Tag: dinner in Denver

Weekend Things: Unexpected Perfection

LaurenLeave a comment

I thought Memorial Day Weekend was going to be my favorite weekend of the summer, but this weekend, the first weekend of June, caught me by surprise with just how perfect is was!  I know we’re only four days in, but June is THE BEST!

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Joey went golfing Friday afternoon and wasn’t planning to be home till late, so I did what any person does when home alone on a Friday night in a house that feels like it’s 90°… make no-bake granola and boil water (to brew kombucha) from the burner on your grill.  The second part of that plan was maybe a mistake because I ended up with a pot of water full of cotton, but shhh, anything to avoid heating up our house is fine by me.

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The rest of the night featured reading in the hammock, eating hot pink slider bun leftovers, watching the Rockies game with Andi (Heartbreak by the Dodgers #1) and then Joey came home and we resumed our watching of Arrested Development Season 5 until I looked over and he was full on sleeping, so I ordered us all to bed 🙂

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Saturday!  The best day!  Joey requested yogurt bowls when we woke up, so I made us each one, and then we ate them in the sunshine of the backyard before biking to the Famers’ Market for the first time this summer.  It’s such a small thing, this little trip we take (almost) every summer Saturday, but it makes me SO HAPPY.  It was already busy when we got there and early-summer produce is always a bit slim, but we got iced coffees and cherries and saw a long-haired dachshund and two new foods stands (BAO BUNS AND TACOS!) so I was truly in my happy place.

Spent the rest of the afternoon on this little retaining wall project Joey cooked up for us.  I lifted like 10 bricks and did very little complaining but OH MY GOD, it was actually really hard for me.  I woke up Sunday and everything was sore!  And before you make fun of me, we looked it up and they weigh 52 pounds each.  Joey was doing most of the work, but he named me Refreshment Coordinator so I helped by providing lunch, plus I arranged for our groceries to be delivered because that just seemed like a major time-saving move.

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We cleaned ourselves up fairly early because we wanted to grab dinner before the Rockies game.  I’d been wanting to try a new-to-us placed called Goed Zuur and oh my god, I cannot believe we had not been there before!  They mostly serve sour beers and we’re on the fence with those but I did have a good one from Odd13 and daily happy hour means it was only $3, plus the food choices were great.  We both opted for a hot dog and shared a bag of duck fat, black pepper & Parmesan popcorn that I think I may have been shoveling into my mouth.  Sooo good, we’ll be back for sure!

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The Rockies gave up EIGHT RUNS in the 7th inning, but thankfully, I was barely paying attention because we attended this game with Hannah, Josh and, for his first ever Rockies game, Mason!!!  He was wearing a little Rockies onesie, baby sunglasses and a teensy hat and I COULD NOT HANDLE THE CUTENESS!  They got him a First Rockies Game button and a picture with Dinger even ♥  He was so well-behaved (and such a flirt too!) but they decided to head out at the 7th inning stretch and Joey and I looked at the score (Heartbreak by the Dodgers #2) and decided to leave too.  Made the spontaneous decision to grab ice cream at Sweet Cow afterward and look, if it’s summer and you don’t have a nightly reminder set on your phone to get ice cream, are you even really living??

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The Sunday plan was for Joey to work on the wall and me to do our food prep for the week, but I thought about it and decided we needed to have more fun than that so I suggested we grab breakfast and hit up the Chalk Art Festival as soon as it opened up and Joey was game.  We got toast and a waffle at Huckleberry then made our way to Larimer Square.  The bad news is that it was already crowded with people but the good news is it probably wasn’t as crowded as it got to be later in the afternoon and it also wasn’t too hot.  I took some shot of my favorite ones, which turned out to be anything with bright or bold colors and then we got the heck out of there.  I checked and we hadn’t been to the festival in 5 YEARS, whoa!

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The rest of the day involved wall building, lunch making (Beet, Farro, and Watercress Salad with Fig Vinaigrette coming right up!) and laundry folding but I did sneak in a workout (amen for partly cloudy skies that make mid-day running possible) and a trip to the liquor store, because I take my roll as Refreshment Coordinator very seriously, okay?  Rockies lost AGAIN (Heartbreak by the Dodgers #3 = a sweep, UGH!) but let’s focus on how good the wall looks so far instead 🙂  Joey wanted to get it in before we get a sprinkler system (FINALLY!) at the end of the month and I already think it looks great!

Rounded out Sunday by reading on the porch swing, walking Andi, cooking a quick but delicious dinner of grilled salmon and a broiled veggie side, featuring radishes we grew ourselves (!) and eating it in the backyard (MY FAVORITE!) before finishing up a movie we started on Saturday called The Tale.  What can I say, except that it was deeply disturbing but masterfully made?  Look it up!  In conclusion, if the first weekend of June is any indication, this month is going to be incredible ♥

Supper Club at Stowaway

LaurenLeave a comment

Last night, Joey and I checked out Stowaway‘s newly-launched supper club.  If you’re a frequent visitor to this space, you know how much I love their breakfast, so I was BEYOND excited to try their dinner service.  We were able to walk in and get a table right away, then enjoy dinner in a space that didn’t feel crowded or like you had to yell to each other.

Their menu is small, but so carefully curated, like someone already weeded out the items you didn’t want and left you with only the best options.  So yes, there’s only one beer on draft but it’s a good one and you won’t be disappointed.  Joey certainly wasn’t.  I went for one of their cocktails, which arrived in a quaint little glass, garnished with mint and boldly fragrant.  I could smell the anise with the glass halfway to my mouth.  Guys, I know licorice is a polarizing flavor, but I LOVED this drink.

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All night happy hour on Thursdays means drinks and small plates are $2 off, so we ordered two — the smoked fried potatoes and the Moroccan carrot salad — then proceeded to demolish both.  Joey truly loves potatoes but I need some coaxing, like if they’re subtly smoky and dipped in chivy yogurt or a hearty romesco.  Both “dips” were so good, but combining them was our favorite.  The Moroccan salad was such a delight because, well haloumi (aka “squeaky cheese”) is just the best but also because all the other components tasted so good together.  Obviously the cheese was my favorite part but let’s hear it for those marinated chickpeas, golden raisins and fava beans too.

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For our entree, we split the lamb kofta and I was blown away by the presentation even before Joey turned the plate and I saw that gloriously pink beet hummus.  I’d never had lamb kofta before and I’m kind of meh about ground meats sometimes, but one bite in I was saying something like “this is the best lamb dish I’ve ever eaten!”  Lamb just takes spice so well and Stowaway seasoned this perfectly.  Also, I would be happy to just eat a plate of that house made flat bread.

Um I was already beyond full when Joey ordered the baklava ice cream and I claimed I’d “just have a bite” but then 10 minutes later I had fully eaten half of it.  Apparently pieces of phyllo dough behave perfectly in ice cream.  It tasted straight doughy, in the best possible way.  In conclusion, this restaurant can do no wrong and it is now, even more so, my favorite place in Denver ♥