Colorado Homes & Lifestyles » Michele

Taste of the Nation Denver Tickets on Sale

Michele — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:48:37 +0000

Tickets are now on sale for Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation Denver, a huge culinary benefit with proceeds supporting the effort to end childhood hunger in Colorado. The event will feature more than 30 of Colorado’s great restaurants, food trucks and carts, cocktail artists, local wineries, and microbreweries. Taste of the Nation Denver was voted Best Food Event In Denver in 2010, so don’t wait to get your tickets!

Taste of the Nation Denver
June 9, 2011
5:30 – 9:30 PM VIP Admission
7:00 – 9:30 PM General Admission

Mile High Station
2027 West Lower Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80204

Purchase Tickets

Chefs Up Front Denver

Michele — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 13:14:23 +0000

One of the best foodie events for a good cause is just around the corner! Chefs Up Front serves up more than two dozen of the metro area’s hottest chefs who donate their time, talent and passion to prepare an exquisite dinner table side for guests with one goal in mind: to raise the critical funds needed to empower low-income families with the skills, knowledge and confidence to prepare healthy and affordable meals.

This is your opportunity to be treated by some of Denver’s finest chefs, and there are still tickets available. Take a look at the lineup then order your tickets today!

Aria/Opus – Michael Long
Avenue Grill – Andrew Lubatty
Beatrice & Woodsley – Pete List
Bittersweet – Olav Peterson
Black Pearl – Kate Horton
Centerplate Catering – Carmen Callo
Colt & Gray – Nelson Perkins
Cuba Cuba – Enrique Socarras
Elway’s Cherry Creek – Tyler Wiard
Encore on Colfax – Paul Reilly
Euclid Hall Bar & Kitchen – Jorel Pierce
Il Posto – Andrea Frizzi
Indulge French Bistro – William Wahl
Jax Fish House – Sheila Lucero
Jonesy’s Eat Bar – Beau Simmons
Lola – Jamey Fader
Luca D’Italia – Frank Bonanno – Hunter Pritchett
McCormick’s – Stephen Vice
Mizuna – Frank Bonanno – Tony Clement
Root Down – Daniel Asher
Solera – Goose Sorensen
Squeaky Bean – Max McKissock
Steuben’s – Brandon Biederman
Sushi Sasa – Wayne Cornwell
TAG – Troy Guard
TAG RAW – Sam Freund
Twelve Restaurant – Jeff Osaka
Village Cork – Samir Mohammad
Yia Yia’s – Aaron Whitcomb

Finding a CSA Farm

Michele — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:18:23 +0000

There is really nothing that compares to farm fresh produce, and fortunately, with the growth of CSA farms in Colorado, you can share in that deliciousness all season long.

CSA (Community Support Agriculture) Farms have members who join for a fee up front, and those members then share in the harvest each week. For the farmer, the money up front helps pay for seeds and start up costs for the season so they don’t need to borrow money. For the member, being part of a CSA means a weekly distribution of freshly picked, in season, produce.

Spring is the time for signing up for your CSA farm. If you haven’t found one yet, visit the Local Harvest website to search for a farm that meets your needs. Some farms require you pick produce up from the farm, while others deliver to front range locations. Many are organic, and many offer fruit as well as vegetables. Some farmers even raise natural beef, chicken, pork or lamb.

Joining a CSA farm helps save local family run farms while you get to enjoy the fruits of their labor – so sign up today!

Denver Restaurant Week

Michele — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:41:42 +0000

Denver Restaurant Week is only two weeks away – which means NOW is the time to make your reservations! Each year, a host of the best restaurants in Denver offer up menus to entice first time diners and long standing customers alike. At $52.80 per couple, or $26.40 per single, these featured multi-course menus make it easy to try a new spot and know you’re in for a treat. The Denver Restaurant Week website offers search options by both neighborhood and cuisine, making it easy to find just what you’re looking for.

Reservations fill up quickly, so hop on it!

National Western Stock Show

Michele — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:59:41 +0000

This is the last weekend of the National Western Stock Show held every year here in Colorado. If you haven’t been yet, there’s still time to take in some of the impressive livestock and attend a rodeo. The animals are really majestic, and are fun to see whether you’re 2 or 102!

Something you might not have thought to do is to attend an auction. Some auctions are just purely for the commercial ranchers, while some feature teens who sell the animals they have raised for competition. If you’ve lived your whole live in a city or suburbia, it’s a lifestyle and event that may be completely foreign to you, and it’s fun to watch.

This morning is the National Gold Trophy Bison Sale, and every year a group of people from Slow Food Denver attend and bid on Colorado bison. It’s a great way to support our local ranchers and we end up with some fabulous bison meat to last us through the next year. I’ll be there, and we’ll stay to watch them auction off the breeding stock bulls right after the sale.

Can’t make it to the auction? You can locate local sources for Colorado bison by contacting the Rocky Mountain Buffalo Ranchers.

