February Overnights of Extreme Awesomeness

In February I was on reserve, which means that J ended up with some decent trips with his seniority. One trip in particular was purposely bid. The overnights were DCA (Reagan National) and SAN (San Diego).

We both finally ended up on the trip (after much work trying to move my reserve block) but it all sorted itself out and off we went!

Our first overnight was relatively short (only 13 hours) but we had some work to pack in to it. We landed, made our way to the hotel, and immediately changed and made our way to the metro station. We had a date with Teddy Roosevelt at the Old Ebbitt Grill in D.C. At the Old Ebbitt the mounted animal trophies above the bar are none other than Teddy's. There is not a man my husband loves more. :P While there we met up with our great friends, Shannon and Jud. We need to make another trip out there to visit and hike Teddy Roosevelt Island Park.

DCA!

Right next door to the Old Ebbitt? The Treasury.

J...to Teddy!

The Ebbitt is known for its oysters so J had to try a half dozen (we split them with our friends).

Teddy's trophies can be seen above the bar.

From DCA it was a short flight to ATL and a long flight to SAN. We had a blast with the passengers though and the day went by quickly. It helped that we had an amazing crew. It was J, myself, and Oliver. I had never flown with Oliver before but had met his girlfriend, Steph (also a flight attendant) several times. It was great that he ended up our trip with us...I always enjoy a super low-key crew!

So back to the story. We land in SAN where we have 19 hours. Our plan was to hang out with our friends Kelsey and Alex, two amazing people. Seriously amazing. Their honeymoon was 200 days long and included Costa Rica, Belgium, Namibia, Vietnam, Thailand, animal rescue, and dengue fever. They were newly returned.

Our first course of action was to take a nap, which I am going to take some time to ramble on about because it is blissful. Windows open, breeze blowing in through gauzy drapes, the sounds of the traffic and the boats outside. Palm trees. Ah.

We were woken up before our alarm to a text from an old friend (and our MDW crashpad "dad") Blaine! We were supposed to be meeting Kelsey and Alex in 30 minutes but wanted to see Blaine too. We ran to a local bar and through one back, catching up at a million miles an hour, which is when we all just decided he should come along with us.

Soon after Kelsey and Alex arrived and we were whisked off to Pacific Beach, just north of where we stay near the Gaslamp and Little Italy. Tapas and sangria was for dinner and a beautiful sunset was dessert. It was lovely. Lots of sleep that night and then three legs back home in the morning.

We are now on the last few days of a nine day stretch off. There has been lots going on, and I will write another short post with some information on that soon. :)

Paella was ordered to supplement our tapas.

Beachy fun.

Surfers at sunset.

Namaste.

View from our room the next morning. :)

Winter Vegetable and Spelt Soup

As was the recipe posted just before this post, this recipe is from a Family Circle magazine. I ripped the page out and it doesn't say what month/year anywhere on it and when I tried to look it up on Family Circle's website I was asked to join it to view the information. So...I will give them as much credit as I can. I do not know the issue date of the magazine.
This is a hearty winter soup with quite a bit of surprising sweetness from the squash and carrots. This utilizes the ancient grain spelt. Spelt originated "in the Near East more than 8,000 years ago." It is a "relative of durum wheat," "chewy and nutty, making it perfect for soups and pilafs." Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup spelt
1 tbsp olive oil
3 links (3 oz each) sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (NOTE: We used veggie sausage, and not Tofurkey. I'll go back and look at the brand we bought and update the blog later. I am not a fan of fake meats in general as I don't like texturized soy protein, soy protein isolate, etc) This brand did not include those ingredients. I used the pack of four sausage links.
2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash (cut into 1 inch pieces) (we utilized pre-cut squash from our grocery, life saver!)
1.5 cups peeled and sliced carrots cut into one inch pieces
1.5 cups peeled and sliced parsnips cut into one inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (NOTE: we used vegetable broth!)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

*Soak spelt in cold water OVERNIGHT. Drain and set aside.*

In a large lidded pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until browned. Stir in butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth, 1 cup water, and spelt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes or until spelt is tender. Stir in salt and pepper.

