Wow! What a Busy Week We Had! Part 1

Up in the Skybox for dinner when JJ came to Denver to visit.

The whole gang enjoying the view.

Last week JJ and her neighbors Cathi and Becci came to stay with us in Denver.  Since it was the first time Cathi and Becci had been here, we decided to do some "touristy" things.  I had checked out a lot of things in the Denver magazine in our motel room so we had a lot to pick from.  Becci (who is 17) of course voted to go shopping on the 16th Street Mall and who were we to argue with that!  It was pretty hot out and I was accused of "walking them to death", but we had a lot of fun, too.

Our first stop was to see the big blue bear in front of the convention center.  Cathi looks tiny.

We saw one side of the rainbow right above Elitches.

*Click on the pictures to make them bigger.  Hit the back button to get back to the blog. 

JJ had remembered being there a few years ago when she was at a teachers' conference with a group of her friends from Elko.  She insisted we had to get a picture of The Purple Martini to send to some friends who had a memorable night there.  Part of JJ's memory was that they hunted for hours for it while on a cell phone  with the "slightly drunk" friends giving directions.  Our shuttle driver thought she knew kind of where it was and gave us directions.  We spent some time looking around and, just by chance, looked up when we got to the Tabor Center and saw it's sign on a bridge across Laurence Street!  We hurried up 3 flights of stairs and got our cameras ready for pictures only to find that it was closed down!  There were beer and vodka bottles strewn all over the floor and it looked like disassembled bar stools lined up behind the locked door!  It sort of looked like they had a huge last night party and just walked out with no clean up what so ever.  We took some pictures of it anyway.  Later that night JJ called the number in the phone book for it and got a recording giving its hours like it was still in business--a new mystery to speculate on!

The sign is still up but there was a big lock on the door.

This is for JJ and Cathi's teacher friends.  See, they did visit it.

The shades are pulled and no one was there.

We did some school shopping for Becci and then stopped at Jamba Juice for our lunch health drink.  We did a lot of walking, picture taking and browsing.  We  spent some time at Hard Rock Cafe taking pictures--I guess Cathi and Becci had never been to one before.

We didn't eat here but I took a picture just to document that we had visited it!

Same thing here.  I took this for Tory.  I saw it while we were sitting drinking our Jamba Juice.  I'm sorry we missed checking it out.  Maybe next time!

We stopped on the Mall to take pictures of  each other playing chess.  A man nearby offered to take pictures of us and then introduced us to the boy sitting at the next chess board who was his son.  We thanked him and he told us he was a master chess player and had won many tournaments, his latest being at Manitou Springs.  He claimed to be Colorado's champion chess player and to check him out on the internet.  His name was Brian Wall.  Of course JJ did and found out he is the author of some great sounding books for learning to play chess.  Now she wishes he had mentioned them so she could have gotten an autographed copy to use when she teaches chess to her second graders!  He did offer to let JJ play chess with his young son, but JJ was afraid to.  She figured he'd beat her in 3 moves!

Playing chess.  Notice the man who took our picture got his son in it too!

I got a picture of 2 games of chess.  The man on the back left is the expert, Brian Wall, playing with his son.

We proceeded on, taking some pictures of JJ and Becci playing some of the pianos along the way.  We stopped at the Cheesecake Factory for some yummy cheesecake which we shared because the Jamba Juice had filled us up too much.  But who can resist  Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake?

JJ doing her Stevie Wonder impression on a Cayman Island Piano.  (Really it was a Baldwin!)

Becci trying out another piano in Writer's Square.

A side view of that Cayman Island paint job.

MMMMMM!!! Yummy cheesecake!

JJ and I couldn't finish this delicious Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake (With real whipped cream) even with help from the others!

We spent time at the Rockmont Western Wear Store (see my earlier post on it) and The Tattered Cover.  I had stubbed my big toe when we first arrived at the Mall and it had been throbbing ever since so I admit that I sat in one of the comfy  chairs at the bookstore and could have easily took a nap while the others browsed, but I just people watched instead.  My toe hurt for a few days but is now better!

My big sore toe

Have you ever checked out livingsocial.com on the internet?  It has a daily deal for different restaurants, spas, electronics, etc. at cities all over the USA (groupon.com is another one).  Micah was on his computer and looked up a deal in Denver for us, so we checked it out and got $20 off our dinner at the Blake Street Vault that night.  It is situated in an old building in Lodo that has tunnels and an old gold vault underneath it.  It also has a ghost, Lydia, that haunts it.  You can ask for a tour of the Vault and tunnels but we didn't.  They have all kinds of local and other beers, and the food is good.  The menu is kind of different.  I had buffalo red eye stew,  Bob had Rocky Mountain oysters,  JJ had green chili,  Cathi had crispy panko fried chicken fingers, and Becci had chicken Caesar salad.  We had fun and it was a good meal.

