Henna party

A group of us came together to celebrate a friend who is about to have a baby. It was not a baby shower but a mommy party in the Indian fashion. Hosted by Manisha, it of course included her amazing cooking, including ragda patties and other yummies.

I wish now that I had taken more and better pictures; my documentary skills are rusty. But I also was having such a good time!

We had a ceremony in which each of us presented the mom-to-be with symbolic gifts and showered her with rice and spices (literally). Manisha brought in two friends who do henna tattooing to decorate the baby belly and the hands of the guests.
The henna goes on as a dark paste, applied through a needle-nosed bottle. It smells strongly of eucalyptus. The artists are quite talented, and fast!
I took this with my cellphone. My tattoo had to be on the back of my hand, since I was driving home. Others got the tattoo on their palms. The paste is allowed to dry, then covered with a mix of lemon and sugar. The acidity helps darken the design; the sugar helps the paste stick. You leave it on for as long as you can, then scrape it off. I did so before I went to bed.
When I woke up today, the stain had darkened considerably. It will continue to darken today, if I can keep from getting it wet. Then it will last for a couple of weeks. Jackson is happy, because it means his bath will be delayed. He really needs one; he now matches the gray carpet.

With bated breath

I have slowly been working through the process of changing my name. After a couple of false starts I finally made it to the Littleton DMV. They made me take my glasses off for the photo. It's all computerized so they have exact measurements of your features. I didn't see the photo; they'll send me the license in the mail. I hope it turns out OK.

Encore! Encore!

An old friend was in town last week and she wanted to see the new Tattered Cover Book Store on Colfax. My plan was to then head over to Cuba Cuba for mojitos and dinner, but there was Encore beckoning to us from right next door.

I had the Fig & Pig flatbread pizza: prosciutto, fig jam and arugula, with gorgonzola added. Quite tasty! And the service was great: friendly, efficient and very accommodating.

You could have an awesome marathon date in that one little shopping complex, especially with the Denver Film Center soon to open there.

Tacos y Salsas on Federal

After I posted about tacos al pastor a couple of weeks ago, I did end up going to Tacos y Salsas to check out their offering. This taco chain is a little more slick than Tacos Veloz, with several locations in Denver and in other states. I went to the one at 910 South Federal. It's on the east side of the street, at Kentucky Avenue, in a little strip mall.
The place is clean and bright, with lots of seating, and the service is speedy. Place your order at the counter and they'll bring it to you when it's ready. I ordered tacos al pastor and a Coke.
The tacos are tasty, but too light on the pineapple. If I go again, I'll ask them to put more on. You also get a basket of chips with your order, and can try a variety of salsas from the salsa bar. And the Coke is in a giant glass bottle – 500 ml. Decadent! This meal was about $5.

Roasted chiles from Pete Palombo's

Starting in late August, the chile stands start popping up around town. Chiles from Hatch, New Mexico, are the most famous and delicious. Many of the stands are just a couple of guys with a truck full of burlap sacks and a roaster, setting up shop in a vacant lot. You can also buy the chiles at farmers' markets.
Since I was on the north side of town today, I decided to check Pete Palombo's market on a cow-orker's recommendation. Her parents buy bushels of chiles there every year. Pete's is in Brighton, on the northwest corner of U.S. 85 and East 144th Avenue. In October, they have a corn maze, too.

	You can get all kinds of fresh produce at Pete's: corn, pumpkins, potatoes, onions, greens... Even sunflower heads for roasting seeds or feeding to the birds.

They have many varieties of chiles, with varying degrees of heat. This late in the season, though, even the "mild" chiles have a bit of a bite to them.
I ordered half a bushel of the milder Anaheims and got in line for the roaster.
The roaster is a big mesh barrel with a line of gas burners. The chiles are tumbled past the burners.

Gabe is a neighbor of the Palombos who helps out during the week. He's in the construction business, but business has been slow. He roasts up to 40 bushels of chiles a day. He suggested I toss a broken-up head of garlic in with the chiles for a little extra infusion of flavor. Boy, did that ever smell good. Once the chiles look done, he pulls out a panful so you can check them before he bags them. You want them cooked enough so the skins pull off easily, but not so cooked that they turn to mush. Once they go into the bag, they will steam a little more.

A half-bushel may sound like a lot of chiles, but they freeze well and can be used in cooking all winter. They're good on grilled cheese sandwiches, on hamburgers, in posole and of course in a big pot of New Mexico green chile stew. Yum.

Tacos al pastor

I have not been a big fan of Mexican food – that is to say, the kind of Mexican food I grew up eating in Midwestern restaurants – the gringo-friendly (i.e. bland) platter of refried beans, rice, meat, cheese and sauce in combination with some incarnation of a flour tortilla. But the strawberry margaritas made it OK.

Then we went to Mexico for our friends' wedding and discovered tacos al pastor. What a revelation! We first had the tacos on the street and we were trying to figure out what that white thing was on top of the spit. Lard? No, pineapple! Plus a couple of onions.
Marinated meat is stacked on a spit that rotates in front of a flame, just like Middle Eastern shwarma, its inspiration. Except this is pork, not lamb. As tacos are ordered, the server shaves off the crispy grilled bits and some pineapple, too. Put it on a warm tortilla with onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime and it's heavenly.

To our delight, the same taco guys were at our friends' wedding! All their favorite street vendors catered the dinner, from the barbecued chicken lady to the pastry vendors and churro-makers, right down to the guy from the beach with the wheelbarrow full of candy.

