Monthly Archives: June 2009

All kinds of Colorado Springs Things

by adrienne

So despite the crazy weather (it poured down rain like mad about 2 minutes after I took this picture)

And the rain every single afternoon and evening.

We decided to go camping on DMs three-day weekend last week. We took almost the entire day on Wednesday getting ready to go. Towards the end of the planning and packing I took a break with a Lynchburg Lemonade. I used Old Grand Dad whiskey so I guess it wasn’t really a LYNCHBURG lemonade. But it was still good.

Thursday morning the weather forecast was for sun. Yay! We started out at The Donut Mill in Woodland Park. It gets great reviews and wins Best Of…all the time. Since Dunkin Donuts blows now, we’ve been looking for some new ones. These are a little far away which is good and bad. Anyhow, they were delish.

We got to the camping spot at about 2:30 and the chick at the gate said there were no more spots available. I found this hard to believe since check in time is 2:00. So we went down into the campground and sure enough there were TONS of spots. Um, yea, ok, lady. We set up real quick so DM could go fishing.

We brought two cans of mace bear repelent and a loud anti bear horn. Better safe than sorry!
We also brought bedding from home because I don’t like icky old sleeping bags and that kind of thing. I need my tent to be CLASSY, you know?

Some scenery on our way down this insanely steep and rocky trail to the resevoir.

There are tons of wildflowers (and moths and lady bugs and spiders) this year because of all the early rain we got and are still getting.

This is the state flower, the Columbine. I’ve been growing them in pots at home but they haven’t flowered yet.

I brought magazines to read while DM did some fishing.

We were down there for an hour or so and it started getting really windy. REALLY windy. So we hiked back up to the campground. This took maybe 20 minutes. By the time we got up there it had started to rain. We left the water just in time. Still, it was raining. We gathered whatever needed to be out of the wet and put it in the car. I was thinking ahead when we arrived and didn’t even unpack everything. Then we went and sat in the car and had some snacks. Soon it really started coming down, complete with lightning and thunder. But the forecast said sunny!

At some point DM checked on the tent (which he had taken hours to seal up the day before) and it was soaked. The seams he had sealed were tight but the water was just dripping in from the roof. The rain fly was not working as it should. So he gathered all our stuff and together we picked up the tent and threw it in the dumpster. Bah! Then we went home. It was really super annoying but at least it’s only about 40 minutes away. When we got home we saw this.

A baby raccoon in the eaves of the house! So cuuuuuuuuuuute! The baby raccoon will make an appearance again at the end of this post.
Anyhow our upstairs neighbor (who we hate) had his windows open so we were hoping the baby raccoon would sneak in and chew his face off in the night. It didn’t happen.

The next day it was bright and sunny again so we went back up to the area we were the day before to check out some other lakes I had seen on the map. They were all fenced off and gated. WTF? One of them just had a car gate but you could walk out there, which we did. As we got closer, there WAS a regular gate as well. Totally lame. Anyhow it was a nice walk.

Of course after a few minutes it started to rain again so we went back down the hill. We went to the sporting good store to see if we could find another tent and maybe a canopy. A canopy would have been a great thing to have because we could have sat under it, cooked, etc and wouldn’t have had to leave. I’m not sure those things are waterproof tho so we wanted to also check that out at the sporting goods store. We never did figure it out. Does anyone know? Anyhow on the way there I got a call from one of my friends who was working at a bar sort of near the store and she wanted us to stop in so we did. Since we live in Colorado I’ve been trying to get DM to drink Coors. Sheesh. So lately he has been. The retro original kind, not the new fancy ones. I had a Jack and Coke. DM also had a Maker’s Mark.

After the bar we stopped off at the liquor store and while we were there took some cool shots of some of the stuff nearby. We also found out the the next day was a big multi block multi family yard sale we wanted to go to. We did go to it, and I got a retro salt and pepper shaker set for a dollar. Woohoo. It was a really nice day and it was fun to walk around in the swanky old part of town (which is really only a couple of blocks from where we live anyway- we like to bike up there) ANYHOW, back to business.

After that we decided to come home and cook up the stuff we brought to the camping trip but didn’t get to eat. I started getting it all ready while drinking another faux Lynchburg Lemonade.

While DM set up the portable grill out on the deck.

We made flatiron steak on the grill and hobo potatoes and “roasted” corn in the oven.

Here is Cookie Puss in all his glory. All 18 pounds of him. “I’m not fat, I’m big boned”.

He really hates being picked up. So we do it all the time.

I also sauteed some onions and mushrooms to go with the steak. Overall it was very tasty- woulda been better if we were CAMPING but oh well.

Here are some other random pics from this week.
DM was feeling sick one night so I made him some homemade chicken soup.

One perk of the crazy weather is stuff like this:

Today I went to Target and it was sunny and hot. When I got out of Target 20 minutes later it was pouring down insane rain. Are you seeing a pattern here? Anyhow I was soaked from walking to the car so when I got back I made a decaf cafe au lait using my brand new stovetop milk steamer that DM gave me for my birthday. It was delish.

