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.
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).
When we ask Paoniaites where to eat, everyone immediately says Louie’s. On a Tuesday night we sat in a deep booth next to the bar and enjoyed the X-mas lighting and loudish dreadlocked locals. We had a pizza w/ sausage and onion and a pitcher of Black Butte Porter ($12). We’ve all lived in New York long enough to see a cheap pitcher of good beer as a wonderful novelty and to develop a distaste for all pizza outside of NY. (Some say it’s the NY water that makes it so good.) I don’t know if pizza snobbery made Alejandro declare that Louie’s pizza kind of tasted like frozen, but we finished it and had a good time nonetheless, and I have a feeling we’ll be back.
Update: We did return to Louie’s, as it is the only place to go on a Saturday night. It was pretty quiet, there was no live music as we’d hoped, and the flourescent lighting on the back patio left something to be desired. We couldn’t order a calzone because it takes 30 minutes and must be ordered by 7:30 (as all food ends at 8pm). And while my meatball parmesan was pretty tasty, I’m not quite sure what all the fuss is about.
I’m a pie person. Pie is so homey, so traditional, so good with coffee, so hard to perfect. I’ve had daydreams of opening a pie and coffee place (among many other pie-in-the-sky dreams). Whether I follow that folly or not, I figure it can’t hurt to work on my pie skills. I’m pretty confident in my lemon meringue, chocolate, and pecan pie, but I have never attempted a fruit pie (not even apple!). Also, I hesitate to admit that I’ve never even made my own crust (my mom worked! She taught me shortcuts!) . My friend Chaela’s mom on the other hand, works hard making her homemade pies and quiches every day at Antique Sandwich Co in Tacoma, WA. Chaela promised me pie crusts aren’t as hard as I think. So, I put aside my fears and attempted my first crust.
I am loving western Colorado, mostly because I’m indulging in the late summer serenity of the house we are staying in at the moment, rather than forcing myself to see new things. I had Sunday off and I spent the whole day cooking or shopping for food or picking it from the garden. I put on some Django Reinhardt as I cooked up a storm.
Here’s what Sunday Dinner looked like. (Who needs an main course?)
Potatos au gratin: a bit of milk followed by layers of potato, onion, and Tillamook smoked cheddar.
Grilled corn on the cob (from garden). “Grilled” AKA broiled in the oven.
Steamed asparagus with a sauce recipe I ripped from some unidentifiable magazine (plain yogurt, dijon mustard, honey, sherry vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, parsley, s+p).
Tomato/Mozzarella Salad: Unfortunately, I had no basil so I had to drizzle this with balsamic vinegar and sea salt. Still delicious due to garden cherry tomatoes that tasted like candy.
