I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
Author: ajeanneinthekitchen
I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for over 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people.
I keep thinking our baby ducklings are long gone, and then I keep seeing more; tiny babies too. But this season has been full of surprises, and I love every one of them too. Today, we saw not one, but two sets of duck families. One had just one duckling, who who was more like a teenager really (I think I saw this one when it was a baby too, just a couple of weeks ago). The another proud momma had three little ducklings following her all around, and these were just tiny babies. I will take as many ducklings as we get, and I will never complain about seeing all of them. They are just so darn cute. 🙂
I am only going to share the tiny babies with you all today. Larry had the day off, so we took a long walk today and we saw Momma Mallard and her crew on two of our lakes. First, they were all out for a swim on the the 4th lake.
The family made the trek from the 4th lake over to the 3rd lake where we saw them again on our way back. They decided to walk along the shore for a bit on the 3rd lake.
I am sure many of you know our very own Goldie. Goldie was one of my first blogger friends and has been a loyal friend ever since my humble beginnings as a blogger. But like so many of our blogger friends, we had never actually met in person …. until now. We just knew we were going to be good friends in real life as mush as we were in the world of blogging. And YES! This is true. We hit it off instantly. 🙂
Goldie allowed me to take pictures, but only on the promise that I would NOT reveal any secrets. Goldie wants to maintain as much anonymity as possible, and I respect that. Goldie was in town only for a quick trip, but we met up at a little Greek restaurant in Congress Park in Denver, called ChefZorba’s. Chef Zorba’s or Zorba’s is located at 2626 East 12th Avenue, Denver, CO. They do not take reservations, but you can call them at (303) 321-0091.
The main draw of Chef Zorba’s is the incredible menu featuring traditional American & Greek fare—burgers, salads, sandwiches—and classic breakfast dishes served all day. Zorba’s is afamily owned and operated restaurant and like[s] to think of [the] staff and guests as family, so once you dine with [them], you’ll feel like a part of that family too.
It was a beautiful day and sitting outside, dining al fresco just couldn’t be passed up.
We ordered our delicious meals and talked, and talked, and talked and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. Goldie ordered a Greek gyro salad, thinking it was going to be small, but WRONG! It was HUGE! Needless to say it wasn’t finished.
I ordered a gyro that was very good. I LOVE gyros. They are hard for me to resist.
Our waiter took very good care of us and also took a picture of the two of us, but you will have to use your imagination for Goldie. We creatively hid Goldie’s identity. Yes, there really is a Goldie hiding behind the purple veil. You’ll just have to trust us. 🙂
After a delicious lunch, we went to the Denver Art Museum, a new experience for both of us.
We both really liked these cool looking rockers. I would love some of these at my house, for my deck.
Some of the art and exhibits we liked, and some, well, …. let’s just say art is most definitely in the eye of the beholder.
This picture of empty frames on the wall really cracked us both up.
After exploring the art, we strolled around downtown a bit, and I pointed out points of interest as we came across them. There was just as much fun and interesting art outside, on our walk as there was at the museum. In fact, I liked a lot of the street art much better.
And something new for most of you. I bet most of you don’t know I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the guitar, especially Classical Spanish guitar and Flamenco. I took lessons for a few years, but I am not nearly as talented as I had hoped I would be. I probably should get back into it again though.
We ended up at Union Street Station, where we parted ways for this trip, and Goldie caught the train back to the hotel. We both had such a great time together, and know there will be plenty more opportunities for getting together in the future. 🙂
Outside, the kids and dogs were having so much fun playing in the dancing waters. It was a great way to cool off on a hot summer’s day.
I just love all the art deco decor inside Union Station.
We had a very Golden day indeed, and had a great time together. As Goldie would say, “Stay Golden”. ‘Til next time.
Sunday night, we watched our beloved Avalanche Hockey team win the coveted Stanley Cup We Want The Cup! It has been 21 long years since Lord Stanley last resided here in Colorado. But he is home once again.
