Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Road Trip!

Today I begin the preparations for our road trip to southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, with a foot thrown into Utah and Arizona for good measure. How are they coming along?
Ukulele for acting cool at
the Four Corners Folk Festival?
Check!

Copious amounts of granola? Check!

Gear for 9 nights of assorted camping styles? Check-ish...











Itinerary? I thought you'd never ask!

  1. Attend Pagosa's Four Corners Folk Festival. Drive down Thursday evening, stay until Monday morning.
  2. Monday morning... go to the hot springs in Pagosa. Shower.
  3. Monday afternoon... drive to Mesa Verde National Park. Camp two nights, hike, eat.
  4. Wednesday. Drive to the spot where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico intersect. Take photos.
  5. Something something.
  6. Friday - drive to Santa Fe and camp there for one night, coming home Saturday.

Now's your big chance to help with Item #5, "Something something." We have two unclaimed nights, and a few options:
Vote for your favourite above!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

T.G.I.F... M.B.

Tasting Grand or Ickily Formulated Microbrewed Beer

 
Extra points for a very cute label

I gotta be honest here, I probably wouldn't care how this particular beer tastes, I am so taken in by the title and advertising concept. Mass transit... this beer is for people who are proud take a bus? A Volkswagen bus? In the 60's? OK, sure I'll drink you!


Mass Transit Ale
  • What kind of beer? Medium body ale based on the "Amber Style" according to their website.
  • Where is it brewed? Right here in Colorado Springs. Within 6 miles of home.
  • Alcohol content? 5.1%
  • Tasters' rating? I give it a big G for Grand! Mr. Prairie, he begs to differ, citing it as not too special. However he concedes that it's good with food.

Monday, August 29, 2011

My hands are burning!

Over the past week I have learned why recipes are always telling you to apply rubber gloves before preparing jalapeƱos and other hot chiles. If you disobey, you will have hot burny fingers like I do. The only distraction will be the firey dish you have concocted.

From this
To this!

Today I amused myself by trying to find a likely recipe for Green Chili. After googling "Colorado Green Chili Recipe" for a while and not coming up with anything consistent, I tried New Mexico Green Chili Recipe. A little cross-referencing later, I settled on this one. I modified it heavily, omitting the extra 3 serrano peppers (thank God) the bacon fat, using vegetable stock instead of chicken... actually it's probably better if I list what I did do.


Prairie's First Attempt at a 
Vegetarian Colorado / New Mexico Style Green Chili

Ingredients:
9 roasted green chiles, diced
1 tbsp canola oil
1 med yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
2-1/2 cups vegetable stock
6 new potatoes, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 small can of chick peas (Garbonzo beans here!)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

If you need to roast your own peppers, do so first. Don't forget to wear latex gloves or oil up your hands. You have been warned.

Next, dribble the oil into your favourite chili pot or soup pan. Toss in the onion and garlic, cook until translucent. Coat in flour, stir. Add the vegetable stock, potatoes, carrots, and chick peas. All the vegetables should be mostly covered in broth, if there's not enough, add a little water. If there's too much, maybe add another little potato or some other root vegetable you've got rattling around in the bottom of your fridge. Add the spices. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes or so. Add the chiles and tomato, and simmer for another 1.5 hours.

My result was deliciously spicy. Almost too painful to eat but not quite. Great with bread.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Monday's Bike Ride

 
This chained fence is actually an invitation to come onto the trail! (Just not for cars)
There are a great many bike trails in Colorado Springs. I attempted one, but didn't want to climb back up it, so I meandered back through town instead. I got a little lost at the end.

p.s. the iPhone application I used to trace a map while biking is pretty spiffy. And free. How I feel about the GPS people being able to find me so easily, I'm not sure.

Friday, August 19, 2011

T.G.I.F... M.B.

Tasting Grand or Ickily Formulated Microbrewed Beer 

  
Coffee and beer, two of my favourite beverages....
 For those of us that may have had the preconception that America was a world of 3% Budweiser, it turns out to be incorrect. There are many small local-ish breweries, with varying concoctions. We are on a mission to sample them.

On the right:
Yellow Kite Summer Pils
  • What kind of beer? A Handcrafted german-style pilser says the label.
  • Where is it brewed? Right here in Colorado Springs. Within 6 miles of home.
  • Alcohol content? 5.25%
  • Tasters' rating? I for Icky. Totally drinkable, but too hoppy to be as refreshing as promised.

On the left:
Ellie's Brown Ale
  • What kind of beer? Lab tested (heh) beatiful deep russet brew is dominated by a chocolate... says the label
  • Where is it brewed? Boulder, Colorado. Within 2 hours of home.
  • Alcohol content? 5.5%
  • Tasters' rating? G for Grand! Just like the label says, beautiful, dark, sweet, yum.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Windfall

I'm sitting in my pyjamas, listening to the thunder, planning where to put away all my junk now that it has finally arrived, and daydreaming about future road trips. In fact I'm getting so excited about the upcoming days, I am already forgetting about the super-fantastic Saturday we just enjoyed.