JJ "guzzles" her designer beer at the Blake Street Vault.

 

Recipes for Farmer's Market Produce

Bob and I enjoy our morning with the sun on our backs, (and in the camera's eye!)

It's Farmer's Market time and all that lovely looking produce is so tempting.  My problem is that I usually buy enough for an army and after making the usual summer meals of the delicious vegetables I still have a bunch left!  If you are the same way or are tired of the usual summer meals here are some recipes that are a little unusual but still yummy!  I found these recipes in the August issue of Bon Appetit.  I could hardly wait to try them so this weekend I tried two of them and a third one I had tried a few weeks ago.  Because I live in such a remote area we do not have a Farmer's Market near by so I had to do some substituting, but I'm sure the real thing is much better!  Here they are as printed in the magazine and then I will tell you what I did in case you are missing some ingredients:

CORN PANNA COTTA WITH DULCE DE LECHE

I think I read somewhere that Panna Cotta is Italian for cooked cream but I'm not sure.  Anyway it is a very delicate cream dessert that I love.   The corn
flavor is sooo sweet in this recipe and the caramel sauce is perfect with it.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 ears of fresh corn, kernels cut off and reserved, cobs cut into 4 pieces each

2 Cups plus 3 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

1/4 tsp. coarse kosher salt ( I used regular salt)

3 Tbsp.  water

2 1/4 tsp. unflavored gelatin (1 packet)

1/4 Cup purchased dulce de leche or caramel sauce

Special equipment:  6  3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups (mine are bigger but still work)

Directions:

1.  Bring milk and sugar to simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add corn kernels.  Simmer until corn is tender, about 5 minutes (Up here, 8500 ft., I simmered about 10 minutes).  Strain milk into a large saucepan; add 2 cups cream, salt, and corn cobs.  Bring to a simmer.  Cover; remove from heat and steep for 30 minutes.  Transfer corn to a small bowl.  Cover; chill.

2.  Meanwhile place 3 Tablespoons water into a small cup.  Sprinkle gelatin over.  Let stand until gelatin softens, at least 15 minutes.

3.  Remove cobs from cream mixture;  discard cobs.  Bring cream mixture to a simmer.  Remove from heat.  Add softened gelatin;  stir to dissolve.  Divide cream mixture among six ramekins or custard cups.  Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours and up to 1 day.  (I put mine in the freezer for 30 minutes and then put in refrigerator and they were set in another 30 minutes!  BE CAREFUL THEY DON'T FREEZE, THOUGH)

4.  Whisk dulce de leche Or caramel sauce with 3 Tbsp.  cream in small bowl to blend.  Spoon some sauce over each panna cotta.  Sprinkle a few kernels corn over each dessert and serve.  (Reserve the rest of the corn for another use)* 

*  I made bacon corn chowder with mine and Summer Corn Saute with Tons of Herbs (recipe for this later!)

To cut corn off the cob, cut off both ends evenly

Set cob on one end and slice off kernels close to the cob.  Turn cob and continue slicing.

Put cream sugar and corn into a sauce pan to simmer.

Simmer corn until tender,

Strain milk into saucepan, add cream, corn cobs and salt.

Simmer cobs for 30 minutes

After adding gelatin, pour into custard cups and refrigerate

MMMMMM!  the caramel is so good on this dessert.

A side view shows the creamy bottom layer, Yummmm!

TENDER ZUCCHINI FRITTERS with GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

The dressing recipe uses  a variety of herbs you can usually find either at the Farmer's Market or in your own kitchen garden in summer.  I can't grow them up here--because I'm no good at it not because they don't grow here.  So I either have to buy them or use the dried variety which isn't nearly as tasty!  Zucchini is always a problem to find ways to use since it is so plentiful.  Here is a new way for me and, although I questioned how I would like it, we both thought it was very good!  A big surprise.

Ingredients:  

*Dressing:

1 Cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup fresh dill (I used dried)

1/4 Cup fresh chives ( I had to use some chopped onion)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon (my sister's favorite, but I had to use dried)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley ( I used regular dried)

1 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar

1 anchovy fillet, chopped (Not me!)

 * As you can see my dressing probably didn't taste anything like the original but it still was very good!