Today, there was a huge outpouring of love for the Avalanche from the City of Denver. Today, all of Denver was celebrating the team with Avalanche Day. It started off with a big parade, and ended up at Civic Center Park with speeches and Big Head Todd And The Monsters, a local Colorado band, playing a few songs for them, as well as a massive celebration for our beloved team. The Av’s winning the Cup is the biggest thing we have had since we last won the Super Bowl about 8 years ago, which was actually on my birthday too, but I digress. Denver and Colorado in general, loves its sports. Our professional athletes are our local heroes. 🙂 There were 100’s of 1000’s of people in attendance. And of course, we were there too. I say it was close to 1 million people. Larry doesn’t think it was that many. You decide. This was a screen shot on the big Jumbotron, and this was just at Civic Center Park, where we were.
All the police and fire trucks were out, helping the celebration too. The team AND the Cup came in on top of fire trucks. The adoring fans are cheering on the team as the drive by.
The Capital Building
We got there about 8:30 AM. It was already very hot and very crowded at that point, but we camped out under the shade of a beautiful, large tree, so it wasn’t to bad. The crowd just kept growing throughout the day, and we kept getting tighter and tighter, but we actually had a little bit of much appreciated rain and some cooler temperatures as they day progressed, which helped out tremendously. After waiting and standing for hours, at last, our beloved Avalanche arrived. The crowd erupted in cheer!
Unfortunately, we were still pretty far back, and people just kept crowding in all day, so our pictures are grainy and are from quite a distance from the stage. But I cleaned them up as best as I could. For the most part, I think they came out pretty good. We took a ton of pictures, so needless to say, I am not going to show you all of them. But I will give you a good sampling.
Here the team is showing off the Con Smythe award, which one of our star players, Cale Makar, won as well.
Coach Jared Bednar, in the gray, with Captain Gabe Landeskog, with the Swedish flag draped over his shoulders, and Erik Johnson or EJ at his side, with his champagne bottle in hand, proudly admiring the beloved and coveted Stanley Cup. We learned today this is the hardest trophy to win in sports, and this year, our Boys did it! They brought it home after a very long drought.
The team and both awards.
Ladies, this is the Viking God himself, looking mighty fine indeed, Captain Gabriel Landeskog. This picture right here, was worth all the waiting and standing around in the heat and the crowds. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Once the speeches were finished, the confetti and fireworks began. I can only say I hope we did our Boys in burgundy and blue as proud as they did Denver. Yes, We ARE the Champions!
Let’s Go Avalanche! They found a way! They brought home the Cup!
As you all know, I just love my flowers and there are so many pretty flowers in bloom right now. I just can’t pass them up. We have all kinds of flowers in all colors. Some are potted and some are in the ground. Some are even in the trees.
Color your world beautiful and always take time to smell the flowers.
We worked up an appetite after our wine bottling adventure Making Wine- Part 2 – The Bottling Process and we all decided to go out for a little BBQ as a celebration. Janet had recommended the Hickory House in Parker. None of us had ever been there before and it sounded very good to all of us. It was a very good and tasty ending to an already very good and fun day.
I felt like we had all stepped back to the days of the Western migration in our covered wagons. We had all been transported back to the days of the Wild, Wild West. We were all up for the adventure too.
The Hickory House has been serving up good homestyle BBQ with all the fixin’s for 19 years. There are two locations, the one in Parker that we went to, which is the original, and then one in Aspen. Both locations are known for their ribs and have won 43 Awards of Excellence from the National Rib Tour. If ribs aren’t your thing, Hickory House offers lots of other options as well. We all ordered something different, and a couple of people did order the ribs. The portions are HUGE, so bring a big appetite, or least bring a friend or two to help with the portions.
We started off with some delicious crispy onion rings for everyone. They were great with the different BBQ sauce options too, though they came with a spicy dipping sauce that was also very good.
After we devoured our onion rings, we ordered the entrees. As I said, the portions are HUGE. Sharing meals is definitely a very good idea. Everyone had the right idea except for Larry and I. Janet and Bob split an order of mixed sliders.
Mike and Lauren also shared a meal of fried catfish and ribs. Mike said they were both excellent.
