POP Correspondent: Homesteader’s Saturday Night
The New Yorker may have its Letter from France, but at Pink of Perfection we have Letter from Montana. Here, Katy McColl Lukens offers her first dispatch from the land of snow-capped mountain majesties and ridonkulously cheap blue plate specials.
A few months ago I was one of these jackasses. The kind of person who bought exotic sauces for experimental dishes but never quite got around to dipping into them twice. The kind of person who didn’t have a cooking repertoire at all, outside of baked chicken and blueberry muffins. I worked late and met my husband for sexy late-night suppers. Kinda kooky suppers, actually. He introduced me to a transportive Japanese yakitori joint around the corner where we would sit at the bar, use the hostess-proffered hot towels, order shocho cocktails (which came with a half a grapefruit and a reamer) and eat grilled jalepeños, sashimi and avocado salads, and the Japanese answer to pate: raw tuna liver with cream cheese. It was like traveling. It was sublime.
Then we moved to Montana, which feels exotic in a different way. Not at the grocery store—which stocks 2 different sizes of buttermilk (for homemade ranch dressing) but no fresh fish. But certainly at Yellowstone National Park, where we share the road with bison and cocksure elk and marvel at the kaliedescope of geothermal pools. Tonight we turn up the music, break out the craft supplies, and watch the original fireworks: the fire. It’s a fine evening. And it turns out that you can watercolor on any old flimsy piece of paper, that a little glitter* goes a long way, that Mason jars make excellent cocktail shakers, and that there’s enormous pride and pleasure to be found in making due.
Read some of Katy’s previous posts:
- 5 Things to Do with a Bottle of Rum
- Making Floral Arrangements from Weeds
- Simple Pleasures: Afternoon Tea
*You can score 24 different colors of the stuff for $15 using the 50% off Michael’s coupon in the December issue of Martha Stewart Living.
alliemarien: yeah i was on a vacation up in northern minnesota (near the boundary waters) and i was shocked to see what they didn’t stock in the grocery store. not to mention the lack of any restaurants within 100 miles. not exactly what i call vacation.42 weeks ago
Katy, I have always loved your cooking repertoire of chicken, blueberry muffins, and strange cocktails made from swag bag booze, but I’m glad that you now know the joys of humble homemade beans and rice. Do you ever miss NY taqueria burritos?42 weeks ago
Cordelia: Here’s the thing: I spent the better part of my pre-teen/teenage years reading Jane (where was my mother?); Jane inevitably introduced me to Katy McColl and eventually PoP/Sarah McColl. So this post is truly a delight. Perhaps as delightful as NY taqueria burritos.42 weeks ago
Karen: Living simply and making due….. everyone should experience this. A breath of fresh air.42 weeks ago
Erin: This I can get behind. A photo of a buffalo? Yes, please. Keep up the dispatches from the Wild West. (I have a secret yearning to leave my suburban life behind for a career in cowgirling.)42 weeks ago
Katy: I’ve got a lead on some tacos about an hour and a half away, so I’m doing fine. The real withdrawl comes from not having access to haas avocados!42 weeks ago
Jesse Lu: Hi Katy,
What part of Montana are you in? My mom lives in Red Lodge, right outside of Billings and I’ve spent a lot of time there. It is so wonderful… hard being there year round I’m sure… but it’s so beautiful during all seasons. And the open space is so magical… But yes… finding good fresh food is very hard. And there aren’t avocados, which I could never live without!
I look forward to your posts.42 weeks ago
Suzy: Here, here. I always think I need the fancy accoutrements to enjoy life, but fortunately semi-regular reminders appear to convince me I don’t. And this was one of them. (I live in the sticks, too, Katy, so I hear ya. Though we do have a good health food store with avocados galore, so I’m lucky there…)41 weeks ago
pattyskypants: You’ll have to have someone Fed Ex those avocados to you. That’s what I have to do when I NEEEEEED a bialy!40 weeks ago