Rodger & Sherry's Culinary Experience

09/02/2026

LaShante "Lisa" Smith was a great chef and a key part of our culinary team.
She passed 18 months ago and is greatly missed.

LaShonte was a data scientist that went to culinary school, and used her experience to look at health in a whole new light. How do you effectively use nutrition for health and break the chains of pharma. Can you use nutrition and data science to find disease patterns early, intercept and reverse trends.

She was quietly working on a book that very few knew about, and unfortunately she finished it, but did not get to see it published.

It is now available on Amazon Prime and I got myself and Chef Jim Romano a copy.

08/27/2026

What a great day with Challenge Aspen and my good friends Nate Gillette and Ryan Burtis

Challenge Aspen Military Opportunity (CAMO) put on a mountain biking retreat for 30 veterans and came back to beautiful June Bug Ranch for BBQ supper with Pit Master Ryan.
Lia Barskey put on fly fishing lessons while the smoke was wafting.

Everyone came back for 2nds and 3rds so either they were really hungry from mountain biking, the food was good, or they were being overly polite.

I kinda cheated though. Bison tritip with duck fat, wagyu burgers, beer brats, candied bacon, smoked halibut dip. And lots of other goodies.

08/14/2026

I am cooking for 30 veterans as part of Challenge Aspen Military Opportunity (CAMO) on 24 August. Challenge Aspen takes disabled veterans on adaptive sports adventures, and on the 24th they have a mountain bike trip. At the end, they will come back hungry. We will have dinner on a beautiful ranch setting outside of Aspen Colorado so I came up with what I think is an appropriate menu.
There are a few people that are dairy free and some that do not eat red meat. The only item that contains diary is the halibut dip.

Chef Rodger & Chef Jimmy just came back from Calder Mountain Lodge with fresh halibut and salmon.

Rodger & Sherry's Culinary Experience held a dinner for Challenge Aspen and we appreciate all of your support.

I have helped the with fly fishing the last several years but the water levels are challenging this year. So I will be wearing my chef coat.

06/13/2026

Many of you know our dynamic duo known as "the fluffy butt twins" Tahoe and Shasta from our dinners.

When we first brought Tahoe home, the first thing he did was go sit next to our husky stuffed pet under Jakes picture. Now Jake is there to welcome him home. We have an in-home service today for the transition and to say goodbye.

Please no calling or texting today the 13th as we go through this.

Tahoe's absolute favorite place was our property in Basalt. We have a waterfall on the back of the property he loved to be at.

He is half of the dynamic duo known as "the fluffy butt twins."

I could never go to the dog park in anonymity because everyone would always say, "hey, that's Tahoe." They didnt know me, except Tahoe's dad.

Just a week ago he was running around like a puppy, tackling his sister, causing mischief and blaming Shasta. We didnt catch the cancer until Wednesday at the vet in Basalt. The vet told me I need to get him to lower elevation as soon as possible, and do not spend any extra time on the passes between Ruedi and the front range. She wasnt sure if he would make the drive but I knew I had to get him to see Shigemi before he passed. We made it from Ruedi to Wheatridge Animal Hospital in 2.5 hours. We got him some steroids to bring him home and spend a few good days saying goodbye.

Its going to be a tough transition for the 3 of us. Tahoe would wake me by licking my head when I was having restless nights. He looked after me.

Tahoe is loved and will be missed by all.

05/31/2026

Last night Sherry and I attended a gala for Hometown Hero Outdoors and they were showing pictures from a fly fishing trip we hosted at our Basalt home. Ive been remiss in sharing with you, who provided all of the financial support for the trip.

After a successful Hometown Hero Outdoors dinner that many of you supported, I joined the organization as field staff to be a fly fishing guide.

We hosted an HHO fly fishing retreat on the Frying Pan river and private water access on the Roaring Fork river. I got to cook for everyone and made some rabbit chasseur with a truffled potatoe puree.
This is made possible by all of you generous supporters as our HHO dinner has been the biggest annual fundraiser for the Colorado chapter. These trips arent free, we provide all of the waders, flies, rental gear, everything needed and you make it possible.

I want to thank Lia on the Fly guide service for volunteering their time and giving valuable lessons.

I wanted to share the impact and what the money you contribute is used for. This isnt just fly fishing. This is healing. We spend a lot of time on our trips opening up about the challenges of being away from our families on deployments, having to enter into "normal society" after spending time in high stress environments, helping each other navigate the complexity of the VA and t list goes on.

05/30/2026

Shigemi 'Sherry' Cree and I are back from our culinary trip to Japan.
Her personal Facebook account is locked so everything will be coming from Rodger Cree until resloved.

I picked up some new kitchen toys and some new skills/techniques. We spent a lot of time exploring small restaurants where we can sit at the counter and observe.

We've been back a week and already putting some of it to practice making a bowl of udon and tamagoyaki.

04/26/2026

Homemade French onion soup. Easy to make.

French onion soup

04/23/2026

There is nothing like homemade seafood stock.
Add this to your repertoire to elevate your cooking.

Seafood stock

04/17/2026

Did you like the ice cream at our last dinner?
Here is how to make it.

Blackberry and walnut liquor ice cream

04/03/2026

Keep cooking.

Cooking a wild brown trout from the Frying Pan river.