Oh the [Colorado] places we go!

Have I mentioned that I love it here? May it be known that I do. Have I mentioned that I am rather smitten with Colorado? It will tell you right now, I am.
Our most recent adventuring included seeing four extreme landscapes in a two day period. We saw a huge hole in the ground (Royal Gorge, Canon City). We experienced a sand dune, or two...or five...(Great Sand Dune National Park and Preserve, near Alamosa). We marveled at aspens in all their autumn glory (10,000+ mountain peaks off Highway 149 in the Rio Grande National Forest near Creede). We explored giant red rocks (Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs).
During the peak of the autumn color viewing on gorgeous mountain roads we had Aaron Copeland's Appalachian Spring narrating our tour. It was glorious! It was majestic! I felt patriotic seeing America and listening to America and getting to see it all with Dallin, my most excellent traveling companion.

Plant Nerd Gets a New Pet

My little plant collection grew by one when Dallin (the sweet) gave me a birthday orchid. It is of the Cattleya species, cultivar Haiwaiian Thrill 'Paradise'. I think we will call her Catty for short. This is a young plant, so it may take up to a year before she blooms the first time, but when she does, it will be a vibrant orange with a red lip and very fragrant. The bloom should look something like this:
Catty gets some pretty posh treatment here. A nice sunny window, vitamin water, and other plant friends, like Aloe (who is nice, but can seem a bit prickly on first impression), and African Violet, (who is content, as long as there is no water on her leaves). And Dallin, who supplies regular entertainment and companionship. This morning he danced for the plants. Adorable.

The Great Zuchinni Race

Think outside the frying pan folks. Put away your food processor. Hold the juicer. This goes way beyond zucchini relish, zucchini gratin, zucchini salsa, or zucchini souffle. We are dawning a new day of usefulness for the piles of oversized zucchini in your garden. Brought to you by some super creative people at the Boulder Creek Hometown Fair Dallin and I saw with our very own eyes the first ever (cue drumroll and obnoxious gameshow announcer voice) GREAT ZUCHINNI RACE! Yup, that's right for a small fee your child can give new life to a neglected garden veggie. Simply attach four wooden wheels and decorate your zuchinni-gone-racecar with an assortment of provided pipe cleaners, glitter, puff paint, tissue paper, and googly eyes. Finished specimen are then fitly equipped for the race they always dreamed of. It's the ten-minute or less pinewood derby for the green-thumb third grader. I call it dang cute.

Gluten-free, round two

Last month when Dallin was out of town for a week I made some kind of gluten-free baked item every day. There were some real winners from the experiment, like a nice dried fruit Irish scone recipe, a chewy cookie with oatmeal, golden raisins and walnuts, and a sweet potato pie with a almond meal/brown sugar crust. During that week and the weeks since there were also some less than stellar performers, like my attempt to convert a naan recipe to gluten-free (denture-wearers ought not to taste test), or the gluten-free gnocchi that turned to mashed potatoes as soon as it was mixed with other food. We are still perfecting a homemade gluten-free/egg-free waffle without spending six dollars on a store bought mix. Sweet brown rice/tapioca starch combos seem promising, but success continues to allude us. Yesterday was a good day in the amateur gluten-free kitchen. I tried a new recipe for gluten-free Italian amaretti (almond) cookies that turned out pretty well. Egg whites beaten to a frothy state and almond extract give this cookie a very unique flavor and airy texture. Dinner was a Dallin favorite and a good way to say "I love you." Gluten-free AND vegan macaroni and cheese...yes, yes, I hear you. Just trust me, this macaroni and cheese without the cheese tastes amazing. And it means my Dallin has a happy tummy, which is worth a lot.

Practicing

Dallin and I have been practicing being spontaneous.

Ridiculous isn't it?...we are making plans for spontaneity. Neither one of us are free spirits, though, and this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants business is not really in our comfort zone. So, occasionally we will be driving and Dallin (who is usually the instigator of such things, his spontaneity impulses being more highly refined than mine) will say, "Let's be spontaneous." And we do, and it is surprisingly delightful.
In our latest sort-of-planned/sort-of-random adventure, Dallin decided to turn down an unfamiliar street instead of going home. In short order we found a custard establishment that was still open. So we got custard because it seemed like a perfectly unplanned thing to do. While we were eating custard we discovered a Mediterranean grocery store and cafe in the same shopping center. So we decided to eat our custard and browse the aisles. It was lovely. We ended up buying a few things on a whim. In the near future we will culminate our spontaneity with a dinner via Turkey. The most interesting impulse buy? Mediterranean sesame fudge (sesame paste, sugar, pistaschios).