Houston's - Snowy Sunday Lunch

On Sunday a group of us ventured out in to the snowy streets to catch a 10 am showing of The Last Station. Now before I go into the meal that followed I must tell you The Last Station was the best movie I have seen all year! I love Helen Mirren;  Christopher Plummer who had his best moments ever on film; and I won't forget to mention the always overlooked and undervalued Mr. McAvoy.  Don’t stop, don’t pass go, and by all means please don’t go see Avatar and tell me it was the best movie you have ever seen… go to The Last Station.

After the movie, we were looking for a place to have lunch. I hadn’t done any pre-movie restaurant scouting, because I got the theater wrong and thought it was going to be showing in a different area of town.

We all decided to try out Houston’s which has recently come to Denver. Now I am not a fan of “trying out the new chain restaurant in town”. But since we are all huge fans of the Cherry Creek Grill; since CCG is part of the same company; and since it was snowy and cold - we thought we would overlook its chain status.

We started out with the spinach dip and were sadly disappointed. It is served in a large ramekin flanked by two smaller ramekins with sour cream and salsa. I found the accompaniments odd and the spinach dip boring.

Each of us had a different meal. Mac the French dip; Swooze the chicken tenders; Walsh had the chicken sandwich; and I had the inside out spicy tuna roll salad. Oddly, I didn’t try anyone else’s dish (weird I know). But everyone enjoyed their meal… the chicken nuggets were dipped in a tempura batter which I thought was weird, but just a preference.  My salad was heightened by their offering of Ponzu sauce (instead of soy) to dip my sushi in. I wanted to drink the Ponzu and am now obsessed with acquiring their recipe.

Overall Houston’s was good, but from now on I will stick to the Cherry Creek Grill.

Twisted Olive: Friday night dinner

Twisted Olive

Mac and I ate dinner out last Friday and we tried out a new(ish) restaurant Twisted Olive. It is in my neighborhood and sounded great - Twisted Olive: is an ultra lounge with a full service restaurant and bar. Nightly Features and Themes include Mediterranean dinner creations. We got to the restaurant at about 8:00 and were seated immediately, which is amazing because the restaurant has only around five non-bar tables, which might be an inaccurate estimate because of the live music and the crowd that was there. The live music was great, but not fun for a couple trying to have a relaxing Friday evening dinner (I can only blame myself for the lack of appropriate research.)   But the music was great and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  We were tucked away in cubby type tables, which were nice but not decorated for maximum comfort: there where high back chairs where there should have been upholstered benches and there were doors to the outside that were inside each cubby that were horribly drafty and I had to wear my coat the entire meal.

The drinks, were superb as advertised this place is a true martini bar.   There were a ton of martini's on the menu and every single one of them we tried was delicious.

The food, well despite the unusual dinner atmosphere the food was excellent. I had a hamburger Panini with one of the best ceasar salads and Mac had the grilled salmon (Salmon on Puff Pastry, topped with a White Wine Butter sauce, Tomatoes, Garlic, and Feta) which was amazing.   My only complaint about the food was dessert: I had the baked apple dessert, which was filled with what can only be described as canned apple filling and was raw and doughy in the middle. Mac had the strawberry ice cream sandwich, which was ice cream with strawberry meringue cookies and fresh strawberries.   When the plate arrived the strawberries that were on that plate were horrible, they looked like strawberries picked in January might.   They should have made a strawberry sauce instead which can be made with frozen strawberries then their would be a flavorful sauce and you wouldn't have to place a green-tasteless strawberries on a dessert plate.

My memory has just been sold

Struggling at work and life today.   Over indulged in wine with some girlfriends last night and found myself at midnight dancing and singing Centerfold by the J. Giles Band in Walsh's living room.  

I have nothing today, except a headache.

Phoenician Kabob aka dinner with Pikas

So, I am lucky.   I live in a town with one of my dearest high school friends, which may to many of you not sound like that big of a feat.   But, it is because we both went to a boarding school about 500 miles away.   I don't get to see her that often (even though we live about 5 miles from each other) because she has recently gone back to school to get her masters degree.   Pikas is a lovely individual to be around, she is: positive, creative and funny... plus she gets me, I guess that is what knowing each other for 25 years will do.  

Last night we had dinner at the Phoenician Kebab.   And I must say, including the company it was a PERFECT dining experience.   I happen to love middle eastern and mediterranean food, it is my favorite.   So the worst part of the evening was actually having to decide on what to eat.   I had the Sultans Combo - Gyros, chicken, falafel, hummus, baba gannouj, tabbouleh and stuffed grape leaves - which they should rename as Sultans Delight.   This meal pretty much encompassed everything that is declicious and right with this resturant... even the stuffed grape leaves were homemade.  

One other fantastic part of the evening was the owner's wife, the lovely school teacher Victoria, spoke with us numerous times to make sure our meal was delicious and to even tell us what was in their lovely garlic sauce, which Heather and I had been debating the contents of for at least 10 minutes.    Victoria also took down our email addresses and promised to email their specials to us. 

This is a not-to-be-missed resturant that I fear is being overlooked on this Denver dining scene because of its location.