Cooking the veggies and "sausage" first.

Adding the broth before allowing it to simmer.

The finished product! We are making this again on Thursday. As I stated before, hearty, sweet, warming...perfect for all the snow we've been having!

Wild Mushroom Farro Risotto (Farrotto)

This recipe is from a Family Circle magazine, I ripped the page out and it doesn't say what month/year anywhere on it and when I tried to look it up on Family Circle's website I was asked to join it to view the information. So...I will give them as much credit as I can. I do not know the issue date of the magazine.

That being said: This recipe is totally for all the mushroom lovers out there! It was part of an article on ancient grains, this grain being Farro, a "variety of wheat popular in Italy" that "works well in casseroles and stews."

Ingredients:

1 cup farro
1 32 oz box organic mushroom broth
2 tbsp unsalted butter (NOTE: we just used olive oil and the directions will be edited to show this)
1 tbsp olive oil (See note above, we just used a lot more olive oil)
1 lb wild mushrooms, sliced
3 shallots diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped parsley (plus more for garnish)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 ox soft goat cheese, crumbled (optional - and we did not use it)

Directions:



*Soak farro in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a lidded pot heat broth and 2 cups water.*   NOTE: I used only one cup of water and was going to add more towards the end if needed. It was not. Food cooks differently at altitude.

In a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add mushrooms. Cook 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Mix in remaining olive oil, the shallots, and thyme. Cook 3 minutes. Stir in drained farro and wine. Cook 3 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium. Pour in 1/2 cup of the heated broth; cook until mostly evaporated. Add remaining broth in 1/2 cup increments until farro is tender, 30-40 minutes. Stir in parsley, salt, and pepper. Top with goat cheese, if desired.

Ta da!

Cooking down the mushrooms, shallots, and thyme. This part smelled so good!

The finished farro.

One for the mushroom lovers; we ate it all!

January Overnights of Extreme Awesomeness

I don't even know where yo start.

This month J and I buddy-bid with our great friend and fellow flight attendant, Stefan. This allowed us to work all of our regularly scheduled trips together. Oh what fun!

We spent a lot of our Sundays watching the Broncos in the playoffs, and a lot of other days messing around. Here are some select pictures to tell the stories of the overnights.

BHM: In Birmingham J and I met up with a friend we'd made on a cruise years ago. We'd been wanting to catch up and meet his partner ever since and we could never make it happen. In January, we did!

TPA: I have a love to Tampa overnights. At the hotel where we currently stay we can walk to quite a few places including this beach park. Here a SWA plane flies just overhead. :)

TPA: I also found the tiniest shell in the world (J's thumb nail for a relative size)

TPA: Seashells. <3 br="">

TPA: J and his quest to dig the deepest hole on the beach. Just because. Why not?

TPA: J, myself, and Stefan

TPA: Time to watch the Broncos play. One bottle for ever quarter. That's good luck, right?

TPA: Spanish moss in the oak trees, takes me back.

Anywhere-bound: Sunset as we departed DEN.

The DIA train that takes you from the terminal to the concourses. Totally quiet.

IND: And early morning in Indianapolis. This was the only other window I could see from our room where someone else was awake. I always feel a pleasant sense of camaraderie with fellow human beings who are conscious at the hour of 3:30AM.

IND-RSW: Off to Fort Myers, but unfortunately not to stay. This may have been the coldest flight I've ever been on, but it was a quiet morning and still enjoyable.

TPA: Skipping back to our TPA overnight. A small plane flies in the sky.  I love looking at this picture along with the following...

TPA: A gull flies in the sky over the beach grass.

TPA: A lost ladybug makes it's way over the sand.

FLL: Another gorgeous picture from Florida, sunset in Fort Lauderdale.

40,000 FT: Me being a smart ass. A letter to our Seahawk-loving pilots.

And now on to the overnight that can't really be explained. Well it can. It would just be a paragraph full of stream-of-consciousness narrative and inexplicable amounts of good fortune and new friends.

