Anyway, I could have used a frozen daiquiri today. And relaxing on the beach wouldn’t be too bad either.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 litre shiraz (but you could use other red wine)
• 1 juicy orange cut into chunks
• 1 ripe mango cut into chunks
• 1 quart sweet strawberries cut into chunks
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• dash white pepper or a few white peppercorns (optional)
• Note: If I had cloves I would have added those.
• Note: I probably would have added a splash of brandy if I had that too.

That is a lot of sugar, but you need it all! Put it all together and let it sit overnight.

We started cracking into chips, salsa and guacamole at 11am so we figured we better add the Sangria! Yes, that’s Sangria served in a coffee mug (whatever works!) We streamed in a little mariachi bands on last.fm for the occasion. I think you’re supposed to serve the Sangria with a splash of soda water or other bubbly over ice, but we just drank it chilled. And enjoyed it immensely.

Here’s what I recommend if you go there:

Drinks:
-Pink Blossom – Hangar mandarin blossom vodka, St Germaine Eldeflower Liquer, Cointreau & cranberry juice.

-Shoshu Smash (and you can really get smashed on these, so watch it) – muddled orange, lemon, lime, vodka, Iitomo Shochu, fresh yuzu juice & seven.

Food:

-Roasted Red & Yellow Beets – with green tea smoked mozarella in a baked lemon-basil vinagrette.

-Grilled Panzanella Salad – with jumbo lump crab, Colorado goat cheese, pistachio & plum wine vinagrette.

-Baked Spicy Roll
-California Roll
-Vegetable Tempura Roll
-Red Dragon Roll

(the above rolls all have cooked fish for those of you who are sushi wimps!)

Izakaya Den
1518 S. Pearl Street
Denver, Colorado 80210
303.777.0691

So imagine my despair when I left it at work one day! In an effort to replicate my sigg routine, I did this:

Did it work? Did the plastic wrap and packaging tape do it’s job? Well, not exactly…

Of course, it looked much better before I spent 3 minutes looking for the camera. I have been practicing the tip that one of the Metropolis baristas gave me… to try to pour the milk “down” into the espresso, creating a tunnel-like effect. Some may ask, what is this design? half of the Cingular logo? an alien torso? a member of the Microsoft Office (Mac version) logo family?

Stay tuned as I document my quest…

I went through Canon City a few weeks ago and picked up some DiNardo’s juice. This is a little shop off Highway 50 in Canon City and it’s worth stopping by ((719) 275-2727 is their number if you want more info). I was camping down there last October and a friend wanted to get some raw apple cider that he could ferment. The store is great–run by two old men and full of odds and ends. Your focus should definitely be the juice, though. They sell unpasteurized apple cider (in season), as well as pasteurized apple cider and other juices. I thought cherry delight was my favorite until I tried the strawberry juice. It’s so sweet I usually cut it in half with water. None of the juice is ‘organic’ but all the ingredients would be recognized by your great-great-grandmother.

A side benefit of buying the juice is you can use the jugs as containers for bulk foods. Whole Foods and Wild Oats will both weigh the jug and subtract that from the weight of your bulk food–it’s called tare; I’m not sure about other stores. I ended up making a funnel from an old milk carton to assist putting lentils, rice, etc, into the jars. How much popcorn do I need?

I  would like to add: that’s a dollup of plain greek yogurt on top, not sour cream. I think it tastes 95% as good and the greek yogurt has the same texture as sour cream. I figure this healthier food choice off-sets the beer choice. Someone should make a calculator. Maybe a widget. enter: 2 beers, get: 2 mile run + a grapefruit maybe.

In Amsterdam they only serve you mint tea with fresh leaves, sugar optional on the side.  The leaves steep for a few minutes in boiling water.  I recommend leaving them in for the whole sipping experience, although you might find it a bit annoying at the end of the cup.