Big Sky Country

Have you ever had a week pass by so quickly that you thought that maybe you dreamt it? I've just returned from my yearly trip to Montana and I do not believe that I've ever had a vacation pass by so quickly. I felt like we were packing to come home less than 24 hours after arriving. For those of you who have never been to Montana, you are missing out. It's such a beautiful part of this country that I hope everyone can get a chance to experience. You will feel like you've traveled back in time to a place with wide open space, sparkling rivers, plunging cliffs dotted with wildflowers, and herds of wild buffalo, a place where you find real cowboys actually herding cows across the highway. Every person you pass will wave "hello." And the sky! It's definitely bigger out there!!

I've been going to Montana every summer for the past 19 years. It all started when my grandparents bought a beautiful log-cabin home on the bank of the Madison River. The trip has evolved into a large family reunion. My mom has 5 siblings and, each year during the first week of August, they all try to make it with their families in tow. This year, we had 16 people staying at the house. We've developed a comfortable routine where we each take turns cooking and doing the dishes. There are traditional activities we do every year and we also like trying new things. It's so much fun and I feel so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity every summer.

This is a photo of their house

This year was especially fun for me because my fiance (it's still strange for me to use that word) joined me for the first time. He had a blast and is excited to be adding this yearly tradition to his life. We went to Yellowstone Park one day. We did both the northern and southern loops which meant 9 hours of driving but it was so beautiful that we hardly noticed the time. I took about 300 photos but here is just a small sample:

There are traditional activities that are done most years. There is the "Family Scramble," a best ball 9-hole golf game that's the highlight for some. (I detest golf so I don't play but Eric contributed) Those of us who don't participate, meet the teams on the 9th hole to cheer everyone on.

We went to Virginia City, an old gold rush town that has kept many of it's buildings from the 1800s intact. There is a candy shop in town that is the trip highlight for my little niece and cousins. You fill your bag with as much candy as you want and pay by the pound. They have homemade taffy that's so delicious.

A fairly new tradition for the trip is tubing down the lower Madison River. This was Eric and my favorite thing we did all week.

And it just wouldn't be a Sarmento family trip without some form of softball being played.

I baked a couple times while there. On my family's dinner night, I baked a couple cheesecakes - one plain and one chocolate. They were both so good! In the interest of saving some space on this post, I'm not going to type up the recipe. You can find it here. It's from Tyler Florence and it's amazing! For the chocolate version, I substituted chocolate graham crackers for the crust and omitted the cinnamon. I separated out about a cup of the cheesecake batter and mixed in melted bittersweet chocolate. Pour the plain batter into the crust and then spoon dollops of chocolate batter on top. Run a sharp knife through the batter to make the swirly look. So pretty! Since this is my dad's favorite thing I bake, I'll be making it again soon and I promise to be more detailed on the steps I take to bake the perfect, crack-free, cheesecake.

I also baked a cherry pie. Not only is this Eric's all-time favorite dessert, but it's also my grandpa's. I didn't have a cherry pitter so I used canned cherries. They didn't have tart cherries at the store so I tried Bing Cherries. Not my favorite but everyone else seemed to like it. Now I'm not sure what happened with the pie crust. I used my usual Paula's Perfect Pie Crust recipe like always, but I think this is the BEST pie crust I've ever had. I did end up using salted butter because that's all I could find. Plus, I was baking at over 5,000 feet so the altitude may have had something to do with it but it was SO crumbly and yummy. For the filling I just heated 2 cans of cherries (minus the juice) over the stove, simmering for about 10 minutes. Then I stirred in about 4 tsp of cornstarch to thicken, and added 3 Tbs sugar, the juice from about 1/2 a lemon, and 1/8 tsp of vanilla. (Cherry pie is better with almond extract but I didn't have any of that either). My grandpa was a happy camper.