It was my turn once again to host a comfortable dinner. I had an undeniable craving for spaghetti that had to be satisfied. I tried to go with a mix of healthy and delicious ingredients. I wanted to start the meal with garlic bread but I’ve never been a fan of bread with some garlic salt sprinkled on it. I decided to use my terra cotta garlic roaster to roast a head of garlic. I drizzled olive oil and used salt and pepper to flavor it. Then, we were able to just pick out cloves of garlic to put on bread. The olive oil was also flavored by it and made for great dipping sauce. The bread was a loaf of Ecce Panis light sourdough bread.
For the main course, I chose the 100% whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles. I also picked Classico fire roasted tomato and garlic sauce. For some protein, I added Jennie-O sweet Italian turkey sausage. I really liked the flavor of this sausage. They had the seasonings just right. I also got some shredded parmesan and asiago cheese to put on top of the spaghetti. All of these flavors came together to make an explosion of taste. Since Crystal and I were both hungry, we wolfed down our portions pretty quick. I also made a Caesar salad from one of the bagged salads for a side. My favorite part is its thinly sliced cheese.
We had to work on Crystal’s resume after dinner so we got to that fairly quickly. She did end up grabbing some McFlurries for us for dessert.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The Melting Pot
The Melting Pot website
2707 W. Main Street
Littleton, CO
(303) 578-4212
The Melting Pot extended its 5280 deal until the end of March. Since Crystal had never gotten to try it, I decided this was the perfect time to introduce her to it. We got to sit in the lower level because I requested a table near the restrooms. I had the beginnings of a bad cold but I wasn’t about to let that rob me of my experience.
We started off with the first course which was a Cheddar Cheese Fondue. This has “aged medium-sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses melt beautifully with lager beer, garlic and seasonings.” We had rosemary, white and brown breads to dip in it along with green apples, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.
The second course was our choice of salads. I had the Melting Pot House Salad which has crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, aged cheddar cheese, Roma tomatoes, seasoned croutons and sliced egg with your choice of Peppercorn Ranch Dressing or our sweet and tangy House Dressing. I went with the sweet and tangy house dressing. Crystal had the California Salad
which had mixed baby greens, Roma tomatoes, candied pecans and rich Gorgonzola cheese with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette. She really liked the dressing and the candied pecans.
Our third course was the main fondue. We had the court bouillon base and for dippers we had: Filet Mignon, Shrimp, Teriyaki-marinated Sirloin, Breast of Chicken, Salmon and ricotta Ravioli. Served with an array of assorted vegetables and our signature sauces. This is a pretty typical choice of meats. I also liked trying the ravioli.
Our final course was the chocolate fondue. This came with the Yin & Yang chocolate. Half dark chocolate and half white chocolate, artfully swirled for a perfect balance of flavors. We were actually able to choose our chocolates so we went with the white chocolate and milk chocolate. It did indeed come in a yin and yang design. This was served with strawberries, graham covered marshmallows, oreo covered marshmallows, cheesecake, brownie, red velvet cake, and banana.
2707 W. Main Street
Littleton, CO
(303) 578-4212
The Melting Pot extended its 5280 deal until the end of March. Since Crystal had never gotten to try it, I decided this was the perfect time to introduce her to it. We got to sit in the lower level because I requested a table near the restrooms. I had the beginnings of a bad cold but I wasn’t about to let that rob me of my experience.
We started off with the first course which was a Cheddar Cheese Fondue. This has “aged medium-sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses melt beautifully with lager beer, garlic and seasonings.” We had rosemary, white and brown breads to dip in it along with green apples, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.
The second course was our choice of salads. I had the Melting Pot House Salad which has crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, aged cheddar cheese, Roma tomatoes, seasoned croutons and sliced egg with your choice of Peppercorn Ranch Dressing or our sweet and tangy House Dressing. I went with the sweet and tangy house dressing. Crystal had the California Salad
which had mixed baby greens, Roma tomatoes, candied pecans and rich Gorgonzola cheese with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette. She really liked the dressing and the candied pecans.
Our third course was the main fondue. We had the court bouillon base and for dippers we had: Filet Mignon, Shrimp, Teriyaki-marinated Sirloin, Breast of Chicken, Salmon and ricotta Ravioli. Served with an array of assorted vegetables and our signature sauces. This is a pretty typical choice of meats. I also liked trying the ravioli.
