My day | Peaches Prattlings

{March 8, 2017} Uncommon Grounds

A new restaurant, for me.

Tonight WIS and I went to dinner at a place called Uncommon Ground, a farm to table restaurant. Fabulous!

It’s a warm and inviting place with wooden tables, benches and chairs, warm lighting, decent music and a good atmosphere. Next door they have live music a few nights a week.

Ok, I cheated and I payed for it…our appetizer was artichoke and goat cheese pesto, served with crispy toast points, oh my word! Remember, I gave up dairy because it makes me ill, so if I eat it, it’s on me. Was it worth it? Tonight, yes!

Main dish, I had butternut squash risotto with drunk [rum soaked] raisins. I enjoyed this immensely! WIS had lavender honey chicken, looked great.

It’s a great place that doesn’t pressure you into ordering, leaving because you’ve been there too long. The staff is attentive, but not pushy or at your table every five minutes.

A definite plus and try again. Happy vegan!

http://www.uncommonground.com/home

{March 6, 2017} First run of the season…ahhh

I arrived in Denver late Friday, drove up to Silverthorne, where I was staying for the weekend.

The nice thing this time, I was joined by some friends. Last weekend I got to hang out with my friend APM, this weekend, his wife, NLM and their seven year ood daughter, ALM. They were already in the room asleep, best part… they brought my skis with them!

We got up Saturday morning, went for breakfast, caught up and then got dressed and headed out to hit the slopes at Keystone. I’m a skier and they are both riders, snowboarders, see…the two can get along!

ALM had never been on a gondola, she was a little nervous and after… didn’t want to go up the mountain ant other way!

We got to the top and picked a green circle, I was fine with this since it was a year since I’d skiied and wanted to get a feel for things again, they wanted it because ALM is still learning and this was a family/ learning trail.

We had a great time, there was stopping and starting intentionally and unintentionally, falling, learning, tumbles. We stopped after msking it down once for some hot cocoa and a treat, back up for another run.

It was great watching them together, I’m looking forward to trying a snowboard next year and NLM being my instructor!

At one point ALM said it was time for private lessons. That meant me, then her mom, then me. She would tell us what she wanted us to do, she said copy me, unless I fall, the don’t copy me! Sounds good!

After the second run, we were done, this had taken a good chunk of the day. We headed to the shuttle, back to the car, then the hotel. We regrouped, went to get some dinner at Whole Foods, back to the room for showers, dinner and a movie. We ended sacking out pretty early, a full day on the slopes can do that to ya!

This morning, breakfast, packing and they headed out for home and I went back to Keystone for a few runs, back to the hotel, shower, off to Boulder for an errand, traffic was ridiculous! Drop off my skis, say hello and goodbye and then to the airport.

Now I’m back in Chicago ready for a new week. Fabulous weekend!

{March 1, 2017} The Beet Table

What a fabulous meal!

I was looking for a dinner option, I looked up the places that the hotel suggested and wasn’t thrilled, they had things they could ‘veganize’ by removing items, not what I was looking for, so I kept looking and found The Beet Table.

I sat at the bar, that eating alone decision, bar/table. I made a good choice, I liked the bar, easy to sit at and the bartender was very nice and helpful.

Most of the options were vegan, so you can imagine I was a happy camper! I started with the sweet pea guacamole, wow! It still had avocado, tomatoes, onions and seasoning. It could have used a bit more salt, but the chips were nice and crisp with a fair amount of salt, so that helped. I followed that with the butternut squash and quinoa, wow! There was a butternut squash under the quinoa and big slices of acorn squash on the side, spiced almonds, some other veggies and cranberry purree to cut the spice, it was fabulous!

I loved it and I’m looking forward to going back to try some of the other options!

I also found out they are in New York City, enjoy northern vegans!

{February 28, 2017} Ristorante Merlo

Fabulous!

Tonight I asked at the front desk for a recommendation for dinner and I was given Ristorante Merlo. I know, you want to add a t to the end of it!

This restaurant is in a house set on the street amongst larger buildings, slightly hidden in its own way, one of those places that unless you know you’re looking for it, you miss it.

I walked in, no reservation and was taken downstairs past a bar and dining room with banquet seating, less intimate. Downstairs it looked like a place for a nice romantic dinner, family gathering, more intimate, like you might be with family.

There were only about eight or ten tables in the room

They sat me at a corner table and for about twenty minutes, I was alone in the place, a little weird, but I had my server’s attention and he was prepared to make my experience special.

