It's becoming more and more certain that we'll be in Colorado Springs by this time next year.
An acquaintance there has patiently answered a lot of my cooking/baking questions, but I was wondering if any of you with experience at elevations of over 33 feet (that's where we are now) had any advice...
She says that most recipes are fine if you reduce the fat a bit (1 tablespoon, she said she used most commonly) and increased the flour (2 tablespoons).
There was also something about atmospheric pressure being lower, so water boils at a lower temp, and pasta (the example) takes longer to cook? And things in the oven take a bit longer, too?
She assured me things would taste fine, though.
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
My boss at work, who taught at the AF Academy in the 70s, says tomatoes don't grow there. I considered it might be the 17.5 inches of rain annually, and not the elevation, but didn't tell her that.
Now, I am not a gardener but that's simply not true. In fact, in the 70's I spent many, many summer afternoons in a very hot (no a/c) kitchen canning bushels and bushels of tomatoes my mother grew every year! Now, you might not particularly care for the accompanying water bill, but you can grow tomatoes and lots of other things...including lovely tulips and daffodils and even I have managed a rose bush at my new house.
You who loves bath products is going to gain a whole new appreciation for lotion in any way, shape and form. I'm sure you had a similar experience in Montana.
Originally posted by D in St Pete: My boss at work, who taught at the AF Academy in the 70s, says tomatoes don't grow there. I considered it might be the 17.5 inches of rain
In Tahoe... it is the night temps in the 30's... and occasional snow shower... in June.
Our realtor set us up on a property watch, and OMGOMGOMG...some of the houses have BULB GARDENS. I know that's not a big deal to most of you, but I have only had Gulf coastal gardens, which do not have winters, and therefore do not have bulbs. TULIPS. DAFFODILS. Roses with lots of petals and not on Fortuniana rootstock! (the ones with lots of petals get too wet to open here, so you end up with big brown blobs) O. M. G.
And the houses...don't have central air. Eeep.
My boss at work, who taught at the AF Academy in the 70s, says tomatoes don't grow there. I considered it might be the 17.5 inches of rain annually, and not the elevation, but didn't tell her that. I've already scoped out the UC extension office website and read up on the microclimes. Xeriscaping rules, plains grasses rock, and hardy trees win. A lot of it depends on whether we're in foothills or prairie (plains?), apparently. I miss Texas, so I'm hoping for plains, with a view of the mountains. Seriously. Nearly every house has a view of Pike's Peak. Amazing!
Camping is not on my to-do list. I can't remember who said it, but I like the quote: "Roughing it" means there's no room service. I will not be worrying about pasta at 8000 feet on a propane stove.
Thank you for the turkey advice. I suspect if we did turkeys, we'd do two smaller ones rather than one big one--we did that the year we hosted Thanksgiving, and it worked very well. And we brined! I have a terrible time with roasted chicken...at least there, I'll have something to blame other than, "I followed the directions!"
Oh hey...I bet there, I can make a custard that actually sets...the humidity is rarely low enough here to make a real custard. We've tried. Multiple times. Great-tasting ooze. Terrible texture of custard.
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
Originally posted by p7eggyc: it'll be different than FL but not earth-shattering.
I agree.
Now the GARDENING adjustment... can't help you with that! THAT might be an adjustment for you , since most gardening books are not written for a high altitude.
I have cooked at this altitude my whole life so I'm sure some of it is 2nd nature so I don't really realize the differences. I definitely do notice things taking longer to cook up in the mtns but on the plains where you'll be, it'll be different than FL but not earth-shattering. You'll be in the groove in a matter of a couple of months I imagine.
The biggest thing is the baking if you are a big baker. My cookies always turn out flat but my mother's always were lovely. I imagine it's mostly a matter of trial and error which you seem to love anyway. There are high-altitude baking books out there too that you might enjoy checking out.
The turkey stories do crack me up though. It does seem to take an awfully long time to cook a turkey here. I guess I always thought it took that long everywhere! LOL Sounds like Denise's family has solved a lot of that. My dad has grilled ours for years and they turn out great too. Not sure how long it takes though and I'm sure some years, if the outside temp is pretty low, it takes even longer.
The only other food I know people have a ton of trouble with here is divinity but I'm fairly sure that is a humidity issue not an altitude one.
