Happy Holidays

I hope you made it through 2008 happy and healthy (and still have money left in the bank). My year brought a little change and lots of fun.

Work—The 10 year nominal Cassini Saturn mission ended. We got a two-year extension so I think I have a job till then, but the next potential extension has huge budget cuts so I expect my ride to end. My boss is proposing a Venus lander now, and I think I’m in the budget. I hope we win the contract, otherwise I’ll be knocking on some doors.

Vacations and Trips—The big trip was Hawaii last December for my big 5-0. Barbara met me in Kona, where we stayed with, Susie and Gerry at their lovely home overlooking the ocean. We did so much—even though it rained almost every day. (The headlines on my birthday read “Rain, wind and blizzard!”). We snorkeled a few times and saw amazing fish! I ate plenty of Spam sushi (musubi) as well as fabulous real sushi and other unique foods and fruits. There was a lot of sightseeing around the island (courtesy of Gye’s generous gift card) including a tour of the quaint Greenwell coffee plantation; checking out sea turtles at Panaluu Black Sand Beach; playing in the banyan trees at Rainbow Falls near Hilo; staring over the edge of the gorgeous Waipio Valley Overlook; hiking through the creepy trees to Puako Petroglyph Park; and becoming enamored with the beautiful black and white beach at Holoholokai. Susie and Barbara took me to birthday dinner at Huggo’s, followed by salsa dancing. I also got to visit with an old coworker, Cynthia, who I hadn’t seen in 15 years. Susie, Barbara and I did an overnighter in Volcano and hiked into a caldera at Volcanoes National Park in the rain. One of the most entertaining memories was when we had to leave our funky cabin (complete with two feral cats and a roof leak) a day early because the owner didn’t pay their electric bill and the power company shut off the electricity.

Later that month, I did an overnight birthday trip to WY with Judy, and my high-school friends, Sue and Jim (who’s 50th birthday was the day before mine). We went to Saratoga Hot Springs. It was a horrendous drive through major ground blizzards—we just missed a fatal accident, and the highway closed behind us. The next morning, our return trip was delayed as the highway was still closed for hours. But, we had a great celebration. We spent the day in the hot pool. The evening included a birthday dinner at The Wolf, hanging out by our lodge’s outdoor fireplace and in the bar listening to a country band, and getting hit-on by a cowboy 20 years my junior—which was great medicine for someone going over the hill. I didn’t visit Dad and Armelde’s this year at Christmas because I took so much time off for my birthday adventures.

But in April, I did fly to back there to celebrate my great Aunt Eve’s 100th birthday in Queens. Armelde coordinated a party at Eve’s apartment and invited lots of Eve's friends and family. She looked like a princess on a throne with her tiara in her wheelchair. She was so moved and really enjoyed seeing all her friends in one place celebrating her long and loving life. During my visit, we also went to Mystic Seaport, which I really enjoyed. I even got a lobster roll that weekend, as the dockside shack just opened. But, a seagull swooped down took a big chunk out of it when my back was turned.

I finally got to enjoy Theo and Brenda’s new, fabulous restaurant (626 on Rood) in Grand Junction, when I went over for 4th of July weekend. We watched the fireworks from her son, Dylan’s, porch; spent Sunday walking to the farmer's market and various wineries and distilleries around their quaint little town, Palisade; and had some lovely meals at home. Judy and I, and three of her friends, country danced in Cheyenne for her 50th birthday overnighter.

I spent the Labor Day weekend in San Francisco for Slow Food’s first massive USA event, Slow Food Nation. I ate at three of the city's best restaurants (Zuni Café, Boulette’s Larder and Jardineire), went to several talks and workshops, met many interesting, involved people, and ran into others I knew from Colorado. The best part was the Taste Hall—several hours of grazing at 15 food pavilions like fish, wine, chocolate, charcuterie, and olive oil. I also went to a chef demonstration where I met Rick Bayless (of Frontera Grill and the Food Network.)
Here's to a healthy, wonderful, and prosperous 2008!

In October, I flew home to visit Mom, Paul and David. I stopped overnight at Donna’s in Greenwich and met my high-school friends, Caren and Leslie for sushi. At Mom’s, I bought and installed a new TV in the living room, and a converter box for the bedroom TV so they wouldn’t be left in the lurch with the signal change in February. It was a lovely family visit. I even went to the Empire State Building, which I hadn’t done since I was a child.

Visitors—Donna flew out last New Year’s Eve to celebrate our birthdays (hers is one day after mine). We went to Izba for a 2-1/2 hour spa treatment, to dinner at Highlands Garden Café after which, I kidnapped her to the Grizzly Rose for some country dancing. On New Year’s Eve, we drove to Cottonwood Hot Springs for an overnighter and soaked in the pools during the coldest weather imaginable! On the 2nd, we went skiing at Eldora, then to dinner at Baya’s.

