Two weeks ago, I wrote about some improvements we had made to a built-in china cabinet. We finished the work last week, but I kept forgetting to get a picture of the completed project. Well I finally remembered, so here are the before and after photos of the china cabinet. I wish I had a better full size picture of before, but you can still tell how much our work really changed the look.

Before

We removed both of the big glass doors, sanded them, and repainted them. I also spent a good amount of time sanding and painting the inside shelves and trim pieces. We bought matching knobs for the doors, and installed some magnetic cabinet catches to keep the doors closed. I also removed a trim piece of wood from each shelf that must have acted as a plate holder in the past. This allowed us to fully use each shelf and now all the glasses fit much better than they did before.

After

After a bye week last week, Santoro’s was back in action last night.  Our opponents were the creatively named “Off in the Woods” and had a roster filled with college aged skaters.  Despite our team being older, we were able to take an early lead in the game.  From that point on we never looked back and pretty much always had a two goal lead.  This upset the younger team, who taunted us saying that we were too old and not very good.  We may be too old, but we are definitely better players than they are.  They didn’t take the loss in stride, in fact they decided to attempt to rough us up.  I’m typing this with an ice pack attached to my neck and back, after one player tried to drag me down to the ice by the back of my helmet.  I guess I should have just went down without a fight, as I likely wouldn’t be in as much pain as I’m in now, but there was no way I was going to let the youngster take me down.  I think the final score was 6-3.  I earned my first points of this season with an assist on one of the earlier goals.  Our team is now 2-0 for the first time in years, and it feels good.

After the early afternoon whiskey tour at Stranahan’s, we all took a nap during the middle of the afternoon.  Perhaps starting the day out with a few drinks wasn’t the best idea if we wanted to have a productive afternoon.  Eventually we all rebounded in time to head up to a going away party at the Highland Tavern.  Our friends Corinne and Ted are moving this weekend out to San Francisco.  Kim and Corinne grew up together and have remained good friends through the years.  Her boyfriend, Ted, accepted a new job promotion out in San Fransisco and Corinne has decided to go along as well.  I can relate to this very easily, as I decided around seven years ago to join Kim in her move to Kansas City.  Looking back it seemed like such a simple decision at the time, but it definitely changed my life for the better.  I hope the same is true for Corinne and Ted.  They are definitely going to be missed, and judging by the large turnout at the party, we aren’t the only ones with that feeling.  San Francisco has been on my cities to visit list for a while, so this is just another excuse to plan a trip there.

As far the Highland Tavern goes, this was our first time there.  We don’t make it up to the Highlands area of town too often, and I do believe that it’s a rather new restaurant and bar.  We arrived just past seven, and immediately a member of the staff asked if we were with the party.  We were escorted to a table with a reserved sign on it.  We hadn’t had dinner yet, so we quickly decided to try the mac and cheese appetizer (3 cheeses + creamy goodness + elbows + buttered breadcrumbs).  It arrived quickly, and after assuring the food runner that I wasn’t eating it all myself, we were given some bowls and extra spoons.  It was a delicious appetizer, and I especially enjoyed the breadcrumb topping.

For dinner I ordered the don’t be such a turkey sandwich (roasted turkey + bacon + cheddar + avocado + arugula + sweet onion relish) with fries. Kim ordered the special, which was a chicken pot pie, and Amy ordered the no, i ain’t from Philly sandwich (5oz grilled steak + melted provolone + american + grilled onions). My sandwich was excellent, especially the sweet onion relish. Kim also enjoyed her pot pie, which wasn’t a traditional dish, but rather a crock of soup topped with a puffy biscuit like bread. Amy also mentioned that she enjoyed the Philly sandwich, and both of us agreed that shoestring fries are awesome. I shouldn’t have eaten my whole meal, but it was too good to stop. I don’t know if we will venture back that way anytime soon, but I would definitely recommend the food at Highland Tavern.

While Amy was visiting over the weekend, we took a tour of the Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distillery.  I made the reservation late on Friday night, and decided to do the 1pm tour.  We arrived about ten minutes early, and noticed that the attached restaurant, Rackhouse Pub, was hosting some sort of event for American Craft Brew Week.  Could this be any better?  Good whiskey and good beer all in the same location!  The tour started just a few minutes late, but the wait was well worth it.

