brewing beer

For years, Tom has been threatening to brew his own beer.
Well, it's finally happening!  I'll keep you posted...

makin' waffles

 

Tom and I went to Phoenix to visit family -- and, of course -- to go to Sarah & Erik's annual Belgian party.  Somehow, I didn't take any photos of the party itself, but I snapped some pics of the pre-party preparations: makin' waffles!  As you can see, there was quite a delicious assmbly line….


We had been out thrifting earlier in the day, and Tom thought it would be appropriate to drink his Belgian beer out of a Belgian Waffle mug (a.k.a. an icecream sundae 'cup').
It was a very nice trip to Phoenix.  Oddly enough, the weather was no better there than it's been here -- not because the weather was bad there (it was fine!), but because it's been unseasonably warm (and gorgeous) here.

dessert

Dessert was a chocolate crepe with mixed berries and creme freche.  This was served with the most amazing Port I've ever had -- one of Mark's "survived the flood" bottles.  (He had a number of bottles that had been stored in a friend's basement in Mt. View, CA, during a flood… and while the bottles were not compromised, the labels were slightly worse for wear.)

Thank you so much to Lynne & Larry, and Mark & Joanna, for sharing such an amazing experience with us!  We look forward to the next one, with open hearts & empty stomachs...

the C and the M

The next two courses were served with two "comparison wines."  The first was a wonderful mushroom soup -- made with local mushrooms from Hazel Dell (a local mushroom grower).

The main course was the roasted goose, served over a butternut squash & sage pancake with a sour cherry sauce, with a side of steamed broccoli.

The two wines for the evening were a 1978 Chateau Montelene (Napa Valley) and a 1990 Cos d'Estournel (French).  While both were unbelievable, my favorite was the Chateau Montelene.

 

appetizers

The first appetizer was an aged gouda served on a German rye.  The saltiness of the gouda was an excellent compliment to the wine.

The second appetizer was an "open faced sandwich" of greens, avocado, tomato, and Tom's homemade bacon, on top of a jicama base.  I love jicama!

The wine-opener was a 1983 Chateau Mouton Rothschild (hard to beat).  What I'm learning about these older wines is that you have to pay very close attention -- especially within the first 10 minutes that the bottle is opened.  It changed so quickly -- I could hardly believe!  It started out with a wonderful balance of oak and fruit.  The fruit disappeared, however -- which left the oak as the main flavor.  Since I love oaky reds, this was wonderful...

Lynne-din #3

Last weekend we had the amazingly good fortune to be able to participate in "Lynne-din #3."  Tom has named these nights "Lynne-dins" in honor of our friend Lynne, who provides the wonderful wine for these affairs.

 

The arrangement has been that Tom and Mark do the cooking, and Lynne provides the wine.  Lynne has the most amazing wine cellar that anyone could imagine.  Of course, Tom and Mark are fantastic cooks! What do Joanna, Larry and I add to the evening?  Who knows.  But we are willing to wash dishes….


This weekend, Tom decided to do a roasted goose.  The goose came from his friend Steven (with whom he trades homemade andouille sausage for a variety of fowl).  

It was Mark's idea to make a butternut squash pancake….

another great foodie night at L'Atelier

Last night we went to L'Atelier (on Pearl St., in Boulder) with our friends Mark & Joanna.  This is not the first time we have enjoyed one of their wine-paired dinners.  The food is always excellent, and the price is amazingly reasonable.
The night started with what turned out to be my favorite wine of the evening: Maschio Prosecco Brut (Veneto, Italy).  Since it was only $12/bottle, I bought 3!
The first course was also my favorite, I think: shrimp fritters with red pepper aioli & lobster oil.  Delicious.  I'm not sure what the crunchy strings were (other they they were some kind of fried goodness) that surrounded the shrimp, but they were superb.  This was served over a bed of bitter greens, which in my opinion -- went perfectly with the wine (Principessa Gavia Gavi, 2010; Gavi, Italy).

The next course was seared pork belly with Napa green cabbage and apples.  It was a good thing I had run 6 miles before going to this dinner -- it was incredibly rich!  (Mind you, I ate every bite…)  It was served with Marques de Casa Concha Carmenere (2009; Peumo, Chile).  I liked the wine, but I think it will be even better in several more years.

The next course was awesome: buffalo braised short ribs bourguignon.  The beef feel off the ribs -- it was tender enough to cut with a fork.  This was served with two different wines: BelnerO 2008 (Montalcino, Italy), and Coyam (2009, Colchagua, Chile).  We all liked the BelnerO better.

The final course was a bread pudding.  The picture doesn't make it look very "pretty," but it tasted wonderful.  It was served with a Concha y Toro Late Harvest (dessert wine) from Maule Valley, Chile.
A good time was had by all!  I'm certain this won't be our last trip to L'Atelier.

ice-shoeing

We wanted to take my parents snow-shoeing. Unfortunately, the temperatures "up high" were supposed to be in the teens. (Brrrrrrr!) So we opted for a lower elevation, which had sketchy snow, to say the least.

That's ok; we had a good time. We had a fair amount of sunshine, and the day was pleasant.

Tom enjoyed some off-roading...

Denver Restaurant Week

While my parents were here, we decided to try Denver Restaurant Week for the first time.  I hope we enjoy this every year!  Lots of Denver & Boulder restaurants participate.  For $52.80 per couple, you get a 3-course meal (you typically get a choice of maybe three different items for each course).  Outstanding.  Sorry about the lack of photos -- but the lighting in the restaurants didn't really make for great photos.  

Since we had not been there before, we decided to check out the Greenbriar Inn.  Despite the fact that we had not heard great things about their brunch, I can wholeheartedly recommend their dinners.  We thoroughly enjoyed the phyllo-wrapped duck, short ribs, pork, mushrooms.... everything was delicious.

Happily for us, another friend called us at the last minute to join them for the same event (different night).  So four nights later, we went to Lola's -- a Mexican restaurant in Denver.  Reminded me very much of Barrio Cafe in Phoenix, which is high praise, indeed.  They had a great corn-chipotle soup, wonderful asada, very tasty mole, and really good margaritas.  We'll be back.

another good day of skiing at Eldora

My parents came for a visit last week. As you can see, we lucked out in terms of cross-country skiing conditions: blue skies, reasonably warm, good snow…. it was a fine day, indeed.