Thomas, my Belgian-Alaskan fish-smoker friend, came to visit again in March to promote his salmon to local restaurants. Needless to say he left plenty of smoked salmon and sable. An old friend, Art, stayed with a few other old friends, Paula and Greg. I hadn’t seen Art in around 15 years, so we got together a few times during his stay.

Anna and Walter visited from Vienna in May with their adorable 3-year old son, Patrick. We had breakfast and went to a park one day. I roamed around with Anna and Patrick another day to the Butterfly Pavilion, lunch, and Flatirons Mall where Patrick saw (and played with) hail for the first time. After that we had a blast hanging out inside the fence at a local llama farm. Barbara came out for a few days in May too, but for a friend’s funeral so although we enjoyed the visit, the circumstances weren’t the best.

Culture—In January, Leslie took me to Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret to see her friend, Marie, dance. It was a riot, just like a small-town version of the Folies Bergeres. The next month, Sarah and I went to the Boulder Theater, for a blast from the past—Pure Prairie League and Poco. Laima gave me tickets for a few shows at CU including a concert by the energetic Peru Negro, and the opera A Little Night Music in July. Then in August, she scored some great seats for The Three Musketeers at CU’s Shakespeare Festival—one of the most fun productions I’ve seen there. I saw Pure Prairie League again in July, at the Louisville Street Faire with Gye and Felipe. Laurie and I did an E-Town concert in Denver during the DNC (see Other Fun Stuff below). On a perfect September evening, Judy and Gayle and I went to see Earth, Wind & Fire and Michael McDonald at the breathtaking Red Rocks amphitheater. Other concerts were The Swell Season (the couple in the delightful indi movie “Once”) with Sarah, and a few well-known local bands like Face and Dotsero along the way.

I enjoyed some fine art with my coworker friend, Edith. In June, there was an art show and wine tasting at the Arvada Center. And, we went to Boulder’s Art Open Studios tour in October, which I have gone to for 10 years now with Sue (who couldn’t make it this year). It was weird not doing the art studio tour with Sue, but great that I got to go with Edith, who had never been. She loved it, so this may have to turn into a threesome next year.

I saw a surprisingly good production of Little Shop of Horrors at our local Boulder Dinner Theater with Janet and her parents. I made it to First Friday twice, once with Susan, once with Jon. It’s five blocks of Denver art galleries that stay open on Friday night and thousands of people roam from one to the other for art, free munchies and wine. There are even street performers and the like. I went to the Longmont Theater twice in as many months; once to see Laima play the fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof, and then to see my co-worker, Nina, produce the play she wrote called Suspenders. Both were marvelous! In mid-November, Laurie shared her free tickets to Menopause the Musical…pretty funny and I guess I have some interesting things to look forward to. This November, I met Caswell and Roland, Susan and Lonnie's neighbors. They do movie nights every week (as well as restaurant dinners). Thanksgiving eve, we watched White Christmas on their pull-down screen, with a real popcorn machine, surrounded by their abundant, amazing holiday decor.

Parties and Holidays—I started celebrating my 50th birthday early last year, in November (some revelry mentioned in last year’s letter) and ending in April! I have amazing friends and they all came out to show their love over the course of the extended celebration. Some stuff you already read about under “Vacations”, and here’s the rest. Leslie and I did our annual birthdays dinner at Alba then went to see, Across the Universe, which I thought was amazing. If you lived through the 1960s and haven’t seen it, you must. Lisa, John and Gye took me to Domo for dinner, during which Lisa and John gave me a gift certificate for a cooking class in Denver, to which Lisa and I went to in April. I had lunch with Nancy from Slow Food; drinks after work with some co-workers; and Girls Night out with Stephanie and Janet (see Other Fun Stuff). One of the more special times was getting reconnected with my ex-step-mom, Susan, who recently moved to Denver to be near my step-brothers, Hugh and David and their families. They took me to a birthday dinner at Zengo, after drinks at her hi-rise apartment next door. We started celebrating this year's birthdays early too (Susan's is three days before mine) at Highlands Garden Cafe in late November.

