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Showing posts from January, 2009

Dinner for Two on a Chilly Eve

My new attempts at making fresh produce the centerpiece of our meals are paying off - tonight Scott and I enjoyed a warm, seasonal meal chock full of delicious veggies. First, we sliced, diced, chopped and minced a lot of onion, garlic, celery and potatoes and simmered them down to make a soup base. Meanwhile, I stirred a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice in two cups of milk to make a sort-of instant buttermilk. After the base was simmered (20 min.) I added a head of chopped broccoli and the peeled and chopped stem from the broccoli and two tablespoons of minced fresh basil and simmered for 10 minutes. Then, I blended a bit of the buttermilk and the veggie soup in small batches (about four) in my blender until smooth and reheated, adding salt and pepper, marjoram and thyme to taste. Hence the fantastic Cream of Green Soup. Then, I sauteed some chard and kale and four (!) heads of garlic with a tablespoon of olive oil until wilted. I added this to a platter of sliced tomato and red onion,

UK Christmas gift

I'd like to use this forum to thank my lovely wife for the culinary hook-up she gave me for Christmas. Following on memories of our Sept. 2008 UK trip, she got me: Heinz baked beans (brekky, yummy) Cadbury dark chocolate digestive biscuits (they're GREAT dipped into hot tea) Dundee marmalade (lovely on toast) PG Tips tea (check out the "monkey" commercial on their web site, classic!) Scottish oat cakes Thanks again Erin for the tasty treats!

Colorado New Year's trip eats

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We had a great trip to Colorado, and ate well after snowshoeing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing and wandering around metro Denver. Our first stop on the food/drink trip was Ft. Collins, CO, home of New Belgium brewing. They set you up with a free tasting of 4 of their many beers, so I had Mothership Wit (their organic wheat beer), Lips of Faith (Ben's Saison, whatever that means in French .. it wasn't my favorite), Abbey Grand Cru (Belgian Style Ale that was, mmm, okay) and 2 Below (winter seasonal ale, my FAVORITE! Super hoppy, almost IPA-ish (India Pale Ale). By afternoon, we were driving down I-25, then I-70, then Colo. 24 to Leadville, CO (elv. 10,200' .. gasp). We generally imbibed much alcohol, with breaks for snowshoeing, snowboarding and cross-country skiing. Our last day, we ate at The Golden Burro Cafe , a great old place complete with The Brass Ass Saloon. After cup of beef vegetable soup that was very nice after cross-country skiing in the falling snow