Special delivery?

The Collector was not receiving visitors today, so you're out of luck, sorry. Just sit tight and all will be revealed eventually.

Meanwhile, riddle me this: United sent me an email about their new "Door-to-Door Baggage" feature, in which you pay United $149 and up per bag to have FedEx pick up and deliver it.

Now, the luggage-by-mail concept is not new, and may be a good idea if you're really worried about the airline losing your bag. Or if you just don't want to carry it.

But I can't figure out from the United promotion page why there would be any advantage in paying United to to pay FedEx, rather than going to FedEx directly. Nowhere does it say that you'll get a better deal through United. "United is the first airline to save you time and money with this simple and convenient service," they say. Where are they saving me money?

But first ...

A cute poodle in a sunbeam to keep you company.

Another teaser

Click to see this larger:
Really have to get back over to The Collector's house today. Wish I could take you with me in person!

The collector

I was hoping I could persuade Blogger to let me show this list at full size on this page, but my attempts to hack the coding failed. It's a little more complicated than the image-swapping I do on the What is it? posts.

So you'll have to click on it to see it at a semi-legible size. It's a little blurry and badly stitched, but you'll get the idea. (Gah. Had to reconfigure it to get around apparent image size limits, too.)

This is just a teaser. I met a neighbor who has the craziest house you ever saw, but I'm not happy with the photos I took. Some of the closeups came out fine, but the light was not good for capturing the overall effect. So I need to go back early or late in the day when the shadows aren't so harsh.

Stay tuned!

Purple no more

Denver's City and County Building is often lit in different colors according to a monthly theme. Pink for breast cancer awareness, red for heart disease. Last year in October it was purple for the Rockies, who were in the World Series. (So nice to have a team with an attractive jersey color!)

This November it's been purple again. Not for the woeful Rockies, so I was puzzled, until it occurred to me yesterday: Maybe because we're a purple state!

But tonight it wasn't lit up in blue, so that theory's blown.

Brunch at Mona's in Denver

I'm always on the lookout for good brunch places in Denver. I was hoping to try Beatrice & Woodsley, but they only serve brunch on the weekend. Lucile's was an option, but I've been there a bunch. And to Pete's (both downtown and in University Park). There's also Breakfast King, Hot Cakes, Snooze, Dozens, Waffle House, IHOP ... no shortage of options for a hearty start to the day.

Today we tried Mona's on South Broadway, a new outpost of the original at 15th and Platte Street downtown. The space is bright and open. It wasn't very crowded, so I couldn't say what the noise level is like when it's full.
The Sergeant chose blueberry flapjacks with lemon whipped cream. He added peppered bacon with a side of fruit.
Sure looks yummy! I meant to ask for a bite, but waited too long.

I ordered the corned beef hash with eggs over easy. I have to say, this was the strangest interpretation of corned beef hash I've encountered:
It was very chunky, with discrete pieces of potato, green pepper, red onion and squares of corned beef. It tasted good, though the onion was a little abundant and on the raw side for me. Maybe I'm just a corned beef purist, but I do prefer the more traditional variety.

I only just now realized, too, that my toast never showed up. Clearly I didn't miss it during the meal, but still.

I did like the coffee.
I'm not sure how long this location has been open, but it feels a little like they're still working out the kinks. I'll go back another time and try some other dishes. Meanwhile, can anyone explain the legs over the door?

Mona's Restaurant 141 S. Broadway Denver, CO 80209 303-778-1111 Breakfast and Lunch Mon-Fri: 7am-2pm Sat-Sun: 7am-3pm

Use your head

Vote today, or squirrels will eat your face.

Kum-on

We had to stop for gas on the way back from Wyoming. At the exit it was toss-up between a Shell station and Kum & Go. Does anyone else find that name funny? And the marketing promotion: "Nothing says 'They were all out of flowers' like a Kum & Go" gift card.

The gas price – $2.42 a gallon! – made me smile, too.

I have teh internets!

A couple of weeks ago I lost my home internet connection and fell far, far behind on my Web-trolling, so if you've wondered why I haven't commented on your many brilliant posts, that's why. I've been able to catch dribs and drabs of generous neighbors' signals, enough to check email and upload my daily blather, but that's been about it.

That changed today with the delivery of that most handy device, a wireless DSL router, and someone at the Central Office who flipped the appropriate switch. I'm back on my merry way along the Superhighway to you, with a spring in my step, a song in my heart and a tiger in my tank.
Rrrrooowwwrrr!

Silly kitchen gadget No. 28

When I take a day off, it throws off my blogging clock! Guess it would help my feeble brain to have something like this grocery list organizer. Especially if my hands also become enfeebled and I can no longer lift a pen.

This organizer allegedly will recognize the items I speak to it, then print out my list on thermal paper, sorted into grocery store categories. It will recognize common errands, too. I wonder if "Post Silly Kitchen Gadgets on blog" is one them.

And hey, it's only $99, down from $199, at Cooking.com. Well, the four AA batteries cost extra. And refill paper rolls are $12 for three.

What the heck am I waiting for?

Shopping on the Western frontier

If you're ever headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming, don't plan to stay at the Wyoming Motel. The sign is awesome, but the atmosphere less so. Tweaker central.
Cheyenne is pretty sketchy around the edges these days. We saw a lot of down-and-out types just killing time sitting on the curb with brown paper bags.