As I didn’t go home for the holidays, I enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner at Laima’s and went to a Christmas day party at Baya and Terry’s. Laima and I did an anti-Valentines day night at Connor O’Neils followed by ice-skating at the little rink in downtown Boulder and a chocolate-cherry stout at Mountain Sun Brewery. Christiann had a St. Patrick's Day party. Passover and Rosh Hashanah were at Susan and Lonnie’s. In April, I went to a party for the Denver Post dining critic with Lynne and, of course went to Rob and Lyn’s delicious Hot Luck party again in July. They didn’t want me winning the Best Dish contest every year, so they broke the contest into a few categories, but I still won in the dessert category with my requisite Chili-Cappuccino Brownies. There was a dinner at Moongate for Bridgette’s birthday in August and a lovely, touching catered affair at Pam’s house for her 50th. In September, I took Gye out for her 50th to a traditional Japanese izakaya dinner at Amu. We met a Bostonian and his daughter and kidnapped them to Flagstaff House for dessert. Baya celebrated her retirement at Laudisio’s in mid-October. Halloween included the annual festive, family dinner party at Susan and Lonnie’s. I was Frida Kahlo because it was easy—it was all about the unibrow—although many people at the office had no idea who I was. The next day I got a last-minute invitation to a zombie dance party at Roland and Caswell’s. Since I didn’t have time to make a zombie costume, Leslie and I went as Zombie drinkers, carrying tiki mugs with fruit swizzles and handing out recipes for Zombies. This Thanksgiving I enjoyed a dinner with Sue and Jim (old high school buddies) in Fort Collins on Thursday; and another on Friday at John's (as has become tradition) with Lisa, Hans, Bruce and Sam.

Sports and the Like—I’m still going to the Y, but not as often as I should. In January, I bought some used Volant short skis. Having hurt myself in December with my much-too-long skis, it was definitely time. I skied once again in March with Laima and love my new skis! (Although I hurt myself again, but this time it was the thumb.) Later that month, I took a women’s self defense course at my friend, Edgar’s, Aikido dojo in Denver and had fun beating him up. And also in March, I went with some co-workers to a minor league hockey game to see the Rocky Mountain Rage play the Colorado Eagles at the new Broomfield Events Center. I tried to start breaking out into a run during my walks, but just ended up getting “runner’s knee” and going to PT. This getting old is no fun. On that note, I was a great couch athlete this year and watched the Olympics almost every night in August.

Volunteering—Slow Food events included a pot luck annual meeting in late January and a butter tasting in June. There was a dinner with the head of the USA office, Erika Lesser, at Osteria Marco in July. But the biggie was Slow Food Nation (see trips above). The major news is that in September, I resigned from the Slow Food Boulder steering committee. After seven years, it was just time. I’m still a member, and might even produce an event or two, but it’s time to take a break. I did host a Wild Mushroom, Beer and Wine dinner in Oct. at The Cork as my last blast though.

Other Fun Stuff—I went to a few gatherings of Meetup.com groups. They included Boulder Beer Group events at Falling Rock Tavern with Judy, one at a Scottish pub, and another at Avery Brewery; the Denver Adventurous Eaters group did a Pig Parts feast in February; and in June, there was a wine and pizza night in Longmont. I think I went to one or two International Wine parties this year, but can’t remember, (bad sign?) Stephanie, Janet and I did a couple of girl’s nights out including a progressive dinner at Lao Wang's, J’s Noodles, and Flagstaff House in November. We also did a search to satisfy our fried chicken cravings and ended up at Huckleberry in Louisville. (There is no home-made friend chicken in Boulder!) In May I did a larger girls night out for dinner at Laudisio’s before the Sex and the City movie with Stephanie, Janet, Evelyn, Laurie, Leslie, Barbara, Susan and Christiann.

Lynne, started Edible Front Range magazine and I joined her for a pre-launch brainstorming session in January, a recipe-testing gathering in February (which landed the recipes in the first issue), and a writer’s appreciation dinner in November. Even though John’s no longer doing restaurant reviews, we eat out occasionally, just to stay in practice. Judy and I did a Boulder micro-adventure in January, with visits to several second-hand stores, a winery, The Dushanbe Tea House and more. She and I went country dancing a few times too, at the Grizzly Rose and Electric Cowboy, which although I enjoy, I’m not very good at.

Pennie and I continued our Quarterly Culinary Adventures. The first one of the year celebrated Chinese New Year (a little late) in Feb. In May, we cooked recipes from the novel Domesticity. In July, we did a local meal, shopping at the farmer’s market and cooking only what we found there. In October, I chose some unique old world and new world pasta recipes like Xiaolongbao (Chinese dumplings with soup inside them) and Bucatini all’Amatriciana a pasta dish with guanciale (pork jowls) and hollow spaghetti.

I spent some more family time with Susan and sometimes Hugh and David, including a lovely Mizuna dinner with Susan in February and a fun dinner at Lola’s after my first appointment with David – having switched to using him as my dentist. Janet and I took a “Babes and Barolo” wine class at Osteria Marco in March, and as the restaurant was close to David and Stacy’s house, we dropped by to visit them and to see their new home, which I love, it has wonderful character.

