Scottsdale, AZ

This post should have been written in March, no excuses.

This March J and I made our annual pilgrimage to Scottsdale, AZ to see the Rockies play in spring training. It was my second trip and J's third.

Scottsdale itself is a fun little town to walk. We stay within walking distance of the old town and take a bus to Salt River Fields. From where we stay we can enjoy Scratch Pastries (lunch) and Au Petit Four (coffee), two places we visited last year and were worth going back to again. We also discovered The Praying Monk (dinner and drinks) and Daily Dose (gigantic breakfast) and we will definitely be killing some time at those establishments next year.

Scottsdale's old town is filled with lots of art galleries and a southwestern feel. The Civic Center Mall is one of my favorite areas. It is near the Scottsdale Stadium where the Giants play. The mall has some fun fountains to cool down in and beautiful lawns on which to rest...but my favorite is a large sculpture spelling out "LOVE".

As for the Rockies game itself, J and I were early to the free shuttle that picks up at the mall located at the northwest corner of E Camelback Rd and N Scottsdale Rd. We ended up meeting a fellow airline employee who works for Alaska and chatted it up all the way to the stadium. The ride was over before we knew it and we were watching teammates stretch, practice their swings, and hang out with fans. Ultimately the Rockies lost against the Mariners, but it was still a fabulous day filled with sun, drinks, and baseball.

Dessert at Scratch.

J standing in front of some alley art, and J and I at the LOVE sculpture.

The Praying Monk...

...good for cold beers! (Sir Francis shows us how it is done.)

Pre-game.

Sir Francis at the dugout!

Rockies love.

Smile!

So I need to write some blogs.
We traveled to Scottsdale in March. Heck, we traveled to Montreal last July and you haven't heard anything about that have you?! There have also been a bunch of updates I've though about writing, half-considered beginning the posts, and then never did more than choose some photos for the unwritten words.
But we've been kind of busy. There is a lot going on in life and we also are cramming all of our work into the first 17 days of April so we can leave for Hawaii again this coming weekend.
Sooo...to actually have a post in April - and for a few laughs - I looked through my photos and decided to grab some of our "outtakes" to post. :)
A lot of these are really outtakes and not the best, but if you open them up large hopefully you can enjoy the ridiculousness! 

I never know what face J has made to make or break a picture...

This one is just cool. In LA we like to grab InNOut Burger for lunch and sit
in the park across the side street and watch planes land.

At the company holiday party in January. We took some fun pictures with some even more fun friends. :)

 

All in Hawaii...J is way better at goofy rope swinging.

And goofy facial expressions (see very first photo).

Train the trainers! Our friend Stefan trying to run from being in the photo.

J hard at work.

Me not so much.

All of us at the pool with our big raft, Delores.

Sir Francis Gator-Chomping!

...and watching Gator Basketball!

The view from both sides of the date night table.

J looking like Bruce Willis.

J looking like a crazed cyclist on a children's' playground...there's no explanation.

And me shortly after our bike ride, after we decided to make a wine run in the snow that just started. Again, no explanation.

♥

Red Wine Mushrooms, Aperol Spritz, Lemon-Mint Peas

The other day it was nice and warm in Denver so we decided to grill out...cooking up some buffalo burgers and the like. Sides included a leafy green salad (it seriously I think had 12 varieties of lettuces), lemon-mint peas, and quinoa salad. The burgers were topped with red wine mushrooms.

Red Wine Mushrooms and Sauce
(We made ours with a little less sauce, as we were using the mushrooms as a topping for burgers as opposed to steaks.)

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 shallots minced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 lb white or cremini mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed, and sliced
1 cup red wine, we used Marsala
1 cup vegetable stock (low salt)
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

On medium heat add a little olive oil to a large pan. Add the shallots, garlic, and mushrooms, cooking until the mushrooms begin to caramelize (3-4 minutes).
Add the red wine and stock, cooking until the liquid has reduced to half.
Use to top a variety of dishes.

We also made minted peas again! This time we added some shallots, salt & pepper, and lemon to the mint and peas. Super springy!


Aperol Spritz

Ingredients:
2 ounces Prosecco
3 ounces Aperol
A splash of soda water (we did not have any at the time so we did without just fine!)
Orange slice

Add ice to the glass. Pour in the Prosecco first, followed by the Aperol. Add the soda water. Garnish with an orange slice (twisting to add a splash of orange juice to the cocktail).

On another note, we bought a pre-made vegetarian pho broth a few nights ago just to try. It was okay! We have had pho homemade before but every time it includes an MSG in some form or fashion. Maybe because this broth was MSG free it didn't have that flavor profile to it. We added tofu to the broth for some protein. Either way, we loaded up on bean sprouts, cilantro, lime, green onion and sauce and had a fresh and light dinner that was just wonderful. I love bean sprouts. Oh! The only thing missing for J was jalapenos (which he had used to make a homemade salsa instead). The only thing missing for both of us was some Thai basil, which is a little hard to come by at times.

