DC Craziness

I went up to DC this weekend and I had a terrific time. It had everything: old friends, new friends, good food, interesting conversations, beautiful weather, a crazy punk rock band, lots of tequila and beer, and diner food to nurse the hangover.

One of my favorite experiences of the weekend was eating chilli cheese fries at Ben's Chilli Bowl, a local fave in the U Street neighborhood. I'm not usually a huge fan of chilli cheese fries, but these things were amazing. Also delicious hot dogs. And really friendly staff who tried to teach us some phrases in Punjabi.

We spent quite a bit of our time in the U Street neighborhood because it is all kinds of fun. Great bars, cool restaurants, crazy night clubs...just a great vibe.

On Saturday night we saw a punk rock band called Deerhoof at the Black Cat. The band wasn't really my taste at all, but they were tons of fun and the scene was so hip and crazy that I had a great time. They had a modern dance troupe perform with them for part of the show, but we missed that part. Fortunately, the modern dancers were still hanging out in the audience and dancing around when we were there. So much creative energy in one room!

I also got to make a quick trip to Cake Love, the bakery of Food Network star Warren Brown. I'd seen his show, Sugar Rush, and also read about him in a book called What Should I Do With My Life. Cake Love is a tiny little bakery, but very cozy and friendly. I got a German Chocolate cupcake and it was fabulous. Next time I'm in town, I hope to visit the Love Cafe, their sit-down place across the street, and sample more goodies!

All in all, I highly recommend spending time in DC and, if at all possible, hanging around with my pal Heather and her friends while you're there.

Happy 4704! (year of the dog)

Here are recipes for an appetizer and a dessert that people really liked at my new year's dinner. The recipes were from here

I love food

Chinese pickles
1 lb. cucumber (preferably the long skinny English or Japanese varieties)
½ tsp. salt

dressing
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
½-1 tsp. chile bean paste, depending upon desired heat
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
¼ tsp. salt

serves 6 as a side

1 Trim the ends and discard. Cut the remainder into 2" sections. Quarter each section, trim off any really seedy bits, and slice to form ½" thick batons. Transfer the cucumber sticks to a sieve or colander; toss with ½ tsp. salt and let sit over a bowl for an hour to drain off excess water from the cucumbers.
2 Meanwhile, mix up the dressing ingredients. When the cucumbers have been salted for an hour, toss them with the dressing. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours to let the flavors sink in.

--------
Chinese new year cake (Nian gao)

1 lb. glutinous rice flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter
3 cups milk
½ cup red bean paste

serves 12 or more (this stuff is heavy)

1 Mix the glutinous rice flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Grease a 9”x13” baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350F. Melt the butter and let cool for 10 minutes.
2 In a big bowl, beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar; then add the cooled melted butter and stir some more. Beat in the red bean paste.
3 Now pour in the milk. The mixture will be quite liquidy, and you might find it easier to switch to a whisk. Whisk until combined; add the dry mixture gradually, beating it into the liquid until you have a fairly even batter.
4 Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and bake for 1 hour. The cake should feel set when pressed; a toothpick inserted into the cake should come out mostly clean. Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes, then cut up and serve.

End of an Era....

DenverPost.com - BUSINESS

I *heart* Love Monkey

There's a new show on CBS called Love Monkey and I think it's totally great. It features Tom Cavanaugh (who played the title character on Ed), along with Brandon Walsh - er, I mean Jason Priestly. Tom works for a record label and is really good at finding and developing new talent. In the first episode, he took a stand against the big sell-out label he was working for, got fired, and went to work for a smaller label. He has a gang of guy friends (including Brandon), the requisite love triangle, and it all takes place in Manhattan.

There are a couple things I love about this show:
1. Tom Cavanaugh. The guy is just totally charming and funny. He has great chemistry on screen with his co-stars and you just want to like the guy, even though he sometimes acts like a jerk.
2. The music. They're using real up-and-coming talent for most of the acts as far as I can tell, and it's cool to hear them. Plus the soundtrack is really good. And they throw in special appearances by bigger-name folks. For example, last night there was a little cameo by Ben Folds, one of my all-time-faves. So fun.
3. The writing. It's a little Gilmorian in the banter and just witty dialogue. I laughed out loud more than once last night. Good stuff.

It's a little bit High Fidelity, a little bit Sex and the City for Guys and a little bit Jerry Maguire. I highly recommend tuning in.

I fear change

Well, I heart social change. But I fear other change. Like the new look for the Westword website.

All the links that I always go to are missing! And what is up with all of those ads? They take up too much space.

