A Change of Scenery

I was in San Diego for work last week. Most of the time I was there the weather was perfect: Clear skies, sunny, light warm breeze and about 73 degrees. It was a welcome change from the Colorado winter (even though I love the winter here). But the best part of the whole trip was that I managed to bring back over 50 lemons with me. Good thing I had plenty of room in my luggage, right? I had to check my backpack as well so that I could split up the lemons to ensure my luggage wouldn't be over the weight limit. I made Mr X some lemon bars and some lemonade this weekend.

Breckenridge International Snow Carving Festival

The town of Breckenridge hosted an international snow carving festival at the beginning of February. Mr X and I thought it sounded interesting so we decided to go check it out. As with most of the sights we attempt to capture on camera, the photos don't quite do them justice. But here's what we've got:

There were plenty of ice sculptures out for show as well as the snow carvings. I love them.

Each different country carved a scene out of their snow block and love to tell you which countries did which but I can't remember anymore.

This one was my favorite: It's an ice-fisherman and under the frozen lake on which he is fishing there are sea creatures swimming around.

I forget the exact tonnage of the ice blocks that the teams start out with, but this picture of me standing beside one should give you a general idea of the impressive size.

There were many more sculptures than I put in this post but I didn't want to overload you with photos so I just picked some of the ones that turned out best.

After we finished perusing the snow art, Mr X and I stopped at a cozy cafe to share some peppermint hot chocolate. Even the whipped cream on top was minty. It hit the spot.

Snowshoeing Around the Neighborhood

One of my friends from work came out to see me in Colorado recently. Although she's been in the snow on several occasions, she doesn't get to experience "winter wonderland" conditions particularly often since she lives in San Diego. She'd never been snowshoeing before so off we went:



I let her borrow my snowshoes and I borrowed Mr X's. It wasn't uncomfortable for either of us even though we were each wearing slightly-too-large shoes.

My friend was worried about being too cold but she quickly discovered that those concerns were unfounded due to the uphill trek with which we started.

Mr X was the photographer and once we were out of range his job was done. I had a nice time and I think she did too.

After the Storm

These are photos of the after-effects of the storm that hit Denver when I was supposed to be flying back from Philadelphia. Since my flight was cancelled because of the weather in Colorado I missed most of the storm but I got back in time to see the beautiful results: 





This is our bottom floor patio - you can't really tell but that mound of snow was about chest high.



Morimoto's

My last night in Philadelphia my coworker and I went to Iron Chef Morimoto's restaurant. It was incredible! Oh, and it was loads of fun! If you're ever in Philadelphia, try it out. I splurged and ordered the "Omakase" which is a multi-course tasting menu selected on the whim of the chef. I had no idea what food was going to be presented to me and so it was a (very pleasant) surprise every time. I would attempt to detail each of the items in this photo but by now I can't remember them all. I do know that I tried Kobe Beef and Flying Fish, although those things certainly didn't steal the show because everything else was delicious. All I can say is, if you get the chance, try it.

Valentine's Day Dinner

After yesterday, Mr X and I have spent two of the last six Valentine's Days together. I felt like it was a big deal to have him around yesterday - what a treat! Since the day was during the work week we couldn't do anything too exciting and I had absolutely no interest in going out to dinner with all the rest of the couples in Colorado. So I opted to make a special dinner for Mr X instead. This is what I made:

Radicchio and Arugula Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing and Burrata Crostini. I made the bread myself as well - no buying of sub-par bread from the store!

Seared Duck Breast with a Cherry and Madiera Sauce. Based off this recipe.

Potato Gratin with Bacon and Thyme.

Chocolate Rum Hazelnut Torte. Based off this recipe.

It turned out perfectly, which is nice because I've been butchering things in the kitchen as of late for some reason. I highly recommend all of these recipes - they were fun to make as well.

I *Heart* My Nieces and Nephews!

I have to tell you that I have the sweetest nieces and nephews a girl could ever have. I think that just about every year, I get some sort of adorable Valentine's greeting from at least one of them. How sweet of them to remember their crusty old Aunt and Uncle who they rarely see! Perhaps that works in our favor though - maybe if our nieces and nephews saw more of us they wouldn't be so inclined to send us Valentine's love.

So to my wonderful young relatives - You're fantastic and thank you so much for your lovely cards and gifts this Valentine's Day. You're the best!

Much love to all .... uhm... (counting) ... 25 and a half of you!

Philadelphia PA

At the end of January I had to go to Pennsylvania for work. I actually had to go to this tiny town that's about 50 minutes north of Philadelphia. I didn't get to do much sightseeing until the very last evening of my trip. My co-worker and I opted to stay in Philadelphia our last night rather than the tiny town to the north with nothing much to do or see. I was bummed that we didn't end up having time to go to the spot on the Delaware River where Washington crossed in 1776 on the evening of December 25th during the Revolutionary War. I guess it's not far from Philadelphia. Maybe next time. But I think we used what little time we had as well as we could.

We scurried down to Independence Hall and walked around a bit, reading the historical facts, exploring the foundations of Washington's old home. I wanted to check out the Liberty Bell, but apparently it's housed in a museum of sorts, which was closed. That didn't stop my coworker and I from snooping around the building and peering our heads into every window with the hopes of spotting the famous Bell. Unfortunately we were unable to catch a glimpse.

 

I stole this photo from the interweb somewhere.


We did manage to make it to this area of Philadelphia - where the Magic Gardens are situated. An art professor and his students/proteges have turned this lot in the middle of a bustling commercial street into an art project. They've transformed the whole place into a recycled mosaic of sorts. They use whatever junk and scraps they find and put it all... well everywhere. It's like you've stepped into someone's bizarre dream. It's both creepy and fascinating at the same time. But also somehow beautiful. At least that's how I felt about it. If you're ever in Philly, I'd recommend at least checking it out.

Getting home from Pennsylvania was no fun. There was a storm raging in Denver and subsequently over 300 flights were cancelled, one of which was mine. Boo hoo! I wanted desperately to get home so I could watch the storm happen and then go play in the aftermath. Luckily I was able to get on a later (much later) flight and I eventually got home. The storm was in it's final stages but I got to see some of it at least. And I did get to play in all of the snow the next day. More on that later though...

New Toy

January has made for less-than-stellar blog posting this year. Mr X and I got back from the holidays with family and I came down with some horrid kind of cold that pretty much had me down and out for two weeks solid. So all of our grand plans for snowboarding and snowshoeing and general winter wonderland good times were stopped in their tracks. Right as I was finally starting to feel (and look) human again, Mr X came down with my bug and he was out for about two weeks. So there really wasn't anything to write about other than all of the strange green mucus we were hacking up. I wasn't about to do that to you.



Mt. Bachelor



Now so much time has passed since I've blogged at all so I  will back up and start at the beginning. While Mr X and I were visiting family in Oregon we had the opportunity to snowboard at Mt. Bachelor. We seized that opportunity and had a fun time despite the dismal amount of snow on the mountain. Unfortunately our snowboards took a beating due to all of the rocks, sticks and stumps poking up from the snow nearly everywhere. Both of our boards were well over 10 years old so we knew that they were nearing the end of their lives anyway but we were hoping to eek out a year or two more. Mine was so bad off after Bachelor that we decided it was time to replace it.



My new board: The Lotus by Never Summer (A homegrown Colorado brand.)



Initially I was sad about this until I rode my new board. I LOVE my new board. It's fantastic! It's faster, it handles better in all conditions and it's easier to manage. I do have to give my old board kudos because it did me well for 6 years (prior to that it belonged to Mr X's sister - she was so sweet to give it to me).



Breckenridge