Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I went out to lunch with my friend Su Yeun the other day. It’s always so much fun when we get together, and she is always introducing me to something new and exotic. This time we went to a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Basil, in Northglenn.

I arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before Su Yeun got there, so I looked over the menu and had decided on the chicken curry lunch special. I love curry, so great. But my mind was quickly changed.

When it comes to Asian restaurants, Su Yeun is the resident expert, so I let her decide what to eat. I am never disappointed, and in fact, our lunches always become quite the adventure. This time was no different. She ordered a HUGE appetizer plate that was filled with all kinds of Vietnamese delicacies. All I know was it was #92 on the menu. Other than that, I have no idea what the actual name of it was. I knew it was going to be good though, and it definitely was.

It was a build your own kind of appetizer. It came with rice noodles, pork, chicken, soft shell crab, fish paste cakes, pork rolls, vegetables, rice paper and dipping sauce. Su Yeun also ordered an additional side of more vegetables that included carrots, daikon, cucumber, fresh basil, cilantro, and some kind of Asian lettuce. All of this was completely new to me.

Su Yeun made my first roll for me and showed me how to do it. When I made my own, well, let’s just say, I need more practice. I am definitely still a novice. First you dip the rice paper into the bowl of hot water, then add whatever you like to it and roll it up. Then dip it into the sauce and enjoy. The tricky part, however, is the rice paper becomes very sticky and hard to work with when trying to roll it. It is paper thin and hard to handle when wet.

It was all so good. I told Su Yeun that I was originally thinking of the chicken curry, and she laughed and said if we were still hungry we could order that too. OMG! There was so much food. We came nowhere close to even finishing what we had, so there was NO WAY we needed or wanted anything else. Silly me! What was I thinking???

Once again, I enjoyed a new culinary experience, but better yet, I enjoyed spending time with my friend. Su Yeun says she likes going out with me because I am a very adventurous eater and I enjoy everything. She likes introducing me to new things. We always have fun together.

Saigon Basil is located at 10665 Melody Drive, Northglenn, CO. They offer a wide variety of traditional Vietnamese foods. The #92 and chicken curry, were just two of many, many options from which to choose. If you are looking for something deliciously different Saigon Basil is definitely an excellent choice.

I love our herons. They are just so majestic and proud. We haven’t seen them as often this year as we have in the past, but every time I see them, they just make my day. At first he was on one side of the lake, then he flew over to the other side. I guess he was thinking I wouldn’t see him on the other side.

I was in the mood for something Asian. I had pork and of course a wide array of vegetables, so I thought a pork stir-fry would be the answer. Usually when I do a stir-fry, I serve it over rice, but this time, I served it over lo mein noodles, for something a little different. I added some wontons on the side too.

Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein

As usual, I was kind of making things up as I went along. Most of the time I make my own sauces too, but every now and then, I will come across a sauce that catches my eye, and I give it a try. And then I add to it. That’s just what I do. 🙂

1 1/2- 2 pounds pork, cut into thin srips

1 cup broccoli florets

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin matchsticks

1 can baby corn, drained and cut into pieces

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

1 TBSP garlic

1 TBSP ginger

2 TBSP olive oil

1-2 TBSP honey ginger balsamic vinegar, optional

1 package broccoli beef sauce

green onions, sliced at an angle, or Asian style

1/2 cup cashews

2 TBSP butter

1 TBSP honey balsamic vinegar

cooked lo mein noodles

Get a skillet or wok very hot and then add the oil and honey ginger balsamic vinegar. Add the pork, garlic and ginger and cook for about 5-7 minutes or until the pork is browned.

Add the vegetables and continue to cook for an additional 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the sauce and combine thoroughly. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

In a separate, smaller skillet, melt about 2 TBSP of butter with about 1 TBSP honey ginger balsamic vinegar and add about 1/2 cup of cashews. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir constantly.

Once everything is cooked, plate it up. Add the lo mein noodles first, then the pork and vegetables. Sprinkle a few green onions on top and add a bit of the candied cashews. And voila! Dinner is served. Delicious!

Who says things have to be complicated to taste good? Most often, simple is best.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time

I have so many good pictures, of so many things. I never want to inundate you with to many things, so I space them out a bit.

The other day, when we went on a longer walk, while it was still cool out, the prairies dogs were out in full force. Prairie dogs are everywhere around here. We have millions just out in the open space back behind us. They are very cute and are very visible and curious too. They were enjoying their day out and they were posing like you wouldn’t believe. I’d say they really liked being the center of attention. They were having a lot of fun.

Have a great day Everyone. Stay cool, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Our last stop for the day while we were out picnicing through the mountains Packing A Picnic, Packing A Picnic – Part 2 – The Poudre Canyon, Packing A Picnic – Nature Walks – Part 3 – On The Trails and touring around was the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins. We were amazed at how big the brewery was, but then again, it is a major distributor for Fat Tire Ale and all it’s other beer and ale siblings.

Fat Tire and New Belgium Beer is a local, Colorado company. It was started in 1988 after a trip to Belgium by the owners and co-founders Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch. They fell in love with the beers of Belgium and wanted to bring them back home to Colorado. New Belgium Brewery had humble beginnings in Kim and Jeff’s basement. Since its humble beginnings, New Belgium Brewery has grown into being one of the most successful craft breweries in the country. Today, New Belgium Brewery is no longer family owned or even 100% employee owned. It was bought out by Lion Little World Beverage in 2020, however they are doing their best to maintain its humble roots and beginnings, which still give the company the feel of a samll, family owned and operated business.

The New Belgium Brewery offers a wide range of beers and IPAs from which to choose. And for us non-beer drinkers, they also have some delicious sodas and sparkling drinks as well. Mike, and Lauren tried some of their beers, while Larry had a sparkling drink and I enjoyed an all natural black cherry soda.