Our final course was the chocolate fondue. This came with the Yin & Yang chocolate. Half dark chocolate and half white chocolate, artfully swirled for a perfect balance of flavors. We were actually able to choose our chocolates so we went with the white chocolate and milk chocolate. It did indeed come in a yin and yang design. This was served with strawberries, graham covered marshmallows, oreo covered marshmallows, cheesecake, brownie, red velvet cake, and banana.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Nice and Easy
This was a dinner back at Crystal’s place. We decided to go with a simple dinner. She heated up some fried chicken strips in the oven. We dipped those in spicy ranch dressing. We had fettuccine alfredo Pasta Roni on the side. It was deliciously creamy and garlicy. For our vegetable, we had frozen carrots and broccoli. Crystal mixed up some fruit and berry smoothies for dessert.
We enjoyed these while watching the 1954 Japanese movie, Godzilla.
We enjoyed these while watching the 1954 Japanese movie, Godzilla.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
St. Patrick's Day Dinner
My family has a corned beef dinner every year for St. Patrick’s Day. My mom went all out this year. She and I went on a culinary trip to Ireland in 2004. We visited lots of cookery schools and restaurants. My mom researched our menus and recipes from the trip to help plan our dinner.
The most impressive part of dinner was the breads that she made. One was an Irish soda herb bread. She just included chives but those were plenty. It’s so rare to have homemade bread. It was a white bread with bright green chives. She also made a whole wheat brown bread. It had a very hearty texture to it. She also bought a loaf of bread from the Great Harvest bakery. It was a Guinness and Gouda bread. I could taste the beer in the bread but with the bits of cheese in it, it was good. We had a pre-dinner cocktail of Powers Irish whiskey and 7up. The liquor store said that even though it’s not known here, Powers is the best selling whiskey in Ireland.
We had these different breads along with a spread of cheeses. We had an aged Irish white cheddar cheese, Blarney Castle cheese, Irish butter, and a tomato jam. The tomato jam was from Ballymaloe, a cooking school we visited. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it but it was really good. It was savory and a little vinegary. Surprisingly good!
For the main course, my mom made corned beef in the crock pot. It was a spicy corned beef so there were some hot red peppers floating around. She also put in baby carrots and fingerling potatoes to cook in the juices. I liked the spicy corned beef. It was different than what we’d had in previous years. I like to eat the beef with spicy mustard. It was accompanied nicely with some alcoholic cider for me and Irish beers for my family.
We finished off our fantastic dinner with some cupcakes that my mom picked up from Gigi’s. We had grasshopper cupcakes which have chocolate cake with a mint cream frosting. We also had chocolate covered cherry cupcakes which had chocolate cherry cake, cherry frosting and a chocolate drizzle.
The most impressive part of dinner was the breads that she made. One was an Irish soda herb bread. She just included chives but those were plenty. It’s so rare to have homemade bread. It was a white bread with bright green chives. She also made a whole wheat brown bread. It had a very hearty texture to it. She also bought a loaf of bread from the Great Harvest bakery. It was a Guinness and Gouda bread. I could taste the beer in the bread but with the bits of cheese in it, it was good. We had a pre-dinner cocktail of Powers Irish whiskey and 7up. The liquor store said that even though it’s not known here, Powers is the best selling whiskey in Ireland.
We had these different breads along with a spread of cheeses. We had an aged Irish white cheddar cheese, Blarney Castle cheese, Irish butter, and a tomato jam. The tomato jam was from Ballymaloe, a cooking school we visited. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it but it was really good. It was savory and a little vinegary. Surprisingly good!
For the main course, my mom made corned beef in the crock pot. It was a spicy corned beef so there were some hot red peppers floating around. She also put in baby carrots and fingerling potatoes to cook in the juices. I liked the spicy corned beef. It was different than what we’d had in previous years. I like to eat the beef with spicy mustard. It was accompanied nicely with some alcoholic cider for me and Irish beers for my family.
We finished off our fantastic dinner with some cupcakes that my mom picked up from Gigi’s. We had grasshopper cupcakes which have chocolate cake with a mint cream frosting. We also had chocolate covered cherry cupcakes which had chocolate cherry cake, cherry frosting and a chocolate drizzle.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Chicken Pineapple Sausage
This dinner was an example of having one main ingredient but not being sure how to prepare it. I had Aidell’s chicken sausage with pineapple and bacon. I didn’t want to simply serve them in a bun so I did some brainstorming. I decided to serve it cut up in a sort of stir fry. I cut up the sausage, some ham, and green onions. I put these in with some brown rice, pineapple and cashews. Crystal and I decided we wanted hot and savory versus a sweet flavor. I added Sriracha sauce for the spice and Worcestershire sauce for the savory flavor.
