DC in May

Well we are back from our trip down the West Coast, but I figured I should write a quick blog about a trip I took out to DC for one of my best college friend's bachelorette party!  I flew out with Liz and we meet up with the other girls that flew into DC and then we all headed over to Candice's place for a big surprise!  She had no idea we were coming and her fiance Chris did a great job setting everything up with one of my other best college friends Amy!

Candice surprised

Ruth, Jan, Me, Candice, Amy, Rachel and Liz

We had a great time hanging out the night we got there!  There was a ton to catch up on!  I don't think Chris got a word in with all of us girls there!  The next day we were lucky enough to be in town for an air show at Andrew's Air Force Base.  We spent the afternoon watching all sorts of planes fly overhead and then we got to end the air show with the Blue Angels!

Candice and Chris

After the Blue Angels we headed back to Candice's to get ready for a night out!  We had to take a group shot and then since we are all Sailfish, we had to show some school spirit!  We went out for dinner in Claredon and then danced the rest of the night away.

You wish, you wish, you wish you were a fish!

The following morning we all finally woke up and then after lunch we all headed back to our homes.  We took one last group shot minus Jan.

On the way home it was the night of Eclipse, which Liz and I could see in Dallas!

Can't wait for the wedding!

Bicycling...no cooking!

Julie decided to skip this week's Tuesday's with Dorie baking thing, for a few reasons.  We had quite a bit of stuff going on this weekend and on Monday so we didn't have much time, and well...the recipe called for 7 sticks of butter!!!!!  Seriously, 7 sticks of butter.  I can only imagine the resulting pecan rolls would have been delicious, but I don't think that I need 3 1/2 sticks of butter for breakfast. 

So to help fill the void, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about how we are trying to stay somewhat fit against the bi-weekly flood of buttery goodness! 

As we mentioned a while back, we bought some bicycles from the REI, and have become regular cyclists since then. OK, probably not so much just yet, but we have been riding when the Spring weather has allowed.  Tonight Julie and I went out for a ride with our friend Kim, and it was quite lovely.  We rode from the Starbucks right by our house up the road to King Soopers, down close to the Garden of the Gods, and back home, for a total of 11 miles.  We are still new to this bicycling thing, so we didn't bring the camera, but here is a lovely picture of our map, and our elevation gain (since we're in Colorado and all).

We started up at top, and rode South, then came home

The scale is a bit odd...but those were some tough hills

This wasn't just for fun and cookies, we are actually training for a bicycle event!  Not a race at all, just an evening ride through Colorado Springs, called the Starlight Spectacular!  This is a ride which does a big loop starting by the Garden of the Gods, heading to downtown Colorado Springs and then back up to the park.  It is a 14 mile loop, so we have to get our legs and rear ends ready for the event!  It happens on June 9th so watch out for our post about that, but it starts at 10 PM so we might not have many pictures! 

TWD: Baking with Julia - Hungarian Shortbread

Whoa I can't believe another two weeks have already flown by.  Over the weekend Mikey helped me make the Hungarian Shortbread, you can view the recipe of butter at 1smallkitchen or The not so exciting adventures of a dabbler.  The recipe was pretty easy to put together, especially after all the butter got to room temperature!

Here is the butter and sugar getting mixed with the egg yolks.

After the dough was all put together we stuck it in the freezer so it could get hard enough to grate with our box grater.

I grated the first half of the dough and let it cook for about ten minutes in the oven before adding some homemade strawberry jelly and then added the second half of the dough.  The strawberry jelly was made last year with my parents, it has been a tradition to whip up some strawberry jelly since the first time we  all made some over three years ago to give out as our wedding favors!  We have one jar left, but can't seem to use that one for sentimental reasons.  Is it even still going to be good?  Oh well.. back to the shortbread.  Here is the grated dough and the precooked assembly.

Ta-da, it cooked wonderfully!  I had to leave the house so Mikey was helpful, as usual, and took it out when it had achieved a wonderfully golden crust!  Then he coated it with powdered sugar.  Of course he cleaned it up before I got home, but he said he got sugar everywhere!  It was worth it!

I cut it up into pretty small pieces and took it to work to share!  There was no way I was going to leave all that buttery goodness in the house!

TWD: Baking with Julia - Lemon Loaf Cake

Yum, I like lemons! And I like cake! I was pretty excited about a Lemon Loaf Cake, so we decided to make it last week after we took a bike ride and it turned out great.

We started out with the getting the lemons zested!

Then we mixed up the flour and heavy cream and lemon zest and the eggs. There was more in it, but I can't remember... you can check out the recipes on the hosts of this week's recipe at Treats or The Beauty of Life. They have some great pictures!