Larry and I definitely should have split a meal, but no. We were both stubborn. Neither of us were able to finish our meal, but Larry, out of all of us, did the best on his plate. He came close to finishing his, but in the end, just couldn’t do it. He ordered a combo plate with ribs as well and I ordered the brisket. Everything was delicious. There was just LOTS of it.
We were all very happy campers with very full and satisfied tummies after. We had a fun day of bottling our wines and then a delicious BBQ dinner after. But the best part was we had a great day with great friends. It was a very good day indeed.
We went to the Hickory House in Parker. They are located at 10335 South Parker Road. You can order online at http://www.HickoryHouseRibs.com or call ahead at (303) 805-9742, or better yet, just pop in and be seated. All are great options and are great ways to enjoy the Hickory House BBQ experience. No matter which way you prefer, it is all finger lickin’ good.
I know I have mentioned it many, many times, but I just love our lakes. You never know who you are going to see. Everyday is different. Sometimes you see so many different birds and wildlife, and sometimes, the lakes are quiet and no one is there. Everyday is unique.
This time, it is the cormorants on the lake. Usually they are pretty solitary, but this time, I got two together.
They look like they are deep in conversation.
Maybe it was too deep. Now there is only one.
I will hold my head up high and just keep swimming on.
Back in April, we made a batch of Verdicchio white wine at out favorite local winery, InVINtions A Creative Winery, Video #17 – INVINtions, A Creative Winery with our friends Mike and Lauren. A Lot of Wine, A Lot of Fun After we made the wine, we had to let it ferment for a couple of months before we were able to bottle it.
Finally, the time had come. The wine had fermented and is just right. Now it is time to bottle it up. We gathered up Mike and Lauren, and Janet and Bob (they were supposed to be there with us for the making of the wine too) and off we went for our bottling adventure.
The winemakers of the future, tasting a chilled glass of Verdicchio before bottling up our very own batch.
We have been going to InVINTions for many years, so we are good friends with all the staff as well. Lori and I are raising our glasses to toast each other.
And here we are with Tamika and Lori.
And now the time has come for the bottling process to begin. Here is our batch of liquid gold. Each batch makes roughly 28 bottles.
Devon is giving us a quick tutorial before we begin.
This is the end result we are looking for. Simple … Wine goes in, CHEER comes out.
Larry, Janet and Bob and I have all done this many times before, so we let Mike and Lauren choose what parts they wanted to do, since they are both newbies at this. Mike chose to bottle the wine. Devon is explaining the bottling process to him.
With just a little guidance from Devon, Mike was soon a pro.
Lauren was the one who had the important task of corking the bottles after they were filled. She was the corker. Before she started corking the wines, she had an inspirational hug from Mike.
Both Mike and Lauren are taking their jobs very seriously.
Bob was in charge of putting the labels on the bottles, Larry was sealing them up tight, and Janet was carefully placing the bottles on the cart. I was supervising it all while also taking pictures of everything.
The bottling was working like clockwork. And of course, we were sipping our wines all throughout the process as well. I think tasting is a necessary part of the job, or at least so I have been told. Soon, the bottles were done. Here we are, with our fearless leader Devon, showing off our finished wine bottles.
We placed our wine bottles on the magnets for 30 minutes to age them properly. Then they will be ready to drink and enjoy. We used a label we had used before, The Tree of Life. When you make your wines, you also get to create your own label.
Here I am, like a proud parent, showing off all wine.
We worked up an appetite after all our hard work of bottling up the wines. Once we were done here at InVINtions, we all went out to dinner to celebrate. I will save that one for later though.
Wine makes everything better, and it is best when shared with good friends and good food.
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
Hockey, and Avalanche Hockey in particular, are HUGE in our house. Larry has been an Avalanche fan since the first day of their Colorado debut, and he loved them even before, when they were still the Nordiques, up in Canada. Hockey is a big, big sport here in Colorado.
It is Stanley Cup time of year, and it was down to the last two teams – The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche. The games were Colorado 3 and Tampa Bay 2. The series goes until the best out of 7. It has been a LONG, LONG time since Lord Stanley (the Stanley Cup) has resided here in Colorado. There were chants all during this series “We want the Cup! We want the Cup!” Could we do it? Could we bring it home?