Luckily for us, we were only stopping to take a picture of the sign, and of another across the street:
The Sergeant needed new shirts and we were in the mood for a road trip, so we had headed north to visit that mecca of name-brand bargains, the Sierra Trading Post outlet. They sell overstocks and closeouts from Columbia, The North Face, Kelty, Merrell, Rockport, Carhartt, Ex Officio, Sportif USA, Patagonia, Timberland, Ecco, Dr. Martens, Mountain Hardwear, and Birkenstock and more (to quote their website).

I would've taken pictures, but I was too busy shopping. I am not a big fan of regular, mall-type shopping and tend to wear things until they fall apart. I'd much rather go someplace that has a ton of stuff I know I'll like, at good prices, and stock up. I got a whole bunch of shirts (mostly Columbia and Eddie Bauer) and several Neve sweaters. The latter are about $140 and up in ski shops, but $30 at Sierra Trading Post.

Unfortunately we started rather late, so we didn't have enough light left (durn Daylight Saving Time!) to wander the town much. And we were starving. Shadows Pub & Grill at the old train depot would not have been my first choice, but it was the only place we could find that was 1) not a chain and 2) open.
The food was quite fine, though, and the service really friendly and attentive. I especially recommend their sweet potato fries, which they serve with brown sugar sprinkled on top and a dish of sweet melted butter for dipping. The waffle fries are really good, too, and my burger was huge.

I took more pictures on our trip to Cheyenne last year. Maybe we'll go again next year and take some more.

German pancake with baked apples and cranberries

Natashya just posted about her German apple pancake, which reminded me that I had some leftover baked apples and cranberries that would be perfect. (I had whipped up a batch of apple-cranberry crisp without the crisp, just because I like the baked fruit so much.)
My recipe varies slightly from Natashya's but the principle is the same. I use my great-grandmother's cast-iron skillet, which once upon a time was dedicated solely to German pancakes. I now use it for other things, too, but never anything that would give an off flavor to 100-plus years of seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 400 and whip together:
Three beaten eggs
half cup milk
half cup flour

You can do this all in one large measuring cup. I measure the milk, crack the eggs into it, beat with a hand mixer, then add the flour using a level half-cup scoop and mix it again.

Pour it into a heavily buttered, cold skillet. Make sure your oven is fully preheated.
Baking time is about 20 minutes or less. Start watching it at about 15 minutes. The pancake will puff up like crazy, but as soon as you take it out of the oven, it will collapse.

You can add any kind of filling you like, or just sprinkle a little powdered sugar over it, or butter and syrup.

The apples and cranberries in this case were just tossed with a little white and brown sugar, cinnamon and a grinding of nutmeg, then baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. So you could prep a batch and throw them in the oven with the pancake in a separate dish.
Ideally I would've added bacon alongside this dish, but it was pretty good all by itself, too.

I recently learned that these are also called Dutch babies, and there's a "Dutch baby pan" you can buy. But it's really not necessary. A skillet works fine.

I can never make more than one pancake at a time because the pan has to start cold. If I'm serving more people, I'll make waffles instead.

P.S. If you like apples and cranberries together, my Apple Cranberry Cake came out awesome. And the Apple Cranberry Crisp was pretty good, too.

Sanitas Valley Trail, Boulder

Yesterday we met some friends outside Boulder for a hike on the Sanitas Valley Trail. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm.

Sadly, Miss Sophie in her winter coat was not thrilled to be out for a ramble. She was really showing her age. She was happy to get into the creek to cool off, but then needed help getting out again.
She was draggin' her wagon all the way up. We made frequent stops to give her water. Even on the leash she was reluctant. She had to be leashed at a couple of points because the dog ranger was out.
On Boulder trails you have to have an off-leash tag for your dog (which you get by demonstrating that the dog is trained enough to come when you call). Without a tag, you'll get a ticket, like this unfortunate walker.

After our walk, we repaired to the Walnut Brewery in Boulder for an early dinner.

	The Sergeant had jambalaya, while I ordered the mac 'n' chicken, which came with a huge Caesar "side" salad. Quite delicious! I have enough left over to take to work tomorrow.

The Walnut Brewery is quite dog-friendly (as is most of Boulder). If you are seated on the patio, your dogs are welcome to sit outside the railing. There are bowls of water for them. And French fries, should you care to share. Biscuit the terrier mix was quite persuasive.

Annabelle the bichon stayed quietly under the table until we had finished eating, then got some lap time and dozed off with her chin on the table. She covered a lot of ground with those little legs!

Sophie spent most of the meal dozing in the back seat of the car (parked right next to us with the windows wide open). It's more comfortable there. But I brought her out when we were finished and she settled down to watch the passers-by.

We were all tired by the time we got home and called it a night early.

Wolf spider

We went for little hike today outside Boulder with some friends. I need to sort through all my photos, but thought I'd toss up these two first.
Wolf spiders are said to be common in Colorado, but this is the first time I've seen one. That's my index finger to give you an idea of its size. (Click on the photos to see them larger.)

Wolf spiders don't build webs but roam around on the ground looking for prey. They are not aggressive but will bite if they feel threatened. The bite can be dangerous to a small child or old person, but it's not lethal, just nasty.
After we'd ooh'd and ah'd over this one, I nudged it off the trail with my foot so it wouldn't get stepped on.

I've been interested to see that my recent post on an orange arachnid has been hugely popular. There must be a lot of people out there trying to ID the eight-legged critters they see.

Hack job

My poodle clippers do double duty every few months. While the box illustration says frou-frou, the clippers are equally handy for a macho crewcut on the occasional shaggy victim. I haven't been able to talk the Sergeant into a high and tight yet, though.

Happily, he doesn't fidget nearly as much as Sophie does.