Fritters:

1 1/2 lbs. medium zucchini (5-6) trimmed

1 1/2 tsp. coarse kosher salt, divided ( I used regular)

6 1/2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. Baking powder

1/2 tsp.  ground black pepper

1/4 Cup beer ( I used a real dark beer because that's what I had but I think a lighter beer would have been better but it was still very good)

1  4-oz. package soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled, chilled, about 1 cup.  (I used blue cheese because I didn't have any goat cheese handy and it was delicious)

1/2 Cup or more extra virgin olive oil

3 1/2 Cups (lightly packed) mache (lamb's lettuce; 2-3 oz.)--I used Romaine--I never heard of mache so I will have to look for it in a big grocery store.  romaine worked great.  The crispness went well with the Green Goddess dressing.

Directions:

Dressing:

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor until smooth occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.  Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a small bowl.  Cover and chill.  Do ahead:  Can be made 1 day in advance.  Keep chilled.

Fritters:

1.  Using large holes on box grater coarsely grate zucchini into a large colander.  Sprinkle 1 tsp. salt over and toss to coat evenly.  Place colander over a large bowl.  Let stand 30 minutes, tossing occasionally.  Press on zucchini to release as much liquid as possible.  Empty zucchini into a kitchen towel.  Roll up to enclose and squeeze dry

2.  Whisk flour, baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper in medium bowl to blend.  Mix in beer. Scrape zucchini from towel into bowl; stir to coat evenly (batter will be thick).  Mix in cheese.

3.  Heat 1/3 Cup oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat until very hot, about 2 minutes.  Working in batches, drop batter into skillet by 1/4 cupfuls, flattening to 3-inch rounds.  Saute until brown and cooked through, 4-5 minutes per side.  Transfer fritters to a rimmed baking sheet,  Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed.  Do ahead:  Can be made 2 hours ahead.  Let stand at room temperature.  Rewarm in 375 degree oven 5-6 minutes.

4.  Place mache in large bowl.  Toss with 2 - 3 Tbsp. dressing.  Place 2 fritters on each of 6 plates.  Top with mound of mache salad. Serve fritters, passing remaining dressing alongside.  ( I spread a little dressing on top of each fritter before putting salad on top).

The Green Goddess Dressing

Sauteing the fritters

I spread dressing on the fritters and then topped them with the lettuce salad.

Looked good and was very tasty, too!

More Farmer's Market produce recipes will follow on other days!

My Adventures on the 16th Street Mall

A beautiful day on the 16th Street Mall

Last Thursday I finally decided to take the free hotel shuttle to the 16th Street Mall.  First you need a little background information.  There was a huge conference going on at the Convention Center for Scentsy sales people (a wickless candle that I got the whole sales pitch for on my shuttle ride).  Many of these people, mostly ladies, were staying at our hotel.  They told me there were 6000 in attendance!  These ladies were taking advantage of the free shuttle to get to the Convention Center which is a few blocks away from 16th Street.  Also there was an afternoon, home Rockies game that day.  Coors field is in lower downtown Denver (LoDo it is commonly called)  where the south end of the 16th street mall is.  I'm not sure what part of LoDo the Coors field is in but it is not right around where I ended up!

One of the fountains on the mall.  The children are drying off on the blocks around it.

Anyway,  I got on the shuttle with a group of ladies headed for their meetings so the first stop was the Convention Center--That is where "The Big Blue Bear" is looking in the 4th or 5th story windows!  I did not get a picture but we will HAVE to go there when JJ and Carla come down to stay with us so you can see this HUGE bear!  Next we went over to Glenarm Street and 16th where I got dropped off.  The driver informed me there were 2 places they could pick me up when I called.  This one on the North end of the mall and on Market Street at the South end of the mall.  I was OK with that and off I went.

A beautiful blue piano.  There is one in each block of the mall.  Anyone can sit down and play if it is open.

First stop was at one of my favorite places, The Fresh Food Market.  It is a very yuppie grocery store in downtown Denver for the people that live in the very pricey condos in the large office buildings.  They have all kinds of wierd foods--ethnic things, overpriced soda pop, beautiful pastries, a deli for the lunch crowd, local produce and meats (at premium prices, I might add--Kathi and Danny need to get some of their chickens and beef in that store, they'd be set up for life!) Colorado home made food items and much, much more!  I looked for some tahini so I could make my own hummus at home but to no avail.  Silly me!  They had a whole refrigerator case of ready made exotic hummuses!  It was time to move on.

One of the decorated steers placed around the tourist areas of Denver.

