September/October 2020 THROUGH THE FLOOD: ONE MAN’S JOURNEY FROM SURVIVOR TO BAKING HIGH SUCCESS (HIGH ALTITUDE, THAT IS) TWO UNIQUE CARBON VALLEY KIDS ALL-AGES COLORING CONTEST Contents From the Editor 4 BBQ Tip: How to Pick a Good Brisket 6 ALL IS FOR Baking High (High Altitude, That Is) 8 F Decisions for a Family Caregiver 10 FLAVOR Carbon Valley Coloring Contest 16 Estate Planning 32 BBQ TIPS features PAGE 6 Carbon Valley Kids 12 2 Minutes of Tech: Passwords 14 CARBON VALLEY RESOURCES 20 Community Spotlight: HOW TO Weld County Foster Care 34 WIN AT THE Cover Story: Through the Flood 24 YOGA 28 BAKING Oh The Things I Didn’t Know... 36 Values-Based Budgeting 37 GAME AT ALTITUDE New articles go up on PAGE 8 carbonvalley.life every week! Sign up for our weekly email to know when new articles post. Carbon Valley Life is produced and published by Genevieve Mellott Design. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information. Want to share your thoughts? Have ideas? Are there errors or omissions? Email [email protected]. Carbon Valley Life ©2020 Genevieve Mellott Design. All rights reserved. Articles, photos, and artwork © individual authors or artists. 2 3 from the editor I would be lying if I said that most Theo Pangilinan, discovered a number years I don’t heave an exasperated sigh of years ago. when I see Halloween candy in stores When you delve into these pages, August first, or roll my eyes at all the you will discover informative articles, pumpkin-spiced nonsense littering inspiring stories, and a little bit of fun my path all Autumn long (leave it for mixed in for good measure. Most of the pies and lattes, people!) Still, this this issue is what I would call “shared year I don’t mind so much. There is knowledge,” and I am infinitely grateful something reassuring about prepping to the writers and professionals who for the change to the coming season, cared enough to make it available to even in silly little things that used to all of us. May it also serve as part of be an annoyance. Other signs are very our seasonal comfort, uniquely relying welcome indeed: the subtle chill that on one another as we enter into the returns to Colorado evenings or the call next unknown, and, as so many folks of birds instinctively flying to their next are saying, knowing that we are “in destination. These things trigger what this together.” Who knows? our minds long to know, that we’ve Maybe as you’re enjoying done this before and know what to a relaxing read, digging expect. into a bag of black This fall, I hope you will consider and orange M&Ms two things: first, in every generation, while lighting there have been unforeseen tumultuous a pumpkin events. Those hard times passed, and spice candle, so will ours. Second, while sometimes someone we may not like the change and across town pressure accompanying those events, is doing the they have the capacity to bring out the same thing. Or best in us, even if we think we are not at least they’ll strong enough. If you shift your focus be thinking to helping others, if you learn to lean on about it. those who offer a hand, if you let go of control and latch onto your faith – you may just find the peace you need, just as the protagonist of our cover story, Genevieve lives in Firestone with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. She enjoys thunderstorms, gardening, and long walks around the reservoir... when the kids aren’t fighting or whining. 4 BBQ Tip: How to Pick a Good Brisket by Dan the BBQ Man As a barbeque competitor and and tender results. But what about caterer, I often get asked how to make the quality of the brisket itself while a better brisket. When people learn just still in the Cryovac? Did you know that how hard we work to cook a “perfect” you can increase your chances of brisket for those judges, they want cooking a supremely tender brisket some tips that might step up their own just by knowing how to pick one? Like backyard game. Why brisket? Patience choosing a pineapple, not all of them and persistence are virtues challenged are the same. If you know how to pick by many a stubborn brisket. They take the sweet ones, they are totally worth it. a while to cook, and not everyone Not all of us can afford to buy high- figures them out right away. How can end Wagyu briskets at three times the a brisket be stubborn? I wondered price. So we find ourselves standing at the same thing until I learned a little the local grocery store or big-box outfit, more about them. For this article, I gazing into the sea of briskets looking will be discussing full packer briskets, for the perfect slab. What do you look which are the most common to use for for, and how do you know you got the smoking. This term means the point best one out of the bunch? and the flat muscles are still connected in one brisket pack. Most folks who cook with beef There are a few things to consider before you even get your brisket on the smoker. Yes, your choice of rub ingredients, injections, and sauces are very important for constructing the best flavor. And how long you smoke it, at what temp, when you wrap or if you wrap and how long you let it rest are all important in ensuring juicy 6 understand that marbling is a great flexible it is and how easy it bends over way to tell if your brisket has good your arm or edge of the shopping cart. fat content between the meat fibers, If it bends easily in the Cryovac, it will which renders down during the cooking likely be more tender when it is cooked. process and turns into delicious, Finally, look at the grain of the meat tenderizing juices. For this reason, and see what direction it is running. choosing a Prime grade brisket over a The grain is the “lines” or fibers in the Choice brisket may be a better option meat that are running parallel from end from the start. to end. If you are looking at the brisket When searching through the lengthwise, the more parallel the grain briskets, don’t be afraid to pick it up is to the cut of the brisket, the more and inspect it closely. The big solid tender it is likely to be. fat chunk on the point end, called Hopefully, these tips will help you the “deckle,” can sometimes be the next time you are shopping for a disproportionately large, and after good brisket and will take your smoking trimming it out can lead to a lot of game to the next level! weight loss that you’ve paid for by the pound. Also, the fat cap that runs along the underside of the brisket should be thinner than the meat, but sometimes Dan Milam is the pitmaster and co-owner it’s the other way around, and you of Chase’N’Smoke BBQ catering and end up with more fat than beef. While competition team with his wife Jacqueline, holding it up from its center, test how based in Firestone. 7 Baking High (High Altitude, That Is) by Angela Peterson One of the most important aspects which will change the texture of your of baking, in my mind, is being able to cake and can lead to more irregular adjust for altitude since most people pockets of air in your batter. So, it is are using recipes found online or in very important to understand how to a cookbook and not developing their adjust the recipe so that you can have own. “Why do I need to worry about the best outcome possible each time! the altitude I’m baking at?” you may If you are getting your recipe from ask. The altitude affects the amount a blog, and it isn’t apparent where of air pressure there is, which affects the writer lives, go to their About Me how quickly things rise, how much section or Introduction; they usually moisture is lost, and how the leaveners state where they live there. If not, feel react. High-altitude baking means free to reach out to them and see that there is less air pressure, causing where they are testing these recipes. baked goods to rise faster and lose If you are getting your recipe from a more moisture, and it causes the cookbook, you can generally rely on chemical reaction in your leaveners where the author is currently living, to occur more quickly. The change which usually is listed in their bio on in the chemical reaction taking place the back sleeve, or you can probably causes larger gas bubbles to form, 8 Google them and find out. I have found that unless it is specifically a high- altitude or regional cookbook, then it is ShortD’s /’SHôrdēz/ noun: safe to assume it is made for baking at fine purveyor of exquisite sea level. coffee beans, roasted to So, how do you know if you need perfection and surprisingly to adjust your recipe? Simple: if there is a chemical leavener present in the affordable. See also: yummy recipe, then you need to adjust. Your next question is probably, “What is a chemical leavener?” Baking soda Small-Batch RoaSted on demand PeRfect foR home and office and baking powder are the two fRee deliveRy Within caRBon valley types of chemical leaveners used in baking.