LOLA L-O-L-A LOLA

After church on Sunday, Dave and I decided to break in a gift certificate that we received for Christmas and have brunch at Lola, a place known for their bloody mary cart, mimosas, and unique menu infused with coastal mexican flavor. I need to start bringing out my camera like Michelle does for her food reviews because my description alone does not do this food any favors. We opted to start with Mango Mimosas and coffee, which comes to your table in a press pot along with a basket of handmade bite size donuts with honey to dip them in. I could have left happy at that point, but we pressed on. I ordered the huevos which was served on a homemade tortilla, with black beans, spicy potatoes, eggs, cheese and a warmed gourmet salsa. All of the flavors were spectacular. Dave got poached eggs, topped with hollaindaise, smoked salmon and anduille sausage. Let's just say that if our plates had pictures on them, you would have seen them when we were done. There was nothing left.

Next up, we plan on using the rest of the certificate at Jax's Fish House, one of my favorite restaurants in town and the best place for oysters.

A Night at the Theater

Saturday night, Dave and I went to the Lakewood Cultural Center to see a play that his co-worker Kristin is in. It's all community theater, so the actors do not get paid. They rehearse for 2 months, do 6 shows in 2 weeks and then they are done. This month they had The Secret Garden. Wow, it was a good show. Great voices in it. I was even more impressed afterwards seeing Kristin's updo that she had done herself. Makes me think about dusting off my 16+ year old acting resume and getting back into theater.

My dad got involved in Hats Off Theater in Meriden, CT in the mid-80's. He got the lead in a Woody Allen play called "Don't Drink the Water" and I showed up to every practice to rehearse my 3 lines as a countess in a dinner scene. But that was only the start. We played father and daughter in "Dracula: The Musical?" and I did several other productions before I started doing all of the school plays. Did anyone but my parents ever go see these? We have them on video and they are as painful to watch as the Paula Abdul Fiasco.

Fried Tofu and steamed artichokes

Tofu is not Dave's favorite, but he lives with it because I make this recipe about twice a year. He loves the artichokes however. They remind me of France, they remind David of his childhood, dipping the stems in butter. This picture is for Michelle, though I only remembered to take it after I had already started eating. As with a lot of my recipes, it is a little bit of this, a little bit of that... The recipe orignally came out of a Tofu cookbook that was lent to me in Muncie from Gary Prater. Gary, I'm sorry I never returned this book to you, it's really unlike me. Gary was a vegetarian, eating Tofu before people even knew what it was. He raised 4 midwestern boys on tofu too. He would bring his little fat fryer into the break room, fill it with peanut oil, and make fried tofu for all of his employees at the Minnetrista Cultural Center. In an effort to help me learn to cook with tofu, he lent me a cookbook. This is the only recipe I ever made out of it.

Pan fried tofu

1lb hard tofu, cut into 4-5 slices
dijon mustard (1/4C?)
1/2C bread crumbs
2tsp thyme
1-2tsp garlic powder
salt
olive oil

Remove all moisture from the tofu slices by pressing with paper towels, or placing them flat inside a clean dishtowel and placing something heavy on top. (a toaster maybe?) Mix bread crumbs with spices and salt on a shallow plate. Slather each slice of tofu with dijon mustard and dip in bread mixure. Fry in a large skillet with olive oil until browned on both sides.

Bored

The whole 5 minutes that Dave made me watch of last week's pathetic football game in which Denver lost to Pittsburgh, I was so bored, I took pictures of my shadow. Not even very good pictures.

Bookclub

Since the beginning of 2000 I have been a part of a great bookclub. Each woman is unique and distinct in her own way, therefore bringing different ideas to the discussion. The experience has really allowed me to 1) begin reading for enjoyment and 2) read books that I never would have picked up. We meet once a month so there are about 12 books per year. A couple of my favorites from this year include: Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon, Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld, and How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Friendship and Musical Theater - Marc Acito.


In addition to reading, Bookclub has also come to mean eating a great meal and socializing. Last night, we finished reading a book that took place in Italy, thereby giving us an excuse to have an Italian Feast. By feast I mean, unbutton your pants and sit for a couple of hours digesting at the end of the meal. Our host made pasta and homemade Chicken Parmesan. We are all hoping to get the secret recipe out of her. Along with the salad, bread, and tortellini soup, Patty made an entire tray of homemade tiramisu (wow), in addition to other really good desserts. Even if there are people who do not read or finish the book, the company and food are worth it!

