Mother’s Day Brunch, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

We love to entertain but one of my favorite occasions is Mother’s Day Brunch with the ladies. It’s a wonderful time to bring together all of our friends who don’t have another Mother’s Day engagement and treat them to a special day.

This year’s menu was tons of fun to create and prepare, including a few brunch appetizers around our kitchen butcher block to allow it to warm up a bit before enjoying some beautiful spring sunshine on the deck.

Mother’s Day Menu
Brie and Chevre cheeses with pumpernickel bread
Norwegian Gjetost cheese
Assorted meats
Asiago bagels with salsa cream cheese
Strawberries with Grand Marnier whipped cream
Scrambled eggs with dill and smoked Alaskan salmon
Colosimo’s sausage
Chef Tom’s Lyonnaise hash browns
Chocolate covered strawberries (thank you Elizabeth and Candace)
Winder Farms Orange Juice

Tags: breakfast, brunch, dining, food, mothers day

Moscow Sheremetyevo, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

Landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport brought back memories of 28 years ago with bitter cold you could see in the air as our Delta 767 touched down on the tarmac. But that’s where the memories stopped. Walking into the gleaming Terminal D with walls adorned with advertising and free WiFi throughout was a far cry from the Soviet Union I got to know in two amazing adventures in the ’80s.

Nearly 30 years ago my friend Peter Graves and I pioneered an adventure travel company, Worldwide Nordic USA, taking cross country skiers to far off destinations. One of those destinations was Murmansk, 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the then Soviet Union.

It took years to get permission for a dozen Americans to ski in the Murmansk Marathon. But a partnership with the New York-based Russian Travel Bureau eventually cut through the red tape and resulted in us being one of the first American groups ever to visit the city which played a vital role in World War II.

Three decades have passed since those two trips to Murmansk. Now the Soviet Union has dissolved and Russia is preparing to host its first Olympic Winter Games in 2014. Over the next few days I’ll visit the venues surrounding Rosa Khutor. It will be a markedly different experience than that of 28 years ago when a group of American citizen skiers took Murmansk by storm.

Tags: adventure, russia, sochi, soviet union, Travel

Thanksgiving is always an amazing feast in our home, with a regular group of family and friends who have been joining us for over 20 years. In the leadup, my friend Chef Richard and I match minds over Mexican lunches at El Chubasco while paging through the Bon Appetit Thanksgiving issue, debating which turkey it will be. After many years of shoveling way too much food onto the table, we’ve tried to come to our senses as of late and keep it simple. Well, maybe a bit simpler. It’s hard to keep two passionate chefs tied down when it comes to Thanksgiving.

This year’s bird was a debate between the Cajun Spiced Turkey and the Cider Brined Turkey with Star Anise and Cinnamon. Cider brined it is!

It’s Thanksgiving Day and we’re all frantically prepping in the kitchen. Checkout the photos and full review later!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011 Thanksgiving Menu

Appetizers and Salad
Selection of cheeses, crackers, salami
Roasted Beet Salad – Hostess Carole

Main Course
Cider Brined Turkey with Star Anise and Cinnamon
Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts Gratin – Chef Tom
Garlic mashed potatoes with apple cider gravy – Chef Richard (still King of Gravy)
Spinach, Fennel and Sausage Dressing (prepared gluten free and with vegetarian option) – Chef Tom
Gail’s Famous Cranberry Orange Relish

Dessert
Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake – Chef Liza (veteran of Letty’s Deer Valley Resort bakery)
Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie – Chef Liza

Tags: brussels sprouts, cauliflower, dressing, food, holiday, kitchen, meal, thanksgiving, turkey

White Barn in Autumn, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

It was an amazing year of photography and I’m proud to showcase it this weekend (Nov. 19-20) at the St. Mary’s Christmas in the Meadow Holiday Boutique.

I have assembled a wonderful collection of photography from the past year in a wide variety of sizes and price points. A hot item this year will be my new line of Park City Notecards with a four-pak for just $12.00

Where
St. Mary’s Catholic Church at entrance to White Pine Canyon on SR224, Park City, Utah.

When
Sat. Nov. 19 – 9-5:30
Sun. Nov. 20 – 10-3

Also, Carole has her usual collection of innovative Do Dads for You creations. We’ll have separate booths this year so we can each offer you a wider range of gifts to choose from.

We look forward to seeing you this weekend!

Yellow Aspens, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

What a fall color run we had! I’m making some 24×36 gallery wraps of this glowing aspen scene from Guardsman Pass for an upcoming show. If anyone wants to pre-order one for yourself or a holiday gift, let me know and I’ll give you $50 off the show price.

Singletrack, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

This image is a personal favorite – not only as a photograph for the memory of a great ride on Park City, Utah’s Mid-Mountain Trail.

This singletrack route through the mountains represents the genius of Mountain Trails. The three resorts are naturally laced with trails, many old mining roads. They go up and down and can give you thousands of feet of vertical in an afternoon ride.

Mid Mountain Trail is different. It basically hugs the 8,000 foot contour offering what I call pedal and roll terrain. Sure, there’s a few climbs. But nothing significant. And the views as you crisscross from open ski runs to dense aspen and pine forest are some of the most memorable in the Wasatch.

It’s not easy to ride with a heavy Nikon D700 hanging from your neck. There are lots of stops. This particular vantage point was fascinating to me. The steep ski run on the front face of Park City Mountain Resort put everything on an angle. And the singletrack trail bisected the run and headed back into a glowing yellow grove of aspen.

It shows the diversity of the terrain on the Mid Mountain Trail as a long rider speeds along the narrow singletrack and into the next stretch of forest.

