Hungry Times Two

Scott and I head to Colorado at the end of this month for a week - first to Leadville for some ski sports (um, yeah, for me it might be more like ski embarrassment ) and fun times with friends, and then on to Denver on our own for some exploring. Any readers out there with suggestions on restaurants in either areas, please let us know. We'll be in Fort Collins for a hot second to crash at a friend's house - there we have been to several breweries - Odell and New Belgium come to mind - and also to Avogadro's Number , a really awesome pub-like place that had great food and brews. It's apparently been around so long that a friend's parents used to go there back in the Seventies while attending Colorado State. (Hey, in this country, even structures built "as far back" as the Seventies are practically old-school!) New Belgium makes the Fat Tire Ale that recently made its debut here in Nashville. As a side note, it's bittersweet when a beer like Fat Tire is ...

Last Friday my workplace hosted a "Soup, Sandwich and Stuff" Holiday Party, which was timely for the wintry-mix weather we had late last week and also perfect in that those food categories are just casual enough to catch my interest in participating. I'm a lazy kind of cook, I admit it. The moment I started thinking of soup, one idea popped into my head and I couldn't deny it - Pimento Cheese Bisque . I garnered the recipe from a Moosewood Restaurant cookbook I picked up in Powell's Books during a visit to Portland, Ore. when Scott interned there a few summers ago. If you ever get a chance, check out Powell's - a whole city block of books! It's the biggest damn bookstore I've ever been in and it ranks up there with my besties , City Lights in San Francisco and Malaprops in Asheville , NC. But back to the soup... I made it for my mom soon after I purchased the cookbook and it turns out that my mom was a little bit of a fan of this soup - she's qui...

'Tis the season for overindulgence and my how this week has had its share. On Wednesday I accompanied some co-workers to the 82 nd annual Waffle Shop at the downtown Presbyterian church. What does one consume at a Waffle Shop, you may ask? Upon paying, you pick a red or green ticket - one has a turkey for turkey hash, the other a pig for sausage. I selected the turkey hash, as I passed on it last year and this time my curiosity got the best of me. You then sit at long communal tables with other parties and -with thanks to the volunteer servers with swift skills -promptly receive a waffle, a bowl of grits and your selected meat. The hash was interesting...tasted like chunks of turkey in a gravy, with a little stuffing for texture. The tradition of Waffle Shop began when ladies shopping for Christmas gifts downtown (back when downtown retail was thriving with actual shops) needed a place to grab a quick bite to eat, 'cause Lord knows it wasn't proper for a woman to dine alo...

I feel only slightly guilty of the things I ingested over the holiday. How about you??? It was a bang-up job this year at my in-laws', the Adams clan, and they never disappoint. Among the delights laid out for us were turkey, pork tenderloin, two kinds of gravy (giblet and pork), sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, cranberry salsa, cranberry salad, cranberry jelly from a can (my personal fave), green bean casserole, butter beans and rice, biscuits, and if I leave anything out, it's not for lack of trying (or tasting!). Dessert was pumpkin pie and pecan pie but for the first time in history I did not eat any dessert on Thanksgiving. In fact, seems like I felt fuller faster this year than any other Thanksgiving I can recall. I didn't go nuts on the cheese plate before, so I don't know why. A good thing, for certain. Thanksgiving coupled with my sis-in-law's birthday meant double the food, as a breakfast brunch for Birthday Babe was in order. All terrific - and ...