Here's the guys from Tacos Ivan at the wedding. They did a booming business and probably disappointed a lot of folks looking for them on the street.
Back in Denver, I didn't think about tacos al pastor for a while (our own wedding plans consumed my thoughts), but then I had some good ones at the newly opened Pica's in Boulder and also stumbled across a blog somewhat devoted to local tacos al pastor: Denver on a Spit.

Last week, the Sergeant and I went to check out the (so far) top-ranked tacos, at El Taco Veloz, 5145 Federal Boulevard. It's on the west side of the street, right outside Regis University.
We went in the middle of the afternoon, so there weren't many people there. But the counter guy was quite friendly and the service speedy.

As I learned from reading Denver on a Spit, health code apparently requires that any meat shaved off the donkey leg (as one friend calls it) be re-grilled, which does change the flavor from what you get in Mexico. Still, what I had was mighty tasty, along with a big glass of cantaloupe juice.

If only it weren't so far away! I am now trying to find good south-side tacos. I think I'll meander over to Tacos Y Salsas at 910 South Federal and give that a try today.

Going to seed

Lucy would like you to admire the ginormous sunflowers that the Sergeant planted. They are about 8 feet tall! He started them from seeds in mid-June. The bees love the blooms, aphids like the sap, and wasps like the aphids, so these are good flowers to encourage pollinators.

Unfortunately, too much encouraging of some pollinators leads to this:
I was wondering why I kept seeing wasps hovering outside the laundry room window. They can probably stay there, since they're out of the way. The first good freeze will kill the nest, and we'll knock it down this winter.

Lakeside Amusement Park

We went to Lakeside Amusement Park with friends a couple of weeks ago. I'd never been, and I was sorry I hadn't, once I saw the place. It opened in 1908 and many of the rides are quite old. The signage is awesome; very art deco.
Admission was $2.50 per person, and most rides cost between 20 cents and 60 cents (I think that was a special rate).
The spaceship ride cost 30 cents. It was a lot of fun! You could raise and lower your rocket as it spun around pretty fast and high in the air.

Less fun was the famous Cyclone roller coaster. Allegedly there have been no fatalities on this rickety wooden coaster since it opened in the '40s. I have to wonder.
Seriously, I was terrified. There is one lap belt that we shared, and while I buckled it tight, I still came off the ride with leg cramps from bracing myself against the sides of the car, afraid of being thrown out. That felt like a real possibility!
But we had great fun on the bumper cars, on the train, in the labyrinth and on the Ferris wheel (with a crazed operator who wouldn't let us off!). We'll definitely go back next year. I'll get some more photos then.

Water-dog progress

With encouragement, Jackson and Lucy are getting more comfortable with getting wet.

Jackson is much more inclined to go in, and his desire to get the ball is a great motivator.
He doesn't like to stick his nose in the water, which makes it hard to grab the ball. He manages by grabbing the ball with his head sideways.
Today he got out far enough to start floating off his feet a little. He did not like that. When I threw the ball still farther out, that was the end of the exercise.

Lucy, meanwhile, will only go in if I do, too. So she didn't go in today.

It's not the heat

Whenever I leave Colorado, the first thing I notice when I arrive elsewhere is the humidity. My skin relaxes and my hair curls up. It's weird! You have to worry about mildew. Towels take longer than an hour to dry.

When I saw the haze in these Wisconsin trees, I worried there was a forest fire. Ah, no, it was just fog.

What is it? No. 33

Here's something I saw in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. The two photos together constitute a pretty good hint, I think. Can you guess what it is? Click on either photo to see if you're right!

(As always, no spoilers in the comments, please.)

Vulcan's popcorn

I have the bad habit of snacking while I work. If paper were edible, I'd have the cleanest desk in town.

But while snacking helps me concentrate, it doesn't help my waistline. There are always sweets beckoning from the office trough, so I've started bringing in popcorn as an alternative. Popcorn is not calorie-free, but made at home with a light oil it is healthier and lasts a lot longer than a handful of Oreo cookies.
Making popcorn on the stovetop is simple, fast and cheap. You just need oil, popcorn and seasoning. I've been using tea seed oil that Jen gave me. It's very light and has a high smoking point. But any vegetable oil will do. Just a splash – about a tablespoon. Heat the oil in a covered pan over medium heat with a couple of kernels. When the kernels pop, add 1/3 cup kernels, shake the pan and wait for the popping to begin. As the corn pops, shake the pan once in a while so it doesn't stick. When the popping slows, take the pan off the heat, let it sit for a few more seconds, then pour the popcorn into a bowl.
I have been seasoning my popcorn with Vulcan's Fire Salt from The Spice House in Milwaukee. It's a mix of salt, Louisiana chile mash, garlic, habanero chile, shallots, Tellicherry pepper, lime peel, pimenton de La Vera, picane, cumin, allspice and vinegar. Boy, is it yummy! Leaves your tongue a little numb.
I just ordered a pound of the stuff to refill my shaker. That should last me for a few months of snacking. Give it a try!

New rule

Bread should be left in the bread box, not on top of it.

Bee catcher

A friend emailed me to ask if I could remove a beehive from her parents' neighbor's yard. I gave the nice little old lady a call.

"Are you sure they're bees?"
"Oh yes! They're building honeycomb on the side of the charcoal grill!"
"Was the grill covered before?"
"Why, yes, it was! I took the cover off last week, but I didn't notice them then. Can you come save them?"

I figured it was a recent swarm. I tracked down a guy who needed bees, then went to scope out the hive, just to make sure. I had my suspicions.
Oh.
At least her heart was in the right place.

Time passes

And poodles nap.