Boeuf Bourguignon

Didn't everyone who saw "Julie and Julia" want to rush home and make the famous beef stew with red wine, Boeuf Bourguignon? In theory, I did too, but since I saw the film in August and it was hot as blazes, I was more in the mood for fish tacos than beef stew.  Once November rolled around and local Montana grass finished beef went on sale at the Good Food Store for $2/lb, I knew it was time to give it a go.

I think as Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes go, this one was actually pretty simple, but it still had plenty of steps and it's almost not worth making if you can't give it a day to sit and let the flavors meld.  This I did only after catching the Mountain Man trying to sneak a bite or two while it cooled on the stove, ha!

('scuse some of these blurry photos)

 The goods

Dredged stew beef

Le bouquet garni

Stew beef all nicely browned

Mirepoix with bacon

 All set to simmer

Bon Appetit!

If You Get to Canada, You've Gone Too Far...

So ended the directions to a Forest Service cabin waaay up the North Fork of the Flathead River near Polebridge, MT where we spent the weekend.

 

 The landscape is beautiful in a really raw sort of way--the remains of massive forest fires, an actively meandering river, rocky peaks covered in snow.  A soft, Eastern hardwood forest it was not:

Yet for being about 35 miles from the nearest power line, cell tower or running water, there were all kinds of vacation and permanent homes up there.  The feeling of being remote but not isolated was weird, honestly, but we were also there during the peak of deer and elk season, so every hunter in Flathead County was up there too.  We were told when we pulled up NOT to go outside without wearing blaze orange.  I got to borrow a damn sexy hat for our little excusion:

Then there were some games:

And some turkey:

And that's when a tryptophan and wine-induced stupor put an end to snapping photos. 

You Belong to Me

Bought it on eBay last night! Were my palms sweating and my heart thudding as I placed the winning bid 2 minutes before the auction closed? Yeppers. Did I feel a sense of glee and triumph when I won it? Yah.

With a black lampshade, I think it'll look smashing on the MM's black desk and will be a little more masculine than the white porcelain with blue and while toile shade that he's been making do with for awhile now! I'll have that little lady for my "letter writing desk," which is more like a clutter magnet these days.  Maybe cause there's no lamp and it's too dark to do much else! Inspiration for organization. 

Montana Adventures: Pintler Loop

A rather ill-fated adventure, as it turned out, but I took a few photos between whining "Why me?!?" and raining curses down on whichever deli department person slipped me bad goat cheese.

 

Do We Have Lady Ga Ga To Thank for This?

How have we arrived, as a society, in a place where someone has to create a website called Tights Are Not Pants?

Glad someone is sayin' it, because well, tights ARE NOT pants.

Apropos of Nothing: Vintage Wedding

If someone told me that I had to plan our wedding again and it had to be completely different in theme, this would be my inspiration:

Is that swingy, vintage wedding dress not amazing?!? Via Caitlin Creer Interiors

Log Cabin Reimagined

I lived in a (poorly chinked, freezing cold) log cabin in Jackson Hole for about a year and a half, and I thought I was pretty much cured of any desire to live in one again.  After working for an antique gallery in Jackson that sold very expensive, yet almost campy furniture to fill bigger, glitzier log cabins in western, neo-cowboy style, I was really over the decor genre too:

But then I came across these photos today via The Skirted Roundtable and thought I could reconsider with a cabin done up all English hunting lodge like so:

 

Apparently these are from the home of the owners of Blackberry Farm in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, via Architectural Digest.  Suzanna Kasler was the interior designer and is that living room not fabulous? I love that ornate gold and black mirror on the far wall--somehow it works!

With a (rather more modest) family place of our own in the Smokies, I doubt I'll be a guest at Blackberry Farm any time soon, but I wouldn't mind owning their cookbook (in case I'm on your Christmas list):