For Emily

Emily and Andy gave me this beautiful table runner for Christmas along with four matching napkins.  Emily couldn't remember how long our table was, so she was nervous it wouldn't fit.  Well, it is perfect and the colors go fantastic with the dining room.  Thank you! I can't believe how much better the table looks.

Last Lunch of the Year

We are back from a week in Wisconsin!  We ate and drank an excessive amount while we were away.  The last thing we wanted to do was eat out today, but we didn't have any food in the house and needed energy to run to Costco and the grocery store to stock up the pantry.  We thought sushi was a nice, light choice.

P.S. Aunt Krystal - if you are reading this, sorry I didn't come by to pick up that pair of shoes.  I didn't have an inch of extra space left in my suitcase to transport them home.

Fish Fry!

Lake Perch Fish Fry.  Not easy to come by outside of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin

It is snowing today.  We are relaxing and enjoying family time.  We have each gained 10 pounds since we have been here.  :)

Wine Light

We got this from our friends Kirk and Amy for Christmas.  They drilled a hole in the back of the bottle and threaded Christmas lights through it. It is really cute.  I would like to make a few and build a collection for display.

Adios Faux Finish

We have been working on the stairway at the back of the house.  First, Chris installed a new light fixture back in October.  It is made of 10 light sockets hanging from one fixture.  Each socket holds a large, round bulb and the bottom half of the bulb is mirrored.

Last night we gave the stairwell a nice coat of paint, covering the last of the faux "tuscan" finish.  We used the same color as our dining room.  

Do Not Try This at Home:

Chris was holding the ladders the entire time.  I was completely safe.  Except when he left to go get his phone to take a picture and then when he stood at the bottom of the stairs to take said picture.  We both agree it was a pretty ridiculous way to get the job done.

Here is the finished product.  We painted the electrical box which is a really nice improvement: 

Last but not least, the new light and new paint.

Snow Day!

We are working from home today.  Blizzard conditions exist according to the National Weather Service.  We haven't ventured out to experience for ourselves.  It sounds blizzardy out there.

On a side note, the neighbors got a new shed this week. Not sure how we feel about it, not that it matters at this point.  We will be erecting a fence to bridge the new gap between their shed and their garage sometime this spring.  We will also be adding a peach tree in the back corner and hope it will detract from the shed as well.

Put a Mouse on It!

The tree is up!

We haven't been able to find a tree topper that we like.  So, Chris perched this Ikea mouse on the top.  We also had a little knit CU stocking hat ornament, so that went on the mouse as well.  I bought the mouse last year, along with other toys to donate to Toys for Tots.  But, it blended in with the tree skirt and we didn't realize it never got donated and was still in the house only after the holidays were we over and we were packing up the tree.

Spritz Cookies

I decided I wanted to make Spritz Cookies for Christmas this year.  I went out to Amazon to read reviews and place an order.  The Reviews and Ratings were not exactly glowing for any of the cookie presses and the best reviews went to presses that were more expensive than I would have liked.  Most of the complaints involved breaking parts after one or a few uses and cookies not sticking to the cookie sheet, making the press useless.  

After some deliberation and almost springing for this well rated $40 Kuhn Rikon Press, I finally decided to purchase the cheapest press I could get: the $12 Wilton Comfort Grip Cookie Press.  I made my first batch tonight and achieved Spritz success!  But I did use a couple tricks I gleaned from the disgruntled cookie press reviewers on Amazon:

1.  Put your cookie sheets in the freezer for a few minutes - it will help the cookies stick to the pan.

2. Don't over tighten any of the press parts to prevent breakage.

Even with the cold pans, the first couple cookies never stuck, but after that, it was smooth sailing. I also searched for spritz recipes on line, but ended up just going with the recipe that was provided on the side of the cookie press box.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups butter softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract

Makes: 7-8 dozen cookies.

Instructions:

step 1

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

step 2

In bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat until combined. Do not chill. Fill cookie press with dough and with desired disks, press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet.

step 3

Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet on cooling rack. Remove from sheet; cool completely.

Salt

After today's afternoon Christmas get together, we headed to Boulder to celebrate the birth of our good friend Brian at Salt.  Here we are enjoying cheese, charcuterie, and wine before our entrees arrived.

Tiramisu

Marscapone and Ladyfingers highlighted by a Tuscan background.

Today we are having an Italian food themed Christmas with Chris's family.  In keeping with the theme, we volunteered to bring Tiramisu.  I had never made it before, and all of the recipes I read seemed complicated.  But, it was fast and not that bad at all, especially when you have a cute kitchen elf to lend an extra pair of hands.

