Colorado: Denver & Colorado Springs

Friday after Kenan's final session we checked out of the Villas, bid adieu to Estes Park and headed towards Denver. Our first stop was Fancy Tiger, which Kenan had located before our trip and we both decided we had to go, it's a yarn and fabric store and packed full of goodies. I bought a hank of Pico Accuardi sock yarn, hand-dyed in Portland, OR and some Spud & Chloe yarn for a new project for my yet-to-be-born-nephew. I didn't buy any fabric but now I wish I had, they had an excellent selection fabric, from Japanese prints to Anna Maria Horner. After that we got a snack at the bar next door and then went to the Great Western Alpaca Show which just happened to be going on that weekend.

Neither of us had ever seen a real-live alpaca, even though we had both knitted with it. OMG it was an explosion of cuteness! I'm about 100% positive the alpaca people thought we were insane because we were practically swooning over the alpaca. Seriously. The alpaca show was in the arena and then the stalls where the alpaca were staying were off away from the arena. If the alpaca gazing wasn't enough, there was also a yarn sale with lots of local, hand-dyed, alpaca and alpaca blend yarns being sold. After emptying our wallets we got a little up close and personal with some alpacas. Kenan even got in a stall with a few. The alpaca owners were so nice, several people talked to us about raising them and let us stare all googly-eyed at their alpaca.

It was hard to tear ourselves away but we got hungry and left so we could have dinner at Steuben's. It was cold but their patio was heated so we ate outside (shorter wait). We both had the chicken pot pie and a cocktail, I had a Singapore Sling and I think Kenan's was a Sidecar, the food and the beverages were great. For dessert we went to The Shoppe and had tiny cupcakes again, this time Nutella, Raspberry Vanilla and Irish Cream, which was my personal favorite, the icing was dynamite.Saturday we made our final yarn shop stop at The Lamb Shoppe, where I bought a hank of Colorado alpaca and Kenan got yarn that's a blend of wool and POSSUM, which is surprisingly soft and a nice neutral color. Although we can't help but wonder how they get the hair off of the possum....

The highlight of Saturday was taking the Pike's Peak Cog Railway. The wind was too strong for us to go to the summit but we still got some amazing views. Props to Kenan for not throwing me out the window of the rail-car. I started feeling kind of icky and I was worried about my grandmother so I was a little grouchy.

We were flying out on Sunday so we got up early and visited Garden of the Gods, which was my favorite things we did, just because the landscape was unbelievable. By the time we headed to the airport a storm had set in and it was snowing and I saw some lighting, which did not bode well for my flying-phobia. But we made it home just fine with new piles of yarn and bellies full of cupcakes and eclairs and marionberry pie and more cupcakes....

Colorado: Estes Park & Boulder

I'm alive but sleepy, so, so sleepy. We got back from Colorado Sunday night around 9:30pm and I headed back to work bright and early Monday morning. Ugh. We had a great trip but spent a good deal of time worrying about our family and friends here because of all the flooding and tornado watches/warnings, etc. Unfortunately my Nannie's house flooded and it's going to take a lot of work and time to get it back to normal. Luckily she and my aunt were able to evacuate with all of their animals. I'm planning on driving up Saturday to take them some things and check out the damage. Please keep everyone in your thoughts, in Shelby County Millington was hit rather hard and the folks further northeast in Nashville have really got a mess.

On to the trip - we flew into Colorado Springs Wednesday afternoon, picked up our rental car, grabbed lunch at Marigold Cafe and then hit the road for Estes Park at the base of Rocky Mountain National Park (almost three hours away). I was blown away by the mountains, just gorgeous. The trip from Colorado Springs to Boulder was pretty uneventful but once we got past Lyons, Colorado heading towards Estes Park the drive up into the mountains was a little narrow. When we arrived in Estes Park we pulled over at the visitors center and gawked at this collection of elk. We also realized how flipping cold it had gotten. Our reservations were at The Stanley Hotel, the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining! But when we got there we found out we would be staying in the new villas (fancy condos) behind the hotel. We were kind of bummed until we got inside the condo, it was huuuuge, two bedrooms, two baths, full kitchen, fireplace, hot tub, mountain view - we were no longer bummed. Our biggest challenges in Estes Park were finding places that were open, most restaurants/stores don't start opening until later in May.

Thursday morning we awoke to a town blanketed in snow. In the mountains snow = not a big deal. It took me a while to get the snow off of the car so I could drive into town but once I got on the road everything was pretty clear. I did some coffee drinking (Kind Coffee), pie-buying (Estes Park Pie Shop) and souvenir shopping. I also drove to the park entrance but the snow and cold kept me from walking. Instead I stopped at Coffee on the Rocks, warmed up and took more pictures of the mountains. By the time I got back to the condo the snow had melted and I took pictures of more elk from the front door.When Kenan's conference session was over we drove to Boulder and spent a very nice afternoon there, it was our favorite place out the towns we went to. We bought yarn at Gypsy Wool, had the best little cupcakes at Tee & Cakes (salted caramel! bacon & chocolate!), walked around and shopped and ate dinner at a crepe place while playing our new favorite game "Spot the Subaru" - extra points if it had a boat rack on top. I still have Denver and Colorado Springs to tell about, which include stories of alpaca, cog wheel trains and more yarny goodness.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake & Almond Macaroons

