Sushi, Pie and Pumpkins!

I cannot believe that it's already the 25th of October.  I swear the older you get, the faster time flies by.  I can remember when I was younger, the time between Halloween and Christmas felt like a lifetime...now I feel like I have two seconds to blink.  Scary!  So, as I mentioned in my previous blog, Geoff turned 26 on October 15th.  He LOVES sushi, however I'm not a big fan...I decided to swallow my pride and go out for sushi, however I was on a mission to find some of the best sushi in Denver.  After asking around, Sushi Den came with high recommendations.  So, we went there, it's in a great part of southern downtown Denver.  I ordered shrimp and vegetable tempura (which is lightly battered and fried) and it was fantastic.  I also had Geoff order a shrimp tempura roll, which has the seaweed and rice on the outside, with some veggies, sauce and a piece of fried shrimp in the center.  It was...okay.  I think I'm just not a fan of the texture and smell of seaweed.  I can't get over it.  However, we will visit Sushi Den again, as Geoff was in LOVE.

After dinner we came home for dessert because I made a chocolate peanut butter pie.  Geoff's lovely Grandma Janis makes this amazing peanut butter pie that Geoff is willing to die for.  I have known for 8 or so years now, how much he loves this stuff.  However, for all these years I've refused to make it, because I didn't want to disappoint him and have him compare it to his Grandma's.  (We know who'd win that one)  So, when I came across the CHOCOLATE peanut butter pie (Thank you, Pioneer Woman) I knew this was it.  I could put a little flare on the classic and it be my own.  I made the crust out of Oreos...the filling is peanut butter, cool whip, powdered sugar and cream cheese.  Ha!  It's no Weight Watchers recipe, that is for sure.  I cut regular sized pieces, boy was that a mistake...it was good, however about 15 minutes later it felt like a brick was in my stomach.  It's soooo rich.  Geoff loves that, I on the other hand, should have had 1/4 of a slice.  So in addition to Sushi Den, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, will also be visited again.

Every year at my work (Rachel's Challenge), we have a pumpkin carving/decorating competition.  Last year I did a mummy...this year I knew I had to do some carving...so I found an apple core.  PER-fect I thought.  Oh man.  What a nightmare.  THREE hours later, I finished carving, painting, hammering, super gluing and praying that this would stay together.  I think it turned out cute, but note to self and note to all of you, do NOT attempt this at home.  :)  

Happy Halloween!     

Pumpkin Bread

It's official, we had to turn our heater on.  The house was getting a little too chilly for me to handle.  However, there's something about this time of year that makes me so excited to get that oven going!  I decided last weekend (I know it's a week late) that I wanted something 'pumpkin'.  So I pulled out my handy, Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.  This thing, never lets me down.  It's rated America's #1 Cookbook Since 1930 :)  I gathered all the ingredients. 

The recipe makes 2 loaves, but I only needed one.  I wanted two...but only needed one.  Haha.  Here's all the lovely ingredients and the most reliable cook book, ever!  So after mixing everything together I got the batter in the oven and just waited for that pumpkin smell to fill my house!  Yum!

Here's the outcome...I was very please.  It's pretty dense, but I love that.  Geoff loved it too!  So we were both happy campers.  (Yes, I had zero patience getting it out of the pan so it ripped the whole bottom off of it.)  Ha!

Tomorrow's task...make chocolate peanut butter pie for Geoff's 26th Birthday!  Here we go....Have a great weekend.

Kenosha Pass



Kenosha Pass, CO

Geoff and I, LOVE Kenosha Pass.  It's only about an hours drive up Highway 285, outside of Denver.  It's been our getaway from the city for years now.  About a year after we moved here, we decided to go camping and went to Kenosha.  It was August...it was cold...the wolves (Geoff said they were coyotes) howled all night long.  So from that point, I decided Kenosha was a great place to visit during the day, but I'm not a fan staying over night. Here's the proof that we went camping in 2005.

 Ahhh...how cute!  Every time we go over Kenosha Pass we always say, 'We should stop to see our tree!' So the other day Geoff and I decided that we wanted to go see the fall foliage.  And yet again, Kenosha was our 'go-to.'  We were excited to get out of the city and see the bright yellow colors.  I was a little worried that the traffic would be terrible as a local news station, won't name names..encouraged all their viewers to visit Kenosha Pass to see the wonderful colors.  AHH!  No...don't let everyone in on our little secret. 

Traffic getting up there wasn't bad at all, so I thought for a split second that maybe there wouldn't be many people up there.  BOY..was I wrong.  The highway was lined with cars and people were walking all over the place.  I was instantly disappointed.  I couldn't even look at the colors because I couldn't see beyond the fact that there were HUNDREDS of people in our spot.  Thankfully, we took Geoff's truck, so we were able to access some of the back roads and get away from the traffic and I was back to being happy and loving Kenosha.  Of course, the first thing we had to do was...see our tree!  After that we just drove around and took in all the beautiful, bright yellow aspens and the smell of fall time in the mountains.  Enjoy! 





Look at me, I'm 5 months old now!