Snow Days & Spring Days

Colorado weather is bipolar.

The weather people predicted a ton of snow earlier this month so J and I stocked up on all the ingredients to make a big put of soup and endless amounts of hot mint tea. We stayed in our PJs and remarked every hour that it was, indeed, still snowing.

Soup. Taco soup.

Mint tea and a good book.

That same snowy day we actually ventured out for a friend's birthday party (it had stopped snowing and the roads were no longer parking lots).

J doing his manly snow thing while I warm up the car. It was so cold a windshield wiper snapped in two.

However, soon after all traces of snow were gone and it was road biking time.

And Belgian beer time. Nothing better than 70 degree temps, sun, and a fancy dubbel.

Or, in my case, a fancy peach lambic.

Also, I taught myself how to make Spritzes...the Venetian drink of choice (and mine specifically is Aperol).

Portobello Cheesesteak (modified from MensHealth)

Before I start with our recipe, I just have to say that our green onions are growing like wildfire. Seriously they are two feet tall and about to fall over. We need to cook something with them soon!  ----------------------------->

This is really quick and really easy to make. It's vegetarian, tasty, and super healthy. This makes two sandwiches.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 large portobello mushroom, washed, de-stemmed, de-gilled, and then sliced
1/2 of a yellow onion, sliced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 of a yellow bell pepper, sliced
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (we use Annie's Brand vegan sauce)
Salt
Pepper
Grated fat free or almond cheese (to help with that saturated fat)
Whole wheat baguette or hoagie rolls

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. This will be to toast your hoagie rolls.
Add olive oil to large pan set at medium-high. Add the portobello slices and cook, stirring occasionally, 6-8 minutes. Place slices on a plate.
Add more olive oil to pan and add the onion and bell pepper. Saute until vegetables soften and brown, about 6-8 minutes.
Add the mushrooms back in to the pan and add the soy and Worcestershire sauces. Cook and stir until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Salt and pepper to taste.
Slice baguette into hoagie roll size servings and cut through to open them like a sandwich (or use hoagie rolls). Place in oven on rack to toast 1-3 minutes.
Place half of the grated cheese on to the toasted bread, then add the vegetables to the rolls. Top off with remaining cheese.
Enjoy!

Mushroom-Dill Cream (Soft Tofu) Pasta

Who doesn't love creamy pasta dishes?! I know! Well, Jeremy has kind of a restricted diet so when I saw this awesome mushroom-dill pasta recipe I was sad because it had a creamy sauce. Cream, butters, cheeses, etc. are all off limits due to the saturated animal fat content.
Not to be hindered, J found a great substitute on the Internet: soft tofu, blended, is a great substitute for cream. Admittedly, the sauce does not have that rich, buttery flavor that you would receive from using cream, but it is a heck of a lot more healthy and has great protein as well.

Ingredients:
1 package of baby portobello mushrooms
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1.5 cups of soft tofu, pureed (about a package) (You can also use cream if you desire)
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Pasta (we used linguini)

Directions (for the sauce only, I think we all know how to make boxed pasta!):
In a saucepan saute mushrooms, onion, and garlic in olive oil until mushrooms and onions become soft and golden.
Add to the vegetables the vegetable stock, tofu, and dill. Let this all simmer for about 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve garnished with fresh dill and/or shaved Parmesan.

5 Years! Le Grand, The 1UP, Silver Linings Playbook

J and I celebrated our annual Date Night as we usually do with Denver Restaurant Week. It is great timing as Denver Restaurant week falls right during the period of late February/early March when we met. This year was especially notable as February marked five years. :)

We chose Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar as our restaurant this year: wine, cocktails, oysters, buttery Bibb lettuce, French onion soup, mussels in a creamy white wine sauce, gnocchi with cranberries and pecans, a rich chocolate torte, and a tasty pear tart.

My GQ model. Handsome man.

After dinner we headed up to the ballpark neighborhood to check out The 1UP, an old school arcade with adult beverages. Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Frogger, PacMan, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat. I actually lasted longer than J in Ninja Turtles but he was better in most everything else with the exception of an evenly matched Street Fighter game.

We headed back to the 16th Street Mall after The 1UP to see Silver Linings Playbook which we both thoroughly enjoyed. Typically, Oscar nominated movies and those of critical acclaim are not films we tend to find highly entertaining but this movie kept us engaged the whole way through and was also very heartfelt and funny.

Of course, spending an evening in downtown Denver is always exciting. :) We can't wait for the Rockies and baseball season to start, for the temperatures to climb a little, and to enjoy downtown even more. ♥

J on the 16th Street Mall.

J and I both at the mall. It was a cold and windy night!

A beautifully lit building at 15th and Curtis.

Dinner. :)

My decent run of Ninja Turtles.

J was the Frogger master.

We had left the house seven hours ago to start date night. Just finished watching Silver Linings Playbook. Home stretch!

A quiet and cold downtown.