Merry Christmas 2010!

Maia P. Burns' 30th Birthday Extravaganza in Vegas!

Not too many pics... most would have been NSFW anyways.... ;-) Plus I was battling a wicked sinus infection. So what you see is what you get!

Home for Thanksgiving pics

First time home for Thanksgiving in 5 years.

A Weekend of Luxury

Josh and I recently had to go up to Vail for a wedding. Luckily it was off-season, so I scored an awesome deal at the Sonnenalp Resort. I HIGHLY recommend this place for anyone going to Vail for any reason. Since I am not exactly used to receiving high-end luxury treatment like this (see myriad camping photos), I couldn't stop myself from documenting nearly every moment of it. I wouldn't mind getting used to vacations like this. Next step - learning how not to make a fool of myself in front of the bellman when I see the room, jump up and down in excitement, and start taking pictures. doh.

The Justice League of Street Food

Scenes from The Justice League of Street Food in Denver.

Best Birthday Ever.

Baseball & Beer!

We couldn't go to upstate NY in the summer and NOT go to Cooperstown (actually, I think this is how I convinced Josh to come home with me.) So we went on a small road trip with my Dad and my Uncle, visited two awesome but completely different breweries, and finally made it to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. I can't wait to go back in 5-10 years when Todd Helton is inducted! ;-)

New York State Fair!

In late August, Josh and I went back to Syracuse to visit my family and experience Syracuse in the summertime. Oh, and of course to visit the craziness that is the New York State Fair....

Lazy River .. I mean.. White Water Rafting!!

Thanks to Living Social, Josh and I scored an awesome deal on a white water rafting trip up in Kremmling, CO on the upper Colorado river.  Of course I bought the tickets before I knew anything about the trip, and later found out that the minimum age for this trip is FOUR.  Well, I guess it would be a good introduction right?  Let's just say floating down the Boulder Creek in an inner tube is more white water than this trip was.  At least it was a gorgeous day, and what can be bad about floating down a river?  Add in some "hot" springs, a 30ft cliff jump, and free lunch, and I'd say we still got our money's worth.  Can't wait for some actual rapids next time though! 

The trip happened to coincide with a 3-day bike trip some of my coworkers were doing, so we met them in Steamboat at the end of their ride.  I think next time Josh might actually join them for some mountain pass riding! Yeah, not me. I'll meet you in the bar ;-)

July 4th Camping Trip

For July 4th weekend, Josh and I were lucky enough to be invited along on an annual camping trip with a bunch of friends. Someone had put up tents weeks prior to score this sweet (free!) camping spot, just 7 miles outside of Crested Butte. (Up Slate River Road) New friends, good food, relaxing, hiking, good beer... all in all, a pretty perfect camping trip!

Farm Field Trip!

Visited my coworkers' farm in Berthoud, CO this weekend. He has over 100 living things on his farm including people! It was fun and I learned so much about animals - I think it was even better than going to the zoo. My camera ran out of battery after one photo, but I managed to get a few with my phone.

Me on the Coors Field jumbotron

Last week I was on the Rockies jumbotron for the Xcel Energy Efficiency Quiz (good thing I
got it right!) It was a little overwhelming as I had no idea what I was doing but still fun. Oh, and they called me Karen, which is why you hear Josh yelling "Yeah Karen!" haha I got a $50 gift card for participating, which I promptly spent on Rockies/Red Sox tickets.

The question was:

What should you do to reduce the energy your computer uses when you aren't using it?

a) Turn on the screensaver
b) Turn off all applications (I originally read this as appliances, which is why I picked B first, then realized that still made no sense.)
c) Put it in sleep mode

Memorial Day Camping @ Crawford State Park

Three night camping adventure on the Western Slope. Camped in Crawford State Park. It was OK, but a bit more privacy would have been nice. We moved to a vacant site the last night, which was much nicer. We did some hiking, A LOT of driving, and even more brewery visting. Pretty much every single small town out there has at least one brewery. In Palisade, we even visited a (really good!) brewery, a winery, a distillery AND a meadery ... all in walking distance of eachother! Below is the list of breweries we visited. Some visits are documented in the pics below, but most are not. Great first camping trip of the summer! I can't wait for more!!

1. Revolution Brewing, Paonia, CO
2. Crested Butte Brewing, Gunnison, CO
3. Gunnison Brewery, Gunnison, CO
4. Horsefly Brewery, Montrose, CO
5. Palisade Brewery, Palisade, CO
6. Kannah Creek Brewery, Grand Junction, CO
7. Dillon Dam Brewery, Dillon, CO (twice!)

