Merry New Year

And a toast to such lovely food-loving wits who share this space, and who, as it was put, have an insatiable intellectual curiousity for life and its components!

Cheers!

And on to 2009--what will the future of the RC blog hold? A death knell? Conversion to Twitter? Ads? Actual crafting?

Holiday Gift Fairs

Small, no entry fee gift fairs:

Nov. 14-16: DBG Holiday Sale + plants, 9-6PM except 5PM on Sat. and 3PM on Sun.

Nov.14-16: Fair Trade Gifts, Park Hill Congregational, 26th/Leyden, 3-7PM, 9AM-4PM & 11:30-3PM

Nov. 15-16: Artisans at Phipps Mansion, 3400 Belcaro Dr.,12-6PM and 11-4PM

Dec. 5-7: Women’s Bean Project, 9AM-2PM

Dec. 6: Young Americans Bank Entrepreneurs: 10-2, 3550 E. 1st Ave. (12/13 in Belmar)

Fireworks are (EVIDENTLY) Perfectly LEGAL

I should book my July 4, 2009, holiday out of town right now while it's fresh in my mind. And has been since late last night.

You see, if you ever visited and thought Whittier was the pinnacle of fireworks display, come on over to Curtis Park, where your neighbors set off fireworks 'til 3 effin' AM. At least in Curtis Park, they are considerate enough to take their trash back home with them instead of littering the intersections for days to come.

Yep, that's right, not just any ol' activity, though; you haven't lived until you've gone outside in your nightgown at 1AM to ask if it isn't getting a little late to the guy (same one who's the owner of the Guy-Across-The-Street-Who-Yells-At-His-Kids mental image in my mind) setting off the display in front of your house--you know, it's so much better to view them from a distance, and you wouldn't want your own house in danger of catching fire, right?! Anyway, I've discovered my own ideal height of torture--being rudely awakened every 45 minutes by alarming firecrackers.

But the real point of this post is that whatever law or ordinance says that 'FIREWORKS ARE ILLEGAL IN THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER' is a JOKE!!! Do any of our city council members live in town, and if so, do they stay here for the 4th?! Or do they just live in the tony neighborhoods were they live out the suburban (and currently, my) dream of 'all quiet after 10'?! I have actually called the police before concerning fireworks and been laughed at, as if the situation--and it must be--is entirely out of their control.

When I wasn't being startled or wondering at what point I should try the 'fireworks hotline' I was busy planning my revenge. Although I like to think that I am a respectful person, such torture can drive a sleep-deprived citizen to new heights. How I dread tonight, July 5, when I'll be plotting my vacation for 2009.

Feliz Nuevo Ano/ Resolutions

I am still full from our NYE meal at Lola last night. (DHP may break out in hives just reading the shellfish packed menu.)

1st course: Blue Crab Huit la Coche Empandas with cilantro-baked lemon crema (JB: Knife & Fork Ahi Ceviche) 2nd course: Lola Cobb with house made bacon, goat cheese, and fried oysters (JB: Lobster Posole) 3rd course: Diver Scallops and Smoked Pork Estofada with pineapple escabeche, green pumpkin fritter, and coconut-de arbol chile sauce (JB: Caldo Veracruzana- mussels, clams, shrimp, octopus, fish and crab in a spicy tomato broth)

So that leads us to our resolution: to cook together more at home. On the menu this week- Black Eyed Peas and Cornbread, Buffalo Chicken with Blue Cheese Fondue, Shrimp with Feta & Orzo, Crab Cakes, and Orange Saffron Shrimp and Snapper Stew.

Roman Holiday Wine List

Canyon Wind 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon- Purchased at the Georgetown, CO wine tasting room on a camping trip to Guanella Pass
Ercavio 2005 Tempranillo Roble- One Day Wine email Special from Argonaut this fall
Emilo Bulfon 2006 Piculit Neri Delle Venezie- Mondo Vino wine tasting last Friday
Zahtila 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2003 Oat Hill Estate Port- We finished up the bottles I actually brought back from my Napa trip at Thanksgiving but it was on that trip that I discovered this little winery and later joined the Wine Club.

Santa Tracker

In case you are waiting for your gifts to arrive,
Norad can help pass the time with games until Santa takes off.

Shameless self-promotion

I warned you. So, my brother created a website that compiles all of your “wish lists” for gift-receiving/giving. Kazowie.com. It is really fun and you should sign-up. Mainly because I want to buy you gifts and I have no idea what to get you. Also because it’s fun. If you sign up and add me as a friend I can win a $1000 gift certificate from Amazon.com that I will use to buy you stuff. Really, this is a win-win situation.

Since I'm shamelessly self-promoting, here is my wish-list.

Please don't try to save me with your christmas card.

