In the spirit of love, this Valentines I wanted to share a Buffalo Love story with you, and a dessert that will bring the sweetness out in anyone! A BUFFALO LOVE STORY A few months ago Dan and I moved all but seven of our buffalo on to their winter pasture in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. The seven left behind, consisted of a crippled up older cow with her calf, a calf-less cow, a young bull, and three older, big bulls, each with their own unique personality. The cow and calf started to keep to themselves a few months earlier to stay out of harms way, which we were hoping for, as we wanted to keep a close eye on them during the colder winter months that lay ahead. And, a few of the bigger breeding bulls had slipped away from the main heard, as they often do. The calf-less cow and young bull were a bit odd, or were they? After a couple of weeks, the motherless cow had palled up with the three big bulls, and the younger bull stayed within a few hundred yards of the cow and calf. We monitored the cow and calf daily, ensuring that the mother was getting around to food and water. After a day or so of not seeing her, we set out in search for the trio, keeping our distance, so they would not feel pressured. We found the two of them tucked into a hillside, where water flows from a spring year round. The younger bull was just below, keeping his usual distance. We guessed that the young bull was one of her offspring from a few years back, and was doing his required hospice duty. To insure that she wouldn’t have to roam for her food, Dan put out a two thousand pound round bale of grass hay that we had put up this past summer. She died within the week in the comfort of her home, and as if on cue, the young bull took the motherless calf into his care, and slowly lead it to the others. The separated small herd was now one, and I watched with binoculars from the window as the calf leaped around and frolicked between the massive bison bulls watchful eyes. The cow assisted too, nudging it now and then when it would lollygag behind. In the early mornings and also just as the sun was setting, they would often stop by the hay to take a few bites. I snuck a little closer on a couple of those occasions, to try to get a few photographs. The two-ton hay bale looked like a marshmallow next to their large frames. Once I was noticed, the calf moved on with its loving family into the setting golden light. DULCE DE LECHE BANANA PIE “LOVE HANDLE PIE ” Serves 16 Recently while in the panhandle of Texas, we stumbled upon this fabulous concoction at a restaurant in Lubbock. Encased in a thick graham cracker crust, was two inches of caramel, topped with bananas and brown sugared whipped cream. Oh my, who knew there was such decadence? I knew after one bite that I would have to try to duplicate it. Although I searched the web for something that looked like what I had consumed, the images and recipes came up short. Most recipes called for sweetened condensed milk, so I gave it a try, but also caramelized organic cream and sugar. There was no comparison, the fresh cream won hands down. I also doubled the cream & sugar amount, to achieve the …