News from the Mothership

We will be closed for moving on December 1st & 2nd please plan your visit & Holiday Party planning around that time. We have a huge grand opening planned for December 3rd in our new location (right next door) and hope that you can join us for the event. We will be having lots of prizes to enter to win. The party starts at 10:00 a.m.

gay strip clubs and douche bags on bikes

First, please accept my apologies for being so bad about blogging this summer. It's not like I've been busy with work. It seems that my job this summer is to increase the stock of Grey Goose and single-handedly keep bars in Denver open.

Let me share with you some of my observances from my summer of debauchery.

Gay strip clubs are amazing. I highly recommend Boystown at 3rd and Broadway. Dammit those boys are hot-t and can do things on a pole that will make you sweat. And, yes they are clothed and are wearing fantastic shoes. Love it!

High gas prices have had a negative affect that I did not anticipate. Douche bags on bikes. I have a few tips for the assholes riding around my neighborhood. Get out of the middle of the street before I run you down. A helmet might be a good idea. You are a lot slower than the flow of traffic and you could at least fucking pedal to try and keep up. The gears that make it harder to pedal actually make you go faster. Now get out of my way while blow through my savings and pollute the environment. My gas taxes pay for these fucking roads and I'm going to drive on them.

I love Cuba Cuba. And the Cruise Room because of its heavy air conditioning, lack of windows, and strong drinks. Perfect for a hot summer night. I absolutely cannot stand Elways ... both the Cherry Creek and Downtown locations. Plastic surgery disasters seem to be their only clientele. However, the Ritz-Carlton hotel downtown is absolutely incredible and some day I want to make enough money to be able to stay there.

I went to the Queen Sooper on Monday and they were out of some very strange items. Organic milk, asparagus, and free-range chicken. This prompted me to wonder if this is how rationing starts. If I remember history correctly high prices and food shortages lead to rationing, right?

I've experienced a lot more this summer, but unfortunately Grey Goose has cost me some brain cells and I can't remember what I did yesterday let alone 2 months ago.

This Sunday is the first Sunday after July 1, 2008

And of course that means it is the first post-blue law Sunday in Colorado!

I may have to pick up a nice bottle of red for the cellar to celebrate the occasion... at a future date. =) A California Cabernet is surely calling my name over at Mondo Vino. They are having The First Sunday Celebration Sale - Take 20% off everything! (Open 10:30am -7pm‏)

Argonaut (aka the Mothership) has posted their Sunday hours as 10am- 6pm.

dealio

On Fri & Sat nights until March 30th, spend $25 at Mondo Vino and get a free burrito from Chipotle.

The mothership's new digs

The Argonaut is doubling in size and moving a few blocks down ... and it is going to be a "green building". What more could they possibly need to stock? I can't wait!

Pressing Question

The foil on wine bottles--to recycle or not?

Previously, I removed the foil and tossed into either the trash or recycling.
In an effort to simplify my terribly complicated life, I'm thinking of leaving the foil wrapping on and tossing the whole bottle, wrapper and all, into the recycling. Is this taboo?

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.

Wine of the Week

We stopped by Mondo Vino's tasting bar Friday night on our way to dinner at - wait for it- Meade Street (our "15 minute" wait was 10 real minutes this week).

Mondo Vino was pouring 4 very nice reds on Friday. We picked up a bottle of Emilio Bulfon Piculit Neri, an Italian ancient-vine wine that seems appropriate for our "Roman Holiday: Ancient to Audrey" celebration on Tuesday where Rpse, DHP, & perhaps CLC will get a chance to enjoy.

While a large party still sends me back to "The Mothership" , I find myself more and more loyal to my neighborhood mondo vino. It lacks the diversity (both ethnic and socioeconomic) of Argonaut but the service is awesome, the selection impressive for the square footage, and in addition to the weekend wine tastings (with cheese and real wine glasses) there are the free limes. The free limes are like a $1 back on your vodka purchase.

Weekend Happy Hours

Gelmans HH Mon- Sat 4 - 6:30 pm, $1.5 PBR, $3 wells, $2 off bar menu
Lola HH wknds 2 - 5pm/m -f 4 - 6:30pm, $4 sangria, $5 silver coin
Sabor Latino HH Mon- Sat 5 - 6:30pm, $4 mojitos
Yard House HH Daily 3 - 6pm, $3 beers & $5 martinis, 1/2 price aps

Foodstuff

Review of the sunflower market on rebeckspe's blog.