Hearty Winter Stew

Usually when I flip through recipes, if there is an ingredient that I don't recognize, I breeze on by and don't even consider making it. Well, I was craving a bit of a vegetable stew this weekend and I found this recipe in a Vegetarian Williams-Sonoma cookbook that I have. I have never made anything out of this cookbook because every recipe sounds dramatically time consuming and each has at least one ingredient that I have never used. This one has THREE! I went to two grocery stores and had to ask for help both times. Parsnips (long skinny carrot shapes), celeriac (v. ugly celery root, looks like a clump of dirt) and sunchokes. I was unable to find sunchokes and ended up using turnip and sweet potato instead. The result was v. tasty and filling.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a stock pot, add the following and cook for 5 minutes on medium until onion is translucent.
1 yellow onion (chopped)
1 stalk celery (chopped)
1 carrot (chopped)
2TBL olive oil

Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, approximately 5 minutes.
1C dry white wine

Add the stock, bring to a boil, add the herbs and barley, reduce to medium and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes
6C vegetable stock (I added several cups more stock due to mile high cooking)
1/2C pearled barley
1/4C fresh parsley (chopped)
2tsp fresh thyme or 2TBL dried (chopped)

Chop the following and add to the stew and simmer on medium for 20 more minutes.
3 parsnips (peeled and diced)
1 celeriac (peeled and diced)
1/2lb Jerusalem artichoke (aka Sunchoke, I used turnip instead)

Chop the following into 1" cubes, toss with oil, sprinkly with sea salt and roast on a baking sheet for 40-50 minutes. Add to the stew and you are ready to serve it.
1 potato
1 sweet potato (optional)
1 red onion
1-2TBL olive oil
sea salt

Flip Flop Poll

I have unusually wide feet. Finding comfortable shoes has always been a bit of a challenge. For years, I have tortured these old dogs with shoes only fit for call girls. I never seem to learn my lesson. Just last September Lora and I went on a mad shoe shopping expedition for Holly's wedding and ended up with some triple x sexxxy shoes. These shoes were hot, and by the reception, bloody. EW See: not sexy. So now I'm thinking about what shoes to wear under the dress. Jinnie has a gorgeous pair of crystal encrusted strappy heels. I'm thinking that I should go the Flip Flop route and that perhaps all of the fabric of the dress will muffle the flippety floppety sound when I strut down the aisle.

Thoughts please?

Moosewood Cookbook

Freshman year in college, it was a couple of days before my dad's birthday, which is hard to forget as it is the same day as my birthday, and there I was needing a gift to get in the mail. But I had no money, no car, and nowhere to shop, so I ended up in the Campus bookstore. Next thing you know, I was buying him a vegetarian cookbook, because he likes to cook and I was a vegetarian. (Hello it's makes perfect sense.) Jump forward 17 years, and this cookbook is not only in my possession, but my favorite of all time. Almost every page is marked with comments such as "super yummy" and "really good". Today David's mom, sister, and neice came over and I made Cauliflower Cheese Soup from page 20. All I'm going to say is that the note written in my handwriting on this page says YUM YUM AWESOME!

Put the following in a pot, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Puree (I use a hand held blender) and continue to simmer.

2C potato chunks
2C cauliflowerets
1C carrot (chopped)
3 cloves garlic
1C onion (chopped)
1 1/2 tsp salt
4C stock

Whisk in the following, then simmer for 15 more minutes:
1 1/2 Cheddar (grated)
3/4C milk
1/4tsp dill weed
1/4tsp. caraway seed
1/4tsp. mustard
black pepper

Optional: Saute 1 1/2C cauliflower in butter and add 3/4C buttermilk. It is so perfect I usually don't do this.

I also made Rice pudding with vanilla bean, orange and rum. Oh my goodness did this have amazing flavor. I always thought rice pudding was a cheap way to get rid of leftover rice and make your family think they were getting dessert, but this is truly decadent.

The Dress

I had my first fitting this week and Christine the seamstress loved the dress and was very excited about working on it. Lora originally found her to fit our bridesmaids dresses for Holly's wedding. She is quite the character. She lives and breathes sewing. She could take a dress apart, put it back together and make it look like it was made for you. She is also a wealth of knowledge. She refuses to work with most of the bridal stores in town because of all the drama in the industry. She stays up until 3am sewing, cursing all designers for their inept designs. You should hear her go on and on about how poorly made the dresses are that go for $6000. And how no two dresses are alike because they are made at different factories in Asia. Girls are such suckers.

It kills me that I can't talk or describe the dress at all. I don't want David to know anything about it except that it's bright red. How's that for intrigue? Got to keep them guessing ladies, keep them guessing.

Matrimonial bliss

This is what would happen if Dave had his bachelor party the night before the wedding. You had how many strippers? Shots of what? from where?