I had a successful asparagus-hunting season in my neighborhood this spring. I even found a bunch of oyster mushrooms nearby too, making for a lovely spring sauté of eating extremely local. Another time, I took my friend, Laura, hunting and shocked her by finding a stalk exactly where I stopped the car. It was easy, as I had recorded where every plant in my neighborhood was the year before so when the new stalks popped up, I knew exactly where to go. I went mushroom hunting with Evelyn twice, once we gathered some oysters by her house, and another time I found my one and only morel, but it was filled with worms. I was lucky enough to get a private tour of Boulder’s oldest, largest farm, Munson's, with Bob Munson one morning in June, then in July went back there for a fabulous Meadowlark Farm Dinner in the corn fields with Laurie and Leslie.

There was a lively night out dancing to One-on One at Nissi’s with Susan, Lonnie and a bunch of their friends in June. Laurie and I went “floating” in a deprivation tank in Denver in June. It was extremely relaxing, but I don’t know that I’d pay to do it again. I made it out to the Wild Animal Sanctuary a few times this year including an evening to hear the wolves howl. Pat now has more than 155 lions and tigers and bears, jaguars, leopards, mountain lions, lynx, bobcats, servals, wolves, etc., oh my!

In late August, I spent about 40 hours in Denver playing during the DNC. The first night, Judy and I went to an E-Town concert/radio show with James Taylor, Crosby & Nash, Ani DiFranco, Irma Thomas, Tom Morello and talks by Governor Ritter, Mayor Hickenlooper and Robert Kennedy Jr. I stayed at her apartment that night. The next day, I went to The American Presidential Experience exhibit, had lunch with Susan, hung around the MSNBC mobile studio and saw their well-known newscasters as well as President Carter, but mostly I did a lot of people watching…Boy, events like this certainly bring out the freaks! There were lots of extremist protesters and sign-holders. It was really fun to eavesdrop on people’s conversations, as most everyone was connected to someone important and they loved to talk about it. That night, I had dinner at McCormick's with Bret, Nancy and Laurie.

There’s a local Greek festival that I go to in my neighborhood during September, and this year I went with Janet and Ann. We quickly found the guy who roams the crowds with free shots of Ouzo. In Sept., Lisa and I went to the Italian Festival in Denver. And in October, I went to an Obama rally on campus and amazingly got right up front (thanks Melinda!) and shook Michelle Obama’s hand – she has very soft hands. The night of the election, Laima and Damon came over and we had dinner and watched the results in our PJs. The next weekend, I went to a cheesemaking class at Luca d'Italia then came home and made fresh ricotta, mozzarella and buratta—yum! The Friday after that, I went to Denver’s first Night at the Museums with Judy and Laurie (and met up with Terri). The museums opened up for free until 9pm and were packed with people enjoying a night out. We went to the funky Forney car and train museum and the wondrous Kirlkand decorative arts museum, and ended the night with a drink at Rodney’s in Cherry Creek. The next night was the 29th annual Pie Night at the old grange. Susan and Lonnie came with me and we met up with John and Hans and Betsy and some of her relatives. About 100 people brought sweet and savory pies, followed by a jam session with 20 bluegrass musicians and a sing-along.

In mid November, something inspired my high school graduating class to begin chatting madly on our website's bulettin board! I wasn't getting anything done. We are hoping to do a fundraiser and leave a legacy, we just can't decide among the millions of good causes. I'm enjoying hooking up with so many folks after more than 30 years and they are helping me remember things I hadn't thought of in so long (and some things I'd just as soon forget). It's been so much fun and I even found two local classmates, Michael and Doran, and met them at The Med restaurant after Thanksgiving. That was a blast!

Etc.—I did a little renovation this year: I redid my kitchen floor, replacing the linoleum with lovely warm-toned, multicolored tile in January, and I replaced my old ivory appliances with new black ones in June. I also painted my master bath and bedroom and hung drapes. I reupholstered the dining room chairs too.

Of course there’s some sad stuff, but I always save that for the end. My great aunt Eve passed away less than two months after her 100th birthday party. I guess she waited until she could see all the people she loved. My good friend’s John and Lisa’s mom, Rose, passed away in July (they're like family out here.) Barbara’s good friend, Ann, who I hadn’t seen in a few years and was a few years younger than me, died May 13th, from a heart attack. That was sobering.

As we all know, it’s not been a good year for financial matters. In April, I found out my Subaru Forester (that I only had a few years) had a head gasket problem. But, it was a notorious problem so I “encouraged” the dealer to do the right thing and they did the engine work for about half the price. And recently, to prepare for weirdness during this economic crisis, I took $1000 in cash out of savings to put in my safe deposit box. But to keep a sense of humor—and just to say I did it— I put it under the mattress first for 24 hours.

I hope you have a financially secure 2009 filled with simple happy moments.