Gregory Canyon Hike photos

Secret Speakeasy Birthday Party

Back to San Francisco

Had an amazing vacation in San Francisco this past weekend. It was Josh's first time there, so we had a good mix of hanging out with friends and acting like locals, while doing some obligatory touristy stuff too (cable car!) It was also my first time flying on a plane with someone else. Not a big deal, but it was kind of nice to have someone else to be bored in the airport with. And a nice soft shoulder-pillow to use on the plane as well ;-)

I hadn't played tourist in San Fran in a long time, so that was really fun. We even got to borrow a car for a day thanks to Josh's awesome friend Jenna, so we drove up to Muir Woods and all around wine/beer country. I took a ton of photos, but didn't even come close to capturing all of it. It's hard when you're just so absorbed in the experience to remember to take photos. Thankfully Josh took my camera a few times and captured some great first-timer shots. I almost forgot how awe-inspiring it is to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. Can't wait to go back soon!

View from the purple seats at yesterday's Rockies game!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

First hike of 2010!

Starting it off right with a 6.7mile hike! Longest hike since my surgery. It's going to be a great summer!!

Ignite Denver

Here is a video of my ignitedenver presentation. Enjoy!

Holly Homemaker

I don't do this very often, but I feel compelled to document this recipe. Both so other people can take it, make it their own and enjoy it. But also so that I don't forget how I made it!

Because of a order mishap, I got an extra box of produce from Door to Door Organics last week. I'll be getting my regular box tomorrow, so I wanted to use up a bunch of the produce that's taking up room in the fridge. Chicken is the only meat I have in the house right now, so somehow the idea of a chicken and potato casserole came to mind. While reading various recipes online, that idea somehow morphed into the dish below. The only ingredient I did not have onhand was mushrooms, but I had to go to the store anyways, and I'm a huge fan of mushrooms, so it was worth the purchase.

I feel like this recipe was probably a mainstay for 1950s housewives and they would probably laugh at my "discovery". But seriously, this recipe is one of my new favorite standbys simply because of the versatility and substitute-ability... not to mention taste! Already I've thought up about 15 different ways I want to make this next time. Different spices, different veggies, a splash of bacon... you name it, this recipe can take it.

For now, I'll document the "original" and savor the leftovers. Sorry it's not in typical recipe form. It takes me a while to write up a proper recipe, and right now I just want to get this down. I also feel like it's not quite worthy of recipe-format yet. Maybe next time. :-)

The AWESOME Casserole:

Boil 1/3 package of No-Yolk thick egg noodles for 10 min. At 6:00 remaining, add 1/2 head of chopped cauliflower.

Meanwhile, throw 1 cup of frozen peas into strainer and splash with warm water. Chop 2 cloves garlic and 3/4 red bell pepper. Chop 1 chicken breast into cubes. Strain cauliflower and noodles over peas. This will thaw the peas. Cook chicken in pan with olive oil. Set aside.

Add 3tbsp. butter to pan. When melted and bubbly add sliced mushrooms (2/3 package), garlic and pepper. Cook 5-10 minutes. Add 5 tbsp flour and STIR. It WILL look weird. Add 1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup soy milk. STIR. Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and a couple handfuls of baby spinach. Stir to combine. Cook until desired thickness.

Meanwhile, mix up the topping:
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt & pepper
2 tbsp melted butter

Add chicken, noodles, peas, cauliflower, and 1/2 cup freshly grated parm. I believe the quality of the cheese is very important here. Save the Kraft for pay-day-eve-spaghetti-night!

Put into greased baking/casserole dish. Add topping. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes. Pour wine and enjoy!!

Pre- topping

Fresh from the oven!

My first plate

Yes, I ate all that.

Close-up food porn shot.

Lamb and Pea Samosas

Because making clams casino wasn't enough, we also made Lamb & Pea Samosas.

Cousin Pete cooking up the ground lamb.


Brown ground lamb & chopped onion. Peas, spinach, potatoes and a plethora of spices to be added soon.



Garam masala added at the very end as heat destroys its flavor.


Roll out puff pastry and cut into 9-12 squares. Add filling.




Fold into triangles, fork the edges, spread with egg wash. Ready to bake! Bake via directions on puff pastry box.


Done!


Serve with tamarind dipping sauce.


And just for good measure, we had homemade creme brulee for dessert! Now you know why I like to go home so much! :-)

Clams Casino

When I was home for Christmas, I called up my Aunt Annie and asked her if she would show me my Uncle Mike's famous Clams Casino recipe. Since the below napkin is the only written documentation of this recipe, I thought I would document the process and practice some food photography while learning an amazing family recipe. (Note, the amounts on the napkin aren't accurate and some ingredients are missing. If you want the recipe, ask me!)



First step - make the bacon.


A beautiful sight.


While bacon is cooking, steam clams. Remove top shell and detach clam from bottom shell.


Add bacon fat, pimentos and chopped green pepper to butter. Mix thoroughly. Spread bacon-butter mixture onto each clam:






Top each clam with a 1-2" piece of bacon:



Add bread crumbs, grated parmesan and pepper.




Ready to broil!





And done!



Slurp and enjoy!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 - All the Lights-On-The-Lake, McDonough craziness you could ask for PLUS Josh came home with me and met my parents and the entire family! Eek! Needless to say, I was a bit distracted, and didn't take a ton of pictures. Here's some I did manage to get though.