Holly's mom sent this picture as a joke, though this is an actual cake topper that I've seen online. No doubt, it's for couples having an elegant and stylish reception. This topper puts the 'K' in Classy.

Aside to this post: Dave does not want strippers, floozies, hookers, ladies of the evening, or any other loose women at his bachelor party. No really I'm not kidding. No, no you don't understand, he REALLY doesn't. I'm not even winking. No that was just a twitch in my eye. He told me, honest. He doesn't even want alcohol. Ok maybe a few drinks, but definitely no strippers.

Tree hugging granola eater

Last night I made my first batch of granola. It came out pretty good, though I may experiment with several recipes to find the best one.

4C rolled oats
1C sliced almonds
3TBL Non-fat dried milk
Cinnamon
1/3C honey
1/3C canola oil
2tsp vanilla
1C dried cranberries

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix the oats, almonds, dried milk, and cinnamon. Warm the honey, canola, and vanilla for a minute and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well. Place on cookie sheet and cook for 25 minutes, making sure to stir every 5 minutes. (if you do not it will burn) Remove from oven, mix with dried cranberries and let cool. You can mix and match with this recipe. Use walnuts instead of almonds or raisins instead of cranberries. You can also add sesame seeds and sunflower seeds and/or rolled wheat. Next time, I might get crazy and substitute part peanut butter for the oil.

Chicken Green Chili Saturday night football

We ate at Little India for lunch today. It is THE best place in Denver to eat Indian food. They also have the best chai in town. Yum. Needless to say, we were uncomfortably full for hours after. Why do we do this to ourselves? *grumble grumble*

So I decided to make us a healthy dinner tonight. This is a recipe for Chicken Green Chili from the Body for Life cookbook. It is really yummy and good for you. This recipe is 8 servings.

8C nonfat chicken broth
2lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 onion diced
2 packets Knorr's Roasted Chicken Gravy
1 jalapeno's diced
1/2C fresh diced cilantro
3 7oz cans diced green chilies
6 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 can white hominy (rinsed)
1 tomato (diced)

In a large stockpan, bring the chicken and onion to a boil in the broth. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and cool. Whisk in the 2 gravy packets, add the jalapeno, green chilis, cumin, garlic and hominy. Bring to a boil again, shred the chicken, add it back in, reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Serve topped with diced tomato, non-fat sour cream or lo-fat cheese. (If you want it super hot, add another jalepeno)

This meal goes well with football. In other words, it keeps me occupied while David watches the game. Tonight is an oddity in our household. Who IS this man I am marrying? When I met David, I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world to find a someone than could give a rip about sports. Woo hoo, no spending every Sunday drinking beer and watching the game. Well apparently that changes when you are in a football pool at work, and knowing nothing about the sport you are ahead! David who gets a field goal confused with scoring a basket is yelling at the tv like a young fratboy. He is so excited. On the other hand, there is myself, who knows that the best time to go to the mall or grocery store is during a game, especially if that game is in town! Ok nevermind, I'm going to go get sucked in. Go Broncos!

Holy Matrimony

Things I learned in 2 weeks of wedding planning:

The average cost for a wedding in the US is $22,000
Weddings are an INDUSTRY
Trying to think outside the box does not work when you are dealing with an INDUSTRY
The words simple and inexpensive do not exist in an INDUSTRY
Churches charge the same amount as Parks
Flowers are expensive
Photographers are more expensive

Things I’ve heard/said this past week:
“Let’s just elope” is said at least three times a day
Forget it, we can’t afford video
No band, we’ll use the IPOD
If we cut the alcohol, we can serve better food
If we cut the food, we can serve better alcohol
The Rehearsal dinner will be a BBQ in our backyard
Hell, the wedding will a BBQ in our backyard (who is on poop patrol?)
Wait that’s the same price as having it catered down the street (and no one is on poop patrol)

We are on the right track now and are excited looking at locations. I won our table favors off of ebay today, and thanks to David's sister Jinnie, I have the most beautiful wedding dress a girl could ever ask for. Things are rolling.

And the heavens opened and the angels sang AHHHHH!

Introducing my new and beautiful Kitchenaid Mixer that I got for Christmas from my wonderful fiance. It sat in a box under the table for a couple of weeks waiting for me to clear some counter space for it, but it is now in it's rightful home, next to the coffee maker, waiting for me to make a loaf of bread with it. I can't wait! I might even just whip up some eggs whites to a stiff peak just because I can!

And in other news Little Padrick Jr. came into this world at 9:50 am weighing in at 8lb 8oz and 20.5" long. He has a full head of dark silky hair and is so beautiful. His little face looks just like Clare's when she was born. The whole family is expected to go home today.