We got it all mixed and into the oven. The recipe said to let it cook for 50-60 minutes, but in the world of breads I have learned they take a lot longer. I blame the Colorado altitude! So, after about 70 minutes in the oven, it looked done, even though the top didn't split, so I used a toothpick and it came out clean so I called it fully cooked!  After letting it cool for a approximately four seconds, I cut a piece and had the first bite!  I really waited a lot longer than four seconds, but I was anxiously awaiting it to cool!

I was a little surprised at how non-lemony it turned out to be.  We thought about making some lemony icing to put on top, but figured we didn't need that much sugar and that it was excellent by itself.  I think it would be great for a strawberry shortcake type of dessert and I think I would make it again someday!

I also learned that it needed a lot of grease in the pan... but somehow we didn't mind eating the bottom that got stuck in the pan!  Don't tell!

The Dog Blog!

So, I would think if you are reading this, you are probably familiar with the fact that Mikey is allergic to every animal know to man. Well, except maybe a fish, but a dog in our house is probably never going to happen. Which is why when some friends and I went for a walk with all of their dogs I couldn't resist the opportunity to play and take pictures of them!!

We headed to the Santa Fe Trail for a four mile loop trip from Woodmen Rd to Ice Lake. Everyone but Aaron and I have dogs, but we all had a great time! Here are the dog blog pictures!

First we have Aaron and Kirsten with Kahlua and Lucy. Then there is the Tameaka with Zen with Aaron and Kirsten. Then the back of Keli with Powder and Zen in the lake. Then the only picture of me, with Kirsten and Lucy. Then Tameaka and Aaron's engagement picture... well not really, Tameaka is marrying Roger in July!!! Then there is Keli and Kirsten with Powder and Lucy. And lastly is the whole group getting some water! Hope you could tell which were dogs and which were people!!

While walking, we came across two snakes and the following deer leg bone... a gross nature walk somehow got thrown in to our beautiful weather dog walk. But it was a great walk, and hopefully we all can get together again for another dog blog! Don't let this last picture haunt you! hehe.

TWD: Baking with Julia - Pizza Rustica

Well it's Tuesday, which means another baking adventure story is coming your way! This week's recipe was called Pizza Rustica, but I think it is better described as a quiche with a lot of cheese! The hosts of this week were Emily of Capitol Region Dining and Raelyenn of The Place They Call Home. You can check out the full recipe at their sites if you are interested!

The recipe said it was considered a casual finger food in Italy, even though it looks a bit fancier. It started with a sweet crust, kind of like a pie crust and not a pizza crust. Then there were some eggs followed by a lot of cheeses - ricotta, mozzarella, and pecorino romano. And some parsley and prosciutto. I decided to throw in a few chopped onions and that was about it! It was easy to whip together, except the proscuitto was a little hard to get into small pieces. Mikey helped out with shredding it! Then I made a lattice crust topping and stuck in the oven. Here are a few pictures we took along the way. I made them a little bit smaller than usual, but you get the gist.

After we got it in the oven, we were hoping it would turn out ok because we planned on eating it for dinner! It was actually pretty good! I was a little surprised that I liked it because it was not like any pizza I had ever had. I am not sure we would make it again, but I am glad we tried it. We might try it again if we are actually back in Italy for the real thing!!! Well, that and some gelato!

Bike Rides

We mentioned last weekend that we bought some bicycles at the REI, and we had taken them out twice. This weekend had glorious weather, so we couldn't let it pass without taking our bikes out once again for a ride. We are going to have to get better at the picture taking thing, because we took our camera but forgot to take any pictures.

Anyway, there is a cool brewery just down the road from us named Trinity which brews artsy beers, has some tasty food (lots of bacon) and tons of hippies.  They have bike racks outside, which meant it was a perfect riding destination, and a good excuse to stop a rest a while in case the ride was intense.

We brought some sandwiches, chips and granola bars on the ride with us, and we sat at a nice picnic table in a park on the way.  There were kids riding their bikes, and a few kids climbing trees even! 

Fortunately the ride on the way to the brewery was all downhill, even the park, so we didn't have to put out much effort on the way there.  Once we got there, the bike racks were almost full, but we found a spot and grabbed a table.  I had a beer (it had hints of sarsaparilla), Julie had a watermelon soda and we shared a slice of terrific chocolate orange cheesecake. 

The initial plan was for Julie to drive back home (we left the Jeep down there earlier in the day) and for me to ride uphill back home.  It was such a nice day we both decided to ride back home, which was a great decision.  We had a great time, stopped a few times for water and to catch our breath, and made it home without trouble!  Unfortunately we didn't put on enough sunscreen for the longer ride, so we both have a few red spots on our legs and arms which need some aloe.  Other than that, we had a great time today!

We took some pictures of our ride last weekend just around our neighborhood.

Check out her new bike!

The mining scar behind Julie

Riding in style!

Flying downhill!