Just when I think I have seen the last of my tiny babies, all of a sudden I see some more. Today, it was just one little baby with its mommy. Mom was so proud of her little duckling.
Then I even saw the duck teens resting in the ponds too. WOW! What a difference.
I hope your day is just ducky.
Colorado is known for its breweries. We have a lot of micro breweries all over the state, but we also have some major ones too, like Coors and Anheuser-Busch. The Anheuser-Busch brewery (Budweiser) is based outside of Fort Collins, where Carol Anne is staying while out here in Colorado. While we were out for lunch, we thought we we try to take a tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. But alas, the tour facility was closed. We did take a few pictures of the outside though, just to prove we were actually there.
Neither one of us are beer drinkers, but my favorite part is always to see all the big Clydesdale horses. Since the tour was not taking place we were not able to see the horses either. However, we did get to see the horse trailers. They are huge, but then they have to be since the Clydesdales are also huge.
At least we can say we went to the facility and Carol Anne has the pictures to prove she was there. 🙂 The grounds were beautiful.
Despite the fact that we could not take the Anheuser-Busch tour, we still had a lovely visit, a beautiful day and a delicious lunch. It was a very good day indeed. 🙂
Stay cool, stay well and stay safe Everyone. ‘Til next time.
There is so much beauty all around. We just have to open our eyes and open our hearts to see it all and really appreciate all that is here for us to see. Often, we don’t even have to go that far to see what’s right outside for us, just waiting to be discovered. Yesterday, I gave you some beautiful orange and yellow flowers. Nature Walks – Pretty Orange and Yellow Flowers Today, I give you some pretty purple flowers.
These irises are my own irises in my front yard.
This salvia is in my front yard too.
These are from my neighbor’s yard.
Today, I say color your world purple. Have a very beautiful, purple day.
Our blogging world is full of so many wonderful people and it is always so much fun when we actually get to meet each other in person. Yesterday, I met up with Carol Anne from https://therapybits.com/
I picked Carol Anne up from her friend’s apartment in Fort Collins, about an hour north of me, and we went out for lunch. We wanted to go to someplace that was NOT a chain, but was unique instead. We chose Austin’s American Grill.
“Austin’s American Grill is the quintessential taste of Colorado. With two great Fort Collin’s locations—one in the heart of Old Town and another on Harmony Road, we’ll have you wondering why mom’s food never tasted so good and when you can come back for more. Savory roasts and chicken cooked over an open flame in our front-of-the-house rotisserie. All-natural buffalo seasoned to perfection. Cornbread baked in iron skillets and drizzled with honey and butter. Signature cocktails sweetened with fresh-squeezed fruit juice. Plus, our decadent desserts are made fresh daily, giving you an excuse to stop in for a slice that reminds you of home. So grab a friend and make plans to meet at the red umbrellas. There’s a reason Austin’s is one of Northern Colorado’s favorite destinations.” We went to the Harmony Road location.
I was very impressed that Austin’s roast their own rotisserie chickens over a wood fire, out in front for everyone to see. Neither of us ordered rotisserie chicken this time, but I guarantee I will next time, and there will definitely be a next time.
Carol Anne and I placed our orders, and then I was off and running taking pictures of the restaurant before our delicious food arrived. The decor was very warm and inviting and the staff was fantastic. They were all so friendly and so helpful.
I loved their colorful wine rack too. I would love a wine rack like this at my house.
Austin’s is very spacious, with dining options both inside and outside and even in the large bar area. We chose to dine inside, though the outside patio was very inviting.
The food at Austin’s was delicious. Carol Anne ordered a bison burger. Bison is very popular here in Colorado, and there are many bison ranches all around.
I decided upon one of their fabulous salads, that was loaded with chipotle chicken, candied pecans, tomatoes and crispy fried onions. It came with some honey fried cornbread on the side as well.
Carol Anne and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and each other’s company and decided whenever we are in each other’s corner of the world, we will definitely be meeting up again. After lunch, we drove to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. We wanted to take the tour, but it was closed. We did still get some good pictures though. You will just have to wait a bit longer for that. Anticipation, you know. 🙂
Our time together passed quickly and before we knew it, it was time to call it a day and to bid our farewells for this trip. But their will be more meetings again in the future. I also got a good picture of Carol Anne and her friend Sarah too. I hope Carol Anne is having a good time here in the States and making a lot of fun, happy memories along the way.
Until we meet again. Save travels Carol Anne.
The Austin’s American Grill that we enjoyed is located at 2815 Harmony Road, Fort Collins, CO. You can give them a call at (970) 267-6532 or check them out online at harmony@austinsamericangrill.com or better yet, just drop in and pay them a visit in person. You will definitely be glad you did.
We have so many gorgeous flowers on display right now. They are so bright and vivid. We have all colors of the rainbow proudly on display. In fact, there are so many beautifully colored flowers right now, that I have to color code my flowers for you. And that’s OK! I say we can never have to many flowers, right?! The more flowers and colors there are, the more beautiful our world becomes.
Have a great day and color your world beautiful.
The phrase cool beans is something I have been saying forever. It is kind of my signature phrase. But this time when I am saying “cool beans” I am actually referring to a cool bean salad.
Right now we are experiencing record high heats. We are only in the middle of June and we have already had quite a few days with temperatures over 100* F. Trust me, this is very, very HOT! So with the mercury levels rising, I am spending as little time as possible in the kitchen and away from the stove. I came across this cool and refreshing recipe from our very own “My Meals Are On Wheels” at https://beatcancer2010.wordpress.com/ Rebecca Fernandez. Of course I personalized it in my own way, but I was inspired by Rebecca’s delicious looking salad. And delicious it is too.
