September 2012 recap

September was all about food – mostly pasta but some baking.

One day near the end of August, Seth came home with a little metal pasta maker and we were inspired to make spaghetti and linguini. It’s surprisingly easy. The pasta maker comes with a basic pasta dough recipe. After the dough is, well, in dough form, you run it through the machine to flatten it to a somewhat thin, oblong sheet of floury eggy goodness.  Then you put it in the cutter side and make either spaghetti or linguini.

Et voila! Add some olive oil with garlic and shallots, some grape tomatoes, chicken and parmesan cheese and you have an amazingly tasty homemade pasta dish!

I bought a ravioli maker to add to our pasta making options. It’s really a ravioli cutter because it’s not as automated as an attachment to the machine but it works just fine.

We filled the little pasta pockets with minced shrimp, garlic, oil, and cheese and they were soooo tasty.

I highly recommend making your own pasta, it’s better than any dried pasta you can buy. You can also make a bunch of fresh pasta in advance and freeze it. We actually thawed some frozen fresh pasta on Sunday and it was just as good as the night we made it.

In addition to pasta, I’ve been trying to make a good lemon-ginger cookie. I tried two recipes this month. One was too lemony (drowned out the ginger), the other had a good lemon-ginger flavor but was a little too buttery…I still ate too many of them, but took no photos.

A friend bought me some new autumn-themed cookie cutters – little bite-sized pumpkins, leaves, acorns and turkeys. So cute! The same day I purchased candy eyes. I couldn’t resist the temptation to make little sugar cookies with eyes.

The spicy pumpkin muffins that I made the same day also became adorned with eyes – at least the mini-muffins.

Fall is the best time of year for food – pumpkin and mushrooms and apples and yum!

Follow the creek

Over the years I’ve learned to avoid hikes that indicate that there is “some wayfinding” or “bushwacking” because it may as well say “you will get lost.” This extends to some “non-standard” 14er routes. I love the non-standard routes because you don’t see the usual crowds that 14ers get, but you have more of the outdoors to yourself. However, I no longer take them due to getting lost more than one time. So, I typically stick to hikes on which I can find information in a book or a website indicating length, elevation gain/loss, general route, etc.

That being said, we hiked James Creek this weekend. This is a hike that Seth found out about from a friend and that isn’t marked. We didn’t get lost per se, but I don’t think we were on the intended trail…there were so many trails leading off in various directions.  Our only instructions were to follow the creek. We ended up on a road between two gaging stations, but we did see some beautiful fall Colorado scenery.

For the last day in September, we got to see a good amount of golden aspens:

We did find encouraging signs along the way, like this one:

I take this as a sign from the universe that I should stay on my path and that I’m doing ok. Let’s hope there are more encouraging signs in the future.

Smelling the coffee – Part 2

Labor day looong weekend – day 2-3: Crested Butte

After a night of restless sleep in a tent glowing with moonlight, we woke up to a beautiful morning in the Sand Dunes. We did a short hike to the dunes overlook and sat on a log bench taking in the morning for a while. It was lovely. 

Then it was back to the car for the three-hour drive to Crested Butte.

When we arrived at the Crested Butte Hostel it started raining, which was perfect for a nap! Friday was turning into a wonderfully lazy day. Post-nap, we showered and walked to town for dinner. We stopped in at The Dogwood while mulling over the dinner options and had some fabulous cocktails, including the Bee Sting (tequila + habanero + honey + mint + lemon). We took our cocktail-refreshed selves next door to the Sherpa Café for dinner. We shared some momos and other Nepalese and Indian dishes and enjoyed the people watching in this very small restaurant that was full of authenticity and character.

The next morning we had a quick breakfast at the Bacchanale, then headed out on Kebler Pass Road to start our hike to Swampy Pass. The hike was beautiful. The path was lined with mushrooms in spots through large clumps of  Aspen trees. Every so often the trail would spit us out onto these big, gorgeous meadows and then dive back into the Aspens. I highly recommend it. Here are some photos:

The green Aspen leaves were turning golden on some trees but I thought this leaf in transition was pretty interesting:

The hike went through the West Elk Wilderness and there is open grazing for cattle there. We didn’t see any cows, but, well, we did see some cow remains:

Also, someone placed this deer skull portion in a small tree beside the trail:

Although we apparently missed a bear (a strange guy at the trailhead told us it was behind us for a while), we did see a wee snake:

The views in general were amazing:

With our many stops to snack and just enjoy the surroundings, the hike took up the better part of the day. So, once back to the car we headed out for our next destination – Salida!

Stop and smell the coffee – part 1

Labor Day loooong weekend – Day 1: Great Sand Dunes National Park

First there was a requisite stop in Salida on the way for my Amica’s fix! After a lunch of pizza with Italian sausage, caramelized onions, green chiles, goat cheese, mozzarella, and pesto and a headwaters IPA, we took a walk by the river. Dempsey is not as comfortable in the water as his breed (flat coat retriever) might lead one to believe.  While leaning in to get a cool river drink he sort of fell/jumped in. He struggled to get out on his skinny front legs and was drenched after.