Little Mommy

Cyn went into labor at 2am last night, I was at her house by 2:30am. Almost fell back to sleep at 3:30am, then tap tap, jump up, Clare jumps, I invite her to fall back to sleep in bed with me, but she just wanted to let me know that she had to pee. Duh, it's what you do when you're having your girlfriends over for a sleep over. Little girl fell right back to sleep, big girl not so much. This morning, she dressed herself, ate cheerios, and I dropped her off at her daycare. As sweet and easy as this all is, I just absolutely cannot imagine having children and a job. No baby yet, but today is the day.

They Slice They Dice They're 2 Knives in One

I must have been a very good (read angelic) girl this year, because I received some amazing gifts for Christmas. I'm going to highlight a few of these over the next couple of days. Seen above is me (bad jaba the hut photo) with my new J.A. Henckel knife set from David's mom and dad, and his sister and brother-in-law. Wow, these are so powerful they are scary. They slice through raw chicken like it's soft butter. I am not worthy. I'm afraid of a) cutting my finger off and b) dropping one on a dog. I've had minimal damage so far, only slicing into my fingernails, but every time I use them they continue to awe me. I'll never be able to use an ordinary dull knife again. I'm ruined for all other knives.

Hopeless Chest

After I graduated college, I lived with my parents for 2 years in Indiana. During that time all of my money was spent on beer, paying off my college loans, and what I called my Hopeless Chest. Since I had never lived in an apartment on my own, I started purchasing items on sale (and requesting xmas gifts) that I knew I would need. When I moved out, I already had a toaster, towels, coffee maker, Espresso machine, pots, pans, silverware etc. My big score, was when I bought my kitchen table and chairs set at JC Penney. Not only was it on sale, but I had a coupon and also got another 15% off for opening a credit card. 1 table, 4 chairs for under $150, score! Cyn pulled up in her 1995 white honda civic and we were able to fit the entire thing in her car to drive to my house and store in the attic.

In the advent of new beginnings and a new table, the entire set is currently sitting out on the back porch waiting to be scooped up by some lucky Craigslist buyer. Just last summer, Dave made the big step of emptying his storage space and selling most of his worldly possessions.(furniture, mattress, dresser, oops I'm still trying to pry that one out of his hands.) Items from my Hopeless Chest are slowly being weeded out. The towels are long gone, who knew that evergreen was only going to be popular in 1995? The pots and pans as well were sent to the alley a year ago, but that $10 toaster may spark once in awhile, but it still works!

The mess that ate our house...

Suitcases, wrapping paper, boxes of ornaments, an empty refrigerator and one lazy girl that wants to sit on the couch and do nothing. In lieu of cooking, we went out to eat tonight on our way to the grocery store. M&D's is our local comfort food restaurant in the hood, and it's on our bus route! We sat in Elsie's section, she lives a block from us and we ride the bus together. Elisie has worked at M&D's (her 2nd job) for 26 years. I had BBQ chicken with yams and macaroni and cheese. This meal could feed a small family. I had 3 1/2 pieces of chicken left over. They have the best lemonade I have ever had, lick the plate clean BBQ sauce, and Peach Cobbler that I dream about. I'm stuffed from eating there, but still wishing I had room for dessert. The health train starts tomorrow...

Two thousand sexy

Meaux, Cheri, Me

As this picture was being taken, Meaux shouted out this title and I told her that I was going to use it for the blog.

Since roughly 1985, this group of high school friends has had a New Year's party every year at the house Craig (the drummer for Ed Fingers) grew up in. In the advent of children, the party ended 2 years ago. So this year, Jon rented a house in Breckenridge for everyone to get together. There were about 20+ of us total from here, DC, Seattle, and even London. Not only did we have a great time, but these guys are amazing musicians. Jimmy brought his guitar, and can practically play any song you ask of him, hence our game of Jimmeoke all night. Jon brought his soprano saxophone and can play along with any song, recreating all of the guitar solos.

Memorable moments:
Taco night ala chef Kim and Kevin
Jelloshot Janet (I did 3)
Jim playing Firehouse by Kiss
Jon on sax playing Tequila
Personal champagne bottles for everyone at midnight
Chicks lip synching into bananas
The return of belt man

You can view pictures of the whole night at Kodak Gallery.

Dave and I left in a snowstorm the next morning. Breckenridge was absolutely beautiful and covered in feet of snow. By the time we hit Georgetown however, everything cleared up and an hour later we were in sunny 60 degree Denver. Crazy.

Happy New Year to everyone and a happy 2006!