Happy Mothers Day everyone! This is my mom. Jane. RedCampers number one fan and Facebook liker, the woman who supports me to no end, and always has. Giving encouragement, love, a good home cooked meal when I see her, and above all inspiration. She is the one who showed me, through being, how to be creative, how to never stop learning, how to love to garden/grow plants, how to experiment in the kitchen without fear, how to be patient with people (I'm still working on this one mom) and how to always hold your head up high and keep on going, no matter what. Thank you mom. I, and RedCamper, love you very much. Everyone else (I'm pretty sure it's just my mom that reads this, but if there are others...)..I hope you have mom's as good as mine, or are a mom, as good as mine. Happy Mothers Day!

top left: working a lookout tower in Oregon & appreciating the flora : top right: playing the flute, unfortunately a skill that was not inherited
bottom left: checking out the hand beaded headband she made, with her makeshift volkswagen van mirror, standing inside the adobe house she built with my dad : bottom right: working another fire lookout tower on the south rim of the Grand Canyon with my dirty faced brother. sweet shirt mom. do you still have it?

Holy smokes do we love ribs. Its unanimous really. I love ribs, Mark loves ribs, Ross loves ribs..and Halle...she REALLY loves ribs. It's officially the start of BBQ season and we thought we'd bust out the smoker, a rack of ribs and a jar of Absinthe Orange Deliciousness and see what could be made. Heaven on a bone. That's what was made. And I'm here to share with you the recipe. Trust me on this folks...it's DELICIOUS.

Smoked Spicy Orange Port Spare Ribs

Ingredients:
1 rack of pork spare ribs
Rub:
2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 TB smoked paprika
2 tsp salt (we use smoked himalayan sea salt but any salt will do)
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp chopped scallions
1 garlic clove - minced
Glaze:
1/3 cup Absinthe Orange Deliciousness

Mix spices together and apply rub to the ribs. Rub it real good. Rub it again. Then give it a rest and let them sit as long as you can wait, if you are patient and can wait more than a couple hours, better put it in the fridge. About an hour is our speed, but the longer that rub soaks in, the better.

With the ribs at room temp, get your grill or smoker set up for indirect heat on the meat. Google this if you haven't done this before, try not to get overwhelmed. Everyone has their own style. We add a pan of water to keep those gems juicy and also put some mesquite chunks on the coals. Dealers choice though.

Wrap the ribs loosely in foil to allow the smoke to enter and cook at about 300˚ for 3ish hours or until the ribs loosen up and are 180˚ inside.

For the last 30 minutes place that rack right on the grill, slather the top with Deliciousness and let it bake on. Pull off the grill and let sit for 15min or so before diving in and getting real messy.

You are not going to regret this.

If you follow our Facebook posts or our Instagram feed you will know that we have been cooking up some kind of crazy orange surprise. It's true. We have been perfecting and then cooking up our newest jammy sauce, Absinthe Orange Deliciousness. And it's finally hit the shelves. Not without a whole lot of struggling though. While we had a pretty easy time with our debut, the Colorado Whiskey Peach, we did not with this citrus feature. We earned this one.

After developing the recipe at home and perfecting the new intepretation of orange marmalade with an adult kick in the seat, we headed into the commercial kitchen. Within the first 10 min of diving into making a bigger pot it was very clear we had issues...zesting issues. It's one thing to zest 2 pounds of oranges and 1 pound of lemons, it's another thing to zest 30 pounds...65 pounds...over a hundred pounds. Mark, Jason (a college friend in town to help) and I quickly decided something had to give. Google. Google gave...it found a newly patented and produced zester that works like a apple peeler. Sounds like a dream. After some shipping delays and many pounds of hand zested fruit later we received this dream..wow. The Zip Zester. Man the right tool makes a difference.

We won't bore you with the details of all our production woes, and this really isn't a paid plug for zip zester, but holy crap do I love this little machine.

Long story short....we did it. We got some jars finished, labeled and ready for consumption. You gotta try this...if you are local, come to Tony's Market on Friday, April 12th, where we will be sampling...or come to Williams Sonoma - Park Meadows on April 26th. Or come visit us at the Cherry Creek Farmers market on Saturdays and the City Park market on Sundays. We are excited to share this treat with you..and this is just the beginning. We have many more flavors up our sleeve...and for those who have been calling, emailing and stalking my house, yes...Whiskey Peach will be back, later this summer when the finest peaches in Colorado have had a chance to grow up.

Oh..one more thing...we'll be sharing recipes and pairing ideas. We have been cooking up some super delicious treats we want to share. Stop by our table/tent for a card, or check back on this website. It's gonna be a great summer. I gotta feeling.

It's spring time in Denver. Which means while today, I'm bundled up looking at snow outside the window, two days ago I was sunning on the deck with a margarita in one hand and a burning sensation on the other. While the trees don't have any leaves yet, the bulbs are pushing their way through the soil to blaze on brightly, if only for a couple short weeks. I love spring, as unpredictable and headstrong as it is, it always reminds me that everything is about to be fresh and new again. And that, is what I love about this time of year.