Yep, my first x-mas card arrived and it is smug and offensive. It came from the cousin who changed her e-mail address from wildscorpio because it was too racy. The front reads "Our lives and homes are truly blessed when warmed by the Saviour's love and rest." I know, I should not have opened it. It's not like it was going to get any better. Inside, the card reads "A prayer that you and your loved ones will be surrounded in the warmth of Jesus' love this Christmas. Have a Blessed Christmas."

Since I can't find a 'Jesus, save me from your followers' christmas card, this is the only appropriate card to respond with. I'd also like to find a 'please stop pushing your religion on me' e-card. I'm going to make the suggestion to these folks.

Entertaining Tips

Epicurious Christmas section includes advice on throwing a successful party from Ted Allen, Nigella Lawson, Amy Sedaris, and others.

Blasphemy: I Love the UAE (Oman was even better)

People reacted unusually to my vacation destination: Where? What’s that? Aren’t you afraid? Isn’t that near Iraq?

No, fear never struck me until I was there. The scariest thing about being in the Middle East was poetically my own fellow Americans. Knowing that a lot of them would just as soon bomb the shit out of any country not deemed 'worthy' made me feel vulnerable and angry at a goodly percentage of our country.

My experience in UAE and Oman were compounded by spam forwarded by one of my aunts in good ol' Madison County, Indiana. It read "Boycott this 'Christmas' Stamp" and went something along the lines of how dare our government print a Christmas (this was the first clue of ignorance; I believe Eid is the season between the end of Ramadan through Mohammed's death) stamp (in print since 2001) for people who don't even believe in Jesus Christ (false--next clue) and how if everyone just banded together and refused to buy the stamp (so impactful--yet another clue)--all 41 cents worth--it would be a noble cause. Having just purchased a sheet of Eid stamps myself, and being in a Muslim country, I couldn't help firing off a reply to all. And so now a large portion of my ear-infected waking time is absorbed with how I should reply to the reply to my reply. I deleted some responses without looking at them, but I did read my aunt's which seems to be blaming hateful people who want to poison our children with paint, those who have recently become citizens who seem to have less rights than other citizens, all non-Christians, international aid, and greedy foreign companies for job loss. Shew!

I guess she didn't take me up on my suggestion to voice her concerns to her legislator, because her intended path of action is still to boycott the stamp.

So, really the ONLY scary part of being in the Muslim world was knowing that I am stymied as to how to address a major portion of my own country who has forgotten how to love thy neighbor.

And that, my friends, pretty much sums up my analysis of my trip. More later on how Mohammed is not too down with women and the schools of the UAE.

No RC Thanksgiving is complete without a disaster

Luckily, DHP's was relatively uneventful in the family department. Although there was one averted car accident in the rented chevy malibu (and humiliation involved with driving such a vehicle in Los Angeles), there were NOT any fights, racist rants, or parental put-downs to report. Somebody please tell me a turkey got buried while I was gone.

What to report? Well, it turns out that the town in which DHP went to high school (Calabasas, CA) is the setting for Weeds. Yep. Agrestic = Calabasas. I can't believe I didn't pick up on that. My brother had to point it out. DHP was also relatively close to the Malibu fires, which were other people's Thankgiving disaster. These shots were taken of said fire from DHP's dad's house at the crack of dawn this morning. Also, there will be more photos of the fire and DHP's brand new neice (the reason we were up at the crack of dawn) on flickr once my brother uploads them.

Um...

Why is Martha hocking spray painted turkeys as an acceptable holiday decoration. There's nothing like staring at a golden replica of your meal?

Just thought 'ye should know

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Totally Delinquent

Ok, was gone for two and a half weeks and then it took me some time to get back into the swing of things (plus I went to Buena Vista last week for some camping, hiking and kayaking). The photos of all my adventures can be found here. If you go to the sets on the right, they are nicely chronicled for you. Argentina completely rocked and I’m willing to tell the stories in person. We did make an excursion to the race track in Palermo, BA where Team Hot Pants bet on a horse based on mojo and jockey colors (black white and red of course) and won. Wine-tasted and nearly froze to death in Tupungato. Stared at the Aconcaqua, danced with the hot boys in Buenos Aires, and contemplated ending it all in Iguazu Falls. Epoch.

My new favorite coffee house in Denver is City O’ City, where I am currently drinking beer and eating the most kick-ass humus pizza. Down-side . . . no bloody air conditioning! Upside, excellent food and beer, and free wi-fi. Oh, and good music. Damn, they really need an air conditioner. I’d spend all my time here.

TV Turnoff Week

Get ready....TV Turnoff Week is April 23-29 this year.

Take the challenge!

(The new campaign is really 'screen-free', but that could be interesting for those of use who aren't kids and actually have to work at a screen. Ah, for the days of widget-making!)

