Montana Grains

We ate lunch here today. We also ate at a MG in Billings a few weeks ago. I like their food (similar to Panera) but I really like that they have tractors and combines in the dining area.
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Last day in Boise

The view from my hotel room this morning. Glad to be heading back to SLC. At the airport now.
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My new Hawaiian Shirt

We are having a luau for work this afternoon and I realized I was completely unprepared so I stopped by the local Goodwill and picked up this beauty for $4. Bring on the pig!

I had a meeting at the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute today. It is connected to the Boise State University Stadium. The clinic administrator gave us a tour...
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#5 college football team practice

Boise State Broncos practicing on smurf turf
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Exterminator

Since we have had so many peaches in the house, we have developed a small fruit fly problem. We have set out wine traps, shooed them out windows, monitored the trash, etc. This morning, Chris turned to extreme measures...

"Who ya gonna call..."

Fruit flies floating in vino.

Active

We went on a nice bike ride today on the Jordan River Parkway Trail. Erica was not wearing bike shorts and was getting a sore tush, so she called it quits after about an hour. After dropping Erica at the house, Chris continued on for another 2 miles and got a flat. He didn't have a phone, so he walked his bike back home the 2 miles.

After dinner, we ran to the Capitol. We love the Capitol at night. Lots of other people do too, we often see couples making out on the steps or in the front lawn.

Erica's Mountain Jeep

Gondola Ride

We rode to the top to eat lunch on Sunday. While we were there, a storm blew in complete with snow. It rained for a good portion of the afternoon back at the bottom.

Heading Back

Downtown Aspen.

Erica liked the red gondolas the best.

On the Mall

Chris posing on request

We did some good shopping - there were lots of sales :)

Dinner at Jimmy's

Good food with good friends. Doesn't get much better.

We Cheered on the KC Blues

The Blues won the Men's 35 and over division today.

This was the view from Keith & Christina's balcony

We Really Like Aspen

We are sad to be leaving tonight. More pictures are coming... Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

Aspen Farmers Market

Yummy looking bakery

Roasting Chilis

We had never seen purple bell peppers before.

The mountains and the market

Weekend in Aspen

We are meeting our friends Keith and Christina in Aspen. Keith is playing in the Aspen Ruggerfest tournament and we are going to spectate and drink beer.

Roasted Peaches with Animal Cracker Crumble

Okay, so the real recipe is called Roasted Peaches with Amaretti Crumble. But, I used what I had on hand and had to make some substitutions. I also used walnuts instead of almonds. I also drizzled honey over each peach when they came out of the oven. This was the easiest peach recipe I have made so far and it is also our favorite.

Ingredients

• 5 amaretti cookies (Italian macaroons; about 3/4 ounce total)
• 3 tablespoons whole natural almonds
• 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 firm but ripe large peaches, rinsed, wiped clean of fuzz, halved, pitted
• Vanilla ice cream

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Combine cookies, almonds, flour, and sugar in processor. Using on/off turns, process until cookies and almonds are coarsely chopped. Add 3 tablespoons chilled butter to processor. Using on/off turns, process topping mixture until moist clumps form.
• Place peach halves, cut side up, in prepared dish. Spread topping over surface of each peach half (about 1 generous tablespoon for each), pressing lightly to adhere and leaving 1/4-inch plain border.
• Bake peaches until tender when pierced with knife and topping is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool slightly. Transfer 1 warm roasted peach half to each of 6 plates. Serve with scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside.

Recipe courtesy of: Bon Appetit

To the Airport

Erica is driving Chris to the airport for his usual 6:40 am flight back to CO. Erica has a 9:48 am flight to Montana later in the morning. She is traveling to Billings for work for a couple days.

Multicultural Evening

After our Japanese dinner, we walked to the Greek Festival. Everyone was going crazy for these traditional Greek dancers.

Takashi

It is Dine O Round in Salt Lake City. Many restaurants in the downtown area are offering a special 2 course lunch or 3 course dinner for a special restaurant week price.

We picked Takashi last night. We had the sushi sampler which consisted of 6 pieces of nigiri sushi: escolar, sake (salmon), unagi (eel), maguro (tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), a 6th type that we can't seem to remember, as well as a crunchy ebi (shrimp) maki roll. Yum!