I got a baby spring mix salad which I served with a dressing I mixed up from vinegars I had. It had strawberry and peach balsamic vinegars with olive oil and a dash of pepper. We also had chunky applesauce on the side. For dessert, we had sliced strawberries with the strawberry balsamic drizzled on top. I had a glass of Meridian Sauvignon Blanc to drink.
My parents also had some of this sausage so we recreated the meal that weekend.
I got a baby spring mix salad which I served with a dressing I mixed up from vinegars I had. It had strawberry and peach balsamic vinegars with olive oil and a dash of pepper. We also had chunky applesauce on the side. For dessert, we had sliced strawberries with the strawberry balsamic drizzled on top. I had a glass of Meridian Sauvignon Blanc to drink.
My parents also had some of this sausage so we recreated the meal that weekend.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Shanahan's
5280 Restaurant Week
Shanahan’s website5085 South Syracuse Street
Denver, CO 80237
The final 5280 dinner found us at Shanahan’s, also in the Denver Tech Center. This dinner was 2 years in the making since the kerfuffle. They had signed up for 5280 but then decided not to participate. When my mom called to verify our reservation, they rudely informed her that they were no longer participating. Luckily, after a complaint to management, she received a gracious letter of apology along with some gift cards inviting us to return. This year, they did participate and we finally went!
Our reservation was at 6:00pm but the earlier reservations hadn’t cleared out yet. They were obviously overbooked. This meant we had to wait for about 30 to 40 minutes for our table. I was regretting my high heels then. The restaurant offered champagne to those waiting. While we enjoyed our free champagne we got to look at Mike Shanahan’s, former coach of the Denver Broncos, Super Bowl rings. My brother said that he always loves the high end restaurants owned by sports people because they always include TVs. The bar area was very chic. Tyler also ran into some friends of his who were enjoying the 5280 special as well.
Eventually we were led to our table in the main dining area. The chairs here were also comfortable and reminded me of those in Restaurant Kevin Taylor. We enjoyed some bread as we looked at the menu. It didn’t take long to decide since the menu had only one choice on it: steak or salmon.
The first course was Shanahan’s House Salad: iceberg, spinach and romaine lettuces with English cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes, crisp bacon and balsamic vinaigrette. The balsamic vinaigrette was one of the best I’ve had. I also enjoyed the thick slice of bacon on the salad.
We all went with the 6 oz. Filet Mignon in a Cabernet Sauce. It came with asparagus and a potato croquette. The filet mignon was extremely tender. The 6 oz filet was just the right size of steak. The meat was very fresh and I enjoyed the seasonings on it. The asparagus had a smoky grilled flavor. And what is a potato croquette you ask? They took some mashed potatoes, formed a ball, and rolled that ball into some bread crumbs. The outside was toasted and crispy. It was similar to a twice baked potato.
The dessert was Honey Cheesecake with blueberry sauce. The servings were just right. I felt comfortably full afterwards. The dining room was spacious and separated from the bar area. We sat next to some private rooms that looked like they could be used for business meetings.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
McCormick & Schmick's
5280 Restaurant Week
McCormick & Schmick’s website| 8100 E. Union Ave |
| Denver, CO 80237 |
| 720.200.9339 |
| 8100 E. Union Ave |
| Denver, CO 80237 |
| 720.200.9339 |
720.200.9339
The next family 5280 adventure took us to McCormick & Schmick’s in the Denver Tech Center. It’s a restaurant known for its seafood.
The restaurant makes a good first impression. I got the feeling I was in a hunting lodge rather than in a seafood place. Deep green and rich wood dominated the decorations. There was a seafood display on ice as we came in, though. I enjoyed that our table was in a private partition, large enough so we didn’t feel cramped.
Our waitress was also particularly hilarious. She spoke with a valley girl accent. It sounded as if it was wayyyy too much effort to use her tongue to enunciate her words. Interesting combination.