Skating with Celebrities (take 2)

So the second episode was on last night. While i watched all the performances, I have no clue who was eliminated :p I think it's probably because my favorite pair was the highest scoring pair so I wasn't really nervous about the elimination.

one interesting thing was that they had some of the harshest comments for the best pair (even though they scored highly). it was because the judges compared them to their previous performances. I appreciate that they are not just comparing the teams to each other but also to themselves, because really, the odds aren't very even.

by the way, the harshest critic is also a brit. i wonder if that's another requirement for these shows- to have a tough as nails british judge. and then the woman (dorothy hamill) is the super bubbly one and the one that tries to be nice. anyone else notice the judges are always 2 men & 1 women? hmmmm...

i went to the website today to pull up the link so you can
see for yourself
the crazy thing is that there is a faux fantasy league/bracket set up where you can predict and track your favorite pairs and their scores. it's the chance to "combine your love of fantasy sports with your love of figure skating"

i've always wondered how i could do that...

Product Review: the Rachel Ray Knife

For Christmas, I got the Rachel Ray Furi 7" Coppertail Knife. I love it. I've used it a few times so far, and every time I love it a little more.

It's nice and heavy and feels solid in the hand. The blade is super-sharp and the knife is beautifully balanced.

Last night I used it to make pasta. I don't have many nice things to say about my Ex, but he did leave me with a very tasty, simple tomato sauce recipe. The first thing I got to use my knife for was crushing garlic. The blade is nice and solid, and it just felt good to pop those little cloves of garlic. So fun!

It's a little big for mincing the garlic, but got the job done OK with no fingers lost in the process. In the future, I will probably use a smaller knife or just a garlic press, but I was so excited about my new toy I wanted to use it for everything last night.

Next I used it to chop up some onion. It sliced through the head like butter and made the whole process smooth and easy.

As I said, it's a very simple recipe, so that's actually all I got to use the knife for last night. But I've also used it for other veggies in omelets with similar joy. It's bigger and heavier than other knives I've used in the past (mostly because I buy cheap-o ones at Target and the like), so it will take some practicing to get really comfortable with it and not worry about my finger tips. But I'm looking forward to mastering my knife skills!

The rest of the recipe is super easy, if you're wondering. Here it is in its entirety. I learned to make it by watching, so I don't know any measurements, but it's hard to screw up.

Simple Tomato Sauce

Heat a little olive oil in a saute pan (low heat)
Saute 2-4 cloves of pressed or minced garlic (depending on size of cloves and how much you like garlic) over low heat
Add about 1/2 of a small onion, chopped. Saute until translucent.
Add one can of chopped tomatoes.
Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, red peppers flakes or any combination thereof, to taste.
Let it simmer (simmer down, sauce! don't make me come back there!) to sauce consistency while your pasta boils. (I usually use penne rigate, but really any pasta will do.)
When you're ready to serve, take the sauce off the heat and grate in some Parmigiano Reggiano or other cheese that you like. Again I don't know how much...maybe 3-4 Tb? Let's just say to taste. Stir that in till it's all melty and incorporated.
Combine sauce with pasta and enjoy! Grate a little extra cheese on top if you like!

Motivational Quotation - Discuss

Ok, to counter-act my girly-girl fuchsia hat post, I need to post a pretentious philosophical quotation for discussion.

I have this hanging on my bulletin board as a daily motivational reference:

You have a right to your actions
but never to your actions fruits
Act for the action's sake.
And do not be attached to inaction

Without concern for results,
perform the necessary action;
Surrendering all attachments,
accomplish life's highest good.

It is better to do your own duty
badly, than to perfectly do
another's; you are safe from harm
when you do what you should be doing.

That's from the Bahaghavad Gita. At first when I read it, it irritated me because I think that we all should strive to achieve high standards. But after studying on it and discussing it with friends, this had become a pretty influential personal mantra.

Tell me what you think.

Spinach, Chickpea and Potato Soup

The other night I was hungry. And I had not been to the grocery store yet in 2006 (!) and so I looked in the cupboards to see what was there (frozen spinach in the freezer, potatoes in the drawer . . . . a gallon of milk in the fridge . . . ) and I tried to think of something to make.

Then I went to my favorite recipe book, the internet, where you can type in keywords and magically get a recipe. Here it is (and can I tell you -- this is really really good, surprisingly good).

Before you start cooking the soup, put some rice on to cook, because this soup is really good with some rice in it.

Saute 2 coursely chopped onion in some olive oil until it browns slightly. Stir in 2 tsp of cumin. Then stir in 4 potatoes, cut into 1/2 size squares. Cook, stirring for a minute or two.