Maiden Voyage

We picked up Chris's bike at REI this morning and went out for our first ride. We biked to the U of U and stumbled upon the end of a rugby match there. It was great weather but SUPER hilly. Chris was loving it! Erica doesn't quite have her bike legs yet, but she is working on it.

We took 200 W to 200 N and followed that all the way to the university. If you click on the picture, it will take you to the full map.

St. Patty's Day Race Pics

I got an e-mail today telling me that pictures from the 4 mile St. Patricks Day race we ran in Kansas City were on-line. So, here they are...

You can see our original posts from the day of the event here.

Runner Chris

Runner Erica

Blanket Fort

After dinner last night we made a blanket fort and watched Slumdog Millionaire. Unfortunately, we were so tired afterward, we ended up sleeping here as well. Not the most comfortable.

Face Lift

We added a custom header to the blog. Let us know what you think! Also let us know if it is too large for your computer screen - with all the different screen resolutions out there, we have been trying to find a happy medium for everyone.

Test Drive

Today we went to Pedersen Volvo in Fort Collins to test drive a new S40 (pictured above, thanks to the Volvo website). We really liked the car but I did not care for the salesman. He was not knowledgeable about the inventory on the lot, stating they did not have any 2010's when in fact they did. He also told me there was not a FWD option with the larger engine, which is also not true. I wish I didn't have to know anything about what I did or told people while I was working.

Not exactly sure when we are going to pull the trigger on a new car, but this one is definitely a contender. Plus they are offering an insane Safe and Sound plan:

5 Years 60,000 Mile Warranty
5 Years Complimentary Factory Scheduled Maintenance
5 Years Wear and Tear Coverage
5 Years Volvo On Call Roadside Assistance

If we were to special order a new Volvo, they will even fly us to Sweden for free put us up for one night for free and let us drive our new car around Europe at a 8-10% savings on the price of the car. When we are done vacationing, we simply return it to the factory in Sweden where they then ship it to a dealership of our choice in the United States with their Overseas Delivery Program. I am still not sure I believe it and I have read all of the details!

Texas Peach Cobbler

I made this recipe late Tuesday evening.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tbsp. baking powder
¾ cup milk (low-fat or non-fat are fine)
3 cups sliced fresh peaches, skins left on
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Melt the butter in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat until it bubbles and turns golden-brown.
3. Pour the butter into an 8-inch square baking dish.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and milk.
5. Pour the batter on top of the melted butter. Do not stir.
6. Without mixing, arrange the peaches evenly on top of the batter.
7. Evenly sprinkle the brown sugar over the cobbler.
8. Bake the cobbler for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top turns golden brown. The batter will migrate from the bottom of the pan to cover the peach slices partially.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield 6 to 8 servings.

Recipe courtesy of: http://www.pickyourown.org/peachrecipes.htm

Peach Streusel Crisp

Mom sent me this recipe and I made it over the weekend. Chris posted a picture of it in the Peaches, Peaches, and more Peaches post.

This is good served warm with ice cream. It's also a great breakfast topping for oatmeal

Recipe is for an 8x8 pan. Double the recipe for a 9x13 pan.

9 good sized ripe peaches

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 vanilla

2 Tablespoons flour (for juicy peaches, 1 Tablespoon for firm peaches)

Topping

1 stick cold butter

1 Cup flour

2/3 cup sugar (I use half white sugar and half brown sugar)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat open to 350.

Grease bottom only of an 8x8 pan or medium casserole dish.

Pit the peaches, slice and place in a large bowl.

Top with sugar, flour, cinnamon and vanilla, toss to coat.

Set aside while preparing topping.

Make the streusel by cutting the cold butter into a bowl, adding flour, sugar and cinnamon, and rubbing through your fingers until the streusel is a coarse, sandy/pebbly texture. Put the seasoned peaches into the pan, top generously with the streusel, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until the streusel is golden brown and the peach juice is starting to bubble up through the topping.

You will want to put the pan you are baking the peaches in on a cookie sheet to catch any drips.

New Bikes!!!

We both got new bikes so that we can ride around SLC and explore. Erica picked up her bike on Friday and I put it together over the weekend. My bike is supposed to be arriving at the SLC REI on Monday. I bought it in CO last week and had it shipped out here. I won't get to try it out until I'm back out in September. It will be fun to ride around here. It is SO hilly!

Erica's 2009 Diamondback Clarity 2

Chris' 2009 Scott SUB30