Every year right before a big snow, these guys find their way into the neighborhood. Many properties are steep but my backyard isn’t, so they really like hanging out here. They showed up at 10am this morning and as of 5pm are wandering around and eating after a long nap. I love watching them. I can’t help it, I take way too many photos. :)
In case you haven’t hopped over to Ski Utah to enjoy my latest article, I wanted to share the story of my trip around Northern Utah!
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I’m not a foodie. I’m not even a good cook. So when Canyons invited me on an Artisan Farm Tour with Executive Chef John Murcko, I was skeptical that my palate was not refined enough.
But I decided to take the tour, and determine why my audience (skiers), should care where Canyons gets their food.
Let me give you some background. The Talisker Restaurants aren’t your typical mountain burger shacks. We are talking about Talisker on Main, a restaurant named best in Park City two years running; and The Farm, voted best new restaurant in the state, both by Salt Lake Magazine. Slopes, Bistro, Red Tail, I mean, too many phenomenal options to choose from!
Canyons Resort has seriously raised the bar with their on-slope dining options. How do I know?
Slide Ridge Honey
Initially the first thing I experienced was Executive Chef John Murcko’s passion. Even the car ride was a learning experience for me. Talking amongst the journalists and foodies on the trip, I learned his commitment goes beyond the food to the factual concept that what we eat matters. Not only should it be delicious, we want the best of the best.
Utah has a lot to offer. On our trip from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to families making cheese, raising lamb and trout, and bottling honey - it changed the way I thought about food. Everything was fresh, clean, local, and I felt this connection to the purity of the concept. I was starting to look at the food in a whole new way, the way it should be!
The contemporary mountain cuisine Chef Murcko creates is exceptional. The use of our local purveyors matters. As a skier, you should put your body, your health, and even your community first. I can’t tell you how great I felt after two days of this fresh, local food. I went home and couldn’t bring myself to eat anything out of a box. Often we rush from a few fresh powder laps to an afternoon behind a desk where we’ll end up full of unsatisfying fast food. Imagine, I thought, keeping this new mentality about eating with me this year. My body will thank me!
Yours will too. Whether you are a local or tourist, be sure to try many of the fantastic dining options we have inPark City and on the slopes of Canyons. With ever changing menus, the experience will be new, and unforgettable, every time.
Here is a link to all my photos of the journey.
Farms we visited:
Mountain Valley Trout
Willis Ranch
I look forward also to the Farmer’s Market at Canyons now. Starting next Wednesday June 6th through mid-October, 12:00pm – 6:00pm, you’ll find me hunting for fresh, local food options. Hope I see you there, or at one of the restaurants, soon!
Powderhound Cat
Living out here never gets old, I’ve seen so many things for the first time.
Take this guy for example:
He walked up to my back deck, touching my house, to get after some ant bait we’d accidentally left out there. We shooed him away without him getting in to the bait, fortunately. He might not look that big, but he was massive. And fast.
One of the craziest “in the wild” moments we’ve had.
PS – WordPress just told me this is my 1200th post. That’s crazy too.
We have a great group of people in our community, and the programs offered in Park City throughout the year amaze me. For a small town, there are organized ski groups, hiking and climbing clubs, bike groups…I mean, people are ACTIVE here. I love it. I’ve been provided opportunities to enjoy passions and explore new outdoor hobbies.
Yesterday, Lululemon and the St. Regis at Deer Valley gave us the (free!) opportunity to take a yoga class outside on the Fire Deck, followed with a glass of wine and a little socializing.
Words defy my first outdoor yoga experience. It was revitalizing, beautiful, serene – sense-ful, if that were an expression…sense-heightening, maybe? There was a huge turnout of men and women of all ages, and our instructor was a student of Baron Baptiste, not too shabby!
I loved the chance to meet new people, work out, and enjoy a new setting for my yoga practice.
Leaving, I was wishing I could head up there and spend some time on my mat every day.
Fortunately, Lululemon has (free!) classes outdoors at City Park on Tuesdays.
The next Vino and Vinyasa at the St. Regis will be July 28th. Mark your calendars!
Mountain living this summer – even if summer took a long time to show up, as you can see there’s still snow in the picture! – is superb.
Knowing someone for ten years, you learn their likes and dislikes. Being married five years, you learn about what matters in life and what doesn’t. I talked about our first wedding anniversary dinner, our second being on a trip to LA, and don’t even remember our third. Last year we went out to Hapa Grill with MH and pigged out on sushi.
Five is a special number, though. And we had a plan. We decided in the spirit of just how freaking outdoorsy we’ve become, to go camping for our anniversary. Us, a hike, a tent. Aw.
But, nooooo way was that going to happen this Memorial Day weekend!
All we can do is laugh and be thankful we chose to postpone the great outdoors trip based on the weather reports.
Not sure what to technically call it – I think backcountry skiing implies all the work of the ascent, which we used snowmobiles for, but I did ski in a place without a chair lift, is that all it takes? I’m a backcountry skier! And I’m hooked, and ready to do it forever and ever and again and again. It is incredible.
Snowmobiling was 99% awesome 1% MH, but we’ll leave that story alone, let’s just say we got separated and home late.
And it was exhausting. We crashed as soon as we got home. Pushing through turns is a lot of upper body work and that helmet gave me the neck pain of all neck pain.
But of course, living here is going to cost us 50,000$, because now we want snowmobiles.
Add that to the skis, backcountry skiing set ups, and snowshoes. We’re gonna need some jobs.
Yay!
Spring skiing is always a little treacherous for me, slushy snow makes me squirrly. But the views are worth it on warm bluebird days. I skied Jupiter Bowl @PCMR for the first time yesterday - still a lot to check off my “to do” list in the last real month of ski season – WOW it’s flying by.
Check out just how miserable it was yesterday:
So I’m sitting in the basement while I paint the last of the doors, listening to this free SXSW music channel thinking about the past few weeks – and cracking up about poor KD today.
KD told me she ran out of something probably a little important (reason why I hide names here LOL) to get us two coveted wristbands to enjoy music for the week of SXSW. Yay!
SO
I have had some crazy times here in our sweet little chalet!
I sure don’t want to jinx it, but 2011 is starting out being totally incredible. It might not seem like much when you write it all down to share, but it’s been better than I’d ever dreamed for us. I feel so blessed and hope that each and everyone of you wondering why I’m not calling is now all caught up and is also having a great year!!
Good Times!
The place I call home has been all over the news lately. We expect little LA Time blurbs right around Sundance Festival time, but I keep getting sent these links to some really amazing articles suggesting Park City as a prime vacation spot.
NYTimes – 41 Place to go in 2011 – #9!
MSNBC – Top 10 Ski Destinations – #1!
Luxury Travel Magazine – Close to Home – #10!
So cool! Maybe 100 more of these and my property value will go up…
