Thursday, November 26, 2020

Day 259 Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2020. With all the favorites except friends and extended family we would otherwise be with. From Bubble Bread to sausage/ham egg casserole to Grandma's Rolls to Rainbow Jello to Braised Ribs to stuffing to mashed potatoes to 7-layer salad. Some recipes are here. The newbie on the menu was Matt's spatchcocked turkey including his own seasoning mix, injections, etc. Sounds horrid but was the best turkey ever, really. And Kneader's pies for dessert. Nana and Papa watched Christmas Chronicles 2. Not nearly as entertaining as the first. All the photos are here.

Spatchcock Boogey (video)



Spatchcock Boogey










Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Day 258

The big kid activity of the day was making their own ice cream sandwiches. Jonathan was the initiator and graciously shared the experience with his sibs. The wooden trains down in Jamie's office got a workout today as well. Lunch today was at Broken Bones BBQ just down the hill. The steak fries were uniquely good. Matt began work on his spatchcocked turkey and root veggie medley. We stocked up on some bubbly. One of our faves is Veuve du Vernay, a sparkling from France (not a Champagne). Surprisingly inexpensive (under $20) and brings back memories. And, of course, the bubble bread was prepped for overnight rising. The fam found a new funny TV series, Life in Pieces.







Trying tomorrow's pies from Kneaders.
See the new foster babies?


Bubble Bread



Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Day 257

The Screening Room folks showed up today for the final tweaks of the theater room. Our first movie tonight was Ready Player One. Fanstastic! You could feel the scenes. Given that all dine-in ceases this Friday at 5pm, Jamie has vowed to eat out as much as possible between now and then. So today we had lunch at Fuji Mt. Love the drunken noodles. Matt and Jamie ran to The Prime Cut for Thursday's turkey and short ribs and King Soopers for veggies, etc. BTW, it really did snow today; a fair amount, actually. The day finished up for most with a viewing of the first Harry Potter movie in the theater room. Also BTW, Jamie's thoroughly enjoying his new Bose speaker in his office - Christmas music!




Monday, November 23, 2020

Day 256b

Before leaving the Hotel Jacquard, Jamie and Lynn paid a visit to the rooftop pool and bar area. The pool was available for use, but like all the other food and drink services, the bar was shut down. They stopped at the Castle Rock Outlets on the way home and accomplished quite a bit of Christmas shopping. Then bee-lined to Paravicini's, a favorite Italian restaurant in Manitou Springs where we had a great dine-in lunch. Sadly, we also got word today that our county is also "going red" and all dine-in would cease this Friday. Such BS. The damage we are doing to ourselves is mind-numbingly stupid. But back to happy stuff, Jamie had a wonderful Old Fashioned (we often use Triple Sec instead of sugar and water) made from a local whiskey, Axe and the Oak; we'll have to visit them some day. The theater room still has some kinks to work out. And finally, Lynn got to arrange her birthday bouquet from Nipomo: one in the bathroom and one on the kitchen table (see below). All the Denver photos are here.

Hotel Jacquard's rooftop pool and bar



Paravicini's in Manitou Springs





Day 256a

Found an email promo for our upcoming show, It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show, in my inbox this morning. See a few rehearsal pics below. Purchase tickets here (airs December 17-26).







Sunday, November 22, 2020

Day 255

The temporary Denverites did carry out from Crepes & Crepes this morning (too cold to be outside). The Petit Dejeuner Crepes were great as was the Crepe Avec Jus de Citron Frais (with fresh lemon juice). That and the bubbly (Jaillance's Crémant de Bordeaux) to go with it made a superb breakfast. The Denverites watched the TimberCreek message (which actually helped me with my Torah fixation lately) before heading out for the Denver Zoo. We got back and wandered around our neck of Cherry Creek for a while, checked out the Yeti store, and looked for a potential outdoor dining venue. There were a number of great looking restaurants but none that looked warm enough on the outside, so we're doing carry out from North Italia. BTW, I've been enjoying the hotel's soda water with the Block Distilling Co's gin, made here in Denver. And Milo cabernet sauvignon 2016 from Alexander Valley is quite good. And I could not find it online! Foxgrove from Paso sucked. The black rooster solved that issue. All the Denver-trip photos are here.

New and old Brio stuff at work...


Marriott's Jacquard
 
North Italia dinner.


Crepes & Crepes breakfast.




Our car reproduced while we were in the Zoo.


Saturday, November 21, 2020

Day 254

Off on a day of adventure in Cherry Creek (Denver area) for Lynn and Jamie. First some great crepes at Crepes & Crepes which specializes in, guess what, crepes. The roasted leek crepes were great. The Cherry Creek Mall was also just a block away and where we spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon. We went to Kona Grill for lunch where we stayed surprisingly warm in the 40-something degree air. We got to hit many favorites, including Pandora, L'Occitane, and Williams Sonoma. There was one street cutoff from traffic that had "container stores," stores set up in containers that could be locked over night. One store was The House of Stewart, a marvelous chocolates and shortbread store. They had "tablets" of candies, a block of sugar, flour, and chocolate melt-in-your-mouth goodness about the size of a 3x5 index card and maybe an inch thick. Dinner was a couple appetizers from Bad Daddy's Burgers (take out) right next door to the hotel. We watched Last Christmas tonight, quite good and with an interesting twist. Back at the ranch in the Springs, the new foster twins arrived, some flowers arrived for Lynn's birthday, a photo of cousin Megan having put together a 3000-piece puzzle, and someone comes up with a picture of Lynn, her Mom, and her sister from the very early 1970s, maybe late 60s. All the Denver pics are here.

Half a block up from the hotel. Those prisms rotate on
their bases and colored light dances in the fountain area.


That's not an ice cream stand at upper left;
it's edible cookie dough. Pass.



Happy Birthday Lynn from Nipomo!

One of the new twins to the family.

Lynn (right), her Mom, and her sister.

Tracy sent her her first 3000-piece puzzle.