2 -3 cups strong plunger espresso coffee, cooled to room temp
3 tablespoons Tia Maria (optional)
6 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
16 oz mascarpone cheese
1 cup whipping cream
ladyfingers
cocoa powder, for dusting

1 Put the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl.
2 Beat with electric mixers until the mixture goes pale and thick.
3 Add mascarpone and beat until combined.
4 It does not matter if it is marbled slightly.
5 Whip the cream until stiff peaks hold, and fold gently into the egg mixture.
6 Beat the egg whites and 1/4 cup sugar to soft peaks in a perfectly clean metal bowl.
7 If there is any grease, they won't whip properly.
8 Make sure you rinse and dry your beaters well.
9 Fold the whites into the cream. It is very important to retain as much air as possible.
10 Put the coffee and liquer in a bowl.
11.Dip biscuits in coffee one at a time. Drain well.
12. Layer in your dish, covering the bottom.
13 Place half of the mascarpone mix on top and spread out. Repeat with remaining biscuits and mascarpone, finishing with a creamy layer.
14 Dust with cocoa.
15 Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but it works quite well if you leave for up to 24 hours.

Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/tiramisu-84612?oc=linkback

Civic Center

Erica snapped this picture on her way home from a Girls Night Out dinner at Pinche Tacos.  The restaurant was really good, especially the Pork Belly & Pescado Street Tacos.  And the Churros.

Chris started coming down with a sore throat last night, so he worked from home today.  He is snuggled up in blankets on the couch tonight.

Networking Happy Hour

Erica had a networking happy hour event tonight.

Sippin' and Paintin'

Tonight we took a much needed break from TV watching and we met our friends Kirk and Amy for Dinner at Amato's.  Afterwards, we headed to Sippin' and Paintin' where we drank wine and painted.  This was the inspiration for the evening:

Kirk won a free session in a raffle while we were there.  Looks like we will be back!  It was a lot of fun.

Christmas Cometh Early

The big unveiling.  Chris is excited.

Look how thin it is!

65"

This is the gift that just won't quit.  It also required a new entertainment center and 2 pair of 3D glasses.  The old TV and bookshelf/media stand are being moved downstairs.  The old basement tube TV is going to Best Buy to be recycled.

Flakes

We got home today just in time for the Season 3 Walking Dead Marathon.  Now we are all caught up.  I made some snow flakes while we watched.

Christmas Party

We stayed in Loveland last night for Chris's work Christmas party.  It's fun to get all spiffed up every once in a while.  Chris even bought a new suit for the occasion.

Skyfall

We met our friend Brian and saw Skyfall at the IMAX followed by dinner.  Casino Royale is still our very favorite, but Skyfall was right up there.  Much better than Quantum of Solace. 

Taco Seasoning

We had tacos tonight.  We were out of taco seasoning, so we made some.  No reason to buy the packets anymore.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

recipe: allrecipes.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so grateful for all of you - our friends and family.

We are having a relaxing day today and will celebrate tomorrow with Chris's family.

xoxo  C&E

The Walking Dead

This is our new favorite show.  Unfortunately, we have watched season 1 & 2 on Netflix already and they are in the middle of running season 3 on AMC right now.  So, we are waiting for season 3 to come out, which will be a while.  Here is the storyline:

Rick Grimes is a former police officer who has been in a coma for several months after being shot whilst on duty. When he wakes, he discovers that the world has been taken over by Zombies, and that he seems to be the only person still alive. Having returned home to discover his wife and son missing, he heads for Atlanta to search for his family. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Zombies on arrival in Atlanta, he is aided by another survivor Glenn who takes Rick to a camp outside the town. There Rick finds his wife Lori and son Carl. Along with his partner and best friend Shane, he founds a small group of survivors who struggle to fend off the zombie hordes, as well as competing with other survivor groups who are prepared to do whatever it takes to survive.

R.I.P. Twinkie

All sold out.

The Music of James Bond

At the Symphony to hear the music of James Bond with Jazz Singer Hilary Kole:

From Russia With Love
007 Theme from From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
Dawn Raid at Fort Knox from Goldfinger
Diamonds are Forever
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
The Spy Who Loved Me
Nobody Does it Better from The Spy Who Loved Me
You Only Live Twice
The James Bond Theme
For Your Eyes Only
Ski Chase from On Her Majesty's Secret Service
We Have All The Time in the World from On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Live and Let Die
All Time High from Octopussy
The Living Daylights
License to Kill
Tank Chase from GoldenEye
GoldenEye
Skyfall

Prost Brewery

Second stop of the day; practically on the way home from Crooked Stave.  Alt bier and pretzels.  Appreciating Erica's German heritage.

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

It's a gray and snowy day.  No better way to spend it but in a tasting room.  This one is 1.5 miles from the house.  We tried all of them!

Crooked Stave specializes in sour beers (love!).  They only put out very limited releases.  We are very happy to have them in the neighborhood.

