Most Friday’s, I allow my inner artist come out in the form of a foo-foo salad. I make ‘em, you gobble ‘em up, so here’s what I did this week!

6/11 Friday Salad: Yummy-ness

Dressing:
1 large shallot minced
1 bunch of basil, chiffonade
1 tb dijon mustard
~½ cup EVOO
~½ cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 tb water
S&P to taste

Stir ingredients above, well, and marinate for ½ hour.

Salad:
3 heads of butter lettuce, rinse and hand torn to bite size
2x 5oz pkg of organic arugula
12 oz pkg of blackberries
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
2 avocados, sliced thin and chopped
1 bag toffee glazed almonds (in salad section)
5 oz gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Thoroughly toss all of the above ingredients. Drizzle and toss with dressing before serving.

Yield~20pp

Feel free to make comments or suggestions! Heidi

If you have ever walked down Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, you probably recognize this sculpture called “Swing” by George Lundeen.

As an aspiring sculptor myself, I have been following his work for about 27 years. George Lundeen is one of the most successful and well-known sculptors in Colorado, and one of the founders of a great community of artists in Loveland Colorado. Anyone that is interested in sculpture should definitely check out the two large sculpture shows held there every year in August.  www.sculptureinthepark.org
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Most Friday’s, I allow my inner artist come out in the form of a foo-foo salad. I make ‘em, you gobble ‘em up, so here’s what I did this week!

6/4 Friday Salad: Asian Style

3 hearts of romaine lettuce, finely shredded
1 red leaf lettuce bundle, finely shredded
1 bunch of cilantro, de-stemmed and chopped
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
1 hot house cucumber, diced
2 cups carrots, sliced thin on diagonal
2 avocados, sliced thin
1 med size jicama, julienned
1 bag honey toasted almonds (in salad section)
1 5oz can, La Choy Chow Mein Noodles
2 cans mandarin orange sections, drained
To taste- sprinkle dried red pepper flakes

Thoroughly toss all of the above ingredients. Dress with Annie’s Naturals Shitake and Sesame Vinaigrette, or your favorite Asian style dressing or marinade.

Yield~25pp

Feel free to make comments or suggestions!
Heidi

… and I really don’t see how you can mess it up!  I mean its chocolate.   If you make it right it will change your life (only a slight exaggeration).  If you mess it up it will probably still be pretty delicious.  I made Giada’s Chocolate Honey Almond Tart from her Giada at Home cookbook this weekend.  My inspiration?  Chocolate.  The occasion?  Sitting on my couch watching chick flicks one night of Memorial Day weekend and I firmly believe that calories do not count on holidays.  Did I really eat the entire tart and call it dinner?  No, but I seriously considered it.     read more....

Ingredients:

    * A bunch of dandelions
    * 1 cup milk
    * 1 egg
    * 1 cup plain flour
    * ½ tsp salt
    * ½ tsp pepper
    * About 1 cup vegetable oil or canola oil

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Running with my dog tonight, my new shoes didn’t feel right.  My toes felt crowded, and my right knee seems unsatisfied despite any amount of icing it receives while propped on the coffee table.  Years of minor injuries (some athletic, some party-related) give me mild assault, but I’ve never wanted to stop my light mileage habit.  Creaking along, I thought of ways to improve my stride and form, and I thought of someone I will never forget: the girl who used to cheer for me at my indoor track meets.  

She was from another high school – Haverhill or Lowell, maybe, and she kept vigil at my 1,000 yard dashes and, later in the season, my mile races, throughout the ‘92/’93 winter track season.  “Pick up your knees!”  “Lengthen your stride!”  She yelled and clapped every time I passed her.  Maybe this is just my memory of it, but I think she only cheered for me.  “Come on, you can do it!”  She was my personal coach, an embodied “Hang in There” kitten poster in the indoor track arena, and she willed my sour fifteen-year-old personage to achieve something - like ever breaking six minutes in the mile.    read more...

When people learn that you work in television, usually their next question is, “what’s the most interesting thing you’ve done?”

I am very fortunate that between my first career in TV news and my current career in production, the list is fairly long…and it’s very difficult to choose.

In the interest of narrowing it down for blog’s sake, standing at the edge of an active volcano is tough to beat.

It was 2002, and we were producing a show for Travel Channel called, “World’s Best Places to Brave Mother Nature.”  Anne (my wife and Co-Producer) and I shot several hours of aerials from a helicopter hovering over Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii.  The volcano happened to be active at the time, and had at least 3 vents shooting out geysers of lava.  This alone was worth the trip, although the sulfur smell, and sudden drops in altitude from the extreme conditions, gave us what we used to call an “E-Ticket ride.”  The Blue Hawaiian pilots are the best, and they knew how to maximize the flight to get the best shots, but still maintain a margin of safety for the guy…me…hanging out of the helicopter with a camera.   read more...

Though I was not an early fan of the show, I find myself feeling sad as the series finale of Lost quickly approaches.  The first time I ever saw Lost I was in a hotel room flipping channels and saw some jerks getting chased by a polar bear… on a tropical island.  I quickly dismissed it as ridiculous… but then months later found myself home sick with a terrible flu and nothing to do.  As I lay on the couch, unable to move or sleep,  I noticed my roommate’s DVD collections of Seasons 1 and 2… which I proceeded to watch in immediate succession.  Forty-seven hours later I was hooked.

I think what I love (and will miss) the most is the cultural phenomenon surrounding the show. The show is fun to watch, but once I dubbed myself “a fan”, I realized that a whole new culture was waiting for me.  The day after a good episode is just as fun as watching the show itself.  You find other Lost fans in the room and can discuss theories and insights and small details almost endlessly.  You scour Lostpedia for answers and twiddle your thumbs until Dan Hopper updates his Lost Recap page.  And I haven’t even mentioned the Lost parties...  You see, I’ve become very accustomed to dinner, discussions, and Lost at my friend’s houses on a near weekly basis.  Now I’ll never see them ever again!

This is a big deal.  As a country we’re not only losing an hour of entertainment on Tuesday nights, we are also losing reading material, discussion fodder, and friends…  not to mention the chance to see Frank Lapidus’ eyebrows on a regular basis.

It’s safe to say I never completely understood what was happening on the show, but it didn’t matter.  I was happy being lost with Lost.  And now I have to be lost without it.

Heather Hansen

What you didn’t know about the people of Citizen Pictures:

Everyone who has worked for Citizen Pictures from freelancers to executives have really interesting career stories and accomplishments. Talents, awards, sweet gigs, and famous run-ins you would never know about. I’ve decided to flat out ask. Because I don’t have time to sit down and chit-chat for hours on end, I put a short questioner together via e mail. These are some of the responses I got…

These spots cracked me up...since I am having a baby everyone is trying to convince my husband and I to get a minivan. These commercials are pretty convincing but I still don't think I will jump on the minivan band wagon just yet.
Chrissy