My boyfriend spent a considerable amount of time chatting up these guys.
First, we returned to the farmer's market to learn that it was also Founders Day. This meant even more market stalls than last week (your usual trinkets and Avon dealers, plus some unique finds - the handcrafted wooden birdhouse shaped like a moose was my favourite) as well as people dressed up and doing historical things (some civil war re-enactors, and Victorian dancers.) The civil war guys wanted to outfit me in a hoop skirt and a bustle.

After that, we noticed it was getting nice and hot so it was time to refresh at Seven Falls. Maybe it wasn't so cooling, as we first climbed hundreds of stairs and then hiked to "Inspiration Point" but it was beautiful. Worth $9? Definately!

Colorado Springs is off in the distance!

Our farmer's market finds. Yum!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Food!

The most delicious activity we did on the weekend was visit the Old Colorado City Farmer's Market.

It's every Saturday from 7 am to 1 pm, and I can't wait to go again this weekend. For $9 we got a basket each of tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash, and some crazy awesome cinnamon honey for another $6. And this being the south (or is it middle?), there were all kinds of salsas and tamales for sale. I haven't ventured into the world of tamales again here, since discovering that they aren't all corn filled like I originally thought and was surprised with one full of beef!

The other awesomely yummy thing about the farmer's market is that it's situated across the street of my favourite non-franchised coffee place in Colorado Springs. Although I have yet to check it out while they have performers.

My next food related task? Find out more about the green chili and make a vegetarian version.

Monday, August 8, 2011

While I would cite this weekend as a general success (elements of Clean Sweep, human interaction, yummy breakfast) it was low on the Colorado Tourism front.
Note the glowing halo from above.
Enter Tinseltown, USA. This American movie theatre shamed our humble Silver Cities with its whopping 20 cinemas, outdoor ticket windows manned by real humans, giant semi-reclining leatherette seats, and 3-D Harry Potter part 7-3/4. The movie was up to the franchise-standard, although the 3-D aspects may not have been worth the extra $3.
And the theatre itself? It has a hard time measuring up to the one I attended in Manchester where we booked both our tickets and our seat assignments online. In 2002. North America, we have a ways to go yet!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Starbucks

That's right, I said it! When I initially learned of Starbucks, I wasn't too crazy about it, thinking their coffees tasted funny, and preferring my own Canadian Second Cup and Tim Hortons. However, the company has grown on me over time. Now I've had Starbucks beverages in 3 of the following 4 countries:
  • Canada
  • The United States
  • England
  • Peru
If you're thinking the 3rd country was England, no dice... it was Peru! Is consuming Starbucks in different countries the yuppie equivalent to having McDonald's all over Europe as I did when I was 23?

Nonetheless, since arriving in Colorado Springs, and probably until my coffee maker arrives (hopefully unscathed) I begin my weekdays with a 15 minute walk downhill, followed by a coffee at Starbucks (it's cheaper if you bring your own cup!) and some people watching. This morning there was a Venus Flytrap on my table.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Camping at Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Well hello there! For my inaugural post to this blog, I submit this past weekend's trip to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, which is just over 2 hours northwest of Colorado Springs.

The views were breathtaking!
  • Best part: Black Bear Hiking Trail
  • Worst part: My ludicrous fear of killer mountain lions
  • Lesson learned? If you're going to arrive after 6 pm, bring lots of $1 bills
  • Rating? 4 stars! (outta 5)
The trip turned out to be a roaring success, after a moderately rocky start. My stuff hasn't arrived yet, so we had to rent a tent that isn't very hiking friendly. Then we discovered that we missed the boat on reserving a site at the two campgrounds in the park. We decided to go for it anyway, stopping a few times (a stove, then beer, then Starbucks at my insistence...)

When we finally arrived at the Park at 6:20 pm, we discovered it was all closed up. We found an envelope for a vehicle permit, but we couldn't find anything to self-register for a campsite! After a little panicking, we found a Park Ranger who was in the midst of some sort of allergic reaction (possible wrong line of work?) but who was nevertheless kind enough to find us the very official clipboard of registration for the backcountry sites.

How was our site? (Deer Creek #19, if you're curious) It was great! Garbage-free, had a flat tent-sized pad and was nestled into a forest.

The best part of the excursion however, was the hiking the next day. On the recommendation of the Park volunteer who we paid our outstanding $3 to, we started with the Black Bear trail and came back down on the horseshoe trail. In theory this was only 4.6 miles (how many km is that? Ah... 7.4) but it was pretty exhausting! We had lunch at the top of the trail, which was the best sandwich in the world, found at this lady's blog. After finishing up with that, we tackled our second hike the Raccoon trail, but it wasn't very challenging and the best views of the mountains were from the trailhead!

All in all, a very nice first weekend in Colorado!