Pour in 4 cups-ish of stock (veggie, turkey, chicken, whatever) and 1 can of coconut milk. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Get 1 14oz can of chick peas, measure out about 1/3 a cup of the chickpeas and mash them with a fork. Then put the mashed chick peas and the rest of the can of whole chickpeas into the soup and simmer for another 10 minutes-ish. Then stir in the spinach and cook just until the spinach is wilted (if fresh) or hot (if canned/frozen).

Put some rice in a bowl, then put some soup on top. Eat up. Yummy!

Fuchsia Hat Treasure Hunt of 2006

So, I have an exciting upcoming event for which I need a fabulous fuchsia large down-turned-brimmed hat. Fancy hat. Pretty hat. And I would so love it if the hat cost less than $50. There's a lovely hat woman about town, Minerva, who would hook me up with the hat of my dreams for $200ish dollars. But perhaps we can find the perfect hat, online?

Here are some sample hats that are somewhat in the ballpark.

Red & simple
Audrey Hepburn in a fabulous hat
Funny doll dressed up like Audrey

Oh, my magic girlfriends of the internet, could you help me?

Who is going to be *your* doggie date for Valentine's Day?

I am deeply conflicted about dogster.com.

I ought to be a fan. I am clearly their target audience. "Ribsy" is a very spoiled animal. He has more toys than the average Appalachian child. He eats dog bones that cost more than my morning coffee at the Tattered Cover. I took him to see Santa Claus.

I cannot pretend to be above Dogster. And, honestly, there are a lot of things that I find charming about the site. The dogs are (mostly) very cute. And you get to read about them, which is a fun way to waste time. For example, today I learned about Onyx.

Onyx is a very cute dog, and if she lived down the street, I'm sure Ribsy would adore her. Alas, Onyx lives in PA, so we are out of luck. Unless... Onyx and Ribsy became pup pals on Dogster.com. And here's my first problem with the site. Ribsy and Onyx are dogs-- how exactly does an online dog friendship work?

I will say, in full disclosure, that I'm ambivalent about humans making friends online too. I don't do friendster or myspace or any of that, and its never occured to me that I should meet people online or befriend posters on message boards or chat rooms. But I can understand the appeal of online friendships.

I think it may be different for dogs though.

I have no idea about Onyx, but Ribsy can't read, can't write, can't type, and doesn't seem to know what a computer is. I'm not entirely sure that he has much to offer an internet pal. And while I don't doubt that he has lots of deep thoughts, I don't know what they are and I am not going to try to figure them out so I can write emails on his behalf. And I'm not prepared to read him emails written on behalf of his pup pals.

It should not come as a surprise that Ribsy does not have a Dogster blog. But, if I decide to post on his behalf, it will only be if he has something interesting to say. I am not going to blog so you can all hear about what I ate for breakfast, and Ribsy is not going to blog so you can learn that he sniffed a tree on his walk.

Until today, I thought that the blogs were the worst thing about Dogster.

Then, I discovered the message boards.

I initially thought I would be able to say nice things about them. There is plenty of useful information, and although some people insist on posting on behalf of their dogs, there are also worthwhile conversations about dog food brands, how to train your dog, etc. I can see using this as a resource. They even have a play dates thread. This is all good.

Then, I discovered the Dogster Crushes. The hot thread is "Who is going to be your doggie date for Valentine's Day?", closely rivaled by the "Round 10- Vote for your favorite dogster couple".

I'd like to say something snotty here, but I'm at a bit of a loss. Doggie Dates? Dogster couples?

I know you are all rushing to the page, so l'm going to conclude with the following warning from Dogster:

Crushes is for light-hearted fun. These are often neither real nor permanent connections, just playing around. A friendly reminder to anyone making connections here, Dogster is still part of the internet, so take care not to befriend anyone too fast without really knowing who they are. Woof Woof!

Skating with Celebrities

It was actually not as big of a disaster as you’d imagine, nobody fell and broke anything and they tried to do things that played to their strengths. Watching them practice makes my butt hurt, though. I think the 50+ yr old Bruce Jenner was actually better than the other celebrity guys. But the couple to watch is john zimmerman & jillian barbarie (and not just bc he’s totally hot, even though that's a perfectly valid reason), provided she doesn’t break something first.

The 3 judge panel is getting kind of tiresome…esp bc one of them always has to say something bad and one of them always has to say something really sweet. I wish they can come up with a more creative method for judging…like having the judges throw darts at the score they want to give them or something…

Dogster.com

You really have to check this out -- woof woof!

