Picnic BLTs

Several things in this great life give me great happiness, and I feel so lucky that I got to enjoy a few of my favorites, all squished into one night last week.  A picnic at Chatauqua Park in Boulder with girlfriends, before catching one of my favorite musical groups, The Indigo Girls, play at the auditorium at Chatauqua (which after Red Rocks is my most favorite of concert venues as it feels so very much like the mess hall at the summer camp I grew up at).  Oh, and I made BLTs for said picnic, so that is a grand tally of 4 of my favorites, in one night.

BLTs are classic.  They are summer.  They are picnic.  But...are you like me and are kind of ruded out by how soggy the bread is by the time you open your picnic basket, because of the (delicious, summer time favorite, for reals...just not here) tomatoes?  Well, I solved that problem years ago with delicious sun-dried tomato mayonnaise.

What you need:

bacon

3 T brown sugar

cracked black pepper

mayonnaise

sun-dried tomatoes

loaf of bread (ciabatta was my pick)

lettuce greens

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and a piece of parchment paper.

Place bacon and sprinkle with 3 T brown sugar and a very generous

crack of black pepper.

Bake in a 375 preheated oven for 20-23 minutes. If you 

want crisper bacon, watch oven closely as the sugar

will cause a quick burn, towards the end of bake time.

Delicious peppery, sweet bacon!  This is after 20 minutes bake time.

I promptly prop the baking sheet, so all the bacon grease will

drain off to the bottom, as it is impossible to 'blot' bacon that

has been baked in sugar...unless you love eating 

delicious peppery, sweet, PAPER coated bacon!

 Place 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (drained) and 1 cup mayonnaise

in a food processor.  Pulse until the tomatoes are fully 

broken down and incorporated throughout.

This recipe will make much more that you will need for this Picnic

BLT, but be prepared to thank me as it is good on everything!

 I placed the sun-dried tomato mayonnaise in the deli container that

first housed the oil soaked tomatoes.  I did drain off most of the oil

before pulsing, but did not think to wipe the container clean.

But...a little sun-dried tomato infused oil will do zero harm to

this goodness.

I like to make in advance to allow the flavors to love each other up,

at least over night.

 Holy Toledo, this might be the best store bought 'artisan' bread
ever.  I picked it up at King Soopers (Krogers).

I used a serrated knife to slice the loaf in half, then popped it in the
oven (with the loaf closed up) to allow the outside to toast up a bit.
350 degrees for 8- 10 minutes.  It was good and crusty on the
outside when I pulled it out.  I then opened and gave the bread 10 minutes
to cool down then generously slathered the bread with the sun-dried
tomato mayonnaise.

Layer on the candied bacon and a huge, heaping pile of greens.

 No words!  Cut how you wish OR pretend you are Rodney
Dangerfield in the 'sandwich scene' from Back to School
and eat the whole thing!  Here is the clip from the movie, if you
are all like, this B be crazy!

I wrapped each cut of sandwich in parchment.

The sandwiches joined iced coffee, palmier cookies and raspberry
and dark chocolate brownie & mousse trifles, as my picnic
contributions.  My girlfriends and I were so on point with our
picnic planning that our spread was one for the books.
I will later blog the palmier and trifle recipes, but until then
try these legit BLTs! Oh, and as usual...The Indigo Girls
were AmazeFest!

xo

Manitou Springs, Colorado

The hubs and I have not had a break in parenting for a long bit (which, I guess you sign up for when having kids, but after the months we have had, we needed a tiny b.r.e.a.k.!) so I got a sitter for 24 hours, so we could clock out and go have some fun!  We decided to head south from Golden (as we most often head west) and decided on Manitou Springs. Here's a small photo dump of some treasures I captured on my phone on our short sneak away. 

We didn't take the highway that leads from Denver to Colorado Springs, instead we left Golden and drove mountain roads the whole way down.  It was great.  We had no timeline, so it didn't matter that this was not the most direct route (but actually, now that I think about it, the drive time was probably about the same, as we didn't encounter the traffic the highway brings). Along the way we went through several little towns, one of which reminded me of Big Bear in California, so I instantly called my brother, as we went skiing in Big Bear when he was living in LA and I went to visit him for my spring break. It was super nostalgic.

 After two hours of scenic driving through the moutains, we arrived in

 Manitou Springs.  What a quirky town. I can only describe it as 

1 part mountain town, 1 part eclectic artist paradise,

1 part Atlantic coast boardwalk town (see photo above)

 and 2 parts hippie haven!  Definitely a town where deoderant often

goes to die.

 Really cool sculptures throughout the little bustling historic town 

at the base of Pikes Peak.

My husband tried to school me a bit and shared

that Mr. Pike (clearly I was only half listening as

I have forgotten his name a week later) was the

explorer who named the Beaver Islands in 

St. Cloud, Minnesota (our hometown).

How cool is that!