The actual game itself was played in Tampa, but Ball Arena hosted a big watch party, to a sold out, crowded, and very excited house. We were lucky enough to be there with our friends Janet and Bob, their son Brian and his son Peter.
We are all in our Avalanche colors. Yes, Larry and I both have a ton of signatures on our our jerseys. We have been Avalanche fans for a long time.
It was definitely a nail biter. Tampa Bay scored first and drew first blood. Tensions were high. Bernie, the team mascot, was banging the drum for all to hear the battle cries of the Avalanche. “We want the Cup! We want the Cup!”
We could win, and bring home the coveted Cup, or we could loose and it would be forced to go to a game 7. The Cup Keepers bring out the Cup just in case. Could tonight be the night? Could this be the Avalanche night we were all hoping for?
The long awaited answer to this question is …. YES! The final score was 2-1, Avalanche, and the game count was 4-2. Whoooo Hooooo!!!!!The Av’s did it! The Cup is home!
Our fearless Captain, Gabriel (Gabe) Landeskog holding the beloved CUP! I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures. They were taken from my cell phone, and were from the big jumbotron at the Ball Arena, home of the Colorado Avalanche. It has been a long dry spell of 21 years since we last had Lord Stanley stay in our house. We were long overdue. Tonight, the Av’s made Colorado very proud indeed.
Nathan MacKinnon, Assistant Captain, kissing the Cup.
The whole team got their chance to proudly skate around the ice holding the treasured trophy high above their heads. It was the first Cup for most of the team, however, it is Team General Manager Joe Sakic’s 3rd Cup, all with the Avalanche. He has two as a player, and now one as the GM.
All of Downtown was proudly showing their Avalanche support. Downtown Denver was a madhouse, and everything was proudly colored in burgundy and blue.
Let’s Go Avalanche!!!!!We won the Cup! We won the Cup! We won the Cup!
Dreams do come true. Never loose site of them. Never stop dreaming.
Two great tastes that taste great together, peanut butter and chocolate. You can never wrong with this combination, at least not in my book. It was a special day at church today. We were having a baptism and a BBQ immediately following service today. So I wanted to make sure we had extra good goodies for the cart, and for dessert after. I made some chocolate peanut butter brownies as well as the lemon glazed cookies for the occasion. Lemon Glazed Cookies They were both a big hit, especially the brownies. They all disappeared very quickly.
Peanut Butter Brownies
For the brownies themselves, I used the Ghirardelli Brownie Mix and just followed the recipe on the box. They are already perfect, so why mess with perfection, right?! 🙂
The Peanut Butter Topping
3 TBSP melted butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine all the ingredients together well and set aside until ready to use.
Preheat the oven to 325* F or about 165* C.
Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
Make the brownie mix according to the directions on the package and spread evenly in the prepared baking pan.
Add dollops of the peanut butter mixture all over the top of the brownie mix.
Gently drag a butter knife through the peanut butter mixture and swirl on top.
Bake for about an hour or until a toothpick that is inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before cutting and removing from the pan. And ENJOY!!!! You can never go wrong with brownies. I think brownies always disappear very quickly, no matter what the occasion.
Juneau and Vinnie were happy with this recipe too because they got to empty the peanut butter jar. At first Juneau wasn’t sure what to do with the jar, but she quickly learned from Big Brother Vinnie, and was a pro in no time at all.
Vinnie said this is definitely NOT his first time with a peanut butter jar, and he knew exactly what to do with it.
Peanut butter days are just as much fun as ice cream days.
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. Enjoy your days as if they are all peanut butter days. ‘Til next time.
I have been seeing and meeting so many new friends lately, and I just love it. Luckily I have my bird books that help me identify all my new, and old, feathered friends. I saw a Killdeer for the first time the other day, and then I saw one again yesterday. They are gorgeous little shore birds, but they like the grassy knolls too. They get their name “Killdeer” by the songs they sing. It sounds like they are saying KILL-dee-ur
Have a great day Everyone. There is always something new to see and new friends to meet. Keep your eyes, mind and heart open. There is always so much to see.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 