Good Food in Colorado

Between my grandparents and Aunt and Uncle, trips to Colorado are never a gustatory disappointment. I was in Colorado this past weekend, and this trip was no exception.

After flying in Thursday evening, Grandma and Grandpa and I tried our hands at making gourmet pizzas (I was especially fond of the pesto, artichoke heart and roasted pepper variety), and I got the grand tour of their elegant new house.

Friday morning, we first stopped at the Molly Brown House.
We couldn't take photos inside, but we did get an exclusive tour of the third floor after inquiring about what was up there. (Turns out it's the staff kitchen, former servant's quarters and a used-to-be-ballroom that they're not sure what to do with.)

We then stopped for lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery on the 16th street mall. I had some tasty chicken enchiladas and some sort of local beer. Following this, we traipsed around downtown for a bit and went past the Denver Convention Center so that I could meet someone I'd been eager to meet:


We narrowly missed a drenching rainstorm, and proceeded to the Aquarium that's under relatively new ownership. A good time was had by all, though everyone declined to try the palm tree climbing challenge.

After the Aquarium, Andrew and Terri joined us for dinner (green minestrone, garlic toast, fresh veggies, and raspberries with ice cream: see what I mean about the food?) . This was nice, since the last time I'd seen them, we'd been in town for their wedding, so they were somewhat occupied. We made plans for our Saturday travels...

Saturday started with a tour of the Celestial Seasoning's facilities. This was awesome, even though the plant isn't producing anything on weekends during the summer. We got to sample several teas, see the original oil paintings of some of the tea boxes, tour the storage and production floors (including the sinus-healing mint room), and visit the giftshop.


We made a quick detour to the Leanin' Tree Southwestern Art Gallery, where we saw some incredible statues:


Then it was off to a goat farm to pet the goats and taste various cheeses.


We headed on into Boulder for lunch, where I had the largest vegetarian quesadilla known to man at the Pearl Street Mall. Then we toured an art gallery with many tempting wares that I resisted, and a gourmet cooking shop (Peppercorn's) that I was not able to resist as easily. Eventually we headed home for the evening, where we had leftover delicious pizza and went out for ice cream.

Sunday morning, I went to church with Grandma and Grandpa. I got to meet a lot of people who knew Mom when she was growing up (they threatened to tell embarrassing stories!), including the lady who taught mom to make the cinnamon rolls she still makes every Easter. Then we headed out to see bits of Red Rocks, and hiked halfway up to the visitor's center. The view from there was plenty for me, not being used to the altitude and that many stairs!


A highlight of every trip is always a meal cooked by Terri. Below is the photo I took of Sunday's brunch to make Matt jealous. You'll see a zucchini muffin with walnuts, raisins and lemon glaze; a roasted tomato with fresh goat cheese; a pork sausage glazed in apricot-habanero jelly; an egg souffle-puff thing(?) with peppers; and melon salad with mint and lemon. Delicious!

After lunch, we made a quick stop at a local farmer's market where I was able to pick up a couple jars of the habanero jelly to give Matt to make up for sending him gloating food photos all weekend, and I was off to the airport for my trip back to Boston. (The delicious food did not stop there, as Midwest Airlines bakes and serves fresh cookies mid-flight!)

This has been a sampling, but you can see all the photos I took at my Colorado 2007 Photo Album.

All in all, it was a busy weekend but loads of fun. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, Terri and Andrew for the great weekend!