I am always excited to find old Episcopal 

churches in cool little towns!  

 

This vintage Coke machine, built in!

 Fountains are scattered throughout the little town, kicking up the 

spring water that is rushing below. Historically people would flock to

these natural flowing springs for the springs healing powers.

Another fountain

 We cut across the springs to walk through a park and was excited to 

notice the little treasure stone mosaic goat, which of course

reminded me of the story of Billy Goats Gruff.

Someday I will own this very impractical light.  Those Edison bulbs 

sure don't produce a great light source, but this ridiculously cute lamp

(notice the water faucet handle for turning it on?) was made local and

 needs to be seen local, on my front table. I took the picture so Zac would 

be able to buy it for me. I am so good to him, I don't mess around

 with hints, just call me a straight shooter.  Haaaa.

Darn it, was too full from dinner for ice cream, but 

looooved the signage!

 I can't wait for the snow to clear, so we can go back 

with the kids to ride the rail up Pikes Peak.  Benny will

be in heaven!

How cool are structures, supported over the springs below. 

We explored Manitou Springs late into the evening and then

headed to downtown Colorado Springs for our hotel.  Of

course I took a totally rando pic of the wall of our room 

because I get a case of the shakes over old exposed brick.

The hotel was called the Mining Exchange and was gorgeous.  

It was a 10 minute drive from Manitou Springs, and then gave us a

 chance to check out downtown Colorado Springs at night.

 Two doors down from the hotel was a great little ice cream

shop called Josh & John's with a line out the door. Overpriced 

but delicious. Thankfully at this late hour we had room in 

our bellies to try some of the tasty flavors.

After a good sleep in sesh, we checked out of the hotel and 

was excited to see a Dutch Bros. Coffee 2 blocks from our hotel.  

We had this shop in our town in Oregon and I am so excited

 they are clearly moving east! 

I have missed this goodness in my life.

 On our way out of town we explored Garden of the God's. 

Breathtaking!

 When I was snapping this pic there were tourists from all over the 

country surrounding me and I felt like I was in a scene from the 80s

classic film,  National Lampoons Vacation.  Clearly didn't remember

that it is high time for tourists!

We left Garden of the Gods and back tracked through 

the mountains to home.  We stopped for lunch in Pine, CO

and had the most legit burgers EVER at Zoka!  We sat

on the big wrap around porch and enjoyed the lovely 

mountain breeze and ate burgers. The pic above is Kobe beef

burger on ciabatta topped with carmelized onions, sweet

bacon and melty brie.  It was outrageous.  Z ordered

a burger topped with a bacon and rhubarb jam that

was equally out of this world.  Who really thinks to go

crazy over burgers, but these were seriously the two 

best I have ever tried.

 

I told Z we shouldbuy a cabin in Pine for 

a) mountain biking and b) burgers

 

Serious!

 

 

 Pine was hosting the town's Rhubarb Festival, so after burgers

we popped over to see and THIS WAS THE ONLY RHUBARB

WE SAW...on the sign! What the heck?  Rhubarb is our jam 

(and now bacon rhubarb jam is for reals our jam) and they had nothing

 rhubarb. Crazy.  It was fun to see a weird little cover band, and 

search for rhubarb...but I won't put the festival on my list for next year

Well, it was a great 24 hours, and I guess we parents (who don't have 

family around that sporadically take kids for the weekend) need

to remember that a 24 hour babysitter is worth every single penny!

Now, get to Manitou Springs.  

xo

In the Backyard

Our house backs up to a park.  It has been such a big blessing as we walk down there throughout the day for biking, monkey bars, soccer in the field, yada yada.  The park as provided even more excitement in the last couple of weeks as we have had some exciting visitors.

First we were excited to welcome this old lady to the hood. 

 I was extra excited to see her because Logi and I saw a moose 

last summer in town and Zac asked me at least 50 times,  

are you sure it wasn't an elk?  

 Really, a moose looks nothing like an elk.  Cow, maybe?

Then tonight, I was bringing things into the kitchen from dinner, while

the kids were still out on the deck and Logi and Benny started yelling

for me to grab the camera.  I thought maybe ol' lady moose was back,

but instead we were excited to wave at a paraglider overhead.  

We quickly realized he was circling the park, for a land.  

Benny was screaming in excitement. 

 North Table Mountain as a backdrop.  

Seriously, this looks fake, right?

 Coming in for a landing!

Logi was so very excited to go talk to him, as

she really wants to learn to paraglide when she 

is bigger.  She made me promise to ask him

if he could land for her birthday party in August.

Love her.

