We put the Gay in "Gay"la

It's been a busy couple of weeks, full of streamers, balloons, and festivities... well sort of.  We had our annual Denver Health Foundation gala a little over a week ago, and I've been working over time and then some to make sure it went off without a hitch.  I'm breathing again which is a good sign and only worked a couple of hours this past weekend, also a good sign.  I had Matt by my side during the whole event, Ginger and Doris volunteered as well and they were all life savers!! Yay to it being over and us raising a lot of money for a great need!

 It was a Latin theme this year, and the ballroom looked amazing!  The table cloths were multiple colors with different Carmen Miranda (sort of) centerpieces of peppers, fruit, birds of paradise, and palm leaves.  We had salsa dancers during the program, Tambarasas - mexican marching band during the silent auction/cocktail hour, a children's mariachi band, carnivale stilt walkers during the silent auction, and a salsa band Que Mando.  Lots of entertainment.

The Live auction went well, above are our five items being advertised. Below are two of 10 silent auction categories; Sports & Recreation, and Office, Home &  Garden.  Ginger Matt and I put together the two pictured display tables.  

El Destroyo

A picture's worth a thousand words.  Machine guns are cool.  Megadeath seemed like my only option.  Please forgive me.  Adieu.

  

We put the "butter" in Butterflies

For Relief Society (women's church group) I was put in charge of making the party cupcakes. So we (Matt & I) decided to have fun with it and spruce up your typical little frosted cake.  We have a tried & true chocolate cake recipe that we topped with green tinted cream cheese frosting and added some small green sprinkles for texture.  

The butterflies are made out of chocolate that we piped on with frosting bags - first the brown outline then the colored center.  We had to move quickly because it would harden fast.  Then we used toothpicks to blend them together and make patterns and swirls, finishing them off with some white sprinkles on the wing tips.  We made each wing separately then piped the chocolate body on last once they were assembled on the cup cakes.  
Showing off our wax paper that we outlined the butterflies on - definitely something that requires such a stoic expression.
Tired yet pleased.

Matt's B-day + Laguna Beach = Good times

When the day starts out with scones, clotted cream and jam - nothing can go wrong!  Such was March 3 - the day of Matty Lee's birth.  Gifts and food were plentiful, and that weekend we were off to Laguna Beach for more celebrating and Grant & Rachel's wedding.  

French 75 - fab restaurant in LB.  Unfortunately the week prior was 52.80 week in Denver and we were a bit overloaded on fine dining (is there such a thing?).

The ocean never ceases to amaze and inspire - wish we lived closer, but the mountains certainly hold their own!
Grant + Rachel's reception was at this gorgeous home with it's own private beach.  It was absolutely stunning and they're super happy together - CHEERS!

Gettin' my groove on (in a very white girl sort of way) and loving every  minute of it!
What's a beach reception without a bonfire and s'mores?  

Restaurants, Restraunt Week and Getting Fat

It's the time of year when a couple can binge at Denver's favorite eateries for the attractive price of $52.80. For most establishments $52.80 buys two people an appetizer, entree and dessert. Here is a list of places we went and what we thought of the experiences.

Lola-This high-end Mexican restaurant never disappoints.
We opted for the Roasted Corn Soup: crawfish tamalitos & salsa munoz, I then went with the Chimichurri Steak: sweet potato fries, long cooked spinach. Candice being the lover of fish that she is, went with Seared Red Snapper: butternut squash, cilantro-garlic sauce, crispy knob onions. The meal to this point was sublime. The dessert was a take it or leave it dish that sounded better than it tasted. of Dark Chocolate-Piloncillo Roll: whipped cream filling, roasted brown sugar pears.
Out of ten we'd give Lola 8.5-9.


Alto-The decor is sophisticated and the staff seemed courteous and prompt but that's where the complements end. We both started with the Old World Onion Soup - gruyere crouton gratin. It was similar to traditional french onion soup except the broth was less flavorful and there wasn't a large mound of melty cheese to accompany each sippy bite. I proceeded with a buffalo short rib which was again, under-seasoned and candice went with salmon which she thought was "pretty good". We finished with profiteroles which tasted similar to the ones your cheap boss gets for the office party from Costco.
Alto 6


Samba room-Latin nuevo served in luxurious Cuban-inspired decor. To amuse our bouches we went with the mini arepas and the short rib in a port wine demi glace. Both were flavorful and were wonderful latin interpretations. Our mains included Banana Leaf Wrapped Salmon with Mango-Shrimp Sauce, Yucca Mash & Asparagus and Churrasco Style Flank Steak with Cuban Black Beans, Saffron Rice, Red Onions, Avocado and Tomato Mojo. For finishers, guava empanadas and a rich tres leches were selected. All courses were magnificent.
Samba Room 8.5-9

