Black Bean Spread

I know this isn't  vegan but I received this packet of black bean spread for Christmas and Britney and I are dangerously low on food so I rummaged my slim pantry. I found this packet, mixed it with some cream cheese we got as left overs from work and spread the mix onto bagels we also got from work. A part of a series of snacks for dinner. It was free!! 

The mix on a bagel.

The mix.

A blurry picture of the mix

Art in Denver

Here are some more pictures of adventures Dad and I and Britney had in Denver. Mostly they are of art events we went to, but there's a mixture here.

Here I am in the dark with the downtown Denver in the back ground. We hiked up to the top dome of the capital tour. 

Red Rocks amphitheater. Behind me you can see the skyscrapers of downtown Denver if you could zoom in. 

I can't wait to see a show here.

Relaxing at our apartment. The closest thing we have to a backyard or front porch!

SANTA FE ST ART WALK

On the first Friday of the month, several streets have Art Walks where the art galleries along the street are open for people to walk through. It reminded me of a Chef's Market in Napa with music, BBQs, street vendors and beautiful art (so a little different but you get the idea). 

There are two people over there on stilts. There is a band on the left, a restaurant on the right and people selling art on the street on the far left. 

Britney and I hanging out on the sidewalk of the art walk! Pretty fun and totally walkable from our apartment!

CHALK ART FESTIVAL!! 

Here's a bunch of pictures from the Chalk Art festival we walked around one sunny warm afternoon in downtown Denver. Very colorful, talented and creative. Some of the artists sure got dirty doing their art though!

Robyn, this reminds me of the copy of the painting you got at the museum in France--didn't you get this print?

Globe in the middle!

Like a rainbow!

SO MUCH CHALK!!! I love colors :)

One of my favorites!

Bubbles!!

Wine & Cheese

When Dad came to visit me in Denver the weekend before my bday, I got him to do a Wine & Cheese pairing for some of my coworkers in Denver. One in particular, Jonathon, is really interested in cooking and finding good pairing wines, so it was an awesome opportunity to combine my two worlds. 

The teacher's table: 4 different wines and the wine & cheese wheel.

The AmeriCorps table! Like the table runner from Suzal who brought it as a gift for me from Ecuador!

Rich & Pam's table. I was able to get them to come down to Denver to enjoy some vino with us!!

Dad prepping all the plates of cheese, lemon, apple and more cheese!! HA

Looks yummy right? It was! I've decided I'm both vegan and vegetarian, like the center of a venn diagram!

The 4 wines, sideways! (like the movie title about wine in CA)

Dad doing his thang. Also happened to catch him giving me a Loser sign, unintentionally!

Pam and Rich were wonderful students.

Jonathan and Diana listening intently. 

And don't forget Britney and Patrice!

Missy didn't like all the wines haha

Patrice seemed to enjoy herself!

OK Missy!! You don't have to drink anymore of the red wines. Stick to the super sweet tasty ones!

WHAT A FUN DAY!! THANKS DAD!! 

Birthday Brett Dennen

My 23rd birthday sure was a blast. I went to a Brett Dennen concert with Aubree (new friend in Denver) and had an outstanding time. We went to an Indian restaurant in downtown Denver for dinner where I even got a free birthday rice pudding that was super sweet and delicious. Then we found free parking near the concert hall, got there in time to see the fantastic opening band (The Submarines, check them out on Grooveshark.com!) and got front-row standing area at the front, center of the balcony. Great view. I couldn't have imagined a better day with all the wonderful surprises and fun. Thanks to everyone who wished me a beautiful day and shared bday love!!

Robyn painted me these pictures and sent them to me as belated bday gifts. I went and bought frames for them I loved them so much. The left is the album cover art for Brett Dennen's latest album. The right is a combo of Brett Dennen and Where the Wild Things Are and they are outstanding!! Aubree and I went to an art walk later in the week and these two pieces of art done by my lil sis are way better than even the $1000 art we saw that day!!

And here's a pic of some of the food Aubree and I had for my bday dinner. It was a cauliflower almond curry dish that was tasty especially with the garlic na'an!! It has been way too long since I've had Indian food. 

Picking on the Farm

Nothing says summer like this!

Britney and I have joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) through a local farm here in Denver, about an hour away. It's called Monroe Organic Farm and is in Greeley, CO. The way the program works is you buy a share of the farm and receive 18 weeks of fresh produce delivered to a local location where you go and pick up your produce each week. We split the price between the two of us and are super excited for our first pick up date (maybe me more than Britney but she's getting excited by-proxy). Unfortunately due to a hail storm last week the crops are little delayed so we won't be starting until July but it'll be awesome nevertheless.

When I was at the Boulder Farmer's Market, I saw the booth with from Monroe Farms. I told them how I'm part of their CSA Program and how excited I am about it. They asked if I was going to go pick strawberries on the farm and I said no since I didn't buy a fruit share. Well, I guess since I'm a member of the farm, that's all that matters. Britney and I made reservations for the following weekend. The night before we went, Britney remembered she had to work so I was going solo.

I grabbed some strawberry flats from a local grocer and drove to the farm. It was a warm day and I had sunscreen. I did not have bug spray though and there were SO MANY mosquitoes near the asparagus (which I also had the pleasure of picking). I picked nevertheless and gave my body up for free fresh asparagus.

Then I went over to the strawberry patch with a few other CSA-ers and we picked our own row of strawberries each. Due to the storms, the plants had been hurt by the storm and the berries were super small; I was expecting strawberries like those on Silverado Trail. Who cares though?! They were fresh and I PICKED THEM! It was hard too! I was exhausted after 2.5 hours on the farm and barely made it home.

Luckily Britney was home and she helped me clean them up and we made a little mixture of strawberries and sugar to add into her yogurt, my oatmeal, etc. We also gifted a few bouquets of asparagus to our coworkers since we have SO MUCH!!

A family picking strawberries. You can't even see the end of the row but let me tell you it was LOOONG!!

The farm (right) and the farm owner's house (left)

 

Doesn't look like much but it felt like a lot and our fridge is totally stocked now!

Working one by one, she's crazy!! I was tired Ha

Do they remind you of Strawberry Shortcake the cartoon character? That's what we were thinking of!

STRAWBERRIES! So small they look like cherries!

Cleaned and sorted strawberries: center=good to eat right now, two sides=use for strawberry jam stuff

Dirty towel, strawberries probably stain, who knew?!

SO MUCH cleaned Asparagus!!

Asparagus bouquets!

All the extra asparagus we had after all we used it for and gifted away. We probably had about 5 bundles worth and each bundle at the store can cost about $4, so that's a bag of $20 worth asparagus!!

Britney and I are HOOKED. Too bad our  bathroom constantly reeks now.... haha

I taught Britney how to roast asparagus as part of her cooking tutorial while living with me!

This is the strawberry + sugar mixture we made. So yummy and almost like jam!

Practically a Smucker's commercial, minus the Albertson's jar and the fact that WE MADE IT!!! :)

The aftermath of all the strawberry cleaning and prep work

Strawberry oatmeal, fresh and homemade. Take that Quaker Oats!!

I LOVE SUMMER AND FRESH ORGANIC PRODUCE!!! :D