It is not a vegan restaurant, but they accomdated me. I had the minestrone and it was fabulous, the broth was wonderful and the vegetables were barely cooked, nice and crisp. Then the pasta came out, tagliatel, spinach, asparagus, garlic and olive oil, really nice and flavorful; I didn’t even have to add salt, lovely. It was on the al dente side, because it was fresh that day, love it! What I liked was the portion size, appropriate, not too much.

The bread basket had fresh, crisp, flavorful foccaccia and crisps that were actually flash fried fresh pasta, that didn’t taste like pasta, it was great!

I had really nice dinner, can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds!

{February 24, 2017} A blast from the past

Thursday night brought a real treat!

I got to see a blast from my past. JM is someone I was in youth group with when I was in high school.

We lost touch after high school, as so many do and then reconnected through Facebook. I saw that he was traveling to Chicago on Monday and I reached out.

I was teaching and be had plans but had a window before going to see Hamilton. That changed a bit and we ended up meeting after the show. My hotel was just a few blocks away and it was like time had stopped. He looks the same, a little less on top, but the same face, smile, sense of humor and good nature.

We walked to the Palmer House to get a drink and sat and talked about everything. Hamilton, theater, musicals, literature, marriage, kids, movies, family, life, work, you tube, holidays, games, geeks, travel. Yup, I think that about covers it.

About 1am we were both starting to get a little woogie so he went off to his home base for the evening and I walked back to the hotel and boy, I’ve never seen State Street deserted before!

When we were talking, it felt like we had just seen each other a few weeks ago, how fabulous!

We parted company with the promise to keep in touch, I’m looking forward to that.

Such a treat.

{February 23, 2017} A sweet celebration!

Happy birthday DLP! Let’s celebrate!

Today is DLP’s birthday, and she was feeling better so celebrate we did! [She has had what a lot if people are going thru this season].

I am staying at a Doubletree hotel and if you know Doubletree, you know they’re famous for their chocolate cookies, so on my way into the office, I had to get some for my friend! I left them on her desk and went to teach.

After work a select few of us, well, we were hand picked and selected of course! We went to a restaurant that opened in Chicago a few weekends ago, The Sugar Factory.

The Sugar Factory is a candy store with an elegant restaurant attached. They have drinks that smoke and filled with candy treats, drinks that taste like candy and desserts that sparkle!

We had good food, good conversation and a celebration for a great friend. A great evening!

{February 22, 2017} It’s so small…

The Smart Car.

It’s so small! Wouldn’t you agree?

I don’t have much else to say. If you enjoy your Smart Car, more power to you, I just don’t get it.

I feel like you can pick it up and carry it places. I think it could fit in my hotel room! With room to spare!

{February 21, 2017} I was dressed for bear…

Ok, I apparently have been using that expression incorrectly for a while.

I thought it meant dressed warm for cold weather, oh well. I was coming back to Chicago this week expecting it to be cold and no, I didn’t check the weather, that would be the smart thing to do.

I was wearing jeans, knee socks, a sweater and winter boots. For a freezing plane or a winter day, I was stylin’! The outfit looked good, I thought so and someone else said so, put together and work appropriate, we could wear jeans today!

I get to Chicago and it was warm! I didn’t need a coat, that was in my checked luggage, never took it out of my bag! The office was warm, I was sweating and my bag was at the hotel, so I couldn’t change my top!

It was even warm walking back to the hotel, I got into the room and dropped jeans, sweater and socks! I even turned the air on and sat there in my skivvies to cool off.

I remember being here in Chicago in April last year and it was still cold! I was going on that! And I’ve been told that it might be coming again, hmmm…gotta check the weather for tomorrow!

{February 19, 2017} They said what?!

PICNIC, PEBCAK, ID TEN T…huh?

You call IT for support, you call customer service for help. You’re really not getting anywhere and you’re frustrated and you hear a term you have never heard before, but the technician says it, you don’t know any better, so you just accept it.

Let me let you in on a little secret…

PEBCA… Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard.

PICNIC…Problem In Chair, Not In Computer.

ID TEN T…write it out…ID10T.

Type

You’re welcome!

{February 17, 2017} But my shoes are off!

Yesterday was a travel day.

By the time I got to Saint Louis Airport, TSA PreCheck was shut down. They gave me a card so that I could do a modified PreCheck by leaving my shoes on, woohoo, I still had to take me laptop out…

I knew that my shoes would set off the metal detector so I took my boots off and when the guard looked at my feet she thought I was still wearing shoes and told me to take them off, turns out it was my socks!

I have two pairs of socks like this pair was given to me by my fabulous friend RJS! How funny is this!

Got to make travel days fun!

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