Facing an emergency

In the heat of summer here on Blue Mountain Road, we’ve taken a few excursions to hike in the high mountains. In July, the flowers were blooming in abundance on the Camp Dick trail. Bud, Zoë and I discovered this sweet orchid, previously unknown to us, in a damp spot along the path and many columbines.

At the end of the month we traveled over Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake for a two night stay at the Grand Lake Lodge. I was again struck with the magnificence of the Park, the wide vistas of peaks and forests, the precipitous drop-offs, the cold air up on the tundra. The Lodge is a classic log structure with the requisite western décor – antlers and wildlife paintings, a stone fireplace, rocking chairs, and swings on the porch. The comfortable cabins have been refurbished but are still small, surrounded by trees and wildflowers, with lovely views of the lake. We hiked at Adams Falls along meadows and through shady forest.

As we drove back home over Trail Ridge we saw a huge cloud of smoke to the north from the Alexander Mountain fire burning west of Loveland. We arrived home to a smoky valley. Zoë was concerned about one of the Fort Collins Natural Areas threatened by the fire and headed home.

Later that day we began to get word of another fire burning to the east of us, two ridges over, the Stone Canyon fire. I blithely spent the day preparing for my weekly writing group until, part way through the Zoom meeting, Zoë called and said, you need to pack and leave, the fire is too close. You’re a quarter mile from the evacuation zone. I was in a tizzy. We had planned for what we’d do in such circumstances but for a moment I was immobilized. I can’t do this, I thought. She said, I’m on my way.

Zoë arrived focused on convincing me we must evacuate. I resisted but we soon began checking our list and packing up. Of course, some of the things we had thought important to take seemed silly, but we gathered them into the cars. We’ll revise our list later, for the next emergency. The big project was unhooking the computer setup in the studio. We decided to take all the parts, monitor, keyboard, mouse, CPU, everything. We put inventory books and other papers in crates and headed to Fort Collins where we would stay with Zoë. By the time we reached her home it was past ten. We were all beat.

Our daughter is a great host and we felt safe and comfortable with her. In the morning she went off to work and we settled in to our books, constantly checking to see the status of the fire threatening Lyons. When Highway 36 reopened I figured we could get home so after dinner with Zoë we headed to Lyons. At the bottom of Blue Mountain Road the sheriff had set up a roadblock. No one could enter. But we live only a half mile up, I pleaded. We’re not in the evacuation zone. No luck. What to do now. I lost it for a minute and couldn’t face the hour drive back to Zoë’s. I called Sherry. She said, come. Our wonderful friends took us into their beautiful home in Boulder for the night.

Now the fire is out, we’re home, we’ve gone on hikes, I cook, back to normal. It will probably happen again and I’ll temporarily freak out. But we know we can do it, we know how long it takes to pack the basics. I feel grateful to the firefighters and sad for those who were more directly in the fire’s path. This was a drill for us, a practice and we did it.

The smoke is gone but it’s been very hot so my cooking is minimal, salads, grilled fish, pizza. Here are some summer recipes for you to try.

This zucchini pizza recipe is minimally adapted from The Smitten Kitchen.

Zucchini Pizza

For the pizza dough, combine 2 cups unbleached flour (I put a heaped tablespoon of wheat germ in the cup before measuring the flour), 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon instant yeast, 1/3 plus 1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon olive oil. Stir into a moist dough and then knead until smooth.  Place in an oiled bowl and let rise until supper time. The longer the better. I make this in the morning and let it rise all day. Punch down when necessary.

Coarsely grate a pound and a half of zucchini and yellow squash (3-4 medium sized) in the Cuisinart or on a box grater. Sprinkle with a teaspoon salt, toss and let sit in a colander for half an hour. Place in a cheesecloth or light kitchen towel and squeeze the water out. In a bowl, toss with 6 – 8 ounces of coarsely grated Gruyere and a big pinch of red pepper flakes. Pat dough into an oiled  9 x 13 inch sheet pan. It will be thin. Spread squash mixture evenly over the dough. Bake at 500° for 20 – 25 minutes until brown and bubbly.

Another favorite during this hot summer is a beet and greens salad adapted from a NYTimes recipe.

Beet and Greens Salad

Steam or roast 3 medium sized beets until tender. After they are cooked remove from pot and use the steaming water to cook the beet greens you have washed, and cut into 1 inch ribbons. Drain the greens and when cool squeeze out the water. Arrange on a serving dish or on individual plates as I did here. Sprinkle with a half of the vinaigrette. Peel the beets and cut into ½ inch chunks. Toss with the remaining vinaigrette and arrange on the greens.

The vinaigrette: Combine ¼ cup red onion or shallot, diced, a clove of garlic, grated, 1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar. Leave for a few minutes then add ¼ teaspoon ground cumin seed, ¼ teaspoon ground coriander seed, a pinch of red pepper flakes and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Top beets with a dollop of yogurt sauce: 1 cup whole plain yogurt, a grated garlic clove, ¼ teaspoon ground cumin seed, ¼ teaspoon ground coriander seed, a tablespoon of finely chopped fresh mint, a pinch of salt.

Strew the salad with chopped fresh dill. Enough for 2.

And lastly, a dish I’ve made every week, sometimes twice. Salmon cakes/burgers from Mark Bittman in the NYTimes. I’ve served these with a salad and as a burger on a bun. So good.

Salmon Burgers/Cakes

For two cakes skin a ½ – ¾ pound piece of fresh salmon. Chop 1/3 of it and puree in the Cuisinart with a generous teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a ¼ cup chopped onion. This acts as a paste. Add the rest of the salmon cut into 1 inch pieces. Pulse a couple times but don’t puree, you want small chunks to remain. In a bowl, combine the salmon with a tablespoon of capers, 2 tablespoons panko and a pinch of salt. Form into two cakes and refrigerate until cooking time. Grill for 2-3 minutes a side or pan fry in butter.