The New Belgium Brewery also offers tours of the facility, which would have been very interesting, however, we arrived in between tour times, so we were unable to tour the facility this trip. Maybe next time.

Since New Belgium Brewery all started with a bike trip through Belgium, the logo is a red bike, similar to what Jeff and Kim used to tour around Belgium on.

Another fun aspect of the New Belgium Brewery is that it is designed for entertainment. There was a large park area and a stage where we enjoyed the music of not one, but two brass bands, while sipping on our cool liquid refreshments. There were also a few food trucks scattered about the property as well, for our culinary enjoyment too.

These were the liquid refreshments we enjoyed.

There was a couple sitting next to us outside in the pavilion, who was nice enough to let me photograph their sampler flights as well. As you can see, their is a wide variety of liquid refreshments.

And we certainly didn’t NEED anything else to eat, but when has that ever stopped us?! 🙂 Larry ordered some pulled pork nachos to enjoy and Mike and Lauren ordered some street tacos. Believe it or not, I was good, and really did not eat anything. I was still to full from our picnic.

Stopping at New Belgium Brewery was a perfect way to end an already perfect day. New Belgium Brewery is located at 500 Linden Street, Fort Collins, CO. They are open most days from 12-8 and from 12-9 from Thursday -Saturday. Next time you are in Fort Collins, it is definitely worth a trip to stop in and whet your whistle. I am pretty sure, no matter what, you are going to have a real good time.

Today, the United States of America turns 246 years old. I am very proud to help her celebrate. I love my country, and I hope she will be able to survive to celebrate another 246 years. May your banner forever wave. Happy Birthday America!

These are some of the shots I took while we were hiking. I was lagging behind everyone else because I had the camera, and I love to stop and take pictures of everything I see. We hiked about a mile or so up the trail. By the time we started the hike, it was getting warmer, and none of us were really prepared for a long hike. It’s a good thing we quit when we did too, though because just as we got back into the car, it started to rain. Perfect timing on our part.

And of course I was stopping to not only smell all the mountain flowers, but to take pictures of them as well. You all know I love my flowers. 🙂

We made one more stop before heading home and calling it a day. But more on that later. We all had a fantastic day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Once again, we had great food, shared with great friends and beautiful mountain scenery to to boot. Life is most definitely good. 🙂

I am so glad we took a beautiful drive up through the mountains and packed a picnic lunch for the trip. Packing A Picnic It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. We decided to take a drive up through Poudre Canyon, outside of Fort Collins.

We liked this spot right on the river bend. So this was our first stop. This is where we dined on the fabulous picnic food that both Lauren and I had prepared for the day’s feast. We enjoyed what we could before packing it all up and moving on.

Mike and Larry enjoying a dip at the water’s edge while Lauren and I started unloading all our goodies.

It seemed like we had an endless supply of food, which is kind of typical for both Lauren and I, especially when we cook together. 🙂

As we were dining al fresco, we were entertained by all the rafters coming in from their day out on the water. They were packing it up for the day. The river was really flowing, so I am sure they all had a great time.

After we had finished eating, we packed up all the food, and hit the trails again. We drove through this tunnel to get to our next destination. We drove a bit further into the canyon, still by the water, and then found another spot to set up “camp” again. This time, we were just chilling and enjoying the beauty all around us.

We saw some more rafters and some kayakers too.

We stayed here, just chilling, for about an hour, and then we continued with our journey. We found a little off-the-beaten-path trail, and hiked for about a mile or so before turning back. We turned back just in time too. Once we got back into the car, almost immediately, it started to rain. Good timing on our part. We enjoyed our hike and thoroughly enjoyed our day.

Stay tuned. Don’t touch that dial. There is plenty more to come.

We saw so much on our walk yesterday. My camera was clicking 100 clicks a minute. I can only share so much at a time, but fortunately, I have a lot to share for quite some time to come. I will keep sharing all my nature photos as long as you are interested in seeing them. Beauty is all around us, everywhere. We all need more beauty in our lives. We all need to connect with Mother Nature more too. She offers us so much.

We don’t see that many American Kestrels around, but this time, not only did we see one, we saw two, and a mating pair at that. The female is not as brightly colored as the male. They were both perched up high on a pole, but I was still able to get some very good shots of them.

This is the male.

He was up there first, then his partner came along too.

American Kestrels are part of the falcon family. They are pretty popular here in Colorado, though you can find them throughout most of the united States. They like to breed anywhere there are dead trees with nest holes. This pole looks like a perfect spot for them based on where they typically like to hang out.

Have a great day. Beauty is everywhere. You just have to look for it to find it.

We are going on a drive up through the mountains with Mike and Lauren today and we all thought it would be fun to bring along a picnic lunch. Lauren and I both LOVE to cook, so I know we will have a ton of food, and it will only be for the four of us. Lauren and I are both feeders. 🙂

We bought some croissants and chips, plus I am bringing a little corn and tomato salad. I made a pesto chicken salad for the croissants. I was going to bring fruit as well, but Lauren said she has the fruit covered. I know for a fact, between the two of us, no one will ever go hungry, and today will be no exception. 🙂

My pesto chicken salad was made from little bits of this and that, you know, one of my favorite ways to cook. It is loaded with diced chicken, and then I added some diced red bell pepper, diced celery and some diced red onion. I also added some fresh basil as well. I mixed it all together with a pesto mayonnaise. It will go perfectly on my croissants. It’s all just perfect for a picnic.

It’s going to be a beautiful day, and it should be much cooler up in the mountains. We will be sharing the day with good friends and good food. Life is definitely good. 🙂

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. Enjoy all your days for tomorrow is never promised. ‘Til next time.