I'm so excited! I might not have to run from the fashion police for the rest of my life.
Originally posted by GoingSkiing: I have not done any baking up there…
I take that back. I made a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie up there. I actually over cooked the pecan a little... but that was my fault and not the altitude. I should have taken it out when it was a little looser...
But the pumpkin was fine. Crust wasn't a problem at all. Tasted just like it does at home. But pies don't have baking powder or baking soda... I think that THEY might be the issue. The leavening factor...
I don't remember them taking any awful amount of time.
Water boils at 180 or 190 or something and not 212. Pasta takes a little longer… but not much. Actually, the thing that I notice the MOST is that food cools off REALLY fast there. It starts off cooler... and gets cool faster. I notice that more than longer cooking times.
Things take longer… but a pot of pasta might take 12-13 minutes instead of 9-11. It isn’t like you have to put the pasta on at lunch to have it ready for dinner. And on the plus side… the water comes to a boil faster. Here at sea level… I have to put tea water in the microwave for 2 mins and 15 seconds. In Tahoe… 2 minutes. For MOST things it isn’t a problem at all. And I don’t notice a problem with texture. Pasta in Tahoe is like pasta here.
The exception to the “not a problem” rule. Turkey. OMG. If you want to cook a piece of meat that weighs 15 lbs… OMG. If you want to eat Thanksgiving dinner at 2:30pm. You need to put it in the oven at 4am. I kid you not. And “rare” turkey is NOT a good thing.
We have found that brining big honking animal carcasses is the way to go. An unbrined turkey that is in the oven for 9-10 hours will be this weird (and GROSS) combination of both dry and “rare”.
We have concluded that turkeys HAVE to be brined… and cooking them in a “roasting bag” also helps to keep them moist… although my brother didn't bag this one and basted it a LOT and it was a great looking and tasting bird.
I don’t have an oven thermometer… and my sister and I have wondered if you set the oven at 450... Does it really get to 450 degrees? At any rate, opening the oven door 175 times and dribbling the bird with butter and broth didn’t seem to slow down the cooking process.
We have bagged the turkeys in an oven roasting bag… and FORBIDDEN anyone from touching the oven door. Takes 10 hours. Open the door every 4.5 minutes to baste it. Takes 10 hours.
And some Cup O’Soups can be a problem. I bought a Mac and Cheese Cup O’Soup for Jamie to eat skiing one time. Not a good choice… crunchy pasta. Thinner pasta cup of soups are fine. (Doubt that you are a big consumer of Cup O’Soups. We only eat them while skiing…)
I’ve also been camping at 8,500 ft. several times… and pasta takes like 25-30 mins on a camp stove and is STILL crunchy. But if you are hungry, you stop caring or you choose slightly crunchy pasta over running out of propane… but I hope that you don’t have to cook on a regular basis THAT high. You might want to put your Thanksgiving turkey in the oven on Halloween at 8-9,000 ft.
One VERY cool food to cook at 6-7,000 feet is popcorn. I haven’t made popcorn on the stove there… but popcorn in the microwave makes these HUGE fluffy kernels. If I was in advertising, I’d film a popcorn commercial at 6,800 ft.
My sil has told me that the worst thing about baking at that elevation is that things just expand TOO much and are TOO light and fluffy… with the popcorn… it is a good thing. Giant, exploding muffins… not so good… maybe. My sil isn’t really a baker, though… She might have exploding muffins at sea level, too.
I have not done any baking up there… except for frozen pizza and Nestlé’s Tollhouse cookies. They both come out fine (isn‘t THAT helpful to know! Such a relief to know that frozen pizza and whack and bake cookies both work fine!!!).
I have a friend in Salt Lake City… and she said that of all cakes… angel food is the hardest to do in the elevation.
But most foods don’t seem to be a problem… pasta, vegs, oatmeal, brown rice, etc.
Oh yes! We can afford "more," if that makes sense...a little larger house, on a larger lot, all living closer to work, AND keeping this house, because the market's the way it is (and because we bought "frugal", if that makes sense). I like the mountains, and that area is nice, with great promise for his career, and good opportunities for me.
Plus, Peg & I can go shopping
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
Now, you might not particularly care for the accompanying water bill, but you can grow tomatoes and lots of other things...including lovely tulips and daffodils and even I have managed a rose bush at my new house. 