Two Stranahan’s employees greeted us near the bar of the Rackhouse, asked for our IDs, and then quickly began the tour for the small group of just over a dozen people.  We were led into a large open warehouse that was filled with various tanks for mashing, fermenting, and distilling.  We were guided through the full process of creating whiskey, and I quickly realized how similar it was to brewing beer, at least in the early stages.  The distilling process was something that I wasn’t too familiar with, and the guide explained it in great detail.

After everyone in the group had a full understanding of the process so far, we were led into the cellars to see both empty and filled oak barrels.  The process of aging the whiskey is known as maturation, and though easy to understand, the sight of so many filled barrels is pretty cool to see.  Finally, at the end of the tour, each tour goer is rewarded with a free sample of this wonderful whiskey.  Before tasting, we were given a variety of glasses filled with a small amount of whiskey for smelling.  The idea was to show how much the smell can change in differently shaped glasses.  Finally, I tried smelling the whiskey in my provided tiny plastic cup, but after little results, I allowed my tongue to do the tasting for me.  Yum!

Our friend Amy was in-town visiting over the weekend. She was looking for a good weekend to fly out and when she saw that the Local Natives were playing on a Friday night in Denver, she decided that was the weekend. She had recently discovered this band at South by Southwest and admitted to being slightly addicted. Apparently she isn’t the only one, as Friday nights show at the Larimer Lounge was sold out at least a week before the event. We arrived at the venue just before the opening band was scheduled to start playing, grabbed a couple of drinks and headed out back to the patio area. The inside area by the stage was already hot, but the temperature at that time would soon pale in comparison to the heat during the bands’ performances.

The opening band, Suckers, got started a little later than expected, likely due to the largely tardy audience. Immediately our ears were met with deafening bass tones, while the band took the stage. Their lead singer arrived onstage with face painted in what appeared to be glittery puff-paint and draped with some sort of makeshift cape. It was a very odd start to an even odder performance. The volume inside was definitely too loud for the still arriving crowd. I will admit that the music wasn’t quite my style, and I began questioning what I had gotten into. I thought Amy knew my musical tastes nearly as well as I did, and most of our favorite artists overlap pretty well. I was quickly reassured, when we all agreed that we should move back outside and rest our ears over another drink.

Once the stage was changed over for the Local Natives, and the room was sufficiently packed to capacity, we moved back inside and found spots on the side of the stage. The five-piece band took the stage after a few minutes and jumped right into songs from their recent release, Gorilla Manor. I was quickly impressed by their vocal harmonies and musicianship. It’s hard to say that one of the musicians is the lead singer or frontman, as they are all well accomplished at their various instruments and possess great singing ability. However, I was most impressed by Kelcey Ayer, who seemed to sing lead vocals on most songs, as well as playing keyboards and percussion. He not only played both instruments, he played them at the same time, with one hand playing keys and the other beating on a drum or cymbal. It was very impressive, as was the rest of the band and their performance. This was a rare occurence where I knew very little about a band before seeing them and instantly became a fan.

Below you can take a listen to their latest and debut release. It is a bit different from their live show, and you may not be able to fully appreciate it until seeing them live, but give it a listen and let us know what you think.

The day has finally arrived! I have my very own laptop for the first time. Sure it is a work laptop, but I am excited nonetheless. Being a self-diagnosed computer addict, it may come as a surprise that I’ve never owned a laptop before, but I have multiple desktop machines to make up for it. I’ve wanted a laptop for some time, but always talked myself out of it. When the opportunity for a new work machine came, I was happy to go the laptop route, especially in my new position where we are constantly moving from cubes, to laps, and to meeting rooms. This machine, a Dell Precision M4500, is a monster and will be great to work with. It features an Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition processor, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M graphics card, and 4 GB RAM!

I was on my own for dinner last night, and after recently eating at all the restaurants near our house, I decided to go for a walk. I was on the lightrail heading north toward home and decided to get off at the Louisiana/Pearl station, one stop before my regular stop. I walked west on Louisiana toward Broadway aiming for Spicy Pickle, thinking that I would pickup a pizzetti (their version of a pizza). I arrived at the restaurant to realize that they close at 4pm, much earlier than my arrival time.