It is the season of soups, stews and chilis. So to help freshen up your recipes try adding some Deliciousness to the pot. 
Here I made a simple and easy crockpot chili for the week to come. Chili is one of the easiest, tastiest, and satisfying meals you can make. To demonstrate I am using a super easy recipe, but you can add this to just about any recipe to give it a new hint of delicious whiskey peach. 
This recipe is basically a throw it all in the pot and let it do its thing recipe, but that is also where you can get creative by using different meats, seasonings, or veggies. For this I'll stick to a classic chili. 

What you'll need

1 pound ground sirloin
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 jar of your favorite salsa
2 diced jalepenos
4 tablespoons Whiskey Peach Deliciousness
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder

I chose to use ground sirloin, but really any kind of meat will work just fine. Lightly brown meat with the cumin and chili powder using a little bit of oil to not burn your pan. Once browned drain the fat from the pan and add the meat to a crockpot or a large pot on the stove. You can then add the tomatoes, salsa, and the Whiskey Peach Deliciousness. I then add the beans. I like to add the juices of one of the cans, but I drain the other two. This adds a little bit more starch to help thicken the chili. Lastly add the jalepenos. I like it spicy, so I just chop them and throw them in, seeds, ribs, and all. Let this cook on low heat for at least an hour. I like to let it cook for as long as possible stirring frequently to break up the beans a little bit. 
That's it. Like I said, easy, but delicious. And what would a manly chili be without some beer? Enjoy!

This is it. The only photo we have of our Studio Birthday party we had in October. 1 sorry ass iPhone photo of a cake that had already been cut into.

Fail.

Thank you all that turned out for our 1st party EVER and ate all our meatballs and dumplings, killed the whiskey peach punch, downed a case of Orange Crush, almost polished the fondue, totally ignored our jello molds and kept from falling off the roof. Maybe next year we'll remember to pull out a camera every now and then.

It was the middle of September and with a blue ribbon in the bag, and a hankering to see something through, there were big decisions needing to be made, quick. With the dry summer here in Colorado, prime peach picking season came early and we had to decide how much to get. Working on a secret recipe for a couple years now we knew we had to go big or go home. So we ordered some jars, borrowed a truck, packed some snacks, put the dog (Halle) in the back and started our road trip to the other side of the Rocky's. 

Our destination; Paonia Colorado. A small town on the western slope filled with valleys of orchards, vineyards and grazing horses. The perfect summer day in the mountains with no agenda but to pick as many peaches as we thought we could. 

And boy did we. In fact we kept going till the truck was full. 

Meanwile, Halle took it upon herself to stay busy by swimming just about the entire time we were picking.

Near sundown we were all picked out. So we packed up and started our journey back to Denver. Since we picked these peaches at the peak of freshness we had to act fast. This meant we were off to the commisary kitchen the very next day.

Once in the kitchen it was a whole mess of choppin'. Special thanks to Ross Evertson and Deb Fox for a bunch of help.

Future brandy?

Heaping handfuls of whole delicious Madagascar vanilla bean.

Our key ingrediants (Colorado peaches, fresh lime juice, fresh Vanilla Bean and locally distilled Leopold Bro's whiskey) all mixed up the first batch is ready for the stove.

And the result of a lot of hard work, years of testing, and the best ingredients. This is our limited seasonal release of our Denver County Fair blue ribbon award winning Colorado Whiskey Peach Deliciousness. We didn't make much so do yourself a favor and get some quick. Watch out though..you'll be yearning for more before we have more peaches probably.....

Well, we have made it back from Labor Day weekend, and while Mark is sipping RedBull to stay awake from his return of a  several thousand mile roadtrip through 11 states in 10 days (check his sweet photo of a vw bus at the badlands), I thought I'd drop a note on some of what the "other part of RedCamper" was up to. Starting with a traveling art show that the informed Ross took us to. (Well, not Halle, she stayed home, she's not really into art.) The Trading Tortoise came to town and stopped in front of the Denver Art Museum. Souther Salazar and Monica Choy have been traveling around the U.S. for 5 months now trading precious items out of their adorable turtle tent. So awesome. What could be more up our alley than random stuff, traveling, telling stories, and turtles?! So, we couldn't miss it. And we didn't. And it was great.

Here is Ross doing some negotiations with the turtle house. He is being well documented. We may end up as Denver Art Museum marketing materials. Ross traded an educational poster from the 1960's that he found in the dumpster for a small book of Magic Tricks. Can't wait to see what comes of that.

I traded one of our incredible science rulers for this dazzling plate. Which I love, but I also love the story behind the plate. Ashley Jennings of Reno, Nevada picked up this plate at an estate sale while she was out with photographer Jennifer Garza Cuen who was finishing up her series of "Cocktails" photos. Seems Ashley, though not confirmed..is the Ashley Jennings that started Checklet that released the app Metricorn for small makers and sellers like us. Which is also..pretty great.

Here is the couple themselves.. And here is their kickstarter project if you want to know even more about their project there is a super cute video. And one more link..their schedule of stops. Looks like they are in Kansas City tonight and Brooklyn on the 26th. And hey there hometown..Flagstaff ..looks like they would like to stop in...

Hey.. who ever gets our ruler..we would love to know who you are....

Photo by Tocabe

After we left there, we chatted up a South African architect by the name of Russel, on a U.S. tour of architecture,  then we went over to the Taste of Colorado, a local food event in the Civic Center..wandered around for a bit eating delicious Navajo tacos from Tocabe and listening to the sweet sounds of Foreigner.

And that..was Friday night...