Ramona, you really need to give us a review!

Mame's Northwest Denver Top Ten

Inspired by Nancy's Denver Top Ten Post, here is my list, focused on fabulousness in my (and Ramona's) neighborhood.

Tacos Jalisco Excellent Mexican food. I like almost all of their food, but especially the tacos de albanil.

La Cocinita. More excellent Mexican food at a very cheap price. You must try their crispy rellenos!

Bug Theatre Nice little indie theater. For the holidays I saw the sarcastic and hilarious Santaland Diaries, with Denver acting darling Gary Culig (who has been in NEW YORK CITY on the edge of hitting the big time for the past year or so and came back to Denver to reprise this role). I also saw Waiting for Godot at the Bug last year - great version of that excellent, slightly boring play.

Berkeley Dog Park Little Maggie-dog loves this place. And I like it too - cute doggies running everywhere, friendly dog people, and you can catch up on the neighborhood gossip too.

Elitch Lanes. Cheap fun bowling - especially on Sunday afternoons. Call ahead to make reservations because they are very busy.

Lechugas. Home of the little devil - a spicy sausage, topped with jalepeno, wrapped in pasta/doughlike covering, baked, then served with a side of wonderful marinara sauce. Dee-lish-ous. And they only cost like $1 each. mmm-mmm.

West Side Books Used book store as it should be - bookcases everywhere, overflowing with so many books. Pretty well organized, great titles. A huge selection of wacky 1970s coffee table books - talk about a tour of historical pop culture! Also, quite a few newish good titles that you've been wanting to buy, but could not bear to part with $25 for it at B&N.

Poggio's. Coffee shop and gelateria. Coffee is excellent and for breakfast, the sausage, red pepper and provolone bagel can't be beat. Nice little patio. And very doggie friendly - there's always a water dish out front and a cannister full of dog bones on the counter inside.

Simple Foods Closest thing to a corner market in my neighborhood - and quite a fine corner market indeed. Organic whatever you might want (olives, bread, soap, jam, vitamins, frozen pizza). Friendly people behind the counters. Yummy salads (one of my favorites is an edamame ginger carrot salad), yummy smoothies (the classic strawberry banana is one of the best I've had). One of their deli counter guys was on my kickball team. Good guy.

Avanza This is the place to get all of the fixins you need for preparing good Mexican food at home. And a generally great place to grocery shop bc of freshness of the food, completeness of the selection, beautiousness of the color scheme, and cheapness of the prices.

Simple Winter Soup

I love cookbooks. I always get cookbooks for Christmas and this year I got The Best Recipes in the World from my grandmother and what a fabulous cookbook it is. Lots of great food writing - with interesting tidbits about world cuisine and a little blurb with every single recipe. I love that. It's been my bedtime reading for the last week.

So anyway, that inspires me to cook! But as I really dislike going to the grocery store, I could not make any of the exotic Vietnamese or Turkish or Peruvian dishes last night.

So I made a simple winter soup with what I had on hand:

4 C turkey stock (this was in my freezer - I made it with leftovers from Christmas turkey).
3 C homemade egg noodles (1 egg, 2 T milk, 1/2 t salt mixed together, then about 1 C flour to make stiff dough. Let rest 20 minutes. Roll out as thinly as you can. Cut into long strips)
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 C sliced celery
1/4 chopped fresh parsely
1/2 lemon (optional)
1/4 C grated swiss cheese (optional)
salt, pepper, thyme to taste.

Bring the stock to a boil - add pepper and thyme. Add the noodles and boil for 10 minutes. Add the peas, celery and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in parsely. Squeeze half lemon into soup. Garnish with the swiss cheese if desired. Yum

Simple, clear, fairly healthful. A nice winter soup that's not too heavy.

The Boy loved it, but said that he thinks next time we should add some chicken or turkey meat to the soup. I probably would have done that this time except that we did not have any on hand.

Girls Kick Ass on Roller Skates

A&E's got a new show called Rollergirls and I am totally in love with it. I've only seen one episode, but I fear I have a new addiction. It's about a roller-derby league in Austin, TX. It profiles different women in the league for each episode.

I didn't know anything about roller derby before I watched the show, but it looks way cool. As I understand it, there are 10 women on the track at a time - 5 for each team: four blockers and one jammer. The blockers skate in a pack and try to stop the opposite team's jammer from getting through the pack. The first jammer to make it through the pack becomes the "lead jammer" and can call off the match at any time. Then they score points by lapping the pack and passing as many opposing blockers as possible. Sound confusing? Yes. But once you watch a match of two it becomes clearer.

