I've been on vacation for the past 9 days, and they have flown by (don't they always???).  The first day Dan and I headed to New York City for 4 days.  We visited our usual haunts...Balthazar, Bobby Van's, Carmine's, walked around Manhattan checking out all the window displays, saw "A Little Night Music" on Broadway, and threw in a couple new stops.  We made the trek to Brooklyn (we walked over the bridge into Brooklyn) and stopped for pizza at Grimaldi's.  We arrived just in time, as shortly after we sat down the line started to form outside.  Great pizza, but in what I'm sure is a long debated issue, my allegiance lies with Lombardi's in Little Italy...sorry Grimaldi's.  Then we headed out in the rain to visit Baked.  Baked is a tiny little bakery with a big reputation and it didn't disappoint.  The chocolate cloud cookie was like a little piece of chocolate heaven.   We also enjoyed a Greek dinner at Molyvo's, the big highlight of that for me was the fig martini....delicious.  On Monday afternoon we had the pleasure of meeting none other than the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, at a book signing in Columbus Circle.  Although it was a short shuffle through the line, you can really tell she is the real deal, just as friendly and nice as she comes across on television (so many others are not.... and you know who you are....).  Tuesday, we took a VERY chilly walk through Central Park and stopped to have lunch at PJ Clarke's.  Great, great comfort food.  Back in Denver, I set about prepping for a Christmas Party on Friday night.  We spent all day onFriday, chopping, baking, cooking, etc and it was all worth it!  So much fun.  Now, as the weekend comes to a close, I'm packing (back to reality) for my flight out tomorrow ....Christmas is less than a week now, and after a few days working in Nebraska, I'll head home for Christmas and back to Denver in time for the New Year.  Have a wonderful week everyone!

Before I talk about anything else, I have to put it out there...My favorite restaurant in Denver has fallen from grace.  For the past three years, I have spent many months in between my visits dreaming about those delicious soft shell crab tacos.  Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, anytime I went, there they were waiting for my return....until this week.  One night this week I stopped in for just a simple plate of those wonderful things (and of course, a cucumber mojito) to find that they had been taken off the menu, just last week.  Now, to add insult to injury, the waitress tells me that the tacos are still available with the same slaw, however the soft shell crab has been changed to tempura battered asparagus....ASPARAGUS?  What the?  Who thinks asparagus is a perfectly good substitution for soft shell crab??????  Thanks Zengo for ruining Christmas this year....ahhh, but on to other things....

I spent Friday and Saturday decking the halls and getting a little holiday baking, candy making done.  I'm losing a weekend next week because on Friday, I'm headed to the greatest city in the world...NYC.  Can't wait.  More on that later, but back to the cooking.   Last night I made a large pot of Spicy Turkey Chili, guaranteed to clean out your sinuses.  This morning I made a batch of Peanut Butter Bon Bons and then proceed to make Praline Milk Jam.  I've never made Milk Jam before, but the recipe from Christine Ferber's book,Mes Confitures had me intrigued.  I got this book a couple years ago as a member of the audience at the Martha Stewart Show.  They had made jam that day, and the entire audience got a copy.  It seems like one of those things you can start, and then work on something else while it cooks.  I'll post the recipe in the recipe section.  The four hours of cooking in a double boiler, turned to six hours and then I finally just dumped it all into a large pan and cooked it stirring it constantly so it wouldn't burn.  The result, while delicious, is hardly worth the six hours it took to make, but lesson learned.  Perhaps the altitude and the boiling point, etc, etc of living at elevation has something to do with it, so don't let me keep you from trying it.    Anyway, off to Arizona this week and the New York at the end of the week.