Monthly Archives: November 2007

Here’s where Cook with Kerry becomes Travel and Eat with Kerry. I had October off of school for various traveling reasons. And I took advantage by being at home only 1 out of the 4 weekends in October.

More pictures of the trip.

I spent Columbus Day weekend in Boulder, CO. I headed from Boston with my friend Ana and we met our friend Gracie who flew in from Seattle. It was a girls’ weekend and that always means good eats!

Our first stop was the Boulder farmers’ market where we browsed fresh fruits and veggies plus other organic treats. I bought some super fresh dried coconut which I plan on using soon to created a coconut macadamia nut crusted fish. It’s amazing how much better this is than that sweetened store bought stuff I’m used to — the coconut actually tastes like a NUT! The flakes are dried and crispy. And, the best part, I can mail order more when I run out!

While we were walking around the market, I saw someone eating a tamale. I knew I HAD to have one. I love tamales and you don’t see them often enough on the East coast. We found the tamales in an open air “food court” where they had all sorts of delicious dishes. We did get tamales (mine was spicy pork) and they were great. Although, I’m bummed we never got the bowl of asian dumplings from another stall. I said, “If I lived in Boulder, I’d come here every Saturday for lunch!”

For dinner that evening, we headed to the Kitchen. I’d read about this restaurant — it uses fresh, local ingredients wherever possible and I liked that idea. The restaurant was modern, but still warm with an exposed brick wall. The menu was small, but I liked that since I always have issues trying to decide what to get. I thought I wanted a steak (after a whole month learning about beef), but as often happens, the side dishes sold me on my meal. I opted for the pork chop which came with a porcini and potato gratin and freshly made apple sauce.

Before that came, we shared two appetizers: mozzarella, tomoato, and basil plus a cheese plate. The mozzeralla was super fresh — rather than being worked into a ball, it was more an amorphous “blob” drizzled with olive oil. The cheese was delicate and lacked the usual mozzarella stringyness; spread on a piece of grilled bread with some tomato and basil, it was perfect!

The cheese plate had an excellent assortment of cheeses with a sprinkle of nuts and honey. Only the very flavorful bleu cheese was a miss in my mind — I like bleu cheese and this was even strong for me!

Ana chose to get gnocchi with kale and cured pork cheeks (described as sort of like bacon, Ana didn’t hesitate!) I got a few bites of this one and was happy I did. The gnocchi were as light as a cloud and the pork cheeks gave a perfect saltyness to the light cream sauce.

But really, the star was one perfectly grilled pork chop which was a suprise to me since it was the sides that sold me. The porcini and potato gratin was fine. How can you go wrong with porcinis? And the apple sauce was a bit too tart for my taste. It didn’t matter though. I could have scraped those sides into the garbage and still been perfectly happy with the pork chop. It was a thick, bone-in chop with just the right amount of fat, seasoned well, and cooked to a perfect pink. So simple, yet it’s what I remember most!

Oh wait, I can’t forget the dessert. I ordered sticky toffee pudding because the server said it was their “hands down” best dessert. I also remember eating this dessert in a London pub and never tasting any dessert as good since, so I had to give it a whirl. While their sticky toffee pudding didn’t match the London version I had years ago, it was still delicious, sweet, and sticky with a good drizzle of caramel and a dollop of ice cream. Gracie’s butterscotch pot du creme was also a stand-out — thick and rich with butterscotch flavor, if I went back, I’d have a hard time deciding on a dessert!

After ambling out of there we thought we wouldn’t need to eat again for the whole trip, but of course, the next morning, we woke up with hungry tummies. Before we took a short hike around the Flatirons just outside our cottage door, we went for breakfast at the Chautauqua dining hall which I read was an excellent outdoor eating experience since it over looked the mountains. Unfortunately, it was too chilly to eat outside, but the building itself (a historic building from the late 1800s) was quite charming. We had the breakfast buffet which had quite a few options, though most were forgettable. It wasn’t a bad experience, but I don’t know that I’d go back unless I could sit outside, enjoy the view (which would certainly make the food seem more special), and order ala carte.

We spent the rest of the day hiking and then driving through Rocky Mountain National Park (which was AMAZING!) At the end of our day, we just got some cheese, bread, and snacks from whole foods and brought them back to our cottage to drink with the wine that Gracie brought with her from Chateau Ste. Michelle. A perfect ending to a great day.

Our final day in Colorado brought us to the Boulder Tea House. The teahouse was sent piece by piece from Boulder’s sister city in Russia. Its ornate and beautiful tilework and detail is something to see if you’re ever in the area.

The teahouse offers a wide variety of teas, as well as breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an afternoon tea (for which you need reservations.) We went for breakfast where I got hash, eggs, and a biscuit (the biscuit is what sold me.) While the service was on the meh side (slow, and we had to ask for milk for our tea), the food was good. The hash was more like a pulled corned beef brisket which I found different-in-a-good-way with perfectly-soft sauteed onions, peppers, and potatoes. The biscuit was delicate, as a good biscuit should be.

Of course, where else would we go after the teahouse, but the Celestial Seasonings factory tour. Before the tour, we got to spend some time in the tasting room sampling some teas (we LOVED the Candy Cane Lane green tea). Then, it was off to the factory, where we were lucky to be there on a work day (factory tours are always better when there’s stuff going on!) We learned about the process of milling, mixing, and packaging the tea — the highlight was a walk through the mint room which contained all of the mints at the factory and was quite an olafactory experience (cleared our sinuses right up and made our eyes water just a touch.)

Our final stop before the airport (to kill some time) was the Boulder Brewing Company. There was no tour, but a ton of beer brewed on site. We got to settle out on the back patio, eat some decent pub food, and drink fresh beer (Ana and I got the $10 sampler which included 10, 3 oz. beers which I’d suggest.)

I definitely enjoyed Boulder. The nature was absolutely stunning, the weather was fabulous, and the food was memorable. What more can you want from a vacation?