Back Blogging

Hi!  We know we have been absent as of late.  We will be back blogging to let you know what us wild and crazy kids have been up to starting in 5,4,3,2,1....

Breakfast of Champions

Erica started her day bright and early this morning in Colorado Springs (which is at least an hour and a half from the house).  She attended the Breakfast of Champions benefiting Peak Vista Community Health Center which is a provider partner and client.  Peak Vista does an amazing job to ensure the Pikes Peak community has access to care and provided $13 million in charity care in 2011.

Bart and Nadia were great keynote speakers.  They were funny and have a great story.

We Voted! (Just in Case You Were Wondering)

No fun pictures or I voted stickers.  We dropped off our mail-in ballots last night.

Birthday Boy!

Ten of us headed to Hops and Pie (H&P) today in celebration of Chris's birth.  Saturday afternoon is Saturday Session - for $16 you get 3 draft beers and 2 slices of the day.  The waitress surprised Chris with a Rice Krispie treat and a Candle.  I surprised him with a one year H&P Beer Club membership:  Anytime happy hour which equates to $1 off drafts & slices whenever you come in.  Every Sunday you get your 3rd draft for free. 2nd Sunday of each month you get 50 cent drafts.  From here on out if we aren't home, I think you are likely to find us at H&P :)

After that, we headed back to our house for more drinks and Happy Cakes cupcakes.  The Mexican Chocolate cupcakes were the favorite. 

The party continued late into the evening...

Happy Birthday, Chris!  xoxo

Opera Sideshow!

Last night we went to the Opera.  Sort of.  We got a flier in the mail for a Sideshow that the Opera Colorado Young Artists were putting on.  It sounded like fun, so we got tickets:

A casual cabaret-style program performed by our stellar Young Artists. Enjoy a night out with cocktails and light appetizers (available for purchase) and a program featuring Douglas Moore’s Gallantry, a hysterically funny spoof on the 1950s-era TV soap opera complete with commercials, and cabaret songs by Cole Porter and William Bolcom.

We had a good time.  The show was held in the Studio Loft of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and we were seated almost front and center at a table of 4 with another couple who were very nice Opera buffs.  They introduced us to the Director of Opera Colorado while we were there.

After the show we had a late dinner at Euclid Hall which has German inspired food and a really nice beer selection.  They had a large sour beer listing which is Erica's favorite.

Interestingly enough, later in the week Groupon had an offer for Opera Colorado and we picked up season tickets for a great deal.  we will be seeing Don Giovanni, Romeo and Juliet, and the world premier of the Scarlet Letter over the coming months.

Trick or Treat!

Last night we lit our pumpkins, turned on our porch light and opened up 2 ginormous bags of candy we picked up at Costco.  

Chris estimates we had over 100 kids stop by from 6:30 - 8:00.  We ran out of candy just as the doorbell stopped ringing.

We definitely don't have close to 100 kids in our neighborhood, but we had heard our 'hood is nice enough that people will leave theirs to come to ours.  

The kids ranged in age from 3 months to at least 16.  It was not uncommon to see parents in their vehicles driving slowly up the street while their kids went door to door.  One parent was like the paparazzi, and took a bunch of up close flash pictures of us and the kids as they got their candy.

The kids also made many comments on how cool our pumpkins were, which was a nice surprise.  Next year we are going to carve them the day before Halloween.  After 3 days in 70 degree weather, they were starting to get wilty.

Pumpkins

The Conga Monsta and a Dia de los Muertos Skull.  

Can you guess whose is whose?

Toasted

Over the past few weeks we have noticed our toaster has not been working well. So, we got this new spiffy motorized toaster! And, we got it for a great deal thanks to a sale, an additional 30% off coupon and free shipping.

.

Grandpa Hale turns 90!

We had a birthday get together for Grandpa Hale tonight.

First Snow of the Season

More on the way tonight, they say.

Stranded in Charlotte

I left the house yesterday at 10:00 am for a business trip to Louisville.  Almost 24 hours later, I am still not in Kentucky.  

My connecting flight was cancelled last night.  US Airways put me up in a dingy hotel in the middle of nowhere.

On my re-scheduled flight now.  

Cyclocross

We watched our buddy Brian's Cyclocross race this afternoon.  He took 7th overall, his best placing yet this season.

Brian is in the middle in the orange and black.  He races for Boulder Cycle Sport.

View from the Backyard this Evening.

The Great American Beer Fest

After spending the morning and early afternoon out and about, we headed back to the house to relax and make pretzel necklaces in preparation for The Great American Beer Fest.

There were 580 Breweries and 2500+ beers at this years festival.  The tickets sold out in a record 45 minutes.  Last year tickets sold out in a week.  We are still not sure how Chris managed to get 4 tickets during that time.  We are glad he did.