The trail runs from Deer Valley Resort through Park City Mountain Resort and on to Canyons. The most popular segment is from Empire Lodge, where you climb up and above The Montage, on to Park City Mountain Resort.

My afternoon ride took me from Empire all the way through PCMR, dropping into the Silverlode lift canyon where I picked up the Crescent Grade Trail which took me back around to the frontside and eventually down to the bottom by the First Time lift.

Have fun!

Jeepin’, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

Yes, Carole has a new Jeep Rubicon. This isn’t it. No reason to get the shiny new silver Rubicon dirty when the Orange Jeep is still itchin’ for mud.

We had a wonderful drive up Empire and Guardsman Passes, then down to Snake Creek Canyon and up the ridgeline above Midway, Utah. The sun wasn’t shining so photography was a bit mixed. So Carole decided she would take on the mud left by recent snowfall.

Havin’ fun!

Storms Over Idaho, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

Storm chasing on flat prairie and desert is a blast! You can see them coming for dozens of miles away. Our drive today on route 20 through Idaho was filled with weather events from hail to raging downpours to bright, sunny skies. Late afternoon there were some particularly treacherous storms. As we pulled over to look at an historical marker, there were beautiful sunflowers lining the road. It made for a wonderful photograph as cars dashed by and the wind whipped the flowers. (c) 2011 Tom Kelly

Las Vegas at Dusk, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

My earliest memories of Las Vegas date back to the mid ’70s as a young ski industry professional. Going to Vegas was an exhilirating experience. One of most distinct memories is crashing the SKI and Skiing Magazine free lunches on the penthouse level of the Las Vegas Hilton – the tallest building in town! Today, just 30 some years later, the Hiton isn’t even in the top 50 in Vegas!

We used to hit Vegas four or five times a year, en route to visit family in SoCal or attending the SnowSports Industries America trade show. Both have now moved on and our recent stopover was one of only a handful in the last five years. The change is amazing.

The legendary hotels of the past are dwarfed by the gleaming towers of today. The Hilton itself plays second fiddle to a host of concrete and glass hotels and apartments spiraling skyward from what used to be a parking lot. On the strip, the golden reflections of the Wynn and Encore stand sentinel on the site of the old Desert Inn. The aging Fronter across the street is gone (thank God) – a vacant lot now with the massive Trump International out back.

I remember vividly when Steve Wynn opened the Mirage and Treasure Island. Still important anchors on that part of the strip, they are joined by the likes of the massive new Palazzo across the street adjoining the Venetian.

Down the street, the new Fountainbleau is among a host of skyscraper resorts the have created a new Las Vegas skyline. Walking down the strip today is akin to being in a Grand Canyon of glass and steel!

While we don’t spend a lot of time sitting at slot machines or tossing twenties down on the craps tables, we have always loved visiting Vegas. There’s an electricity there 24 hours a day. We’ve long ago mastered the “Vegas for Free” concept, hopscotching from the pirate ship show at TI to the water show at the Mirage (not big fans of the new Sirens of TI show). Or having an after dinner cocktail at the Lake of Dreams at Wynn, and peering into Penske Wynn Ferrari Maserati dealership.

Like anyone who has visited Vegas, I have myriad memories which all come back with each successive visit. My first In ‘n Out experience.

Hauling athletes and journalists out to a sunrise breakfast after the 1992 Olympics. Steve Wynn entertaining the 1994 and ’98 Teams at Treasure Island and Mirage. A waitress slapping my sleeping friend to wake him up at a restaurant at 5 a.m. so he could order. Leaving the rental car at the curb in the early ’80s when I was late for a Western flight to MSP(yes, I really did).

And as much as we’ve maintained a continuity of visits over 35 years, the change this time was very striking. And it remains one of our world’s most amazing wonders!

Tallest Buildings in Vegas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Las_Vegas

Fine Dining
Over the years we’ve grown to love a variety of restaurants off the strip including Piero’s (thank you Gary!), Lawry’s Prime Rib, Cozymel’s (RIP) and others. For a change of pace, we decided to follow one of our favorite chef’s, Mario Batali, and checkout his four-year-old B & B Ristorante in the bowels of The Venetian. Every single bite was a treasure! Watch for our TripAdvisor review coming out soon.

Tags: las vegas, Travel

Potato Salad Hill, originally uploaded by tomkellyphoto.

No, this is not our orange Jeep. I do wish it was. This is no picnic. This is Potato Salad Hill during Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. This is where the term insanity was coined.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and just thinking the outcome will be different. That describes the guy in the really nice F-250 without lockers who just couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t make it up the near-vertical rock outcropping of Potato Salad Hill. His day ended when he bent a tie rod at a 45 degree angle – not good for the steering (talk about toe-in).

This driver was good. And he had good equipment. Earlier he had climbed straight up the middle with no effort at all. For the rocks on rider’s right are steep – super, super steep. And it’s impossible to keep all four down, as you can see here

He tried and tried for nearly an hour – nearly tipping more than once. He moved a tire an inch here and an inch there.

Wanna know another trick? Look closely at the winch, which is wrapped around the front axle. From the cockpit, he can control the winch to keep the nose lower. As he steps the Jeep up the rock, the articulation of the front suspension throws the nose up and back. A quick hit on the winch and the nose of the Jeep is a bit closer to terra firme.

Yes, in the end, he made it. As did most of the others.

Potato Salad Hill is, indeed, insanity. But it’s fun. Thousands camp out on the rocks to watch driver after driver tackle the hill. It’s good fun – no problems. Just watching man and machine tackle Mother Nature.

Tags: 4wd, jeep, moab, redrock, Travel, utah