Then we were off into the San Luis valley for the journey to the Great Sand Dunes.  We set up camp and headed out for the high dune.

Hiking the dunes is tricky. There are areas of more compact sand but plenty of places where the sand slips under your feet and makes it much more difficult. Luckily the sand was not super hot, so I could hike in Chacos!

It was pret-ty windy and we followed several ridges to what we believe is the high dune. The clouds and the dune ridges make for some amazing views.

Due to the pelting sand coming over the dune ridges in the wind and Dempsey’s height, he was getting pretty beat up by the blowing sand. We beat a fast retreat down the dunes as the sun started to set.

The temperatures were perfect for a picnic-table dinner and the full moon made the night magical. Couldn’t have asked for a better camping experience in the dunes.

Stay tuned for more smelling the coffee!

Toronto Transit shot

Not sure if I’ve posted before about this website but it’s someone who posts a photo a day of Toronto shots. This transit shot is fantastic!

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Art at the Denver County Fair

The 2nd Annual Denver County Fair was held this month and I attended again. It seemed a little less exciting this year, perhaps this is because the newness last year gave it that extra something, perhaps it was the Devo show last year, I don’t know.  Anyway, this year was so so.

It’s held mostly indoors at the National Western Complex (where the stock show is held) and it’s broken up into “pavilions.” You know, one pavilion is for crafts (speed knitting contest and booths), one is for kitchen (pie eating contest and other demonstrations), one is for the holistic pavilion (think crystals and psychic readings). You get the idea.  True to county fair style, it did have animals – chickens, llamas, ducks, rabbits, goats, etc. Here’s a sample of these guys:

The Fair was full of contests. In addition to pie eating and speed knitting, there was a spelling bee and a chicken dance contest and lots of other opportunities to win blue ribbons (!). I enjoyed the art though. In the crochet contest there was this green thing and a hat:

I believe this next one (a blue ribbon winner) is a needle point entry:

There were some interesting and hip quilts too, here’s an example (not a blue ribbon winner):

Here are some other pieces I enjoyed:

We passed one of the 4H tables on the way out and saw these two masterpieces (does that first one say “fail”??):

All in all it took about two hours to experience the fair with mostly passing glances. I think I’d go again sometime so this is a quasi-endorsement of the event. Go. See for yourself next year.

sugar + rosemary = yum

After perusing the herb garden on one of those 100 degree days in July, I began to search the interwebs for fresh herb cocktails. I found an amazing one – the rosemary lime cocktail! The key ingredient is a rosemary simple syrup, which is super easy to make:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

Combine all three ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and allow the sugar to dissolve.  Remove from the heat, cover, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.  Remove the sprigs of rosemary and allow to cool.  Store in an airtight jar in the fridge.

This is a photo from a triple batch we made:

This was just a portion of the final product:

Now here’s what you do with this amazing nectar:

vodka

lime wedges

ice cubes

rosemary syrup

sparkling water

Fill a glass with ice cubes.  Squeeze some lime in!  Pour in a few tablespoons of rosemary syrup. Pour in a few more tablespoons of vodka.  Top with sparkling water.  Stir.  Drink. Repeat

Do it – you know you want to!

wha haaapened?

Where the hell did July go? I was at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival one day, then I was scribbling 7-31-12 on my work notepad the next. And jesus a lot has happened this month.

Like I said, I was at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival the weekend after July 4th (which fell on a Wednesday!). This year didn’t yield as many interests as the festival last year did but it was still a worthwhile engagement. In fact, I saw plenty of things I liked but the artists are getting a bit bristly about having their art photographed. One stall actually had a little sign that called out iPhone users specifically, of course I took a photo of it…

The week after Independence Day was the Outward Bound week, which I already covered.

After Outward Bound, I came back, enjoyed some wine and cheese, then started moving to Platt Park the very next day. What can I say about the move…I actually enjoy the opportunity to go through my stuff, pare down and reorganize. Otherwise, I lived in Capitol Hill happily for the past 13 years and do miss it. I had a 15 minute walk to work and could get some Pablo’s coffee at City o’ City on the way. I was a mere 3 blocks from the Whole Foods and 1.5 blocks from the Argonaut. What more could a girl ask for?

Well, a girl could ask for an amazing man as it turns out. Makes the whole thing worth it. And Platt Park is actually a pretty cute neighborhood. So what it’s south of I-25? I like the bus and it’s a nice distance to ride the bike too. I can dig it.

What else happened in July besides Outward Bound and moving, you ask? Besides the July 4th cook out and hiking Fancy Pass again, I visited the Botanic Gardens, attended a Denver New Rail~Volutionaries happy hour, got allergy shots, connected with a friend I made at the Portland Rail~Volution conference in 2010, enjoyed several brunches, sat through a Mixed Taste or two, had dinner and drinks with Lisa, reconnected with the Ladies of Tykusaurus, hit the annual Pink Party, attended a WTS Colorado reception, and got my toenails done for the first time in 18 months.

August isn’t promising to give me much quiet time but I’m ok with that. I’m trying to enjoy the good moments. This is one of those.

Until next time…