Visiting With Andrea

OK. As far as I know, I am back. There is nothing on the books for any more trips at the moment, and to the best of my knowledge, I am able to write about our fun adventures, both in and out of the kitchen, once again. 🙂

My friend Andrea was out visiting for a few days, and she just left this morning. We have known each other and been best friends since our junior high days. We had a great visit and we did all kinds of fun things. I already miss my best bestie. Our friend Priscilla joined us for our party as well. All three of us have known each other since we were kids.

As soon as I picked Andrea up from the airport, I put her to work. We were hosting a wine tasting and tapas party. This was not designed to be a big party, but rather a smaller, more intimate gathering.

I made the Spanish meat pies, which I will share with you all later, smoked pork loin with a roasted red pepper and herb coulis, a roasted vegetable salad The Empanada Party – Part 3 – Una Gran Ensalada Latina and Gambones d’ajo (or Spanish Garlic Shrimp, which I thought I had already shared with you, but I just learned I haven’t yet, so more on that later too. Janet, Bob and their new exchange student Luke, brought patatas bravas Patatas Bravas. Lauren brought some mini lamb gyros, and her friend Mo came as well and she brought some Caprese skewers and Greek skewers, and K-Lee brought some brie, pecan and cranberry cups. !Everything was mui delicioso!

Aside from a lot of delicious food, we also sampled some very good wines. Last year, when Larry and I renewed our membership to InVINtions A Toast to InVINtions! they gave us a blind wine tasting kit. Larry, a non-wine drinker, was the only one who knew what wines were were sampling until we did our big reveals later. It was a fun afternoon. We all had a real good time with lots of laughs and lots of good foods and good wine.

We took Andrea up to the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), to the Bear Lake area, the next day. We had never been there before either, and again we had a great time, and saw a lot. The lake was gorgeous.

We saw beautiful birds, like The American Dipper and the gorgeous Steller’s Jay.

I have been trying to get a good shot of this elusive Steller’s Jay for quite some time, and finally got lucky.

We saw white tailed mule deer.

We saw lots of elk. The big bull was down below his haram, in the ravine. He was watching closely, but we couldn’t get any pictures of him.

We even saw a moose, but we couldn’t get a picture of him either. I tried, but it just didn’t happen.

And we passed my favorite little mountain church on the way home.

On Andrea’s last full day, she and I toured around the Denver area, stopping first at the Hammond Candy Factory, Touring Denver – Part 1 – Hammond’s Candy Factory, then Balistreri Vineyards, Touring Denver – Part 2 – Balistreri Vineyards, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (where Larry and I used to work for 8 years, as well as where we met 23 years ago) and then back home once again. It was a very full, very fun, jam-packed 3 days.

Good friends make life so much better, especially friends who are really more family than friends. Te amo mucho Chica.

Have a great day and make everyday great, especially when you are with good friends. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.