The three of us had two OMA (Omaha) overnights on our boards. The first time we visited we spent it watching the Broncos game, eating at the hotel, and generally celebrating the fact that we were going to the Super Bowl.

The second time we were going to go out on the town, something I'd been trying to do since we drove from CO to IL in 2011 after I was based in Chicago. I ended up ill, with a fever, unable to leave the hotel. The wait was worth it though. Or was it?

With the winter weather, flights to Chicago started being canceled, including ours. We were in Philly the first night of the trip and Omaha the second. With our first flight (PHL-MDW) cancelled the solution was for us to take a later flight, through MDW to OMA, effectively reducing our nice 16 hour overnight to 11 hours. We called scheduling back and asked if we could go to OMA through St. Louis on a much earlier flight that still left us with enough rest. They granted our wish and we were back up to 15 hours in OMA!

What happened after we landed was best summed up in J's Facebook Post of Wordage: "

If days are rated from a 1-10, today has been an 11. Our day was cancelled and we deadheaded all the way from Philly to Omaha, where we went for Moscow mules, where the owners of the tavern let us in even though they were not open, where they comped us jukebox credits then recommended us to a local restaurant for dinner where we ran into said tavern owners who proceeded to buy our dinner, where DURING DINNER scheduling calls to say we didn't have to report until 4 hrs later than originally planned, and now here we sit having a cocktail that is infused with a cigar smoke before meeting our new tavern owner friends at the local drag queen show. — with Tamara Jackson."

Note: We also had tried out a local brewery before the tavern where all the fun went down. There are not many pictures from this day but there should have been. Let me start with the four that I have and we will take it from there.

Tobacco smoke infused cocktail. That is a stopper, keeping the smoke in the glass. No joke. That ball of ice in the glass. Totally solid and see-through...that thing will take five years to melt.

My blueberry and rye whiskey cocktail. Don't get me started on how much I love rye whiskey.

The Tavern (and one of the owners, Dave) This place is a blast and when you meet the owners, you'll know why! They have totally put themselves into the space. They pointed out so many details from the bar counter (a solid piece of wood which was once the bar top at a famous hotel where presidents stayed - I can't recall the name but Teddy Roosevelt had stayed there, which means he may have drank there, which means J was having a bro-moment just sitting at the bar).

Myself, Stefan and J with our Moscow Mules.

Okay, so here is my mini tour of the section of Omaha we visited:
Where we started: Upstream Brewing Company Good beers. We started here because we went to the tavern when we believed it was open and then found out they didn't open for another hour. So we had some time to kill.
Next up: The Tavern only they still weren't open! As we went to walk away Dave, one of the owners, opened the door and let us in an hour early. From there we met David, the other owner and over drinks and loud jukebox music we talked about tasty beverages, decorating an establishment, and buying pews. They gave us lots of good recommendations and we decided to take one of them, for M's Pub, and try it out for dinner.
That's when things got awesome: M's Pub was described to us by Dave and David as the place to go for Omaha fare. We are SO glad we did. We each ordered a Lavosh, which I believe is like an Armenian flat bread pizza with Havarti. But wait, back up just a moment, Guess who was also at M's? Dave and David! They had left The Tavern before we had in order to find some chairs for the bar. We all sat together and then ordered the Lavosh and something else that had to be tried. The Carrot Dog. This was a marinated and then grilled carrot, in a hot dog bun, with all the toppings. My biggest regret is not taking a picture of this thing because it was colossal. The waitress said it was the second largest Carrot Dog she had seen. The carrot (at the top) was the width of a soda can. I have been craving another bite ever since. This is also when scheduling called to inform us that, once again, our first flight we were to work the next morning would be cancelled. We now did not have to report for another four hours. That is when the drag queen show became our end goal for the evening. But we still had some time to kill...so our gracious (and generous - they paid for our meal) hosts suggested a few more spots to try.
The first: The Berry and Rye. This establishment reminded me of The Arvada Tavern, our favorite place in our neighborhood, where the cocktails are inventive, enjoyable, and unique. This is the place where we ordered the tobacco smoke infused cocktail. This is when I started thinking I was living the movie The World's End and I was going to use the loo and start fighting aliens. Hammered.
The second: Sake Bombers Lounge. Because at this point two servings of hot sake and sangria are a splendid idea.
The finale: The Max. This is where the Miss Max drag queen pageant was. We once again met up with Dave and David. I so wish we could have stayed longer! But duty calls, and we are dutiful flight attendants. We said our goodbyes to our new friends already wanting to come back.

