yes, i’m posting on february and it’s may. WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?? in february, jamie and i celebrated 6 months of knowing each other and valentine’s day, i started a new job, and i turned 27. and, as you’ll find out below, i ate a lot. other than that, i got to see my BFF linda and i met hope, jamie’s sister, for the first time! having just moved and going through lots of changes, i can look back and say that the month was overall a little stressful but a lot of fun. it was delicious too!!!!
{in february i was trying all the local spots that i could walk to. will call is across the street from my house and i loved it!}
{they have the best arepas! i got a pork toastador arepa [filled with ginger black bean paste, pickled red onions, plantain, corn + queso fresco] with cilantro mojo sauce, with plantains on the side. their plantains are crispy, salted, and come with raspberry sauce. they are delicious. it’s all pretty cheap too. it’s nice to have this place across the street!}
{the next local spot, the source. also within walking distance. this place has a lot of construction going on right now but it’s pretty awesome – it’s this sort of marketplace of different businesses under one roof. there are some great restaurants, a bakery, a flower shop, a butcher shop, a design shop, a cool little wine & spirits shop [where i always buy alcohol because they have the coolest stuff], a brewery, a cocktail bar, a specialty foods store, and this coffeeshop, boxcar coffee roasters.}
{cool vibes in this place.}
{latte love}
{restaurant #3 that i tried in february that i can walk to? park burger, a popular little hamburger joint in denver. the one by me is new and nice and has a great patio.}
{out on the patio}
{not a bad burger there! i was dying because jamie and apparently his whole family LOVE ketchup, so he always puts a lot on everything, and on this day i saw how much ketchup there was all over his burger and i was joking that it looked like he just murdered someone. and then i took a picture. haha.}
{city views}
{trying to get a selfie with this cool denver mural behind me on my run! kind of a fail but i tried.} ;)
{a ramen date with noelle at uncle! we shared the pork belly buns and i got the chashu ramen.}
{linda came in town for work for a couple days so we did a couple of denver things! the first night she was here, we went to union station…}
{and we had drinks at cooper lounge…}
{…and dinner at avanti!}
{the second night, we went to ratio brewery for a beer…}
{…and then had dinner at fish ‘n beer, which was AMAZING.}
{we shared some amazing oysters! we each got one of the raspberry point [high brininess, clean flavor, sweet finish], one capital [vegetable broth undertones, crisp sea salt flavor with melon rind tones], and one barron point [buttery sweet texture with a mild brininess and sweet but musky finish], eaten with mignonette sauce of the month and ponzu sauce. so so good.}
{…and a lobster/crab roll!}
{scenes from neighborhood}
{on the left, i ran across these little index cards decorated with valentine’s day doodles while i was unpacking. these were from high school – i used to be such a doodler! and on the right, a little coffee and cupcake break in my neighborhood one friday. this was a mini strawberry champagne cupcake from yours truly.}
{i pretty much did a coffee tour of denver the first month that i arrived. this was at nixon’s on saturday morning with my boo.}
{one more}
{mom and dad sent me these pics… shiner boy loves to sleep under his pillow!}
{got some fresh eggs from a coworker so i decided to try the ol’ egg in a heart trick [with cheddar, of course, since cheese makes everything better]. that little heart is cinnamon toast because i didn’t have any jam! and then on the left, meals featuring farm fresh eggs, chapter 2: fried egg with thick-cut peppered bacon, [slightly] blistered heirloom grape tomatoes, avocado and cheddar, served on a tortilla.}
{a couple of throwbacks… on the left, my third grade school picture! aaaand my dad had a layover in denver in february right before valentine’s day so i got to see him! he was so sweet to take jamie and me to dinner and help me hang a few pictures and fix some things. we didn’t take any pictures together unfortunately, but i did find that picture on the right on my phone from when i was little.}
{dad, jamie, and i went to work & class and shared the jalapeño cornbread [which had already been demolished at the point that we took the pic], cabrito [roasted goat], coriander roasted colorado lamb, wisconsin cheddar mac & cheese, and chickpea croquettes. oh, and a couple local brews.}
{a little v-day selfie that i sent to jamie at work. reminds me of old times when we used to be long-distance and would send each other selfies pretty frequently!}
{the sweetest valentine’s day goodies from my parents and nama!}
{this was at jamie’s district meeting for work. we should have taken the picture BEFORE we started dancing though!}
{hope was my first overnight house guest [besides my mom on our first night in my apartment when we slept on the floor, ha] which was pretty exciting.}
{i’m a sucker for corned beef hash.}
{yummies from avanti: on the left, tagliatelle [house made shoestring pasta] with bolognese [classic slow-roasted tomato meat ragu] from chow morso. it was traditional but OMG good. and on the right, s’mores made with pizzelles from brava!}
{good times with these two! hope and i really hit it off.} :)
{evening adventures}
{the three of us went skiing!}
{it was so bright up there!}
{love them}
{the girls}
{ski selfie!}
{had to.}
{i’ve found that my weekends here in colorado usually feel like vacation! and i’m not mad about it.} ;)
{we walked around downtown breckenridge and did a little shopping. and it started snowing! cue some excitement from the texas girl!}
{i spy a snowy peak there in the distance… can you see it??}
{this little boutique in breck was the cutest!}
{…and i had to take a pic of this adorable shopkeeper} ;)
{coors field, taken on my run around the neighborhood!}
{the day before i took this picture, it was 70 degrees… i’m slowly but surely getting used to colorado’s weather, which is apparently even more bipolar than texas’s!}
{i’m certainly not used to this sort of view, even in february!}
{speaking of views from the car, this is totally random/dumb, but that was steam coming from one of those manhole covers in downtown denver and i was sitting at a light and thought it was cool so i took a pic. and then when the light turned green i drove on top of it. it’s the little things, guys.}
hopefully i can post on march before the fall leaves come out. ;)