Weekend food adventures!

[Sorry, only a few iPhone pictures to enhance this post. I left my real camera at work over the weekend.]

Spencer's sister came to town on Friday, and we had a weekend of delicious food discoveries.
Saturday started with ginger peach pancakes at Snooze for Meredith while Spencer and I did a photo shoot for our bike team.

Wishing we were at Snooze...

Next was some excellent espresso and iced coffee from Vail Mountain at the Tattered Cover.

Then we headed to Federal Boulevard for some lunch. We wanted to stop at a Hatch chile stand, which litter the street at this time of year. We chose Mile High Chile. The vendors were super nice. We ended up with a bag of roasted chiles ($5) and some ground red chiles ($2) too. We asked the best place for lunch, and they directed us to El Rancherito.

Ashley and Sara joined us for lunch. Everyone's meals were delicious. Meredith had some green chile smothered tamales, Spencer had tacos, and me some guacamole tostadas.

Then we walked next door to a Mexican party shop to gawk at the amazing pinatas. I bought a hibiscus (jamaica) popsicle...best popsicle ever! Who would have known flowers taste so good.

Ashley and her pinata

Later we made gin and tonics with the first lime from our lime tree (!) and some CapRock organic gin from the Western Slope. For dinner we had some buffalo burgers with Hatch chiles mixed in and Field Roast smoked apple sage grain sausages.

Sunday morning I tried making some vegan donuts. I made glazed and chocolate risen ones. They were pretty good, but not perfect. I'll have to work on my donut skills throughout cross season.

Sunday night for dinner we grilled some chicken with rosemary Meredith brought us from Prague. We also roasted corn on the cob and topped it with butter, salt, and some of the chile powder we bought on Saturday. AMAZING. To drink we had some Czech beer and a bottle of Vermentino that Spencer and I brought back from Italy. We also picked some carrots, basil, and parsley from our porch containers and cooked them with green beans, toasted almonds, olives, truffle oil, and sea salt.


And to think, we didn't even make it to the Peach Festival, dinner out on Pearl Street, or any other culinary events of the weekend!

Ramen

Lately I've been eating a lot of ramen. Yep, the instant kind. No, I didn't lose my job.

Surprised? It's actually pretty good--if you ditch the seasoning packet and add your own ingredients. It's also a great way to use up whatever vegetables are lingering in the fridge...think mushrooms, broccoli, green beans, etc. I also like to toss in leftover proteins, like the vegan chicken I grilled the other night. It ends up being super convenient but still super cheap and is one of those dishes that is so tasty I'm always in the mood for it.

When I'm in a hurry, I'll just microwave the noodles with water, veggies, and my own seasoning (vegetarian ["Chay"] Pho boullion cubes if I'm craving some serious umami, or ginger and soy sauce if I'm feeling healthy.) If I have a bit more time, I'll heat some sesame oil in a pot, saute the meat and veggies and garlic or ginger, splash them with soy sauce when they are soft, and then add the noodles, seasoning, and water. My favorite toppings are sliced serrano or jalapeno peppers, Thai basil, cilantro, and hoisin sauce.

While this dish is neither authentic nor particularly healthy (at least the noodles aren't), it aces the trifecta of taste, cost, and convenience. Give instant ramen a try if you haven't since college or your last camping trip!