The walk back to the hotel was rough. It was more of a run with -26 degree wind chill and 40 MPH gusts. The next morning when I looked in the mirror J and I both had some kind of rash on our faces, only mine ended at mid-forehead. What the heck? Allergic to the hotel's detergent? What in the world that didn't happen last week? Oh, that's right, total windburn. I had been wearing my hat.

The end to a great month of flying together with two of my favorite people. I can't wait to do it again. :)

Flying over the Rockies. Bumpy, but such a beautiful view. :)

Montanas! Boarding, Booze, and Pasta

Happy February! The last little bit of January J and I spent enjoying friends, the great, outdoors, and good hooch. Doesn't get much better than that!

A hometown friend of mine and her significant other have been living in Colorado for some time. At one point they lived just a short walk down the street from us, which I really miss. On to bigger and better things, though! They recently relocated to Breckenridge, CO. Now, not only do we get to visit and hang out with them and their adorable furry friends (a cat and a dog), but we have snowboarding buddies as well! (Note: J has snowboarding buddies, I've taken this year off.)

J and I decided to drive up after a trip and in a little bit of weather and stay for two nights for two days of snowing and exploring the Breckenridge area. Unfortunately all the snowboarding pictures are on this app for people with passes to the mountain so I currently don't have access to them, but I was able to take a few shots of the stunning scenery nearby.

Apres-ski drinks (and mid-ski drinks!) were a theme. Winter Whiskey, Hot Buttered Rum, Spiked Hot Cocoa and Irish Coffees for the latter, and a visit to Breckenridge Brewery for the former.

Breckenridge Brewery is a small but pretty awesome place. The tour was very short and at the end we were able to try half ounce samples of their bourbon whiskey, vodka, and a bitters. All were fantastic! We also found out you can volunteer to bottle for four hours after-hours and they feed you, give you shots, and you can take home any bottle of your choosing for free. This is a big win for the volunteers. If I lived in town I would be there. A lot.

Next time we visit (we still have two days left on J's 4-pack) we plan on doing some bottling as well. Also, congrats to Breckenridge Brewery for being noted in the newest issue of 5280 for your bourbon whiskey, although I loved the vodka just as much and was even more fond of the bitters.

One of the reasons we didn't stay to volunteer that night is that we had already bought dinner stuff and decided to cook back at the apartment. It's a simple dish that I make that doesn't require a whole lot of prep, just some olive oil, garlic, onion, marinated mushrooms, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, a bit of fresh basil, salt and pepper to taste, and (honestly) whatever else you wish to throw in there.

Cook the pasta and while that's happening cook the garlic and onions in some olive oil. You can be generous since essentially the olive oil is your sauce. Throw in all the veggies and cook until heated through. Add the pasta and veggies together. Plate. Garnish with fresh basil and add some salt and pepper. Voila! Easy and simple, yes, but also very flavorful. Bonus if served with bread (carb-load!) and an olive oil/balsamic dip (with some rosemary, oregano, and black pepper sprinkled on top).

;)

The view coming back over Swan Pass from Keystone to Breck.

Coming over Swan Mountain Road was this gorgeous view from the area of Sapphire Point. (The same view as in this post in the spring, 8th picture down http://littletleigh.blogspot.com/2013/05/breckenridge-to-almost-copper-mountain.html)

On the Breckenridge Brewery tour! Tasting room!

You were simply surrounded by lots of gorgeous barrels and lights. Possibly too of my favorite things.

Pasta. Writing this post is making me crave it.

A-Basin.