Random Updates

I know I'm not very consistent with posting and updating. Sorry about that!

So, here are some random life updates from the past few weeks.

First of all, it was recently Denver's 5280 Restaurant Week! This is where a number of top restaurants in the area create a 3-course menu that costs only $52.80 per couple. I've never done this before and to make up for lost time I went to four restaurants in a two-week period. I don't think I've ever eaten so much food in my life---and it was absolutely worth it. The places we checked out were:

John's Restaurant (Boulder)
The Cork  House (Denver)
Arugula (Boulder)
8 Rivers (Denver)

The winners? John's, by far, for their incredible food and 8 Rivers for the awesome company.

To continue on with my life, the rest of this presentation will be brought to you by my awesome Panasonic camera.

Adam's birthday party in Blackhawk. Here are all the handsome men.

My car on a snowy March morning.

Long hike outside of Golden. You can see downtown Denver in the distance.

You can also see multimillion dollar homes on this hike. Le sigh.

We FINALLY won our indoor league!! (We were able to pull this off even after forfeiting the first 2 games of the season. Holla!)

Kyle and I at DU's playoff hockey game. Go Pios! (Notice the cheap photocopy? This is what my $40k/year education paid for. Awesome.)

Team huddle.

We won 3-2 in overtime!!!

The team saluting their crowd.

I ran in Denver's St. Patty's Day race this weekend. I was slow as I haven't been training much, but it was still good to get out there.

And, as you know, a blog post of mine wouldn't be complete without pictures of food. Lots and lots of food.

French onion soup in the crock pot.

The final result of the soup. Yum!

Shredded chicken from the crock pot. Ridiculously easy.

This was supposed to be a artichoke ravioli-type dish. Obviously it didn't turn out quite as I had envisioned.

Homemade mac n' cheese! It's filled with crumbled bacon, shredded chicken, and topped with breadcrumbs. Artery-clogging goodness.

Nom, Nom, Nom

I've been cooking more lately---yay! Actually, I'm trying to save money and in doing so I'm working through all the leftovers in my freezer. This means a lot of frozen meat. I mean, a lot of meat. I don't eat nearly as much meat as I used to, so this is kind of hard for me. In fact, I'm typically a "weekday vegetarian" in which I don't eat meat during the week and at work. On weekends though, it's fair game!

So in working through my freezer this past week, I have conquered two lovely new creations:

First: Spicy Italian Meatballs

Meatballs!

These are my lovely little spicy Italian meatballs. Perfect for that leftover hamburger meat in the freezer and it makes a boring, old pasta disk soooooo much more exciting. I never knew what a dash of red pepper flakes could to to instantly spice things up. I got the recipe from here.

Heating up some spaghetti and meatballs in the amazing All-Clad pan that I got for my b-day.

I know you're supposed to use regular spaghetti noodles with meatballs, but I had penne on hand. So deal with it. And one day I'm going to have a giant kitchen filled entirely with All-Clad utensils. (I'll keep dreaming in the meantime.)

Second (and definitely a keeper): Homemade Pizza with Carmelized Onions and Grilled Chicken

Get in my belly!

Pioneer Woman kept broadcasting a version of this recipe, so I've been craving it for weeks. Honestly, weeks. I only substituted chicken for the proccuitto (because that's what I had in my freezer) and used a tomato sauce under the toppings. The carmelized onions are to die for.  I typically don't like onions but I'm drooling just thinking about it now.

Strangely enough, I think that working meat back into my diet is helping me both perform better in soccer and (gasp!) lose some weight. Usually by mid-week, I'd feel so protien deprived that I'd instinctively reach for the nearest candy bar just to eat something. But then again, this is probably just an excuse. No matter what I eat, I'm going to be reaching for the candy bars.

A note on the fitness side of things. In the past 4 days I have done a sunrise climb up Mount Quandary and have played four soccer games in a local tournament. AND I had a stellar goal in the tournament! It was a set play across the box---I brought it down with my head and 5-holed the goalie. Goosebumps, baby.

Mount Quandary double-rainbow

Justin & I at the summit

And, because I'm obsessed with my Kindle I took a picture of it while reading in the park on Saturday.

Dear Kindle, I heart you.