North Denver News loves fruition on 6th. (This is the same reviewer who went to the wrong location of Lola- a year after it had moved- to our hood.) Any other Crafters have thoughts on this spot? I am not sure how JeepBoy friendly it is with all the duck fat and red meat.

At the Mondo Vino Tasting Bar this weekend: Organic wines from Chile (Friday 2- 7 ) and sweet wines (Saturday 2 - 7).

Milestones & Tequila

While I have oft mocked SNGs for her "27th birthday anniversaries", I can't say that I loved my recent milestone. Such an adult age complete with my first cholesterol test (significantly less invasive/emotional than other test of late) and my first pair of glasses... blah, blah, blah...

But on a happy note, JB & I had a FABULOUS meal at Lola to mark this milestone. We split ahi crudo and tortilla soup to start. JB has the grilled salmon vera cruz with black bean fritter, watercress salad & lime marmalade. I had the tomato crusted black code with queso anejo spoon tamale, chili rajas salsa, and pepita pepiane. And of course, no birthday meal is complete without chocolate. The mexican chocolate tart with toasted almond ice cream and cinnamon chocolate sauce did not disappoint. It was all so great... although, it is the tortilla soup that I most hunger to repeat. All of the Big Red F spots are awesome but Lola is becoming a fav- even over Jax.

We also had a awesome waiter who knew his way around the (tequila) menu. I am not sure if we will find these on the shelf at Mothership but a few that we enjoyed: el tesoro , chamucos, and a very un-tequila, butterscotchy Don Julio 1942.

Online Wine Buying

My (& I think others) email address was harvested from some happy hour invite list and added to Jennifer Rosen's Cork Jester email list. Usually this annoys the heck out of me but I find this weekly mailing informative at times. Here is a bit of news from this week:

"A year after the Supreme Court eased up on direct shipments from wineries to customers, a new survey shows teens have not been rushing to the Internet to buy. Only 2% of 14-20-year-olds reported purchasing alcohol online and fewer than 10% had browsed websites selling alcohol. By contrast, 80% reported browsing sexually explicit sites.

Nevertheless, The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America called the news “Shocking! Hard evidence that should really shake up this debate.” Long-time foes of direct shipping, which bypasses wholesalers’ role, the WSWA likes to raise fears of resulting teen drunkenness. Unfortunately they can’t ignore this study, since they commissioned it. "

Random Post

Reading List:
The 10 Reasons Geeks Make Better Lovers
Salon.com- Conversation with Edwards

Drinking List- Colorado Vodka:
14 - Made from certified organic grain
Goat - Distilled in Palisade from Olathe sweet corn

Vodka of the Week

No wine this "week"but a vodka to recommend.

I was introduced to Grey Goose La Poire at Jax in their New Orleans Pearish Martini special ($2 goes to NOLA as part of oyster month). I was a bit worried that a Pear flavored vodka would taste like a melted jolly rancher but decided to give it a try. Yummy! The New Orleans Pearish also had Vanilla Vodka and a Lavender Simple Syrup.

At home, I am enjoying a Grey Goose Pear with Club Soda- no type of fancy syrups today. So light & refreshing!

Wine(s) of the Week

So I find myself for a second week in a row offering up a white for Wine of the Week. It must be the need for winter to be over.

Thorn Clarke Terra Barossa 2005 Eden Valley Pinot Gris (Australia)

Someone brought it to Jeepboy's Birthday Bash so I can't offer any purchase location tips but if the gifter is an RC'r (or RC reader)- Yum, Thank you! It rounded out a white sauce nicely for dinner last night.

For balance, here is a great red Chateau Mas Neuf that we picked up at the Mondo Vino tasting bar. (~$16) The name cracks me up because Mas Neuf makes me think of More Newfies (or Newfadors, in our case).

I do love the Mondo Vino tasting bar. They pour a nice selection of wines and usually have good cheese samples each week too.

Wine of the Week

In the tradition of Cheese of the "Week", here is a Wine of the "Week":

Gazela Vinho Verde - Portugal

A light, affordable white with a slight sparkle

Available at Corks (15th & Platte), ~$7/bottle

And Another random thought.... while I find I agree with him 80% of the time, I do find Jason Sheehan (Westword Food Critic) to be an ego-maniac. A classic example is how he posted the following reader's comment in one of his articles:

"...I have mixed feelings about Sheehan the writer. (Don't get me wrong; his writing is excellent -- providing you like profanity and consider 'Jason Sheehan' an interesting subject.) However, as a food critic, he's generally spot-on..."

