Every building and every place has a story, a history. The history evolves as buildings and places are built, transformed, lived in, sold, bought, torn down, rebuilt, and everything that happens in between.  Buttercup Ranch is one of those places whose history Jane and I, and our family, are thrilled to be part of.

Buttercup Ranch is down the road from Rosebud Ranch—our current Colorado home in Old Snowmass. It belonged to Pulitzer Prize journalist, war correspondent, and my personal friend Loren Jenkins (who also happens to be full of great stories). Jenkins made history as a foreign correspondent, spending 25 years overseas reporting for UPI, Newsweek, and The Washington Post. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon. After serving as Editor for The Aspen Times, he joined NPR, tripling the number of foreign desk offices around the world and helping NPR’s foreign coverage win nearly every award possible.

My favorite of all his stories is the one he recounts about being the last American, along with the Ambassador, his secretary, and the Ambassador’s toy poodle, to be helicoptered out of Saigon when the U.S. finally pulled the plug on its presence in Vietnam. He was even in the last photograph out of Vietnam! The next chapter in the life of Buttercup Ranch is to be transformed as we turn it into our new family ranch. We have plans to expand the property and to relocate and restore historical log cabins, each with their own story, onto the property. Stay tuned for a video cam and regular updates on the progress of Buttercup Ranch that we will post here!

Every building and every place has a story, a history. The history evolves as buildings and places are built, transformed, lived in, sold, bought, torn down, rebuilt, and everything that happens in between.  Buttercup Ranch is one of those places whose history Jane and I, and our family, are thrilled to be part of.

Buttercup Ranch is down the road from Rosebud Ranch—our current Colorado home in Old Snowmass. It belonged to Pulitzer Prize journalist, war correspondent, and my personal friend Loren Jenkins (who also happens to be full of great stories). Jenkins made history as a foreign correspondent, spending 25 years overseas reporting for UPI, Newsweek, and The Washington Post. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon. After serving as Editor for The Aspen Times, he joined NPR, tripling the number of foreign desk offices around the world and helping NPR’s foreign coverage win nearly every award possible.

My favorite of all his stories is the one he recounts about being the last American, along with the Ambassador, his secretary, and the Ambassador’s toy poodle, to be helicoptered out of Saigon when the U.S. finally pulled the plug on its presence in Vietnam. He was even in the last photograph out of Vietnam! The next chapter in the life of Buttercup Ranch is to be transformed as we turn it into our new family ranch. We have plans to expand the property and to relocate and restore historical log cabins, each with their own story, onto the property. Stay tuned for a video cam and regular updates on the progress of Buttercup Ranch that we will post here!

Quiche

This is a special quiche because it’s one that everybody likes. Even if you say you don’t eat quiche, you are about to love this one! It’s my favorite and it’s really easy to make. Basically, all you have to do is pre-bake a pie crust, cook some onions, scallions, and a little bit of garlic, and then throw it in the pie crust with feta, cheddar cheese, spinach, eggs, and milk. It takes about 45-55 minutes in total to cook and then voilà — you have a perfect quiche.

Bolognese Sauce

Everything worth having is worth waiting for.

Bolognese sauce is easy to make but it does take a little time. And since the global pandemic has me spending more time at home, I decided to use the extra time to make one of my favorite Italian sauces (and the pasta to go with it of course)! Brought to you from Rosebud Ranch, my latest cooking demonstration features my new set of knives from Shawn and Jenni, an experiment with a Cuisinart food processor whose usefulness is debatable, and the secret to making any dish taste better as taught to me by my dear friend Kim Tucci, may he rest in peace. 

Pour yourself a good drink (a Whistlepig Manhattan perhaps), grab a pen if you like to write down ingredients or instructions, and let’s go!

Quiche

This is a special quiche because it’s one that everybody likes. Even if you say you don’t eat quiche, you are about to love this one! It’s my favorite and it’s really easy to make. Basically, all you have to do is pre-bake a pie crust, cook some onions, scallions, and a little bit of garlic, and then throw it in the pie crust with feta, cheddar cheese, spinach, eggs, and milk. It takes about 45-55 minutes in total to cook and then voilà — you have a perfect quiche.