Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Ginger Has Come To Town

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Christmas is basically here. Everyone should be preparing for their guest and thinking about the food they will be serving. Presents should be bought, though that doesn’t mean they have been. If you are like my sister, and me, we have yet to buy the gifts.

Though the gifts may not be bought the menu has been planned. I’m one of those hosts who loves to have some little nibble baked good sitting around that’s perfect to go with coffee, as a late night snack, or in the afternoon. Like I mentioned before my taste buds transitioned from pumpkin to gingerbread so this recipe is none other than gingerbread. This recipe calls for orange zest, which adds a subtle crisp flavor to it. I love a good cream cheese frosting, and this is a good cream cheese frosting but with that said the gingerbread is so good I find myself enjoying it without the frosting. I’ll let that be your decision to frost or not to frost.

Orange gingerbread with cream cheese frosting

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Hard Caramel

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The cooking challenge this week was caramel.  I was so excited to make them and nervous at the same time, because making candy can be dangerous.  I can safely say nobody got hurt in the kitchen in the making of these caramels.  But, I have to say these ended up not as caramel, but as hard candy—oops.

This recipe, even with the major screw up, are fabulous.  It is an apple cider caramel recipe and the thing that went wrong was I let it get above 252 degrees.  I would suggest adding the cinnamon and salt mixture when the temp is about 240, and after a little research I would suggest pouring it into the pan to set at 248 degrees. I believe mine probably got close to 260 which is the temperature for hard candy.

Now the flavor, it literally is a roller-coaster ride for your taste buds.  You initially get the tart cider, then the sweet buttery caramel flavor, then it finishes with a salty cinnamony swirl. They were so delish as hard candy I can’t imagine how good they would be as caramels.  Back to the kitchen.

Apple Cider Caramels

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Hypothetical: The Official Denver Hot Dog

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Check out my first blog post on 5280.com.  It is about one of the things I am very passionate about…hot dogs. When I moved to Denver, I immediately thought, hmm why doesn’t Denver have a Denver dog? So I took on the challenge and found what would be the hypothetical amazing Denver hot dog.  Now I’ll just have to work on making it official.

Bratislava- Best “No Expectations” City

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We added Bratislava to our trip just because it was on the way to Vienna from Budapest; thinking, “why not stay a night.” The more we talked to other people and thought about EuroTrip’s portrayal of the city we start to get a little nervous that we were spending too much time in Bratislava.  We thought about skipping it but we had already bought our “Botel” room.  So we went.

First let me say that EuroTrip’s depiction of the city is completely false.  Bratislava is a cute, tiny, historic city.  One of the best things about it was that we had very low expectations for it so there was no pressure.  In the other cities we visited we knew there were certain landmarks that we had to see so we were constantly running around and in Bratislava we were able to just relax and enjoy the city.  We ended up on a pub/gelato tour.  We would walk a little stop for a drink, then walk some more and stop for gelato, then repeat.  Don’t miss the “Men at Work” statue.  The man popping his head out of the street hole is named Cumil aka The Watcher.  While he doesn’t represent a history for Bratislava he has quickly become a famous attraction. We stayed in a botel like I mentioned before which is what it sounds like a hotel that is a boat.

Blending in with the locals.

We also had such an amazing meal.  We asked a local for a suggestion for a good meal and she suggested that we dine a brewery called Bratislavsky Mestiansky Pivovar.  We literally feasted (yes, Phil, literally).  We started with home-made cracklings in fat and a cheese dish that was beer cheese, spring onion, beer foam, mustard and garlic and when brought to the table you mix it all together. The we had beloved home-made tripe soup and of course  creamy garlic soup in a “bosniak” bowl (bread bowl). Then for dinner I had a young pork knuckle with saurkraut and potato dumplings.  Others had steak and duck.  We were beyond full and it was fabulous!

We chilled for a few hours at a pub to digest the food before heading out into the night life of Bratislava.  We went to the only night club in Bratislava and it was also possibly the smallest night club in the world, think living room size.  It was hilarious but also really fun!

Next stop, Vienna for some waltzing!

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Wine Wednesday and Beyond

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Beyond wines are the star of this weeks wine Wednesday for three great reasons.  The label is amazing it is bright and catchy which is of course my first reason.  Second the concept of naming the wines Beyond wine is pretty awesome.  It comes from a vineyard in South Africa called Buitenverwachting, which translates to “beyond exception.”  So the way the vineyard describes the wine is, ”Inspired by an estate deemed “Beyond Expectation,” wines that rouse the same sentiment.” And last but not least it is a great wine for the price. You can find the Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon for under $10.

So go and take a sip of these wines and let your taste buds taste a flavor way beyond their expectations.

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