Now onto the food! Tyler was running late because he accidentally went to the downtown restaurant. We ended up ordering a Calamari “Frito Misto” appetizer with tangy cocktail sauce that was also on special. It included fried jalapenos and artichoke hearts as well as the calamari. It was interesting to try it this way, but I like more calamari. We ordered a second one when Tyler arrived so he could try it.
For the first course on the 5280 menu, we had a choice of salads. I had the Caesar Salad with Grana Padano Cheese & Garlic Croutons. My dad and brother also had the Caesar. I liked their Caesar dressing and of course loved the cheese. My mom ordered the House Mixed Green Salad with white balsamic vinaigrette, bleu cheese crumbles and candied walnuts. I tasted hers and the balsamic vinaigrette was really pleasant.
We went with the seafood choices for the main course. My family chose the Atlantic Salmon roasted on a cedar plank with northwest berry sauce. The salmon was indeed tasty. I ordered the Scallop and Shrimp Newburg with a creamy lobster and sherry sauce. It was served in an au gratin dish on top of rice. The scallops and shrimps were a nice large size. They tasted fresh and had great texture. The creamy sauce accompanied it perfectly.
For dessert, my dad and brother ordered the NY style cheesecake with raspberry coulis. I ordered the Belgium Chocolate cup with white chocolate mousse and berries. My mom ordered the same without the mousse. Usually the focus is what is inside the cups but my focus was devoted to the chocolate cup. It was rich dark chocolate that made me want to moan as it melted on my tongue. The mousse and berries were light and fresh but completely overshadowed by the chocolate.
Once again, I enjoyed a comfortable dinner in a nice restaurant. I want to go back and try their happy hour deals.
Friday, March 2, 2012
La Fondue
5280 Restaurant Week
La Fondue's website
(303) 534-0404
I went on a girls’ night out with 3 girl friends to La Fondue on a Friday night. I used the evening as an excuse to get dressed up in my new red corset and a black skirt. Rawr. Our reservation wasn’t until 8:30pm which made for a late dinner.
We were lucky enough to have a table that had two fondue pots on it so we got to order some different things. The first course was a cheese fondue. We got both choices which were Aged Cheddar: aged sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler cheeses in a light garlic beer base, and Three Cheeses: Monterey Jack, Fontina, and Gorgonzola cheeses in a white wine base with fresh ground pepper. They were served with green apples, carrots, celery and bread. The cheeses were heavenly and delicious. Our waiter put in a nice serving of garlic in the cheddar cheese.
Next came the second course which was salads. We all ended up ordering the Mushroom Trio: Fresh Crimini, Enochi, Button mushrooms, Iceberg & Romaine lettuce, Soy Ginger Vinaigrette. I enjoyed the soy ginger vinaigrette as well as the exotic combination of mushrooms. I ordered it reminiscing about the mushroom salad at the Melting Pot which was 80% mushrooms. Sadly, this one just had a few of each kind on it and was more lettuce than mushrooms.
The third course was our main fondue. We had two pots of the vegetable broth since the spiced wine was an additional fee. We had a choice of meat or vegetarian dippers. The Meat Dish option came with: Oscar Filet Mignon, Breast of Chicken, Marinated Garlic Sirloin & Shrimp. The Vegetarian Dish option came with: Asparagus, Hearts of Artichoke, Portabella Mushrooms, String Beans, Sweet Potato, Vegetable Dumplings & Gnocchi. I got to try some of each option and the meats were good. We got about 6 sauces to go with the meats. I missed some of the sauces from Melting Pot. These ones weren’t as flavorful. We had a cocktail sauce that could have been angrier, a horseradish sauce, barbecue sauce and some others that I forget now. The vegetarian option was new. It was just as delicious and still let’s vegetarians enjoy the fun of fondue. My favorite was the gnocchi.
For the fourth course, we had a choice of different chocolate fondues. Unfortunately they only gave us one pot of chocolate so we chose the Milk Chocolate Fondue. This was served with: Rice Crispy, Fudge Brownies, Pound Cake, Cheesecake, Marshmallows, and fresh fruits including strawberries, bananas, kiwi, and pineapple. This was very similar to the Melting Pot’s chocolate fondue. The marshmallows were the softest I’ve ever felt. I enjoyed all of the fresh fruit.
While the food was amazing, I was not very pleased with the atmosphere. This was mostly because we were seated in the back near a door that was propped open into a brightly lit hallway. It killed the mood. It was fun trying La Fondue and comparing, but I’m going to stick with The Melting Pot. I’m lucky to live so close to it!
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