Filed under: Places to Eat | Tags: breakfast, colorado, denver, pancakes, restaurants
If I haven’t mentioned it yet, I’ll just lay it out there: I’m a sucker for breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, toast, morning radio, oatmeal, mugs of coffee, morning light, quiche, diners, hash browns, all of it. On our only morning in Denver, some extremely lovely and hospitable locals took us out to a great neighborhood breakfast joint (instantly winning cool people points). As we sat down and began to survey the mouthwatering menu, the cheery waitress asked us if we were new. She made recommendations, and I ordered the caprese benedict (poached eggs, fresh mozarella, basil, balsamic vinegar). Shortly thereafter, a waiter (he looked in training) came to our table, ostensibly sent by our waitress, bearing what he called their “secret pancake.” It was a cinnamon roll pancake that apparently can be ordered at any time simply by saying the words, “secret pancake.” One more time in unison, “secret pancake.” I don’t mind if they tell every new customer (or just every customer madly taking photos). That morning we shared a pancake drizzled in cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar that tasted divine, and for a moment we shared a delicious secret.
We went to Denver on our way to Colorado Springs and caught a Rockies Game. I do enjoy a good baseball game, but I know all three of us were going for the food. We were going to stick with the ol’ classic hot dog, until we heard of Rocky Mountain Oysters, aka fried bulls testicles. Who would’ve thought we’d find something unusual at a baseball stadium named after a shitty beer? They don’t exactly sound appetizing, but there’s no way I wasn’t going to try one. They were served with cocktail sauce (to expand on the whole oyster thing?) and tasted neither good nor bad, just fried. But, hey, we tried.
I can’t wait till cars are cool again because I love driving, riding, moving. We left Paonia and headed east through the mountains to Colorado Springs. I love driving in the west because the landscape changes so dramatically that my jaw is consistently dropped. Another favorite reason to move on? Roadside diners.
The first time I walked into the Trading Post in Paonia I couldn’t help but utter a little gasp. I had some trouble at the local grocery store when searching for cardamom to put in my peach pie (and had to do without). I couldn’t understand why a hippie town like Paonia lacked a good health food store. Of course, I simply hadn’t found it yet. When I did finally find the Trading Post I was instantly smitten with the jars upon jars of bulk spices.
Vita-Mix’s recipe for banana ice cream involves ingredients other than bananas (milk, sugar, ice), but I had read it could create banana ice cream out of nothing other than frozen bananas. The Vita-Mix rocked the smoothie test, but failed to replicate a food processor in the peach pie test. I discovered the Vita-Mix here, and tried my own ice cream at home. It worked and was delicious! That’s 2 to 1 for the Vita-Mix.
The only problem I had was my own. I wanted to melt chocolate to drizzle over the healthy and vegan ice cream but it acted difficult, as chocolate often does. By the time I remembered to put it in a water bath (at the exact moment Anna was yelling from Mexico City to get it in a water bath) it was too late, and I was left with little chocolate balls. Not ideal, but delicious nonethelesss.
I’ll admit it freely, I love Paonia, CO. Athought I would love it w/o Revolution Brewery, its simple existence sealed the deal. Revolution Brewery certainly wins for best place in Paonia, if not ever. We were hooked the first time we went and have been back nearly every single Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening because those are the only days they are open (because they brew small batches that quickly run out). Also, it’s a “tasting room,” not a bar, which means last call is at 7:55pm, people play chess in the back yard, they allow kids, and it feels just like stooping it up at your neighbor’s house. Also, it is housed in an old church, and when Thursday rolls around everyone says, “see you at the beer church.” We’ve tried ‘em all and learned this past week that we need a growler to get us through Sunday-Thursday.
Filed under: Cook it
I wanted something fast and easy for dinner and remembered a deliciously simple roasted eggplant I had at Lil Frankie’s in NYC. I wanted to recreate it with a ginormous zucchini we had plucked from the garden recently and were wondering what to do with. I cut a huge zucchini in half and cut some slits in the flesh that I filled with olive oil and chopped garlic. As it was roasting in the oven Sara mentioned something about craving mozzarella, and bingo, my new favorite dish was born. I slathered one half of the zucchini with some marinara sauce and slices of fresh mozzarella. It turned out to die for.
I love waking up in the morning to growing voices in the kitchen. And I’m even more delighted if there are some smells wafting in my direction as well. One morning I came downstairs to find Sara making french toast (and be still my beating heart, the coffee was already brewed). I handed her my Alvarado St. Sprouted Wheat bread, which she whipped into some delicious and healthyish french toast.
I was never a huge fan of spaghetti (much to the dismay of my mother who could eat it every night), but sometimes you just need some pasta (and beer) for dinner.
Alejandro doesn’t cook much. But when he came home with a stack of burgers from Homestead on Grand Ave in Paonia, CO, he demonstrated some smart grocery shopping skillz. Homestead is a retail space run by six ranching families who raise cattle w/o antibiotics, without added hormones, and without animal by-products to sell their meat. They also provide tips on raising your own free range “feeder beef,” which they will process and butcher for you (if you’re into that).