 I was getting hot and thirsty and didn't want to pay their prices for a bottle of water so I strolled along enjoying the piano playing and watching the kids playing in the fountains.  It is so fun to people watch here!  I made my way to another favorite place that I could spend a whole day at, Barnes and Noble Bookstore.  This is a big one with a Starbucks on the second floor.  I headed for my cold drink but as usual I had to stop here and there to check out this book or that one!  I finally made it to Starbucks and got a mocha, coconut frappachino.  I had picked up a couple books to browse through as I sat and sipped my drink.  It was totally refreshing and reminded me of the tropics a bit.  When I was finished I browsed through a lot more books and finally started writing down names of books that I thought Bob or I might want to read on our Kindles.  Is that ethical??  I don't know but I did it anyway!

Another blue piano!  They were really kind of pretty.  The music was very good too!

It was time for me to move on.  I headed south, taking pictures and checking out restaurants and shops along the way.  It was such a beautiful day and many people were out and about.  I had one photo incident that I thought I might get into trouble for.  There was this little food wagon selling Thai Food.  It had like stained glass fake kind of windows on 3 sides of it.  I wanted to take pictures but this man on a bike kept getting in my way.  Mind you I was focused on looking through my camera for the perfect shot.  Slowly I realized there were 4 men on bicycles--policemen!  They were apprehending 2 young men with big backpacks and trying to make them sit down right in front of my stained glass windows!  I think they had been shop lifting but who knows.  I had snapped a picture before I realized what was going on so I quickly slipped away in case there was going to be some sort of security or privacy issue!  Anyway, here is the picture!

 A police and the culprits!  Notice the pretty "windows".

I moved along and came upon a man playing a guitar with his case open and a bunch of money in it.  I was still a little worried about the other incident so I didn't take his picture but did enjoy his 60's songs.  There is a very old land mark along the route.  It is called the Daniels and Fisher Tower and I took several pictures of it.  I think the founder of the old May D&F department stores was also connected with that tower.  I moved along snapping more pictures and was approached by a Save the Children volunteer collecting donations.  I had a nice visit with her telling her about my experiences with the organization up in Owyhee and about Micah and Kim's efforts to adopt the 2 little Haitian girls. She finally gave up on me and I moved on! Hehehehe!

The Daniels and Fisher Tower

 A blue steer in Writer's Square on the mall.

A close-up of one side of the steer.

 A herd of artists buffaloes!

I continued on down to LoDo and another favorite place, The Tattered Cover bookstore.   It's not as cool as the old 4 story original in Cherry Creek that they had to move out of , but is interesting in its own right.  It is in an old renovated building with wooden floors and does have some old comfortable looking leather chairs to sit and read in, but they are not in little hidden nooks like the original.  I browsed through more books and took more notes.  They do have a little coffee and other drink shop in it, too.  It now was time to start thinking about heading back to the hotel.

 The store window at Rockmount Ranch Wear.   Notice the street sign.  There is a new one with 108 years on it on the street corner!

I had to walk a couple blocks back up to Market Street.  I crossed over to the other side and, as I was wandering along, I spotted another historical building in LoDo.  It is the Rockmount Western Wear Manufacturing Co.  I had read a bit about it.  It has been there for 108 years.  The founder, Jack Weil, is the guy who invented putting snaps on western shirts!  His family is still involved in the business.  The city has  named the street after him!  He died in 2008 but the street signs are still up.  I think they change them every year to put  one more year on the sign.  I went in and they have all kinds of embroidered shirts as well as the usual ones and tons of colors.  The style is western with snaps!  They have pictures of a lot of celebrities on the walls and a small museum upstairs.  A great place to spend some time!

 The front window with the building across the street reflected in it.

 Shirts and a couple books on western wear on display and for sale.

 More shirts!

 Shirts and ties.

I moved on and arrived at the pick up place.  I called for my ride and settled in to do some people watching as I waited.  After 1/2 hour I thought I better call again and I was assured someone was on the way, but they were very busy with Conventioneers and Rockies fans (the game had just ended).  I continued to people watch and when the Monster Juice truck came along handing out free juice, I ran over and got one.  It tasted so good on a hot afternoon.  After an hour I called Bob to tell him I was still waiting.  At 1 1/2 hours I thought about calling and saying I'd walk over to Coors field or the Convention Center if they thought that would help!  About that time I noticed another lady standing near me looking like she might be waiting, too.  I was about to speak to her when here came our shuttle and she WAS waiting for it.  She had called 10 minutes before and here he was!  When I mentioned I had been waiting an hour and a half the driver was very surprised.  He had been sitting at the hotel waiting for calls.  The desk had never mentioned me!
I guess the shuttle that was supposed to pick me up broke down and he forgot to tell anyone I was on his list!  Oh well, all was well that ended well. I finally made it home.  A fun afternoon in Downtown Denver.

A view from the corner I waited on for 1 1/2 hours!

