Oscar Weekend Things

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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About time, right?!  I’m just gonna picture Leo doing that Wolf of Wall Street dance (you know the one) for the rest of the day.  It’s crazy, I wait for the Oscars all winter and still somehow managed to forget to print our at-home ballots this year.  THE HORROR.  Don’t worry, my sister bailed me out by letting me use her printer on Saturday.  Joey beat me by two points and I’m blaming Mad Max for destroying my entire ballot.  I’m obviously excited for a Leo win but how bout Brie Larson, Alicia Vikander and Spotlight?  Cheers all around!

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Rewinding back to Friday, we busted out of work early and headed to The Crafty Fox — which just opened down the street from us — before hockey festivities commenced.  Denver hosted the outdoor hockey game NHL Stadium Series game this year at Coors Field, so we had the alumni game on Friday and the regular game on Saturday.  I’m special and managed to get a cold just in time for back to back nights sitting outside…

I was really excited for 60 beers on tap and pizza, but service at The Crafty Fox was PAINFULLY slow.  I get that it just opened, but when you’re the only table there, shouldn’t your server have plenty of time to keep your glass filled?  Oy.

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Becca and I were mad that we came prepared for cold weather — sock layers, coats, gloves, hand warmers even! — and then it was pleasantly warm all night.  The Avs alumni team ended up winning so I guess that’s exciting?  The real highlight of the night was that the men’s bathroom line was insanely long, while the women’s bathroom didn’t even have a line.  IS THIS REAL?  In the words of Becca: “A win for women!”  I was feeling mixed emotions about being at a crowded Coors Field.  I was in my place, but those were not my people.  Opening Day, please come soon.

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I woke up Saturday with a headache and was like “is this a cold or a hangover?!”  I hate being sick.  We did that whole pancakes and coffee thing that I am LOVING lately and then I did that thing where I’ve had caffeine and it makes me want to clean.  You know when you’re just gonna wash the dishes, but then the sink looks dirty so you clean that, but then you notice the floors are gross so you figure you’ll just clean those too and then three hours have gone by and you’re on your hands and knees cleaning your baseboards?  Yeah, me neither…

The Avs ended up losing and the wind was not my (or the fake snow’s) friend but the game was still fun.  No joke, Adam & Co. won the 50/50 raffle!  They drew the winning number during the game and I was looking around the stadium to see if anyone was cheering and go figure that the winners were sitting right next to us.

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Joey and I were both in the Sunday zone yesterday!  We went to breakfast — and the Oscar for best breakfast burrito and orange juice definitely goes to Onefold — then hit the grocery store before splitting up to do our own things.  Mine involved salad-in-a-jar prep, vegan banana mini muffin-making and granola-baking.  Meanwhile, Joey was doing laundry, taking my tire to get patched and cleaning stuff up in our backyard.  We’re going to dive into some gardening back there this year and I’m nervous-excited!

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At 4:00, I took myself to yoga and was really kicking myself for not spending any time outside.  It was a GORGEOUS day!  My class was really good and I flipped my dog to my heart’s content.  Came home and kinda helped but mostly stood around while Joey finished dinner, then I assembled our plates so we could sit down just as the Oscars were starting.  We made Jeff Mauro’s Beet Burgers and were big fans, though I think I would rather have had something goat cheesy than the citrus-caper aioli.

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Now that the Oscars are over I probably have nothing to live for.  Except maybe Spring weather, Denver Restaurant Week, the anticipation of baseball season, cast iron pan pizza, vacation planning, and okay never mind, life is good 🙂

Happy Monday!

Super Bowl Weekend Things

SUCH. A GOOD. WEEKEND.

And not even just because the Broncos won the Super Bowl.  Though I’d say that played a significant role.  Other factors being steak dinners, a brewery visit, back to back nights at the movie theater, coffee in our new Chemex, a facial, Valentine’s crafts and… ordering groceries online!!!  Trying to pretend I’m more excited about the Broncos than having my groceries show up at my door while I’m still in my pajamas at noon.

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Friday night, Joey made THIS!  And this would be steak and creamy chive potatoes, a recipe I’ve been hoarding for months and finally put on our weekly menu.  GUYS!  It was life changing.  I don’t even really like potatoes and I wanted to eat the entire batch.  Full disclosure: we used almond milk, so basically the opposite of the half and half it called for, but it was still so creamy and perfect.

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And then we grabbed a beer at Baere Brewing before seeing the Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts at the Mayan.  I’ll be honest, though there were a couple of more lighthearted ones, the majority of the shorts were intense.  Since they come from a variety of countries, a lot of them are religious or political and I always wish I had more context or knew more about the history of other countries, but even so, it is INSANE how powerful these short films are.  It blew us away.  Unanimous favorite was “Stutterer.”  So sweet!

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I semi-jokingly told Joey I wasn’t going to be able to sleep on Friday because I was too excited for coffee and pancakes on Saturday morning.  We’d been using a regular coffee machine but it started doing this thing where we’d put six cups of water in and three cups of coffee would come out.  I’d had it with that thing so we decided to get a new one and then decided to make the leap into the world of Chemex brewing.  Many YouTube videos have been watched.  We still need some practice but dang, that coffee tasted good.

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I made honey-sesame pancakes to go with and I’m maybe thinking of posting the recipe because I love the flavor combo that much.  What do you think?  Spontaneous cleaning energy appeared post-breakfast (thanks, coffee!) and then right in the middle of cleaning our living room, my groceries showed up!Read More »