Summer Bean And Corn Salad
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups corn
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
4-5 green onions, sliced
salt & pepper to taste
1/3 cup fruit flavored balsamic vinegar – I used Cara-Cara orange
2-3 TBSP olive oil
fresh lemon verbena, optional
Combine everything together then add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and toss well. Refrigerate until ready to use.
This salad has it all. It’s colorful, cool, refreshing, low in fat and very healthy. Plus it tastes really good too. It is a win/win salad, perfect for these dog days of summer.
Stay cool, stay safe, and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
I love berries, and particularly blackberries. I eat them straight out of the container all the time. I also like to add them to different cakes and desserts. And I really love to mix and match my berries. This time I added a bowl of mixed berries to my chocolate pound cake to give it a little extra zip and pizzazz. I stayed with the mixed berry theme for the decorations too and added some chocolate and strawberry ganache, with sliced strawberries on top. It was a fun, summertime dessert, or in this case coffee cart item.
Chocolate Berry Pound Cake
This cake was so decadently rich and moist and definitely full of flavor. But because of all the fruit, I will “claim” it is healthy too. It will be our little secret that it’s not really as healthy as I would like it to be though. 🙂
3 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks of softened butter
2 tsp vanilla
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup mixed berries, or berries of your choice
Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.
Spray a bundt cake pan with cooking spray and add a dusting of flour to coat the pan.
Combine the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy, then add the eggs 1 at a time, and mix again in between each addition. Add the vanilla too.
Alternate between the flour and milk until both are incorporated into the mixture and mix just until everything is combined.
Spoon about 1/2 the batter into the pan, then add the berries in the center. Add the rest of the batter on top.
Bake for about 1 hour and 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. Let the cake cake cool completely before taking it out of the pan and adding the toppings.
Once it is cooled completely, top and dress it up however you like. I added both a chocolate and strawberry ganache and some sliced strawberries to make it a festive summer time treat. I added it to my coffee cart goodie trays. Delicious!
Stay cool, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
I love all kinds of Mediterranean food. In fact, it is probably one of my absolute favorite styles of food. The other day, Larry just said he wanted something with chicken, but no other guidelines than that. It was one of those days where time was of short supply, so I knew I needed to make something easy-peasy. Also, we are most definitely in the dogs days of summer right now, so something cool and refreshing was definitely a must as well. A quick Mediterranean orzo salad seemed like just the perfect thing.
We have already had this salad a couple of ways too and then we shared it with our friends Mike and Lauren. It was a big hit all the way around.
For dinner, I served it with some chicken that I marinated in some pesto and lemon balsamic vinegar and then grilled it up. I topped it all with feta cheese (for Larry ) and some fresh lemon verbena from our backyard.
For the orzo salad, I cooked the orzo according to the directions on the box, then cooked up a few vegetables and mixed everything together with a lemony fresh citrus dressing. Usually I make my own dressings, as you very well know, but I had some store bought dressing that needed to be used and it worked just fine.
This time I used typical Mediterranean vegetables like red onions, zucchini, crookneck squash, red and green bell peppers, garlic and tomatoes, as well as some spinach, and again, more lemon verbena.
I cooked everything except the tomatoes and the lemon verbena in some olive oil, along with salt & pepper, some red pepper flakes and oregano.
Once all the vegetables and orzo were cooked, I added the tomatoes and lemon verbena and tossed everything together with the dressing. Then I let it chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours . This is a summer salad and is best when served chilled.
Of course I served with a cool glass of or two of chardonnay and some warmed pita bread on the side.
Afterwards, I served it again by adding some artichoke hearts and sausage to make it a quick and cool lunch salad. Both ways, it was cool, refreshing and very tasty.
Stay cool and do your best to avoid the heat. Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.
I thought I had seen the last of my little ducklings for the season. I thought the only babies we still had were already growing up to be teenagers. Nature Walks – Duck Teens However, I was very pleasantly surprised to see we still have little babies out and about too. They were so cute in their swimming lessons with mom.
Life is just full of surprises.
Larry is from a very large family. He is the youngest of 9. The other day, one of his sisters was in town for a business meeting and he has two brothers who live in the Denver area. Even though there are three brothers that all live fairly close, we all lead very busy lives and don’t get a chance to get together as often as we would like. So we all decided to make a dinner date while Jean was in town. We gathered at the Griffin Tavern in the DTC or Denver Tech Center.
Larry is in the rust shirt, sitting next to his brother Randy, their brother Ron and his wife Sue, two of Jean’s colleagues and Jean. We are all visiting and catching up before our dinner arrived.
We enjoyed a round of libations before our food was delivered as well.
Griffin Tavern is a cozy pub in the heart of the Denver Tech Center, featuring an eclectic selection of whiskey and craft beer, great appetizers, delicious salads, burgers, and sandwiches.
You can dine inside or out. Both were hoppin’ and happenin’ places to be.
We were a group of 8. Most of us ordered one of the many burger options. They were delicious, messy and HUGE. I ordered one with peppered bacon and pepper jack cheese. Larry helped me with my fries.
Larry went for the sliders and the mini ribs.
Jean ordered nachos, but she wanted everything on the side. They had no problem accommodating all our special requests. Our server took great care of us.
Griffin Tavern is a friendly and fun place to gather with good food and drinks to boot. They are located at 5062 Syracuse Street, Denver, CO. Their phone number is (720) 482-4038. Next time you are in the neighborhood, stop by and enjoy the local DTC pub scene.
We do our best to make the most out of every situation. Everyday is a good day, especially when celebrated with family, friends and good food.
Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 