ColoRAD

Kate’s graduation was everything a graduation should be: full of laughter, drinks, hugs, packing, lady tears—and Cory Booker!

Busch Stadium is the coolest place I’ve ever watched baseball. It was filled to the brim for a 12:45 p.m. Thursday game. Even their peanuts were of highest quality.

I drank a Bud Select because, you know, Rome.

Last night, I attended my final TFA event. All done. Had a high-class chauffeur to the trendy hotel.

I basically stole these two make-your-own sixers from King Soopers today. I guess they don’t want to make money, because they’re asking $8.99 for six good beers from around the country that I am allowed to pick from a giant wall of options.

On the top are six IPAs. On the bottom are beers auditioning for the summer.

Taste test on its way.

P.S. Can you guess how many of the twelve are from CO? How about from the East vs. West coasts? How about from below the Mason-Dixon line?

After jury duty today, I finally got to try Tom’s Home Cookin’, a place that is open for three hours a day, for lunch only, and only during the week. North Carolina in Denver. Yep.

Country fried steak, mac ‘n’ cheese, cabbage with bacon, and jalapeño cornbread. Cash only. Lots of house rules. Made some friends. A very, very good choice.

I hosted a Shabbat Dinner for ten of my closest friends Friday and had a blast. I had been to one—and cooked for it—in Tulsa, but this was my first time hosting it. I emphasized the wine part of it and let the more traditional religious part exist in spirit only. Thanks to the Schusterman Family Foundation, the dinner was free for all attendees. 

I served some appetizers while people trickled in after work, commutes, and changes of clothing. I upped the cheese plate game this time for the larger crowd, adding fig jam and a full-fledged bread basket. (Goodwill secretly has an amazing selection of baskets.) I also debuted a new creation: everything bagel chips topped with cream cheese and lox, punctuated with a few capers. The cream cheese with mixed-in fresh chives was my idea, but Carolyn hit a home run with her additions of chopped red onion and lemon zest. 

I adapted my Tuesday Test Kitchen dish for the larger crowd and new side dishes. The Brussels sprouts with homemade lemon-garlic and Sriracha-spiked aiolis—all prepared by last night’s incomparable guest chef, Amanda—fit nicely on the new Ikea plates, where one-third of a chicken breast rested on Marczyk bread and two-thirds got comfy with DeLallo marinara. I even successfully hosted my first guest with gluten-free needs! No breadcrumbs or bread or flour for her! And I prepped her entire entree in separate cookware!

Carolyn made a salad with various lettuces, home-candied walnuts, grapes, strawberries, and goat cheese. Dessert, appropriately, was a Middle Eastern delight, baklava. My grandma had sent me some and it was perfect timing!

We ate, we drank a lot, and we had a great start to our weekend. Check out the bottom of the menu for a list of the terrific beers I procured. The best part of cleaning up this morning was collecting all the wounded soldiers left out by lazy, ineffective drinkers. There were zero.