Happy Summer!  May the exciting visitors out back continue!

xo

Leap of Faith

A leap of faith is not life or death, but it is life altering and at times kind of scary. My husband's company announced a few weeks ago that they are closing up operation in Denver and offered relocation to Houston. I know, I know...people lose jobs every single day (hence, this is not life or death) but our cup runneth over with heavy stuff, this first half of 2015 and I just didn't know how we would mentally, emotionally and physically handle this big change.  We were forced to make a decision quickly, which we don't do well (hell, it took us years to get to Denver, where we really wanted to be, as we waited on just the perfect fit for Zac's career)

After a ton of talking: amongst ourselves, with our financial planner, with our parents, we decided that what we want in our lives, in this minute, is to be in Colorado.  We have a simple little life here (which yes, will be thrown for a bit as in essence Zac is quiting a job he loves) and we just want to see if we can make it work in hopes and prayers he finds something within his industry here in Colorado.  Anyone need a Petro Geologist?  I have the name of a good one.

Zac and I did prepare for such a time, as when we were young in our marriage we saw something on Suze Orman about setting aside 9 months worth of your living expense (at the time rent on our little apartment in Oregon, bills, fuel, food, yada yada) and never touching that money.  That would be the safety net, should we find ourselves in a pickle because of income lost.  So, we started stashing that money away.  We never touched it.  Through down payments on homes, cars, vacations, retirement savings, college saving plans...we pretended that money did not exist.  I am thankful we were wise to that suggestion at the time, and have that cushion for now. 

So, it is with a big gulp of excitement, a tad bit of nerves and a big load of trust, we are staying put.  We will work our tails off to stay here, and if the time comes that we face the reality that his industry has changed beyond recovery in Colorado, and we need to move on, at least we will know that we did all we could to try and stay.  It feels risky, but more so, it feels right!

I just read in a book (it was chick lit, so I am not citing the source, just trusting it as truth (yes, blindly) that the Chinese word for crisis is the same as the Chinese word for opportunity. Trusting in that.

Here are a few snaps of our life here, and I think it is quite easy to see why we love it so:

 The morning sun out my bathroom window.  

I will never tire of my morning view.

Concerts at Red Rocks are 10 minutes drive away.

We can drive an hour to watch amazing events, like my 

summer favorite, the Go Pro Games in Vail.

My love of boots!

Our park! Again, will never tire of this view!

Fall colors!

 Camping weekends!

I love walking to school each morning to drop Logi,

then again in the afternoon to pick her up.

 Neighbor friends are the luckiest of friends.

These kids will totally be a fierce bikey gang

in a few years, I just know it.

Editor's note:  My Chinese speaking friend, Qimin, totally debunked my heavy 

research on Chinese proverbs (reading the book Fly Away Home by Jennifer 

Weiner)...but I am now blindly pretending I didn't ask my friend.  

Ignorance is sometimes Bliss, after all (I knew I shouldn't have asked)!!

The Okee Dokee Brothers in concert

Call me crazy, but we do not own the Frozen soundtrack.  We have seen the movie and can casually hum along, but we do not know the words (which has been a bit awkward at the birthday parties as of late!!).  This is because since the day I became a mom I have incorporated my music into my children's lives.  Yes, I did have the foresight to pull the plug on the Beastie Boys, once Logi turned 1...but they have grown up on the music genres I love most:  folk, bluegrass and reggae. 

A couple of years ago, I was very excited to receive some tunes from my friend from growing up.  Kid music.  But, the best kind of kid music I have ever heard!!! Oh-to the-Em to the-Gee!! That my friends would be The Okee Dokee Brothers!  A couple of dudes who grew up together out here in Colorado, but now reside in Minnesota (which of course would be reason enough for me to looove them!)  So, disc one has been our favorite for the last couple of years, it rarely leaves the car and it rarely turns off, even when the kids aren't with me (which of course means it is kid tested, mother approved, duh!).

Lucky us, The Okee Dokee Brothers played in Colorado last week, in support of their second album's release!  Here are a few snaps from my phone, of a lucky little afternoon for some of my favorite little kids:

 Jake, Logi and Benny!  These kids are

second generation friends, as I grew

up in Minnesota with Jake's daddy. 

 Logi is very timid in crowds, but quickly

warmed up to the celebration!

 They are seriously the sweetest little friends

Moving here and reconnecting with Jake's dad

has been one of the greatest blessings to our life

in Colorado, especially getting to watch these two 

sugars grow up together.

 Logi and Jake scooted up front (where

it appears Lo worked on finding her

sits bones).  The 'brother' to the right (Joe)

went to college at St. John's in Collegeville, which

of course I love because all of Logi and Benny's

uncles were Johnnies. The 'brother' on the left (Justin)

had a ridiculously infectious smile, and I would 

imagine he brings a whole lot of happiness to his

people.  I want him to move next door.

 Barefoot Boogie!

 This was our favorite song (an auctioneer bit), 

the kids were raising there hands to 'bid'. 

 

So thankful we got to enjoy this afternoon

with the kids and some ridiculously good 

tunes.  Check out their website and catch

a show, when they are in your area.

xo.