Good-bye, Baker, Hello, Iowa

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Beth

I’m sitting here in Monk’s Kaffee Pub in Dubuque, Iowa, just a few blocks from the Mississippi River, and I just wanted to let you know, Baker, that I miss you. I was thinking about the corner of Broadway and Ellsworth in Denver just yesterday. All your little shops and restaurants and bars and houses seemed so far away. I couldn’t bop down to Bardo for some ice cream if Sweet Action had closed. I couldn’t walk to Dailey Park. I even miss my landlady’s little candleholder surrounded by four stolid figures.

I liked living in Denver. Although I’d lived in the metro area for nearly three decades, I’d never lived in the city proper. For the first time since I lived in Washington, DC, I could walk just about everywhere I wanted to go.

I got settled there, and now I’m traveling again, and it’s unsettling me. I was feeling really stressed out last night as we couchsurfed (in a very nice bedroom). It wasn’t just the cute dog jumping on me in the middle of the night. It was all the change happening so fast.

The next week will be brutal in terms of driving. We have to get from Dubuque to Vermont by Thursday. After that, we’ll be spending several nights at a time in hotels or with friends. By then, I think the excitement of seeing the East Coast will have overcome my anxiety about finances and health.

Yoga Studio in the Baker Neighborhood, Denver, I

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Beth

Our landlady clued us in that a yoga studio would be coming to our neighborhood. Construction began about a month ago. I’m glad. Although it was interesting to wake up each morning to find a new tag in a new color on the building, the graffiti began to get excessive.

The equipment used in this reconstruction fascinates me. I wish I knew how to operate machines like the ones in pictures 3 and 4 below.

I’ve been taking pictures surreptitiously as the project has progressed. I’m half-afraid someone will see me taking pictures and get upset about it, even though I’m taking photos of what occurs on the street—which should be public.

Trash Walk 2, Denver, May 2012

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Beth

Two photos to illustrate why I always want to pick up plastic trash when I’m walking anywhere, the first taken at a church a couple of blocks from my house.

Yes, the trash bag blowing in the wind in American Beauty is a wonderful thing, but most of them cling to trees or barbed-wire fences, marring our landscape.

The second comes from Occupy Denver’s May Day event in Civic Center Park. Clearly, they need someone to set up zero waste events for them.

At least half the items on top could be recycled.

Read about Trash Walk 1 here.

Two South Broadway Restaurants

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Beth

I have three foodie friends whose names begin with R, and Tuesday night I went to Sketch for the second time with one of them. So, I’ve been to Sketch twice with two different Rs. Got that?

On my first visit to Sketch, in mid-January, the small restaurant was packed. We sat at the back by the only bathroom, where it was quieter. My friend Ruth Tobias was interviewing the man who was redoing the wine list, and we were well attended to. I had a refreshing Prosecco with pear, and she ordered a couple of the spicier red wines, a taste we share. We sampled two cheeses, one of which, the Gouda with nettles, had an intriguing herbal flavor. And then we had homemade pasta in a crimini mushroom sauce. The dish featured a light, flavorful mushroom sauce with slivers of zucchini and parmesan, and I was pleased that the chef gave me a small portion. I get tired of the huge amounts of pasta served at some restaurants.

It was much quieter at Sketch the second time I ate there, on Tuesday. R2 and I would have sat on the patio, but the sun was too blinding at 5 pm, so we went inside to the bar. She tried to order a Roederer sparkling wine but was handed a glass of red wine. When it turned out that the bottle of wine she really wanted had gone flat and they didn’t have one on ice, she got the Segura Viudas Brut Rose Cava instead. I saw “blood orange soda” on the menu and ordered that, made by Rième, a French company that was new to me. I took home the bottle because (1) it was all curvy and (2) Sketch doesn’t recycle.

R2 ordered the pasta with mushrooms, and it looked pretty much the same as the one I had, although she got a larger serving and there were no long slivers of vegetables across the pasta.

The warm brussels sprouts salad was pleasing enough, and simple enough, that I thought I’d try to make it at home. Its base, mixed greens in balsamic vinaigrette, was softened by the addition of butternut squash cubes and figs and contrasted with the firmer brussels sprouts leaves. (You can find a few of them in the picture, around the edges. There weren’t as many as I expected.) The last three ingredients were sautéed with something spicy and tossed with the greens and caramelized onions and toasted hazelnuts. I liked the mixture of warm and cool, sweet and spicy and sour, crunchy and silky.