The play can get a little rough and the women are totally bad-ass. But also very girlie and feminine for the most part. The thing I loved most about the episode I saw was the team spirit and girl power. The teams seemed really close, and off the track there was a general comeraderie among the whole league. They kicked ass and fought hard during the match, but then all went out for drinks together.

The episode I watched followed a rookie jammer, "Venis Envy," in her first match. She was really nervous because she would be jamming against one of the best in the league, "Lux," a woman she had watched and looked up to as she learned the game. In their match, Venis beat the Lux and she was SO excited. Then at the bar later, the two were talking and the Lux said, "I don't even remember how the points came out in that bout." Venis said, "It was 3-2, I beat you." And then Lux said, "No way! That's awesome!" and gave her a big hug. Like she was really proud of Venis for doing so well, even though it was at her expense. So cool.

Anywho, if you're in the mood for gilrs kicking ass on roller skates, I highly recommend Rollergirls. It's on A&E about every 15 minutes, so you can hardly miss it.

Nancy's Denver Top Ten

Spending the holidays in my hometown reminded me how much I love Denver. In my three weeks at home, I got to visit many of my favorite places and catch up with most of my favorite people. A couple of my friends recently moved back there, and were asking for recommendations of fun things to do in town, so that got me thinking...and I made a list. Here it is!

1. Buntport Theatre. 7th and Lipan. Specifically, Magnets on the Fridge, their live-theatre sitcom. So smart, so funny. Play Three Card Monte to determine how much you pay to get in. And really, everything I've seen there (for example, The Cliff's Notes to Beowulf) has been excellent.

2. Potager. Favorite restaurant in town, 11th and Ogden, near the Cap Hill Wild Oats. Delicious, seasonal food; friendly but not-too-pushy service; fabulous wine list. They don't take reservations, but it's worth a wait (or just go early or late and avoid the crowds!).

3. Peach Bread Pudding at Cafe Colore in Writer's Square. Best dessert in town. Warm, sweet peachy bread pudding with caramel sauce. Irresistible. And the rest of the menu is great too.

4. El Chapultapec, 20th and Market. Don't order food. It's not good (well, at least it doesn't look good, and the staff seem peeved when people order it). Go for drinks and great live jazz every night of the week. No dancing allowed, but you'll hear some terrific music.

5. First Fridays. Several neighborhoods (the Golden Triangle and north Santa Fe included) host "open house" events on the first Friday of each month. Stroll among the galleries, grab some food, enjoy great people-watching. Makes a great first date, especially when followed by a glass of wine at Potager.

6. My Brother's Bar, 15th and Platte. Best burger in town. Not so much because of the burgers themselves (though they are tasty) but because of the fabulous condiment trays. Spicier pals recommend the JCB (Jalapeno Cream Cheese Burger) but I'm too wimpy for that. Also good beer, good atmosphere, plus it was a Kerouac hang-out back in the day.

7. Two favorite places for tasty frozen treats: Gelazzi in Larimer Square for dee-lish gelato. Licks for real ice cream on 13th and Vine. Take a cone for a stroll around Cheesman Park while you're in the neighborhood.

8. Forest Room Five, on 15th St. up the road from My Brother's Bar and Shakespeare's. Hip little bar, cozy seating, good food. Perfect for drinks with pals, surprise birthday parties and the occasional indy movie screening.

9. Walnut Cafe. Favorite brunch spot. Colfax and Logan-ish (maybe Grant?) near the Capitol. Fabulous french toast, great omelets and quiches. Very busy on weekend mornings, but again, go early or late and it's no problem. So delicious.

10. 99.5 The Mountain. I discovered this radio station a couple years ago on a tip from my pal Jeff. It's independent (no Clear Channel!) and they play lots of good music. For example, the day before Springsteen came to town last year, they played the ENTIRE Bruce Springsteen collection. They also feature lots of local bands, which is cool. I love them. Fortunately, I can still listen to them online even though I am far away.

Other restaurants worth a shout-out:
* Hapa Sushi (Cherry Creek) - cheap late night happy hour deals, good atmosphere, tasty sake
* Carmine's on Penn (Bayaud and Pennsylvania, near Wash Park) - family style dee-lish Italian, very attractive wait staff, perfect for a group outing
* Cuba Cuba (11th and Delaware) - cozy place, fabulous Cuban food, good date-night place
* El Taco de Mexico (7th and Santa Fe) - The real deal Mexican food. Try the Chile Relleno Burrito. It's to die for.
* White Fence Farm (way the heck out in Lakewood or something) - Best. Fried. Chicken. Ever.