Erica was diligent in keeping good records of what breweries we stopped at and what beers we tried.  At first count, it looks like we tasted over 50 beers.  The pretzel necklaces were a life saver with all of the high ABV beers.

You can check out this year's beer winners here.

Stranahan's

Here we are at Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey Tasting Room.  We took the tour with Will and Brian yesterday morning.  Afterwards we ate at the Rackhouse Pub which is attached to the distillery.  The food was very good.  Then we headed down the street to Breckenridge Brewery for some beer flights.

We're Baaack!

We escaped the snow and the cold last Friday and flew to Cabo for a week.  We arrived back in Denver this past Friday at 9:30pm and met up with our friend Will, who flew in from VA to go to the Great American Beer Fest with us yesterday.  We still have to go through our vacation pictures and will be recapping the week soon.

It's Snowing!

Special Olympics Colorado

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Special Olympics Hall of Fame Breakfast a few weeks ago.  It was a wonderful introduction to the organization.  The athletes are so amazing and inspiring.  I was very pleasantly surprised to receive this letter in the mail today.  So sweet. And, he is a swimmer!  Made my day.

Wine Light

Chris installed a new light in the wine room last week.  We had been talking about a new fixture and the opportunity presented itself as we were walking through Lowe's and saw this fixture marked down from $132 to $32! 

I think the light looks small in this picture, but is well sized for the room and it adds a little "fancy".  The previous light, which was the Rutbo from Ikea, was just too big, put off too much light, and wasn't really all that special, in our opinion.

Recap of the Week

Katie & Chad "premiered" on September 22!: The highlight of the past week, was the marriage of our friends Katie and Chad, and our trip back to Kansas City to celebrate with them and the KC gang.

Rockies Game: We went to our last Rockies game on Monday, the 24th.  Our friend Brian went with us and one of Erica's pals who recently moved from KC also joined us.  The Rockies held off their 100 game losing streak by beating the Diamondbacks.

Working Hard for the Money:  While certainly not a highlight, we put in our hours this past week and then some.  Chris was facilitating training sessions over seas, which called for some unconventional work hours.

2 New Restaurants:  We had gone crazy on the deals websites recently and had 2 expiring vouchers to use up at Cebiche & Venue.  Cebiche is a Peruvian restaurant.  Chris had Lomo Saltado, and Erica had a seafood dish.  We shared a spicy ceviche.  

Friday night, we walked to Venue for an awesome 3 course meal.  Chris thinks he out ordered Erica, but she isn't so sure.  We enjoyed Pork Belly, Pear Salad, Shrimp and Grits, Chicken Gnocchi Carbonara, an Apple Tart, and a Brownie with Bourbon Caramel Sauce.

We definitely will be back to both.

Today:  This morning, Erica went to the salon for a haircut, manicure and pedicure.  Meanwhile, Chris held down the fort and completed some needed cleaning.  Erica joined him when she returned.  Brian then came over late in the afternoon and we headed over to Hops and Pie.  They were celebrating their second birthday  with Avery Brewing.  There was a raffle (we didn't win) and a Skirt Steak, Gruyere, and Mashed Potato pizza.  We all really enjoyed the beers and were surprised by which ended up as our favorites of the day.

Happy Friday!

This made me laugh today.

Queen of the Night

I found these black Queen of the Night tulips this morning at Planters Seed Store in Kansas City.  We are here this weekend for a wedding.  I have not seen these anywhere in Denver, only on-line.  I bought a dozen bulbs to take home.  They were cheap!

Champagne Wishes

Up close of what the new shrub roses in the backyard look like.  The buds are apricot in color. They open with an apricot center, like this picture, and when fully opened they are a clear white.  The plant is called Champagne Wishes.

They have their own root and were 40% off.  We found them last weekend when we bought all of our evergreens.

We planted them against the neighbors hot brick garage.  We will see how they hold up.

Back Yard

Here is the back with the new stone and a few rose bushes that we planted this week.

Devotchka + Colorado Symphony at Red Rocks

We saw Airborne Toxic Event and Devotchka with the Symphony last night at Red Rocks.  Our friends Brian and Steph went with us.  

We scored 3rd row seats and it was an amazing show.  Chris said he was impressed with Airborne - we had never seen them before.  

Little Sprouts

Newly sprouted grass.  Mom and Dad threw out some seed in the front yard on each side of the walk near the street while they were here.  Chris and I were not hopeful it would take.  We had gone through this before this past spring, and if you let the grass seed dry out for one second (which is easy to do here in dry, sunny, Colorado) you are out of luck.  So, we were shocked to see these little guys yesterday.  It wasn't all us though, mother nature helped out by raining for almost a full day last week and cooling down the temps.

Dad also took nice grass that we were digging up in the back yard, and sodded the bottom right corner in the front yard.  It is lookin' good!