Weekend Recap: Visitors from the East

We had some lovely guests over the weekend...Danny's sister, Mel, and her husband, Arthur! We were worried about the weather going in as they were predicting rain, but the universe listened to my request and actually gave us really nice weather overall.

Friday started with a trip to the Denver Biscuit Co. I had a terrible time deciding what to get...really wanted to try the Strawberry Shortcake, but ended up going with the Schooner. Delicious! A warning: breakfast here might require a nap following your meal.

That night we went to see In the Heights. Loved it! The energy in this musical is phenomenal. The music is great. It's just so much fun. Highly, highly recommend it! Mel gave me the original cast recording, and I plan on listening to it all afternoon. Here's a taste...



Saturday was full of cocktails, yummy food, great friends, a punching bag machine, and late night pizza. A really good day and a great night.

We had so much fun with Mel and Arthur and really wish they lived closer to us. Come back soon!

Free School

I just signed up for a free (yes, free) cooking class called Vegan! Vegan! Vegan! (Baking, Meal Planning, and More). Since my flirtation started, I'm always on the lookout for recipes and ways to learn more about vegan cooking, and free makes it even better.

The reason the class is free is because it's being offered by the Free School Denver.

Free School Denver is a grassroots education network free of monetary obligations, censorship, and hierarchy. We strive to educate and enrich our community through the accessible exchange of skills, knowledge, and expertise. We invite you to join us, and take part in our shared quest for freedom in education!

Pretty great idea, huh? I'm signed up for the cooking class next Monday, so I'll let you know how it goes!

Flirt

I am a flirt. Hold your comments, please, because I mean a vegan flirt. My name is Nicole, and I have been flirting with veganism.

For the past year or so, I have cut down on the amount of meat I eat. In fact, most of the time, I go for the vegetarian choice on the menu instead of the burger or chicken breast. After watching some coverage of Food, Inc. and the like, I decided to do some research into vegetarianism and veganism.

I picked up The Kind Diet, Alicia Silverstone's vegan cookbook. The first part of the book is a discussion of veganism: how she arrived at being vegan, the cruelty of the meat and dairy industry, the health benefits, etc. I've always heard rumors of the benefits - clearer skin being one. But I hadn't really thought about how kind of strange it is that we drink the milk of other animals. In the animal kingdom, that's not normal. I also didn't know about the research being done into the relationship between dairy and cancer rates. We are told that you have to drink milk to get calcium, but according to The Kind Diet, the calcium in milk actually makes your body use more calcium than you're ingesting. It's actually been a huge marketing campaign by the milk industry (similar to the "A Diamond is Forever" campaign started by De Beers). You can get great levels of calcium from so many other things - greens, almonds, sesame seeds, soybeans - and their calcium is actually more readily absorbed by the body.

While veganism really intrigues me, two major things will prevent me from becoming truly vegan.

1. Sushi
2. Cheese

I cannot happily live without these two things. But that I have made some changes. At home, I've cut out out all animal products (except for cheese and seafood). No eggs. No milk. No butter. If I'm out, then I look for the vegan option. I believe that every little bit helps - me and our planet's animals. Although I don't label myself as anything, I guess at this point I am closest to a pescatarian (occasional vegan), but I make no promises; we'll just have to see how this goes. For now, you can just call me a flirt.

Possibly the easiest meal ever

This meal has become my husband's all time favorite which is perfect for me because it's oh so easy to make.

Slowcooker BBQ Chicken Baked Potato:
1 chicken breast per person
1 bottle BBQ sauce of your choice
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 potato per person

Place chicken breasts in a slowcooker (they can even be frozen). Pour about half the bottle of BBQ sauce and the Worcestershire sauce into the slowcooker. Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low. Shred the chicken and place back in the slowcooker. Add some more BBQ sauce if needed. Cook on Low for another hour. To serve, place shredded chicken on baked potato. Top with cheese and sour cream.

Lazy Sangria

I came across this on Rachael Ray's blog, and I have to share this because it's so yummy (or yum-O, I should say). Say hello to the world's simplest sangria. All you do is mix the lemon-limeade with your favorite red wine, and voilà, you're done!