My Birthday Weekend

My Happy Birthday Cake made by Carla and Thomas.  Notice the humming birds above my head!

Well another birthday rolled around and I don't feel any different.  I wonder what that's all about!  Anyway, it was a perfect day for a birthday up here in "God's Country".  Beautiful blue skies, not too hot or too chilly, lots of sunshine and best of all, not many mosquitoes!

Carla, Jim, Thomas, Izzy and Louie came up to help us celebrate.  My morning started fairly early with a little wake up call from Izzy, Thomas's beautiful white Husky puppy who is 7 months old.  As I opened my eyes there were two pale blue eyes staring at me!  She really didn't want to go outside, just wanted to say hello in her quiet little way.  What a funny dog!

 Here's Izzy!  Her tongue always seems to be hanging out!

We spent most of our day outside, starting with breakfast on the porch.  Carla and I sat in the sun and visited.

 Jim and Bob are getting breakfast on the porch.

 We watched Izzy run laps around the house and finally chase a little ground squirrel under the car.  She was too big to fit clear under so she guarded the car for a long time so the poor squirrel couldn't get out!  Meanwhile the hummingbirds enjoyed their breakfast of sugar water.  Thomas went for a run and the rest of us just relaxed on the porch or in the sun.  We didn't even work up enough energy to go fishing or for a walk.

 Jest a settin' in the sun relaxin'

Thomas and Carla finally started making my birthday cake and I looked up how to grill a turkey breast.  Bob and Jim ran into town to pick up some supplies we ran out of.  It was just a really quiet peaceful kind of day.  The cake came out of the oven and we had to kind of figure out how to make ganache for the frosting without the right kind of chocolate.  Carla rigged something up and I have to say it was truly delicious!

Darn good chocolate cake with strawberry filling and top and a ganache frosting.  Way rich and delicious!

For dinner we smoked the turkey breast on the grill.  Thomas made an herb butter rub and we used some of  Pat's smoking chips.  Jim made corn on the cob on the grill and we had a great dinner out on the porch.  We did not have to share with the bugs either!  We have a bug repellent lantern we used for a centerpiece.  There was no wind so it worked perfectly!  We watched Indiana Jones after dinner and did a lot of visiting.  A fun day.

Poor old Louie is not doing so well he is blind, deaf and can't smell so well any more.  He loves his cabin, though, so he spent time outside but mostly slept in his room (the honeymoon suite).

Carla and Jim are showing off Louie, Max and Maizy back in 2008.  Now Max is gone to doggy heaven, Maizy is in San
 Antonio and Louie is still in Casper

Today is an entirely different day!  I still had the wake up call from Izzy, but it was cloudy out.  We did not eat outside and Carla and Jim went for a 4 wheeler ride scouting out potential places to build a cabin for themselves.  Thomas and I visited and I made some waffles for him to eat.  About noon Carla made some smoked turkey breast sandwiches with our leftovers and they left for home.  As they pulled out of the yard, the thunder began to roll and within minutes it began raining and didn't quit.  It is still very gloomy out but maybe a ray of sun might come out even though the thunder is still grumbling!

I am now spending time trying to add labels to all my former blogs (83 of them!)  so I will be able to find specific ones if  I want a recipe or to see a picture or just reminisce.  It is taking a long time so I decided to write this blog and then do some laundry and get ready for our trip back to Denver tomorrow!  I'll have to get back to the labeling another day.  Bob just finished watching the Rockies beat the cubs in a 3 game sweep!  So much for this week end!  By the way it sure was nice to sleep in our own bed for a few nights!

I feel like I need to add a recipe:  Hmmmm!  Maybe my version of Whiskey Creek Honey Cornbread.

My Sweet Honey Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 Cup yellow cake mix (or 1 Cup pound cake mix)

1 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp honey

1/2 cup well drained canned or frozen corn kernels

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 

2.  Combine yellow cornmeal and cake mix in a medium bowl

3.  Add milk, egg, oil and honey to dry ingredients and mix until batter is mostly smooth about 1 minute.

4.  Fold in the corn kernels.

5.  Bake in a greased 8 inch square baking pan for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

*A variation of this is something JJ's family would like--well so might I.  Instead of the corn, stir in 1/2 Cup chocolate chips--really!  Maybe even stir them in with the corn, too!

This makes a sweet chewy corn bread that is almost worthy of dessert but I serve it with chili or enchilada pie or beans and rice. 

All the ingredients for the special cornbread except for the milk are here!

Add the milk.  Question for my former foods students:  What's wrong with this picture?

Fresh out of the oven!

 You can almost see the steam from this warm piece of yummy cornbread.

 One last look at my beautiful cake before we cut into it!