Here are two items I made a few weeks ago and forgot to post about. The first is a simple, one layer lemon-poppyseed cake with a recipe via Epicurious (click here for recipe). It's quick, sweet and spring-y.The second thing are these Almond Macaroons from Martha Stewart's Cookie book, recipe also found here. They aren't the sandwich cookie macarons and they aren't the coconut macaroons. They're just a little cookie made with almond paste, egg whites, confectioner's sugar and vanilla, a lot of almond flavor in little airy cookie. Word to the wise keep an eye on these, the first batch I put in the oven were a little overcooked.I'm going to be on a baking-vacation for the next few days, I'm headed out this morning to Colorado with my friend Kenan. We'll be visiting Colorado Springs, Denver, Estes Park and maybe Boulder and going to as many bakeries and yarn stores as we can. As always I'm excited to visit a state I've never been to and see mountains! However, I am not excited to fly. Flying with a friend makes it a little easier, at least I have someone's hand to hold!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chockablock Cookies

You'll forgive me if my details on these are a little fuzzy, I made them a month ago and forgot to take notes! This week's selection was chosen by Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet. I baked these for a Kidney Foundation bake sale at Doug's company. I do remember snatching a few for myself before I sent them off. I know some people expressed concern over the combination of molasses, dried fruit and chocolate but I thought they were very, very good. Thanks Mary!

Here, have some cake

Last week Doug drove out to the Agricenter and picked up some strawberries from Jones Orchard for me. I had it in mind to make a strawberry cake with them, but searching in my cookbooks and online led me to mostly recipes that used boxed cake mix and strawberry gelatin, buh? Nothing against cake mix but um, that was not really what I was going for. I Google-ed some more and finally found this recipe for a strawberry shortcake/cake hybrid from The Pioneer Woman. I made it exactly as the recipe is written and it turned out so nicely. I used a springform pan since my normal cake pan wasn't tall enough and it was perfect. The strawberries were incredibly ripe and sweet and the cream cheese frosting was a nice accompaniment to the juicy strawberries and vanilla flavor of the cake.

Family memories - one

As I mentioned earlier this week I borrowed some family photos from my grandmother to scan with our new scanner. I thought it would be nice to share some of those photos and memories to go along with them. The first set are of my maternal grandmother's parents.

Their names were Irene and Roy Rone but I called them Ma and Pa Rone. Ma Rone passed away in 1994 and Pa Rone in 2003.

(My great-grandmother, 1955)

As a child I spent a lot of time at their house in the summertime. They are a big part of why I'm so interested in gardening. They always had a huge garden and chickens and Pa kept bees too.

These are some of my favorite memories about spending time with them.

(My first Easter at their house, 1982)

Swinging in the white swing on their front porch
Shelling purple hull peas in a big pan on the back porch until my fingers turned purple

(Pa with my mom)

Eating cornbread mashed up in cold milk

Picking blackberries and strawberries from their garden and eating them while they were still warm from the sun
Walking around in their huge garden and being enthralled by the actual fruits and vegetables on the vine
Ma’s little dark glass bottles of snuff on top of the television

(With my newborn baby brother and me, 1983)

The wood stove in the center of their living room, watching them cook sweet potatoes on top of the stove
Looking for Easter eggs in their front yard, among all their roses and peonies
Riding in my Pa’s baby blue Ford Ranger
Going with Pa into the chicken house to get eggs

I can only recall a couple of instances on which Pa did not wear overalls. Practically every memory of him I have he’s wearing Liberty overalls, a long-sleeved flannel shirt and a cap.

(With my uncle, my mom and my aunt, 1963 or 1964)

Pa peeling and eating an apple with a pocketknife
They went to bed with the sun and woke up with it too
They always had bacon leftover from breakfast, at any given time you could go to their house and have a piece of bacon
There was also always Little Debbie cakes to snack on
I feel very lucky to have been able to know them

2-9

Today is my birthday, somewhere around 11:40pm-ish I'll officially be entering the last year of my twenties. I know it's not 'old' or anywhere near 'old' but I can't help but be a little freaked out. Where the hell did the last ten years go? Each year seems to go by more rapidly than the last, yikes.

I am happy, really, really happy, with my life right now and I'm also thankful for the family and friends and husband I have that support me and love me and eat my baked goods.

For the next 12 months I plan on work on my 30-by-30 list, 30 things I want to do by the time I leap into my thirties this time next year. I was inspired by folks like Andrea of Hula Seventy and Maggie Mason's (Mighty Girl) Mighty Life List. My list is here on Listography and it isn't full of life-altering, impossible things, but hopefully things I'll do and enjoy or hate or whatever, but I know I'll be richer for the experience. There's something from a Kurt Vonnegut book I think about whenever I'm feeling apprehensive or unmotivated.

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." - from "Player Piano"

In celebration of my birthday here are some pictures from birthdays of the past.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Sweet Cream Biscuits

I first made these a few months ago and was amazed by how simple these were to make. I know I had a tendency to work the dough a little too much so I went easy on my mixing this time. This batch rose better than my last batch, which is a good thing. The honey-butter I slapped on them was a very delicious addition to a Sunday morning treat. Thanks to Melissa of Love at First Bite for this selection.