We paid up and walked down Broadway to Delite because one restaurant just wasn’t enough. By then the sun had gone behind the buildings on Broadway, so we could sit in the garage door–style window and watch passersby stare at us. I ordered a rather dull Gruet sparkling wine to go with the mac and cheese, and R2 got spicy edamame and a glass of Clean Slate riesling. We sat by the DJ and listened to 1980s tunes. You’d think the salad from Sketch would have filled me up, especially after the stomach shrinkage caused by 4 chemo treatments, but the mac, served in a small cast iron pan, had a creamy truffle sauce that I couldn’t resist. I liked it much more than Sputnik’s version, which was rather dry.

Catkins at Dusk

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Beth

This photograph is dark and blurry, but still I like it. I took it at the corner of Ellsworth and Cherokee, across from Dailey Park. I had gone out to photograph the still-bare trees in Dailey Park, but I disliked all my tree photographs. So you’re stuck with a tree detail. And just for clarification, a “catkin” is a “slim, cylindrical flower cluster.”

Art and Exercise

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Beth

I just returned from working out at La Familia Rec Center, near Dailey Park in Denver. It’s a few blocks from our apartment.

During this cycle of chemo (the third), I was a little later getting to the rec center than last cycle. I took some walks and did some yoga and Pilates, but I didn’t get to the rec center until last Thursday and then Saturday. I did a workout at home in between, and by Saturday I was pretty tired.

I’ve been trying to maintain my strength throughout chemo, but today was the first day I managed to ride the recumbent bike for 30 minutes, and that was only on level 3. Now, I’ve never ridden the bike at a level higher than 5, but 3 seems pretty wimpy. After about 15 minutes, I went down to level 2 because my legs were tired. I tried to keep my heart rate around 140.

Afterward, I did some resistance training: sitting row, hip abduction and adduction, leg extension. I would have done 3 sets of dead lifts at 40 pounds (including the bar), but there were too many people in the weight room. Maybe I can do those next time. I think they’re good for my back.

After my workout, I stretched in the basketball gym while a man practiced 3-point shots. Then I walked closer to the murals at the back of the gym. According to the woman at the front desk, the athletes in the mural were modeled after various people from the community in 1979. I wonder if they were excited to see themselves immortalized that way. She said the mural had never been touched up, and it looks great (except for the football player who’s positioned so as to kick the boxer in the crotch).

There’s another mural in the pool area, which includes a couple of figures and various solar bodies. It’s a different style than the mural in the gym, but apparently two of the artists were the same.

Trash Walk 1, Denver, March 12, 2012

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Beth

Went for my first trash walk today, 3 blocks west on Ellsworth, across the street, and then back again. I spent most of my time picking up trash on the edge of the street near the sidewalk, including some incredibly nasty stuff embedded in the dirt.

Bending down to pick up the trash over and over took a little bit of effort, but it wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t as feverish or as tired as I was on Sunday.

In 6 blocks total, I filled my bag with trash.

Next time I think I will wear gloves, and I will carry two bags so that I don’t have to sort through all the dirt to get to the recyclables.

Oh, and I won’t wear white pants.

***

This trash pickup was inspired by It Starts with Me.

Night Photography: Tree Star Moon

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Beth

I was walking home from shopping along South Broadway the other night, when I noticed this:

I’ve always loved it when the moon appears to be swinging from a star, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to photograph the wintry trees in the Baker neighborhood.* So I stared at the sky for a while and then went inside and got my tripod and my camera. I don’t have a ball head on my tripod, which makes it difficult to take a vertical shot with the camera on a tripod. But I managed. This is a 10-second exposure, and it looks pretty sharp to me. I haven’t tried to print it to an 8 by 10 yet, but I think I will to see if the sharpness is good enough for that size print.

The original shot showed the cars parked on the street, but they were fairly bright, and I thought they diverted attention away from the sky.

*Given how early it was in the evening, the “star” was probably a planet.

