ness

Found a nice thick strip, grilled it and cut it into three pieces. One piece left for today's lunch. Some Cherokee Purple maters and corn from the City Market. Paired with OZV old-vine zinfandel, which is really good stuff and not too pricey. Oh, and that's some avocado salsa verde in the background, also from the City Market. Darn good stuff that I'm on a mission to reverse engineer

LOL, literally. ?

I ate at Legal Seafood when I was out there in June. Good stuff!

Hope to get a full report when you return. I haven't been to Peaceful Valley in several years, and never did do the backcountry hikes due to knee problems.

Fridge pickles and kraut-stuffed banana peppers. Gotta sit for a week or so now. The waiting is the hardest part.

I wouldn't be caught dead in a red baseball hat ?

They're one of those things that just makes me think God put them here just to make us happy. Beautiful and cool creatures.

Not sure. The males had an iridescent throat that sorta changed colors based on the angle. Sometimes black, sometimes red.

Out in colorful Colorado last summer. They're used to people:

Mine are a little older -- one graduated and is now a productive member of society teaching special education, one's in college and one's heading there next year. They've got 'busy' lives and visiting dear ol' dad isn't very high on their list of priorities. Make the most of the time you have. This world we live in scares the crap outta me.

Yeah -- no room for cop widows though.

Beautiful area. I've fished North and Middle St. Vrain. North in the Park and Middle down at Peaceful Valley. There are fish everywhere. Where are you staying?

I never click on any of them. Sorry Phil.

I always forget how to use it.

I like the earring.

Here's the photo the Star ran with the article. I thought about posting a screen shot of the headline here, but just couldn't pull the trigger.

Never been, but it's on the bucket list. Looking forward to a report.

Yeah, I can see that working well. Char is good. Tomatillos are a wonderful thing too. Nice tart flavor, and juicy. Almost bought some cherry tomatoes but I was focused on the chilies for flavor. Figured the sure-thing canned tomatoes would be a solid base. Add to them with chile flavor, etc. all is good.

Inspired by Billethead's salsa making, and having an emergency Mexican food day called at work, I set out to make some salsa. Tomatoes and chiles don't grow in these parts, so I set off to the local grocers to buy the ingredients. A can of plum tomatoes, a yellow onion, some Anaheim and poblano chiles and a little imagination went into this. First charred the heck out of the chiles and onion, then chopped them up and added to the tomatoes. Hit it with a stick blender trying to maintain some texture, but there were too many tough skins. So I ran it all through the course plate of a food mill, which worked great at removing the right stuff and letting the good stuff go through. Still had some texture though. Hit it with salt and some red pepper flakes. Still needed something so I diced up a can of whole green chiles. Not textbook, but it tastes good when you put it in your mouth.

What's wrong with nail knots? They work, not that hard to tie with my 20 year old nail not tying tool...

This always cracked me up.

Yeah -- I think I steered you toward that one, if I remember right. It was kind of a one-off, and you had to ask for it specifically. Cool place, and it's a bummer that it's going away.

Some frozen Brussels sprouts and some plain store-made shrimp kabobs. Did a marinade of ketchup, oil, lemon pepper, hot sauce, brown sugar and worstershire; tossed them in a dry skillet. Fire department not involved this time.

Didn't cook yesterday -- my baby brother did it for us...and about 150 other folks. He and a buddy do an annual 'Ribs, Rock and Blues' party in July -- this was their 25th year. Jim does the meats on his rig, the rest is pot luck. Ribs, sausage, chicken, pulled pork, pork belly. Three bands and fireworks. For the folks that like to drink and don't have to drive -- pudding shots, jello shots, cherry bombs, and apple pie (drink). He tells me the shirt has made it to all 25. I guess you go with tradition Good stuff. Not diet food though.

oops.