YSL @ the Denver Art Museum

In what is certainly a major coup for the Denver Art Museum, the museum is currently playing host to Yves Saint Laurent - The Retrospective. Through July 8th, you can view the stunning, expansive collection of clothing created by Yves Saint Laurent over the course of 40 years. The exhibit includes 2,000 haute couture garments, as well as photographs, sketches, fabric swatches, and videos about Saint Laurent. A recreation of his workspace reveals that he was immaculate and methodical in his work and provided some insight into what inspired him. I learned that not only is he responsible for feminizing "le smoking" (the tuxedo), but also for popularizing the pea coat, the tunic, and the safari look for women. I was in awe at how I still would just love to wear 95% of what was on display. Apparently his second favorite color (second only to black) was bright pink - a man after my own heart. If you plan to be in Denver before July 8th, this is a must-see!

All images but the last credit to the Denver Art Museum.

Egg & Kale Sauté

I've been part of a CSA before and I loved it - the interaction with the farmers, the surprise of the contents each week, and the delicious produce.  However, I found that I could never keep up with what I received and wound up wasting food each week (freezer space is not always readily available).  Enter In Season Local Market located in the Highlands and in Louisville where you can purchase only Colorado made or grown goods like at a farmer's market or through a CSA, but you only buy what you need.  They carry some of my favorite local products (e.g., ice cream from Little Man, habanero pickles from Colorado Country Kitchen) and there are always surprising finds.

Chicken eggs on the left, duck eggs on the right

Over the weekend, I was lucky to snatch up a half dozen duck eggs from Mini Moos and Kids Too, a farm in Canon City, Colorado.  I've had their goat cheese before but never their eggs and the owner of the farm was at In Season making a delivery and talked me into half a dozen.  They are larger than chicken eggs and the yolk to white ratio weighs more heavily toward yolk.  Most importantly, duck eggs are delicious!

I'll eat a fried egg or two on top of most anything - pasta, salad, steak, whatever!  Today I went had two bunches of kale on hand, and so I sautéed kale and topped it off with duck eggs.  It was the perfect lunch - healthy and delicious.  Note that this kale dish makes an excellent side (and serves approximately 6 people), but I think it really shines when complemented by an egg.  If you serve this as a side dish, omit the 4 eggs and stop after the first instruction below.

Egg & Kale Sauté
Yield = 2 servings (as a main dish)
Adapted from Bon Appétit

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced onion
• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 
• 1 3/4 pounds kale, stems removed and leaves roughly chopped (I used two bunches)
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
• 4 eggs

Preparation

• Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic.  Cook, stirring often, until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add red pepper flakes; stir 1 minute. Add kale and sauté for approximately 5 minutes, until crisp-tender.  Stir in the apple cider vinegar.  Add butter; toss until melted.  Season with salt and pepper.
• As the kale is cooking, fry four eggs over easy so the yolk does not solidify.  Serve 2 eggs over a bed of kale and season with salt and pepper.

Look at those orange yolks!

EVOO Marketplace

We've lived in the LoDo neighborhood of Denver  for a year and a half and I walk to work each morning past this cute store called EVOO Marketplace on the corner of 15th and Market.  What was inside always intrigued me, but I just thought it was, frankly, so absurd to have an entire store devoted to vinegars and oils that I never went in.  

When I finally decided to actually go into the store rather than just judge from a distance, I was pleasantly surprised.  I've never given that much thought to vinegar and oil, but the owners of EVOO Marketplace certainly have.  You can sample almost anything in the store, beginning with balsamic vinegars in an incredible array of flavors - from an 18-year-old traditional vinegar to dark strawberry to honey fig to dark chocolate.  My favorite was the dark cherry - a little sweet but not overwhelmingly so and with a strong cherry flavor.  The olive oil comes in flavors such as Persian lime, chipotle, and roasted walnut.  The store sells other spreads and tapenades, but the highlight is certainly the oils and vinegars and they'll even sell you a freshly baked (and huge) loaf of bread from Denver Bread Company should you want to indulge in your purchase immediately (as I did).  And don't worry, if you don't live in Denver, they ship anywhere in the United States and Canada.

Strange Brewing Co.

We were introduced to Strange Brewing Co. at Hops & Pie, a funky pizza place in Denver with an unbeatable beer list.  Strange Brewing Co. makes the "Hops & Pie P.A." for the restaurant and this prompted our visit to the tap room for Strange Brewing Co.  It couldn't be located in a more obscure spot in Denver - convenient to downtown and to Invesco, but tucked next to, oddly enough, a power plant.  It isn't glamorous, but the beers are tasty and they serve delicious finger foods from Thursday through Sunday (we indulged in some stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon and french onion soup, both of which were awesome) and for $10 you can sample a flight containing each of their 10 beers.  My favorites were the Cherry Bomb Belgian Stout and the Farmhouse Ale but all the beers were surprisingly good (even the Gluten-Free Lemon Pale Ale, which is the polar opposite of what I like in a beer, was tolerable).  If you live in Denver and enjoy beer, this is definitely a spot to check out -- either visit the tasting room or check out their beers at one of these locations.

Colorado Wildflowers & Baked Oatmeal Cups

I've written before about my inability to sit down at home to eat breakfast and it isn't something I am working to change.  It is what it is.  I strongly prefer to sleep an extra fifteen minutes instead of eating sitting down or making breakfast in the morning, but it is next to impossible to find healthy breakfast options on-the-go.  I always love eating oatmeal, but then you have to microwave it, get out the milk, find something yummy to mix into it.... you get the point.  I am lazy in the morning!  Enter this recipe for baked oatmeal cups!  Oatmeal on the go, pre-flavored and with fruit baked in?  Yes, please!

These couldn't be simpler to make.  Everything can be mixed in one bowl and you can adapt the recipe to include whatever fruit you have on hand and sweeten the oatmeal to your preference.  The oatmeal cups definitely taste healthy (like oatmeal does), but a quick 30 seconds in the microwave and you have a healthy breakfast that you can eat on the move.

We went on a beautiful hike today up Rosalie Peak in the Mt. Evans Wilderness west of Denver.  The wildflowers were spectacular, as were the views from the top of the peak.  We both started our day with an oatmeal cup... and both wished we had a few more on-hand as the hike dragged into its fifth hour and we were out of food and water!  We saw wild strawberries and roses, a marmot, white-tailed ptarmigan and a jack rabbit... and I managed to fall twice!  This is what we get for running where most people walk (and, let's be honest, I am klutzy).

A few thoughts about the recipe... first, definitely use paper liners for ease of eating and easy clean up.  Second, you can use any fruit you have available.  I bet these would also be great with slivered or sliced almonds or walnuts as well.  Third, substitute the milk for whatever type you like best - I used soy milk because we were out of skim milk and the oatmeal cups were great.   Fourth, I used only ⅓ cup of brown sugar... but if you've read any of my other recipes, we are a "less sweet is better" family.  Definitely increase the amount of sugar you use if you like a lot of sugar in your oatmeal.  Finally, these don't rise or increase in size during baking so feel free to fill the cups to the brim.

Baked Oatmeal Cups
Adapted from Door-to-Door Organics
Yield = 14 cups 

Ingredients

• 1⅓ cups fresh cherries, pitted and chopped
• 1 fresh peach, diced into ½ pieces
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups oats
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ⅓ cup packed brown sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (without any fruit).  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.  Fold in the fruit.  Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray or insert a paper liner (recommended) into each cup.  Fill each cup 2/3 full (or a bit more if you'd like).  Bake the cups at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and no longer wet from the egg mixture.  Cool for at least 10 minutes, particularly if you do not use paper liners.