Shopping and Holiday Madness

Yes our dog stole our Thanksgiving turkey. Here it (the turkey) is after a bit of unearthing. Many days I really despise our pets. Other days they are okay.

I heard about some unique online shopping on NPR this weekend. I have not explored the sites very deeply but they look good. Lots of stuff from unique artists and handmade stuff (in case one of us crafters runs out of time to do intensive crafting). I was hoping for some surefire manly gifts but the guys section of Mighty goods was for the more urban chic guy than my guy is. There were lots of cufflinks, nondescript sweaters, and man purses. A couple interesting things for the construction type of guy (phillips head cuff links is one I saw). I did enjoy looking at the Solar Backpack (recharges all your gizmos while they are in the pack), Yeti ornament, and Fabio postcards (all at mighty goods.com). Tees that made me chuckle were "Stewart Colbert 08" and "Santa is Coming". Happy Shopping!

http://www.mightygoods.com/
http://www.elsewares.com/
http://www.bustedtees.com/
http://www.funkyutopia.com/

Giving Thanks for Puerto Vallarta

DHP successfully resisted all temptation to communicate with the outside world on her whirlwind trip to Puerto Vallarta over the holiday weekend. And, it was so worth it. The Crafters must plan a May trip to the beach. It is rejuvenating . . . and inexpensive. Though pet-care would need to be pre-arraigned.

The crazy surprise of the holiday weekend happened at the restaurant chosen by DHP’s dad for Thanksgiving Dinner. Kaiser Maximilion featured chef Rebecca Weitzman of Denver’s own Café Star. I had the Beef tenderloin with green onion and goat cheese potato croquette, corn, caramelized shallots, thyme demi glace . . . so fucking good. And, as an added bonus, the beef was “organic from Colorado”. Hooray for our ranchers.

This post comes from a much better place than DHP’s “Personal Hell” post of last-year’s Thanksgiving. I say that from now on, the Crafters spend the holiday abroad, maybe even together. Any takers?

Random Observations on Daily Life

Argonaut is PACKED. Full of irritating people shopping for the holiday who don’t know our beloved mothership, and are wandering about like Whole Foods tourists (sorry, no free samples at the liquor store). However, both Kettel One (31.99) and Grey Goose (41.99) are on sale for the big bottles. The wine sale is California . . . boo!

The Queen Soopers has christmas trees for sale already. The next random observations post will likely include “home fires strike Capitol Hill”. SNG has already steeled herself against such disasters with blow-up trees and an aluminum tree complete with 1970’s lighting. One of my favorite holiday stories (aside from the “personal hell story found in the RC Best Of) is the story of when my grandmother got so drunk she fell into the christmas tree which makes for a “best of” family album. Remember, DHP was raised an Atheist. Oh my god, did you know there was an aluminum tree museum?

We broke the planet. Today’s high . . . 72 degrees . . . tomorrow . . . 77 degrees. What the fuck? Is it ever going to rain/snow? I think the Pacific Northwest has stolen our storms.

I’m wondering if I can bring sunscreen on the plane to Mexico because with the new travel restrictions I feel a black market on sunscreen happening in Puerto Vallarta. Last time I went, I had to kick down $10.00 for a small bottle. No telling what that will be now. I think I’ll take my chances. Also, I spent a better part of the night searching for my passport because Americans can no longer travel to Mexico on their driver’s license. Fucking anti-immigrant laws are screwing with my vacation. Luckily I figured that out prior to arriving at the airport. Good god.

Also. . .

The New Crack … and September cause days.

The title is slightly misleading, but let DHP elaborate. Over the “holiday” weekend, DHP made an excursion to Texlahoma, more immediate location, Belmar, with CD2E. We made many stops that included the most fabulous of all DSW’s and Whole Foods. Whole Foods was overwhelming and wonderful at the same time. It was there that DHP encountered the “New Crack”. Dancing Deer Baking brownies. Oh god they are good. We ate the Carmel Pecan Brownies. Damn close to full orgasm sex. Goooood. I would suggest any of their products for gift giving since we are approaching holiday season.

Watching the news tonight, DHP was shocked to discover that September is Menopause Awareness month. I wondered what else September commemorated, and discovered this list. The Crafters may be interested that September is also Fall Hat Month, International People Skills Month, National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, National Chicken Month, and Shameless Promotion Month. The weekly observances are priceless as well, and include Banned Books week and National Lunch Prowl Week.

I can’t wait to celebrate September 7 as National Feel The Love Day.

And, the next craft day, September 17, is Women’s Friendship Day. It is also Responsible Dog Ownership Day.

I would be remiss to not mention that September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

I cannot believe I missed Chicken Boy’s Day (Sept. 1) – will put it on the list for next year.