I don't think I mentioned it beforehand, but we spent last Thursday through this Monday visiting my family in Colorado. It's always so nice to go home, both because we get to relax so completely and because I get to see my family. I like them! Some highlights:

• On the Frontier flights to and from Colorado, we were offered a light snack of either Doritos or Sunchips. We noticed that the Doritos didn't taste as Nacho Cheesy as usual, and lo and behold, they were merely Nacho Cheese flavor, not Nacho Cheesier flavor. I didn't realize there was actually a difference in the two flavors. Nor did I realize that they still made Nacho Cheese Doritos. I guess Frontier didn't want to splurge for the extra Nacho Cheesiness.
  
  
• We spent most of our time in Old Town, which is within walking distance of my mom's house. We got to eat at a number of local restaurants that I'd wanted to visit, including Bisetti's, Rainbow, Beau Jo's, Taj Mahal (classic Indian buffet) and Walrus Ice Cream.
  
  
• There was lingering snow on the ground when we arrived, so Patrick got to throw a snowball at me. Later he must have felt bad, because he made me throw one at him too, so everything was even. Now he doesn't have to live in fear that I'll pelt him with a snowball when he's not expecting it.
  
  
• We visited the farm at Lee Martinez Park, which is also within walking distance of my mom's house. It was pretty quiet, since it's still winter-ish in Colorado, but we got to see very cute baby goats (6 days old and gamboling all over the place!) as well as some very pregnant cows and sheep. Pictures by Patrick:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• My elementary school teachers happened to be in town looking at colleges for their daughter (I had these two teachers for all 6 years of elementary school), so we got to meet up with them. It was good seeing them, and so serendipitous that they were in town at the same time we were.
  
  
• Patrick rented a bike from Recycled Cycles and went on a ride around town. He got a flat along the way, but some kind soul happened by with a pump, so all was well.
  
  
• While Patrick was being rugged on his bike, my mom and I walked to a nearby yarn store, My Sister Knits. It was so cute! They had decorated the tree out front with a bunch of pom-poms and little felted bird houses, and the store itself was located in a carriage house behind the main house. The walk up to the house was freshly mulched, and they had a bunch of beautiful chickens pecking around in the yard. Chickens and mulch don't go together well; the chickens had totally pecked all the mulch onto the walk. The shop itself was cute as well (I guess all yarn stores are), and we spent a good amount of time there. The women running it were very nice. You should stop by if you're in the area!
  
  
• We went back to New Belgium Brewery (also within walking distance of my mom's house). It wasn't as much fun this time, because it was totally overrun with college kids, and the production line wasn't going so we couldn't watch all the bottles go by. I did have some good free black cherry seltzer, but Patrick didn't want to wait to sample beer, so we left, somewhat disappointed. They are still our favorite brewery though! It's not their fault that college kids like free beer.
  
  
• We also spent a good amount of time sitting around the house relaxing, which we are very good at! I got to read a lot of magazines, including Bust, Bitch, Better Homes and Gardens and O at Home (from Oprah). A good assortment of magazines. I also looked through Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites and Jane Brody's Good Food Book, which made me excited to make lots of new dishes with beans and grains (unlike the cooking class on beans and grains I took a few weeks ago in Redwood City, which was not very exciting and had some unexpected vegan propaganda involved--I sympathize with the vegan point of view, but I just wanted to learn about beans!). We also watched some TV, played some Trivial Pursuit and took naps! Evidence:
  
  

It was a good trip! We're going to spend next weekend in Big Sur (partially to celebrate our 6-month wedding anniversary, and partially because my mom, grandma and aunts will be nearby, so we can all meet up). It feels like overkill to follow our nice relaxing vacation in Colorado with another nice relaxing (though shorter) vacation in Big Sur. It would've been better to save the Big Sur trip for a few weeks down the road, but I'm certainly not one to pass up a nice weekend vacation! Maybe we'll do some hiking.

Yum, pizza! It's whole wheat pizza dough with a little flaxseed meal added; pizza sauce with garlic and basil; mozzarella; roast eggplant, garlic, onion and tomato; wilted spinach and parmesan.

I like the pizza crust--it's exactly what I was looking for in a whole wheat crust. It was my first time using the KitchenAid mixer to make dough, and it worked great. So easy! Next time I make the dough, I'll have to remember to cover it better when storing it overnight; the edges dried out in the fridge. It didn't seem to affect the finished product.

Success! I donated a whole pint of blood this morning, no problem. Patrick was kind enough to put off his bike ride for a few hours to chauffeur me there and back so I wouldn't have to go alone. They had the most skilled phlebotomist set me up, and it hardly hurt at all, unlike last time, when the lady kept poking around and left my arm all bruised up. I have repaid my debt to the Stanford Blood Center. Yay! I might donate again in a few months, if they'll get the expert to do it again.

I just had a sandwich with corned beef and cabbage leftovers on some nice dark rye bread with mustard. It was a pretty good sandwich. I'm normally not a big fan of rye bread or mustard, but it seemed like an appropriate way to use up our leftovers, and the tastes worked well together.

We had our first crockpot success tonight. Previously, we'd gotten disappointing results when we tried cooking (1) that nasty chicken, (2) some sort of pork loin and (3) 10-grain cereal for breakfast (which burned to the bottom and sides of the pot). But tonight we made Corned Beef and Cabbage in the crockpot, and it turned out great! I think the key is to have the meat totally covered in liquid (in addition to the beer and vinegar in the recipe, Patrick added a few cups of water). Or maybe the crockpot originally cooked hot, but now it's settling down. Mystery!

Tomorrow I'm going back in to try donating blood again. I hope it works this time!

Patrick's birthday is this weekend, so I made him a birthday cake. He requested something lemony. After looking at a bunch of recipes, I came up with this (I contemplated frosting the sides too, but the frosting in the middle and on top was plenty):

The cake is composed of:

Cake Layers: The lemon variation of Nigella Lawson's Victoria Sponge recipe (closest recipe I can find is here, though I used milk and lemon oil instead of the lemon juice and zest).

Lemon Curd: In between the layers. Store-bought, from Stonewall Kitchen.

Frosting: Based on the filling in this recipe--1 cup of cream, 3/8 cup sugar and 8 oz. mascarpone, plus more lemon curd. I could've made half as much and still had enough.

Candied Lemon Peel: Used as garnish, though tasty as well. I made it using this recipe. A co-worker brought in a bunch of lemons from his tree yesterday, so I didn't even have to buy lemons! I brushed a little of the lemon syrup from the recipe on the tops of the cakes before frosting them.

The cake tasted pretty good, but it wasn't amazing. I think I was expecting the cake part to be a little fluffier, but it was a little dry and dense. Not bad though. I think it would've benefitted from some berries, had they been in season. I think Patrick enjoyed it, and that's what's important!