Lemon-Limeade:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I squeezed 4 lemons)
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (I squeezed 5 limes)

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water over moderately high heat; stir to dissolve the sugar. Just before the mixture comes to a boil, remove from the heat. Stir in 3 1/4 cups of cold water, then pour into a pitcher. Stir in the lemon and lime juices and refrigerate.

Open the red wine of your choice (I used Ménage à Trois) and mix the two together over ice. I really like the way it looks when you pour the red wine over the lemon-limeade. Pretty, isn't it?

(image via rachel ray's blog)

new york, new york

it's a wonderful town! the bronx is up and the battery's down! the people ride in a hole in the ground! sorry, musical lover coming out in me (on the town, in case you're wondering)...

our long weekend in new york was fabulous (of course)! we got in wednesday night & met husband's boss for drinks at the hotel bar (how nyc). after getting over the shock of it being my first time in the city, boss insisted that we go out and wonder the city. we walked up and down 5th avenue...went into the apple store which is open 24 hours...and then stumbled up on this:



a movie set! see the incredibly bright light? it was the set of the sorcerer's apprentice staring nick cage. now, we had never heard of this movie, but it was still pretty cool to stumble upon the filming a movie in new york city that had a large portions of 5th shut down. we jokingly made references to the scene in disney's fantasia called the sorcerer's apprentice (you know with mickey and the brooms), but it turns out that's exactly what the movie is...a live-action version...weird, i know.

thursday, we all had to work for most of the day (boring). we finished up in the afternoon and somehow ended up in east village at a random comedy club where we made up 4 the 6 audience members required to start the show. we saw 5 comedians as part of the show, and i'd say 2.5 were actually funny. despite danny being called a serial killer who was planning on killing me later & his boss being named as "the guy who drives the van," we had a great time. here's art & danny taking their turn at the mic.



that night, we had dinner at sorella which i highly, highly recommend. the chef is emma hearst, and after eating at her restaurant, i am in love with her. it's completely nondescript from the outside; a wooden grate covers the window, so you can't see inside.



once you're inside, it's lovely. the roof is all glass; i'd love to see it in the daytime. we ate the table in the corner, and played musical plates with every dish so that everyone got to try everything. you can hear more about the food from the chef herself.



jeri arrived after dinner (yay!) and met us at mcsorley's which is nyc's oldest continuously running saloon. abe lincoln drank there, and when you order beer, you have 2 options - light or dark.

after that, danny and i wandered around rockefeller plaza & peaked inside the today show studio which i was super excited about (yes, i know i am a big dork)!







friday, danny, dave, jeri, and i all spent the day together. after lunch (i had half of a very large pastrami sandwich), we took the subway to the museum of natural history which is HUGE. we saw dioramas that look real (moose are really big, btw),



dinosaurs,



and meteorites.



we left the museum and walked right into central park where we relaxed and people watched for a while before dinner.



one of my demands of the trip was to have good sushi for dinner one night as we lack exceptional sushi where we live, and nyc did not fail me. we ate at blue ribbon sushi, and it was amazing!







even though we all agreed that we couldn't eat another bite of anything, it was decided that we definitely needed desert. frantic text messages calling for a late night desertery were sent out & juniors was sent back (thank you, mel). below you can see danny's piece of devil's food cheesecake which is actually cake and cheesecake all rolled into one. amazing! go there. go there now.



saturday, danny and i met his sister, mel, and her husband, arthur, for lunch & then headed for the met. it was fabulous! i was way too engrossed in the art to spend time taking pictures, but below is the greek & roman sculpture garden which leaves you with the feeling that you could almost be convinced that you traveled back in time and were walking through the atrium of a roman house.



after the met, we met up with mel & arthur again for an italian dinner followed by an off-broadway show which i won't mention by name or describe...

on our last day (tear), we had a yummy lunch at a ben's kosher deli and finished out the trip by heading up to the top of the rock for views of the city. i will never get over how huge this city is or how wonderful it is that there is a massive park in the middle of said massive city.







thanks, new york! we'll be back again!

guess who else likes to eat at five guys?

P052909PS-0352, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.

slight addition: sugar free lifesavers butter toffee

i am addicted to these things. there are probably hundreds of empty wrappers covering my desk. but they're sugar free, so that means they're actually good for you, right? like a fruit or a vegetable.