Ginger-Lemongrass Martinis

Since one party-goer threaten to email me daily until I shared the Ginger-Lemongrass Martini recipe... Here is the Ginger Martini recipe (I will have to dig deeper for the Lemongrass one but since I didn't follow either one...) . I peeled and rough chopped a bunch of ginger (3 roots) and lemongrass (6 stalks) and then placed them in the food processor. Then I followed the process outlined above to make the syrup. (water, sugar, etc- but I didn't measure anything) I used a cone shaped coffee filter in a funnel to strain the pulp out of mixture. I left it over 30 minutes and let gravity do the work.

For the Scallop Sauce, I put the pulp from the coffee filter back in the pan, added some garlic, orange marmalade, Lime-Cilantro Soy Vinaigrette, and more water. I let that simmer for several hours - stirring occasionally.

JeepBoy & I want to thank everyone who joined us to celebrate his new decade.

Dinner in the neighborhood

Wag of the finger: Mead Street Station. Get a watch. I am so over your estimated 20-25 minute wait bullshit. If it is going to be an hour and a half, just tell me. If I have time to go next door to Mondo Vino, taste 4 wines, shop, put my purchases in the car, and come back it can't still be 20-25 minutes.

Tip of the hat: Cebiche (32nd & Wyndadot-ish)- Peruvian cuisine. Good, friendly service. Excellent ceviche, interesting entrees, and to die for pumpkin fritters to finish off the meal. The house margarita was silver patron, orange juice, cointreau, and freshies mix. (If it can't be fresh, it better be freshies!) The space used to be something but I can't recall what - it has only been opened a short while but we slipped into the last available table. The decor has a peace corps alum feel. I would highly recommend this spot. And save room for the pumpkin fritters.

2/18 Update: So Bobby Flay is cooking Peruvian this morning (Food Network). I feel like the universe is really pushing Peru on us this week. Perhaps we should be checking on award tickets available there for our next vaca. I also found a photo of Picarones (pumpkin fritters) on http://perufood.blogspot.com/

3/1 Update: Website is not easy to find, even with the URL (from waitress last night), I had to type directly in the address line. Google never found it! http://www.cebiche.biz/ We also learned they are still working out the kinks and haven't had a grand opening yet. Yes, last night. We went back again... the pumpkin fritters had less pumpkin and more fritter this time (prefer other way) but overall still a thumbs up. There was a party of 20 on separate checks and the service didn't fall apart. More established places have trouble with that one.

Na Zdarovia

When you raise your glass of piva or vodka, this is what you say before you bid da zvedanya and wrap up in your long fur coat and hat to walk down the ulitsa or head out for a coffee or tea, 'green or black?' at the PECTOPAH--or restaurant--to enjoy your ikra--and boy is that sevruga yum-my!

On a serious note, we can all realize that perestroika must have been difficult as a transition, but it is another reality check to be reminded that it is still in a difficult transition phase--how could it be expected to go from black market to capitalism and imbue trust overnight--impossible. Some people were handed businesses and although others were purchased, the Grand Canyon between haves and have nots grows immeasurably wide. On one hand, an oil magnate--on the other, someone who was hoping to retire right about the time reforms hit. It's one saving grace that most people were probably given their apartments and no longer have to pay rent--at $300/month salary for a state-employed dentist, I don't think progess has hit the majority of the 150 million residents. But someone must be buying the suburban (3 beltways in Moscow) high-rise luxury condos, which sell for $500/sq. ft. A mystery remaining to be solved....

All this from someone who had the 5-star tour.....imagine what it would really be like to see the real Russia. Go, St. Petersburg!

Good things for the cold weekend.

You can download for free “This American Life” on iTunes.

Here are some funny things on You Tube.

Washington
Cam
Aries Drivers
The Washington video provided comic relief during the 2006 elections, and often inspired fits of mania among my colleagues at 2:00 in the morning. Cam & the Aries video did the exact same trick during the 2000 elections. (Clearly my taste has improved.) The were sent to me this week by a friend of mine from that campaign that I have not seen over 3 years. I love those kinds of surprises in my inbox.
Here is a similar history lesson on JFK

Umm, Orgazmo . . . for some reason this is a local netflix favorite for Denver. Judge for yourself.

The Arognaut delivers and Grey Goose is on special this week. Call them at 303-831-7788.

Does anyone want to go see FADE, Denver – the light installation show by Elwin Redl at the museum of contemporary art?

Find out what to do outside of your house: This Week in Denver.