After walking along Broadway for a block or two and not finding anything else to eat, I walked back over towards Pearl and took a stroll south.  One of the first eateries I passed was a newer pizza place that I hadn’t yet tried, Kaos Pizza (new website badly needed), so I decided to give it a shot.  I remember reading that the restaurant was pretty much carry out and delivery only.  I did notice that there is a rather large patio in front of the small one room kitchen that provides some outdoor eating space.  Also, it looks like they are soon going to take over a neighboring building and offer some inside dining space, as well as a bar and beer garden (once the liquor license goes through).  This should definitely help improve the aspect of the restaurant that everyone seems to complain about, there are very few eat-in options.

I ordered the pepperoncini pizza, which is topped with tomato sauce, provolone & mozzarella, completely covered in pepperoni, tiny slivers of red onion, and obviously pepperoncini on top.  I was told it would take ten to thirteen minutes, and I was surprised when it was removed from the large pizza oven well under the fifteen minute mark.  I took my pizza to go, and ate the entire ten inch pie at home.  I must admit that I’m a big fan of Southern Italian Naples style pizza, and this pizza definitely hit the mark.  The crust was chewy and cooked perfectly, and the sauce had a bit of spice in it along with great tomato taste. The toppings were abundant, fresh, and tasty as well. I was very satisfied with my first Kaos pizza and I hope to have another soon.

Image taken from Denveater

Saturday afternoon, Kim and I took a walk for some lunch. I recently read a review of Socorro’s in 5280 and we decided to head there to try it out.  They are known for their “street tacos” but neither of us decided to order those.  Kim decided to order a torta filled with some sort of pineapple pork, if I remember correctly.  Neither of us were exactly sure what the torta was, but after having it, I would highly recommend it.  A torta is just a Mexican sandwich, and the tortas at Socorro’s are served on fresh sweet bread.  I ordered a burrito filled with chicken, rice, beans, etc. and topped with vegetarian green chile.  We also started with a basket of fresh chips and salsa, which were also very good.  We both look forward to going back to Socorro’s soon to try some of their other menu offerings.

Over the weekend, Kim and I finally planted our very first vegetable garden.  We were out picking up supplies for the built-in china cabinet (update coming soon) and decided to buy a few plants.  As mentioned earlier, I measured the sunlight in our chosen spot, and though it didn’t ever register as full sun, we decided to use the space anyway.  I did cut down a tree branch that hung overhead, so that should help some.  And we figured that Denver averaged so many sunny days, that we should have enough sun.

So, what’s in the picture above?  From left to right, we have a jalapeno plant and four bell pepper plants in the first vertical row.  The next row has a zucchini plant and four tomato plants.  Then we have nine kale plants.  I didn’t necessarily want this many, but that was the only option at the store.  Besides Amstel, our pet rabbit, eats this stuff daily.  Then we have nine broccoli plants.  Again, more than wanted to but limited to what they had.  Amstel will also help eat this.  The last two rows we dedicated to onions.  The plant in the far right corner is a strawberry plant.  I had forgotten about it until the end, so we had to squeeze it in.  We put down a row of landscaping bricks, that you can partially see on the right, to separate the garden from the yard. Proper separation is necessary, according to Couvillion’s Landscapes.  Hopefully the hard work will pay off.

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs in full force, I’ve been watching a bunch of hockey recently.  There really isn’t much better than playoff hockey.  I’m pulling for the Chicago Blackhawks to win this one, as they were often my team growing up.  Though I won’t be disappointed if the San Jose Sharks can beat them and win the cup.  I can remember when the Sharks first joined the NHL.  I think every kid I knew playing hockey had at least one Sharks’ hat at that time.  I don’t have much allegiance to Philadelphia or Montreal.  Both were big underdogs earlier in the playoffs, and I’m curious to see how much respect they will get now that they are in the conference finals.

In the last round, Philadelphia came back from being down three games to win the next four and take the best of seven series.  Another favorite team of mine just did the same thing, the Cincinnati Cyclones lost their first three games to the Reading Royals.  They went on to win the next four games and are now in the ECHL championships taking on the Idaho Steelheads.  If that wasn’t good enough, the Cyclones won the first two games of the series on the road and are well on their way to taking the Kelly Cup back to Cincinnati.  Go Cyclones!