Denver Restaurants: Señor Burritos at 1st and Broadway

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Beth

Señor Burritos

12 East First Avenue (off Broadway)

303-733-0747

Bus directions: Take the 0 down Broadway from Market Street Station, or take the 6 to Broadway and walk south

En route to the Mayan to see Moon (think Solaris), Todd and I stopped by Señor Burrito’s for dinner, which is just around the corner from the Mayan and next to the Hornet. Senor Burrito exterior Denver July 2009 I wondered about the three toughs standing by the front door, but it turned out they were waiting for takeout.

Inside, Señor Burritos is comfortable, a small restaurant that has the feel of a fast-food place. It’s a bit rundown, and the sign by the clock that reads, “Notice: 24-Hour Surveillance,” indicates a mistrust of the clientele. (I really hate the way Denver is becoming a city where you’re always watched, on the buses and on the light rail, even on the streets, and now in restaurants.)

We sat by the counter, where we had a view of the kitchen, and thought about what to order. Our waitress was fantastic. She was short and very busy and ran around a lot and apologized to Todd because he couldn’t have his horchata (rice milk) because they had just run out and the cook was really busy and didn’t have time to make another batch. He ordered a Tamarind Jarritos instead, which was so fizzy it made me feel excited in my mouth.

Senor Burrito combo relleno taco enchilada Denver July 2009 Senor Burritos provided my second experience with a flat enchilada (on the left), that is, a tortilla enchilada that has been properly “en-chili-ed” and rolled up with the minimum amount of cheese. I much prefer them to the larger, stuffed, Southwestern variety. The relleno was also flat and apparently satisfactory, since its shape was the only note I made about it. The beef taco was nothing special. The green chili had a kick, but just enough that I enjoyed it instead of wanting to flee from it into a vat of sour cream.

It was solid Mexican food, a good place to get a quick meal before a movie or drinks. I would definitely go back.

Denver Restaurants: Lucile’s on South Logan

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Beth

Lucile’s Creole Café

South Broadway neighborhood (roughly; it’s east of Broadway)

275 South Logan

303-282-6258

Bus directions: Take the 0 from Market Street Station down Broadway to Alameda and walk east

This particular Lucile’s is not in an old house, like the one in Boulder. It’s laid out like a restaurant, with fairly wide aisles between tables. It’s a little easier to navigate but not quite as cozy and quirky as the location in Boulder. There is also a large but quite sunny patio on Logan.

We skipped the beignets that we usually order, but my breakfast came with this lovely, crumbly, moist biscuit. Lucile's biscuit Denver June 2009 I started my meal with hot chocolate made with Lucile’s house-made chocolate milk, heated and mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg. Lucile's hot choc Denver June 2009 It was more flavorful than the Starbuck’s version I usually get, even if I do make the barista add extra chocolate and caramel.

Todd ordered the Carlin County, which always reminds of a friend of mine who likes to go four-wheeling in his souped-up jeep. The sausage gravy over another buttermilk biscuit was creamy and slightly spicy, and it looks like a big hunk of sausage worked its way into the red beans. Lucile's Carlin County Denver June 2009

Todd loves his grits, but I’m not as fond of them. This time I chose them for my side with the Cajun Breakfast, poached eggs with hollandaise over red beans. Lucile's Cajun breakfast Denver June 2009 It was a mellow combination. Although Lucile’s red beans tend to be spicy, they didn’t have a chance against a combination of grits and hollandaise. (If they put the eggs in the grits, it would look a bit like a Santa Claus face, don’t you think?)

It’s always a struggle to finish a meal at Lucile’s: the food is great, but there’s so much of it.

Todd and I went to Lucile’s on South Logan before he had to conduct another audition for KFSC and I had to go cover the Cherry Blossom Festival the last weekend of June 2009.

We skipped the beignets that we usually order, but my breakfast came with this lovely, crumbly, moist biscuit. I started my meal with hot chocolate made with Lucile’s house-made chocolate milk, heated and mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg. It was spicier than the Starbuck’s version I usually get, even if I do make the barista add extra chocolate and caramel.

Todd loves his grits, but I’m not as fond of them. This time I chose them for my side with the Cajun Breakfast, poached eggs with hollandaise over red beans. It was a mellow combination. Although Lucile’s red beans tend to be spicy, they didn’t have a chance against a combination of grits and hollandaise. (If they put the eggs in the grits, it would look a bit like a Santa Claus face, don’t you think?)