evening together. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant we went to with Kalyn, but we stayed at the Hotel Monaco, and one night we had a fabulous dinner a block away from the hotel at Eva, a quirky little restaurant that’s well worth going to. They call it a tapas place, but I’d say the portions are more like appetizers for sharing. The warm gooey bread and cheese plate was exceptional. Our hotel room was gorgeous – a real find, I think. I’d definitely stay there again, AND I’d go back to Eva again too. It’s a pet-friendly hotel, so we saw many animals going in and out for walks with their owners.

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That’s the Ben Cook cabin we stayed in, at the Chief Joseph Ranch, just south of Darby, Montana. In case you don’t know, Darby is in SW Montana, quite near the Idaho border, south of Missoula. I’d been to this neck of the woods once before – about 50 years ago – wow, does that make me feel old! – and remembered it’s pretty rolling hills and rushing rivers (the Bitterroot). The cabin had 2 bedrooms and 2 baths; a really large fireplace-centric living room, a spacious kitchen, a table for 4 people, and a small deck.

Some of the time we were there it was chilly. We didn’t use the fireplace as it wasn’t cold enough for that, but we relaxed in the living room, enjoyed the peaceful view outside and my DH read an hour or two out on the deck.

We opted to have breakfast at the main lodge (for an extra charge) and even talked about trying to get our whole family to vacation there next year, but schedules just won’t jibe; we’ll need to find some place closer to home that’s easier for Southern Californians to get to. But if you’ve ever wanted to vacation in Montana, and not at a full service dude ranch, this lovely place might be just the ticket. I loved it here. The owners, Bob and Janet, were very warm and welcoming. They spent ample time suggesting things to do and places to see.

That’s the living room in the main lodge (built about 100 years ago). It’s a gorgeous log cabin – 2 stories high – and full of artifacts of the ranch life from long ago. One morning we had breakfast right there in front of the fireplace; the other morning the owners joined us as we ate in the formal dining room at the other end of the lodge. There are rooms (3) in the lodge too. Our cabin would sleep 4; the other cabin will sleep 10.

There’s another view of the main room in the lodge – through the door at the end is the large dining room. Rooms are upstairs.

I can imagine, in the winter, with snow swirling around, sitting near the huge fireplace would be something very special.

Well, the elk really weren’t “playing,” but they looked like they might. Just after I took that photo they began scattering for the trees. You can hunt elk in Montana, but not at Chief Joseph. Over the years the elk must have discovered this land (where the owners raise hay) is a safe haven for them. They don’t allow hunting on their land. You can see the smoke in the air there, too.

One afternoon, down to the Bitterroot River we went, just across the main entrance of the ranch and set up our folding chairs. This was something I really wanted to do – to be right by the river, to hear the water as it dipped and crackled over the rocks, while I sat peacefully at water’s edge reading a book. I turned our chairs around just to take the picture – there’s my jacket and my trusty Kindle. If you go to my blog’s home page, you can read about the 6 books I read on this trip, and the 2 books we “read” by CD in the car during those long desert driving days from Darby to Reno, Nevada.

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This bruiser was snuffling alongside the highway, about 30 feet away from our car. He was all by himself. And there must have been at least 300 people outside their cars, with and without tripods lined up along the highway taking pictures of him. I should have taken a picture of THEM!There was also a bear way off in the distance. We have a picture of him too, but he’s SO far away I decided it wasn’t worth even showing it to you! We did see moose, elk and deer too.

And here are some more pictures of Old Faithful. It’s an amazing sight, really. Most of the smoke was further south (from the forest fires) and these don’t show any smoke at all. We drove on every highway but one within Yellowstone National Park. A kind gentleman at one of the restaurants we visited told us we needed to go to the NE corner of Yellowstone (Lamar Valley); he thinks it’s some of the most beautiful scenery in the Park. We just didn’t have time. We spent 8 hours driving that day as it was! We spent the night in West Yellowstone (a small touristy town just outside the northwestern edge of the park, in Montana, actually). It’s not a memorable town. Just a place to spend the night after driving all day.

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We’re home from our 2 1/2 week trip, but I have a lot of categorizing and photo cropping and other stuff to do before I bring you the best of the best photos. The above was a small, nearly stagnant river in the Tetons somewhere. You can barely discern the smoke if you look at the furthest trees – there’s a blanket of smoke setting in.

At the Jenny Lake Lodge (cabins) we had these cute (?) bent twig rockers outside the front door. Making those have to be a lost art. When we did sit outside, just before I took this photo, there was a cute little chipmunk who noisily chattered at us from the pine tree just behind the rockers, there, so I took out a few cashews and with great fanfare (so he’d see me) I tossed them out in front of those chairs. It took him about a minute before he ventured near and went to town. Then he walked right up to us and sat on his haunches with his tail quaking and looked at us like “I want more, please.” We didn’t have any more, sadly! He even walked right up to Dave’s shoe and sniffed his shoelaces. Funny! We weren’t as impressed with the Jenny Lake cabins as we’d expected (I was the one who wanted to go there). Dinner and breakfast at the lodge are included in the $625/night fee. The food wasn’t that good, and at that price I expected far better. For dinner I ordered pheasant (there were very few options on the menu and since pheasant isn’t something I get or see much, I decided I should try it). It was tough and dry and at least half of it was inedible. They also served green beans that were so undercooked they could almost have qualified as raw. I like al dente green beans, but not that firm! I complained to the waiter about the pheasant, who took my plate to the chef. She agreed with my analysis, apologized, but still, it was a big let-down. Had we stayed a 2nd night they would have done something to compensate, but I guess there’s not much they can do with one-nighters. ??? So, one more destination scratched off my bucket list. My only other bucket list item is to stay at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

At one of the turnouts in the Tetons, we stopped and walked up the river (the Snake) a ways. It was so beautiful. I love – love the rushing water as it crackles over the rocks. We were at about 8,000 feet altitude, so even a little walk seems almost strenuous!

At several other places I popped out of the car and took photos. Mostly of them were cloudy with smoke and not worth showing you. But this one with a slow-moving stream was pretty. Ethereal, almost.

More photos tomorrow or the next day with some from other places we stayed.

I need to catch up on some things here at home!

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