4 T butter
6 cloves garlic minced
1 bunch of Cilantro
3 Bell Peppers of different colors diced
1/2 Onion diced
I can chunk pineapples
2 cups of white wine
1 / 3 cup honey
2 T of Flour mixed with a bit of water and mashed out to avoid lumps
1 T Oregano
1 T Basil

Salt and Pepper to taste
2 lb of shrimp
1 lb of pasta

Do Prep on veggies and shell the shrimp. Begin by getting the water boiling for the pasta, once boiling add the pasta and cook as directed. Put butter in large wok or frying pan and melt. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add shrimp and 2/3 from bunch of cilantro chopped. Stir fry for about 3 minutes. Add remaining veggies, and seasonings and stir fry for 3 more minutes. Add pineapple w/ juice, wine, honey and flour. Saute for another 10 minutes. Change the amount of flour for a thicker or thinner sauce. Combine pasta and stir fry into a large container and mix. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro and serve.

5 T. butter
2 T. vegetable oil
2 lbs. stewing beef cubed
2 T. flour
1 ½ dozen small whole white onions, peeled
2 garlic cloves, peeled & minced
2 shallots, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper to taste
2 cups red burgundy wine
3 cups water
3 cups beef broth
2 cups canned tomatoes, chopped
¼ pound mushrooms

Heat 2 Tablespoons of butter and oil in a large kettle. Add beef and sprinkle on flour and stir. Add remaining ingredients except for mushrooms and extra butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Sauté mushrooms in separate skillet in remaining butter for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add to soup and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf. If soup is too thick, add a little water. Correct seasoning. Soup always taste better the 2nd day.

Mammoth

Living in LA for three years this mountain was home base. A 5-6 hour drive from LA makes for the perfect weekend trips. The diversity of terrain makes for runs of all types. If you want steeps then take the Gondola to the top and choose from one of numerous front facing blacks and double blacks. If it’s snowing or it recently snowed and the top is closed head over to Lincoln Mountain for challenging steeps w/ reasonably spaced out tree runs.

Staying in Mammoth can be expensive. There is only so much room for them to develop on which drives up prices. The village of Mammoth if fun at night but if you are staying away from the main area you’ll need to catch a shuttle bus keeping in mind that it doesn’t run as late as the bars do.

Heavenly

The two days I skied at heavenly I had some fresh but the base was pretty low. Although there wasn’t much visibility while I was there I did catch some amazing views of the lake. It’s probably not a good sign for the mountain if the first thing you comment on is its views. The tree skiing was fun. Mott Canyon provided some very challenging steeps with trees. We found cheap spots to stay while we were there and coming in from a day of skiing there was some fun nightlife with colorful local. I don’t recommend Heavenly unless you find yourself in Tahoe with a season pass (like me) or are concerned with the nightlife more then the skiing.

Park City

I had six inches of fresh for my two days at Park City, UT. The first day I hit up the tree routes near the McConnell(sp?) and Pioneer lifts the entire day. Why mess with a good thing. The second day I spent the morning hiking out as far as they let us on Pinecone ridge. I got to lay down some fresh S curves on untracked powder. There’s something about a long hike that makes a run all the more rewarding. Park city was awesome but if only concerned about skiing then I would hit up Alta or Snowbird instead. I went there the previous year (albeit with multiple ft of fresh) and it was one of my top three ski trips. The nightlife in Salt Lake City is not good so consider sacrificing a little bit of mountain for a lot of nightlife if that’s a factor. At Park City there is a big town catering to the ski culture. The last night we got to see a packed outdoor concert on Main St. with Michael Franti & Spearhead playing for free.

Big Sky
My two days there had poor conditions. They had an ok base but there was no fresh unless you got lucky in some far dense patch of trees. Despite the conditions I was blown away by the size of the mountain and length of the runs. The trees in Big Sky were some of the best I’ve gone through. The steeps with some powder had some real potential. If you are real hardcore make sure to bring an Avalanche Transponder so you can check in with ski patrol and hike out to one of many impressive chutes. If the conditions are bad, like we had, try lapping challenger instead of the top. There are lots of different options for runs back down.

The nightlife of Big Sky was a lot of fun. Jerry Garcia Band was playing that night and there was a good amount of bar options. An hour’s drive away down a mountain pass (movie River Runs Through It filmed there) you come to Bozeman, Montana. This was surprisingly a very fun town and a highlight of our trip. Montana now ranks pretty high in my list of favorite states. Because of the bad conditions we decided to drive out to West Yellowstone and we went on a snow mobile tour through Yellowstone. If you find yourself anywhere near the area do this trip! Buffalo by the hundred feet away from you as you cruise on your sled. Old Faithful, crazy steaming pools, eagles, elk, coyote… Oh My.

Jackson Hole
Holy Steepness!!!

Took the 100 person tram up from the base, a 4000’ vertical rise, and my ear popped three times. There isn’t many ways to get down the mountain that doesn’t involve blacks and double blacks. This is not a mountain for beginners! The mostly ungroomed terrain is extremely steep and transitions from moguls to trees to cliffs the whole way down. No traversing needed here. Of the four days I skied there it was only the last day that had some fresh powder and clear visibility. Cruise through Casper Glades, stop for a drink at a makeshift shelter, then hop into an opening where you can hop off a couple cliffs. Cruise down the open trail below you find ample natural kickers to pop off of on the sides. Cruise down some more trees then drop into Dick’s Ditch, a gully that has banked walls at times similar to a half pipe and other times like a boarder cross trail.

Night life was a lot of fun. The Mangy Moose is a legend among ski bars. The town of Jackson (20-30 minutes away) is an awesome time. The locals are fun and friendly and it doesn’t have the touristy feel most ski town bars do.

I'll cover Colorado mountains in a later post after I finish spending the month in Vail.

Atlas Shrugged - A classic I regret not having read earlier. Any Rand teaches her objectivism philosophy through a engaging logic filled story. It's interesting to draw parallels between with the book and whats happening today.

Ishmael - The premise is corny, a Gorilla teaches someone how to save the world. The story however is a clever way of passing on an interesting perspective and philosophy to its readers.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal - Hilarious fictional account of Jesus' childhood.

The Alchemist - An interesting short fable useful for tweaking you look at the big picture of life. Reading it during a time I had a decision to make made it an easier one.