STEEP RAVINE

A few weeks ago we went camping in the most beautiful place we have EVER camped.  It is a site called Steep Ravine that is located in Mount Tamalpais State Park right on the Marin County coastline.  There are about 7 tents sites that you can reserve (we had the "Pelican" site), along with a few rustic cabins that can be rented.  The sites are so isolated that you feel like you are completely alone.  The coastline is right there you are completely surrounded by flowers, trees, and hills.  It is heavenly.  We had a great evening.  Erik grilled steaks and corn on the cob and potatoes and we roasted marshmallows for dessert, debuting our new rolla roasters (they were awesome...)  The weather was nice all evening and through the night, but we woke up to heavy rain that soon made its way into the tent.  We ended up breaking camp early and heading home.  I was so sad we had to leave early, but the trip was definitely still worth it.  The rest of the day was great too.  We holed up in our cozy house while the random June rain fell all day. It was the nicest day we have had together in awhile :)

KEY LIME PIE

Wow.  I haven't made a blog post in like, a million years.  The time just goes by too fast, or I forget to take pictures, or the pictures turn out bad, or I'm too lazy, etc. etc.  Anyhow, summer is here!  I made a yummy key lime pie a couple weeks ago.  It is a sure-fire recipe from the folks at Cook's Illustrated that I have been making forever.  One of the best things about the recipe is that it calls for regular limes instead of key limes since the people in the Cook's test kitchen actually preferred the (more affordable!) regular limes.  Oh, I loooove this pie....  It never gets old to eat tons of this ice cold beauty on a warm day.  Sorry there are no pictures of the finished product.  We ate the whole thing before I remembered to take any!

Ingredients:

Lime Filling:

4 teaspoons grated lime zest

1/2 cup strained juice from 3 or 4 limes

4 large egg yolks

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Graham Cracker Crust:

9 graham crackers, broken into rough pieces

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and kept warm

Whipped Cream Topping:

3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions

1. For the Filling: Whisk zest and yolks in medium bowl until tinted light green, about 2 minutes. Beat in milk, then juice; set aside at room temperature to thicken.
   
2. For the Crust: Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix crumbs and sugar in medium bowl. Add butter; stir with fork until well blended. Pour mixture into 9-inch pie pan; press crumbs over bottom and up sides of pan to form even crust. Bake until lightly browned and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.
   
3. Pour lime filling into crust; bake until center is set, yet wiggly when jiggled, 15 to 17 minutes. Return pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours. (Can be covered with lightly oiled or oil-sprayed plastic wrap laid directly on filling and refrigerated up to 1 day.)
   
4. For the Whipped Cream: Up to 2 hours before serving, whip cream in medium bowl to very soft peaks. Adding confectioners’ sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, continue whipping to just-stiff peaks. Decoratively pipe whipped cream over filling or spread evenly with rubber spatula. Garnish with optional sugared lime slices and serve.