Palace Arms-Located in the historic Brown Palace hotel this unique restaurant oozes ghostly grandeur from another era. I kept expecting to see the ghosts from Disneyland's haunted castle also enjoying the bargain that 52.80 week affords. A Caesar salad made tableside was a fun way to start the meal. Next up was All Natural Filet of Beef Rossini - Brioche, Swiss Chard, Foie Gras, Madeira Demi Glace. Candice enjoyed Great Lake White Fish - Pumpkin, Chestnut, Beurre Blanc. You'll notice a boring trend that my dear wife and I employ. We usually get the same proteins at fine dining restaurants. In my defense I thoroughly enjoy a nice bit of lobster or crab to accompany my beefy slab. Sad but true. We finished with a bread pudding bananas foster that knocked our socks off. It should be noted that Candalinicus received a fresh rose at the conclusion of our meal and the Matre 'D remembered our names as we exited. Classy joint to be sure. Overall, we felt like this was the best bargain for 52.80 week. Everything just felt like it was a bit of a step-up from other restaurants.
Palace Arms 10

Our fat has multiplied but so has our happiness. Praise be you 5280 week. Until next year. Adieu

Ripley's Belize it or not

It was hard to think of a good title for this blog entry. "Don't stop Belizin'" and "You're unbelizable" were the first that jumped out at me. What about "Belize in yourself"? Each equally horrible, it saddens me to know that all are being pedalled as t-shirts on the sandy streets of Caye Caulker this very minute.

Needless to say, we just returned from a trip to Belize and Guatemala. We had a bitchin' time and apart from a little sickness everything went smoothly.

The first few days we spent as much time in the sea as possible. Belize has the second largest reef in the world and we were able to see a good sampling of the flora and fauna represented.

We went to a place called "shark alley" where they have one of the highest concentrations of nurse sharks and rays in the world. They are everywhere and you can get close enough to gently touch them. They were pretty big too, maybe 4-6 ft. in diameter. Here's a list of some of the notable stuff we saw: Nurse sharks, rays, eagle rays, big octopus that was being attacked by a spotted eel, tons o' colorful fish, sea turtles, schools of tarpon, moray eels and huge hermit crabs.


After a bunch of cool dives we decided to do the famous blue hole. It's an ancient cave system that has filled with water. It's about 450ft. deep and one of the few places plainly visible from space. The dive takes you to about 130ft. where you can check out stalactites and if you're lucky the occasional bull or reef shark. Jacques C. was the first to dive it and after he called it one of the must dives in the whole world. Our experience there was surreal and scary. Our descent went well. At the bottom(130ftish) Candice was having problems seeing the group through her mask. She could just barely see us by our colored flippers. To add to that frustration, it gets dark down that deep. On top of that she contracted nitrogen narcosis. N.N. can be different for each person that gets it and their circumstances but for my girl she got really confused and disoriented. She was going a little crazy and starting to lose it. She thought she needed to ascend and started to frantically race to what she thought was the surface. Now to any logical/sane person the deep, dark cold side is the bottom and the light side is the top but not to Candice. I looked on in horror/shock as the love of my life started racing to the bottom. She got to 150 ft. before the dive master figured out what was going on and stopped her. It was really freaky and she didn't/doesn't remember most of it. It was just a healthy reminder that things can get a little freaky in the deep. Apart from that, it was like being on a different planet and we got some amazing footage of it that I'm too lazy to upload.




After the beachy portion of our trip we headed to the jungle for some more explorin.' On our way we both got totally sick, in fact, I'm still recovering. We popped some pills and toughed it out, what did you expect? We kayaked the mopan river and did some local jungle hikes. After that we went to Guatemala and checked out Tikal. It's the largest and most impressive Mayan ruins in the world. The next day we went to Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. It's this cave that you have to hike through the jungle for about an hour to get to. Once there, you have to swim, wade and climb through some beautiful formations to reach the part where the Mayas used to do human sacrifices. Yeah, you read correctly, I said human sacrifices. We pretty much felt like Indiana Jones sans booby traps.






Why have a whole tan when you can do it farmer style, representin' the roots. Layoff.

The bones of the victims are perfectly preserved by a layer of calcium. It's a little eerie and also really cool. They have perfectly preserved pots and vessels that are around 1,000 years old. It was incredible.

I took one for the team and lugged our 20lb diving camera through the cave so we could get some decent pics and vids.

We had such a good time and are so grateful for the experiences we had. Especially, for all the lobsters and pina coladas that freely gave their lives for our culinary pleasure.

Until our next adventure, adieu.

Sing Hallelujah!

We are blogging once again, and know that we are quite possibly the worst bloggers ever (exception Allison Johnson & Patrick). Truthfully, when the holidays came extra time discipline and focus just slipped away from us. We

had an incredible December and January and are optimistic for what 2009 has in store.

Here is a quick update on some of the most recent happenings. MOST IMPORTANTLY, we had two sweet little nieces born in January. Laila is Jon & Kaylene's chubby little Texan, and Megan is Ryan & Ali's tan little squeaker. Hopefully we'll get to meet them both in person soon!

Let old acquaintance be forgot - we ushered in the new year at Doris and Mickey's with a Roarin' 20's soiree. We made silent movies, watched City Lights, learned the Charleston, and ate our little hearts out. Matt is now a huge fan of Charlie Chaplin movies.

Coy Natalie and Joni showing off their fringe

Christine sneaking a kiss while Jeff poses for the camera

Sophia is quite sassy already - her parents are in trouble

Madison, Eve, and Ginger keepin' it real

" buy me last pape?"

making homemade pasta

attempted pin curls

Doris' fabulous "ice box" cake

a bit theatrical

Gift exchange at the Bronco's alumni Christmas party - it was so great to see everyone!

Why not?

The lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens were stunning.