The Mixed Tape...

The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.   - Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

I am a HUGE fan of the mix tape makin' process a' la John Cusack in High Fidelity. The charm of my teenage-80's obsession has never worn off.  So every month I compile together a collection of songs to listen to - usually new releases but always new to me.   As you might expect, some months are better than others based on the new selections available.  I have moved on to the mixed CD, but that isn't the only thing that has changed, like I no longer wait by the raido to push record at the perfect moment just to be disappointed when the radio jockey talks through the end of the song.   Also now, thankfully am all grown up and have a job, you know, to pay that I-Tunes bill every month.   

Oddly my cd compilations have not been that great for the past couple of months... I am not sure what is going on - if there is a serious music drought or maybe I was just too busy to listen.  I did, however, enjoy my January...

The Radio Dept. - Messy Enough
Jack Penate - Pull My Heart Away
Phoenix - 1901
Small Engine Repair - How Long
Holly Long - Trust Me
She Ain't Me - Carrie Rodriguez
Sonya Kitchell - For Every Drop
Charlene Soraia - Daffodils
Fink - This is the Thing
Rosi Golan - Come Around
Regina Specktor - Eet

Order Seeds, check

Picture by Grow Girl

One task down, four million to go - I completed my seed ordering today. I am very excited about the promise of what these little packets will produce in the coming months. Every year I like to try planting something new - last year it was tomatillos and peanuts, which were a bit hit and failure respectively.  The new items in my garden this year are: potatoes and scallions and some unusual melons (below). I have also purchased different varieties of vegetables I regularly plant, like golden beets and Mexican Sour Gherkins, which I can hardly wait to put in a pickle jar!  Look at them (above) don't they look like mini watermelons?  I am so excited about them I can hardly stand it.   I have also resolved to be better about   making notes in my garden journal so that I can keep a more accurate record of my gardening.  

 (Picture Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

I bought some of my seeds, including the Fond Blanc Melon, through Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.   They describe the Fond Blanc as:  The most unique and beautiful French melon we sell! The fruit is 4-9 lbs., very flattened and ribbed, with warts and bumps. Melons have grey/green skin turning straw color; flesh is salmon-orange. Once one of the best known melons, it was mentioned in the 1860's, but it likely is much older. The flavor is very rich if picked at perfection and the fragrance is heavenly. This is a favorite melon of mine, almost unheard of in this country.  I haven't always had the best of luck with melons... I worry that my problem is that the melons don't have enough time to mature before they frost.   Enter the other melon I ordered from Baker - a Tigger Melon.

(Picture Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

How fantastic is this melon?   Baker describes this melon as: The most amazing melon we have grown. The fruit are vibrant yellow with brilliant fire-red, zigzag stripes, (a few fruit may be solid yellow), simply beautiful! They are also the most fragrant melons we have tried, with a rich, sweet intoxicating aroma that will fill a room. The white flesh gets sweeter in dry climates. Small in size the fruits weigh up to 1 lb. - perfect for a single serving. The vigorous plants yield heavily, even in dry conditions. This heirloom came from an Armenian market located in a mountain valley. It was the most popular melon at our Garden Show last August and makes a unique specialty market variety.  I ordered this melon because someone from North Dakota commented that they were able to get this melon to mature before the first frost... and if they can do it so can I.

Aji Amarillo

Purple de Milpa Tomatillo

Dinosaur Kale

(Pictures from Seeds of Change)

Aztec Red Spinach
(photo from Underwood Gardens)

Strawberry Spinach

(photo from Underwood Gardens)

Violettta di Choggia Artichoke

(photo from Underwood Gardens)

 
Seeds I have purchased this season
 
Heirloom Seeds.com
White Wonder Cucumber, Rouge Vif’d Etampes Pumpkin, Golden Detroit Beet, Chantenay Royal Carrot, French Breakfast Radish, Italian Vegetable Marrow Squash, Cream of Saskatchewan Watermelon, Heirloom Salad Blend,

Seedsofchange.com
Dinosaur Kale, Orange Fantasia Chard, Purple de Milpa Tomatillo, Black Plum Tomato and Aji Amarillo Pepper.

Reneesgarden.com
French Gold Pole beans, Tricolor Bush beans (which are a combination of Golden Roc d'Or, Purple Queen, Green Slenderette Pole Beans)

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Mexican Sour Gherkin, Rocky Top Lettuce Mix, Tigger Melon, Prescott Fond Blanc Melon.

Trade Wind Fruits
Bolivian Rainbow Pepper, Early Jalepeno Pepper, Costeno Amarillo Pepper, Ampuis Pepper, Violetta di Choggia Artichoke

Underwoodgardens.com (Terroir Seeds)
Winder Bloomsdale Spinach, Strawberry Spinach, Aztec Red Spinach

On to the next task... which now might have to include moving to a house with a bigger yard!

A mess...

That is me.   A jumbled messy-messy mess.   In January I like to clean out closets and spring clean - none of that happened last month.   I need to get motivated and catch up.   I also need to get rid of this nasty cold that has been haunting me.   Then I will have to figure out... where to begin.