That’s all for now! Maybe more next week.
Oh yea, the baby raccoon.
When I got back from Target it was still raining but not as hard as it was. I heard a yelping noise like a dog makes when it’s hurt. It went on and on and on so I went outside to investigate. I didn’t see any dog anywhere so I came back in the house. The noise was still going on so I went out to the deck and looked down into the yard from the deck (about 5 feet down) and it was the baby raccoon! He was going nuts with the yowling. I didn’t know if he was cold or hurt or wet or what. He didn’t look hurt. I talked to him a little bit and he stopped making the noise and looked like he was trying to come up onto the deck. I went back in the house to see if I should do anything then went back to check on him. He was gone but out of the corner of my eye I saw something and when I looked over it was the mother raccooon leading the baby raccoon up a tree and over the fence to the parking lot of the restaurant next door. OMG it was sooooooooo cute. I guess the little guy had somehow escaped from the nest or something and gotten lost and was crying for it’s mother. I ran back inside to get the camera but they were long gone by the time I got back. I think they might live under the deck or under the house.

Ok NOW that’s really all.

Things and places

by adrienne

Last week was my birthday and a good time was had by all.

First we went to the nursery where I broke down and bought a 4 pack of patio tomatoes, a rosemary plant, a mint plant and a sage plant. I wanted to ONLY use seeds this year but there’s no way the tomatoes are going to do anything, the rosemary got crowded out by some crazy oregano, and I never did have any sage or mint plants or seeds.

Then we went across the street to a German restaurant where they have a funky bar in the basement and had German beer. I had a hefeweizen (pardon the spelling, I’m too lazy to look it up, you know what I mean) and DM had some other thing that was really good. And now we’ll never have it again because I don’t remember it. BUT they also make a cocktail with it that has sprite in it! OMG that sounds oddly delicious. We’ll have to go back.

Next time maybe we’ll have some snacks. Or maybe not.

After the German place we went to The Blue Star and I had a sangria which was really yummy.

We also had some kind of chips and dip thing which was also very good. And good to have because I was already feeling tipsy.

Then we stopped by home so we could change before we went to dinner. Well, I put on jewelry, heels, and changed into jeans from the capri jeans. I was also feeling lazy as well as tipsy. Not sure what is up with the quality of this picture!

For dinner we went to Pizzeria Rustica and sat right at that table there on the far bottom right of the picture. Heh. Anyhow I’ve been wanting to go there for awhile. DM had Italian beer and I had some red wine in a trendy stemless wine glass which is for sure not my fave. The glass, not the wine. The wine was very good.

We also has some antipasto which consisted of marinated veggies, some lentils, some pork products, some bread and some cheese. It was petite but tasty. Next time I might order the veggie version.

Then for the pizza. Just the regular pizza misto I think it’s called- tomatoes, basil and cheese. It was very good. HOWEVER I am proud to say that the ones I make at home are JUST AS GOOD! And this place gets constant rave reviews so, there you go. I’ll have to make mine for you sometime so come on over. We also had a cookie with gelato but we scarfed it too fast for me to take a picture of it.

After the pizza place we went to Paradox Lounge, which used to be my fave bar here. They have good martinis and fancy drinks but there are places closer by the house that make just as good or better so we hardly ever go there anymore. Anyhow we sat outside and I had a glass of wine instead of a fancy drink so I wouldn’t get sick!

DM had a fancy bourbon cuz he’s all trendy like that.

Other things that have happened recently.
The scene at our house most mornings. I make breakfast while DM and the cats enjoy the deck.

I made some bread. Farmhouse white. It was good but it would be better with better ingredients- apparently when you only have four ingredients in a recipe they really matter (duh, I guess). So instead of store brand bleached and processed all purpose flour I bought some organic bread flour for next time.

Anyhow it was good toasted with butter and apricot jam.

THEN I got on the “no knead bread” kick. Have you heard of this? I guess it was real trendy like three years ago. I of course have only heard about it recently. I split the recipe in half because I didn’t think my pan was big enough but it totally was so next time I’ll dump the whole thing into it so the bread is taller. It was really really good. You have to let it sit for like 20 hours before you cook it so it gets a sort of sourdough flavor and texture to it.

When I was in L.A. last month I went to breakfast with Eddie at The Nickel Diner.

We went because we wanted to try their bacon donuts. Yea, BACON DONUTS. Which were not nearly as awesome as they sound. But still, pretty good.

Eddie’s breakfast which is self explanitory.

My breakfast of creamy polenta with maple syrup and chicken apple sausage.

Breakfast at Maggie Mae’s, Home made mexican food, cats, and a picnic on the porch

by adrienne

Bistro French Toast from our fave Maggie Mae’s.

Homemade tostadas and Spanish rice.

Mini picnic on the side porch. Good afternoon sunshine.

Cheesecake for breakfast! This morning we went to “Homegrown on Tejon” which is a tiny farmers market right down the street. The vendors have to sell things that are grown here- like within 10 miles or something. It was extra small today because it was the first day and also because we’ve had horrible weather. I hope that things pick up and it gets bigger cuz it’s a neat concept. After we went there we went to Poor Richard’s for “breakfast”.

The porch on the other side of the house, connected to the kitchen with french doors. Some stuff is growing but the weather…

PJ!

Wildflowers in Garden Of The Gods.