Elegant Holiday Dinners

Michele — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:09:42 +0000

If there’s one simple trick to holiday cooking that will lift your meal from everyday to elegant, it’s an incredible sauce. Restaurateurs know this, and nothing is served without some sort of sauce – from the simple pan au jus to a complex French green peppercorn sauce, chefs know that the sauce is the jewelry that completes the dish. One of the easiest to make is a blender Bearnaise sauce – it’s the perfect sauce for beef, a longtime favorite in steakhouses around town, and making it in the blender takes out all of the guesswork and whisking required. Whip it up right before you serve dinner for the very best texture, but if you must make it ahead, refrigerate it, then bring to room temperature before serving. Resist the temptation to heat it in the microwave as the butter can melt and cause the sauce to break or separate.

Blender Bearnaise Sauce
Serves 8-16

Not sure what to serve it with? Try a simple marinated and roasted Tenderloin of Beef – it’s on my holiday menu every year!

Food Gifts for the Holidays

Michele — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 19:27:41 +0000

Every year I try to think of something new and creative to make and give my friends for the holidays. In years past I’ve made a wide assortment of gifts, including limoncello, brownie mixes in festive mason jars, and homemade steak rubs. This year, I borrowed an idea from a fellow food blogger and whipped up a batch of homemade vanilla extract and bottled it in these adorable little glass bottles from the Specialty Bottle Company. I’ll wrap a ribbon around each with a gift tag and I’m set for the season, ready with a hostess gift for every party I’ll attend in the next few weeks.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to make your own food gifts this holiday, there’s no reason to fret. Colorado offers up a wonderful selection of artisan food items that make wonderful gifts. Some local Colorado options to consider are:

A cheese gift basket from locations such as Fromage to Yours, St. Killian’s Cheese Shop, or the Truffle Cheese Shop.

A selection of handcrafted micro-brew beers from one or more of the many breweries along the Front Range.

A wine gift basket featuring Colorado wines – some of my favorites from the 2009 Colorado Winefest are Garfield, Two Rivers, and Canyon Wind, but there are many Colorado wineries receiving prestigious awards for their vino. Check out the Colorado Wine website for ideas.

Nothing says the holidays quite like chocolate – how about some special dark chocolate bars from Colorado producers like Chocolove, DeVries Chocolate, or Belvedere Belgian Chocolate Shop?

With wonderful bread shops scattered across the front range, one or more are certain to be offering my favorite holiday bread, panettone. It’s a very slightly sweet yeast bread packed with some bits of dried fruits and pine nuts, and it just happens to make great bread pudding or French toast.

Finally, if you don’t have the time to do the legwork yourself, companies like 5280 Gourmet offer a wide selection of food gift baskets, some very reasonably priced, and some offering same day delivery.

Indulge a little bit this holiday season and share some fabulous food gifts with your friends!

Beaujolias and Beyond Festival is Coming!

Michele — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:33:16 +0000

I love any event that features food and wine, and I especially love events that feature some sort of food competition. On Thursday, November 18th, from 6:00-10:00 pm, the 12th Annual Beaujolais and Beyond Festival, presented by the French-American Chamber of Commerce, comes to Denver’s Mile High Station.

The event features a culinary competition among 20 or so Denver chefs who will all work to create a French dish to pair with Beaujolais Nouveau wine. Yours truly, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles online food columnist, will be part of the professional panel of judges, while all of you have the opportunity to vote for fan favorites.

The event is also a great chance to sample some fabulous French wines, perhaps picking out a new favorite for your upcoming Thanksgiving meal. Come enjoy the food, wine and fun with me, won’t you?!

Giving new life to old corks

Michele — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 22:31:47 +0000

As a certified sommelier, I love to try new wines, share wine with friends, sip on a glass of wine after work, and pretty much anything at all to do with wine. I just hate the idea of throwing the corks away every time I open a bottle, so I started collecting corks in a pretty cage last year – as you can guess, that quickly filled up. A friend of mine makes crafts with the corks, but I’m not that creative. So what to do with all of those corks?

Imagine my surprise at reading today about Cork ReHarvest, a leading organization devoted to recycling the works that are produced around the world. Cork is an eco-friendly choice – the bark is stripped and then a tree regrows a new outer layer in about 10 years. Considering that a cork tree can live to 300 years, that’s quite a production model! But throwing all of those corks into the trash each year seems a waste.

Thankfully, Cork ReHarvest collects the corks in a sustainable manner and funnels them to recycling centers who turn them into new products. From their website it looks like Whole Foods is a partner and you will find drop-off centers there. Be sure to call your local store first to be sure that have a drop box before toting your collection over there. Salute!

Fall Harvest BrewFest

Michele — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:11:14 +0000

I’m not usually much of a beer drinker. As a sommelier and chef, I almost always lean toward wine over beer. But on a recent trip to Dublin this summer, I discovered I actually love Guinness. Now that has me curious about other beers I might be missing out on.

If you’re feeling the same way, or just want to try some of Colorado’s finest, check out the 2nd Annual Fall Harvest Brewfest in Fort Collins this weekend. On Saturday the 2nd, from 6-9, you can sample 25 microbrews paired with great food like MouCo cheese and sausage. Tickets are $30 (or $45 for VIP which gets you in earlier) and proceeds benefit the Animal House Shelter.