Let's Gab: September 2022

Happy fall, friends! September was the first month in seemingly ages that I actually just stayed put. Didn’t step on any planes or go on any far off adventures.

Instead, I made a list of every touristy thing one would do in Colorado and crossed them all off as I showed two rounds of visitors – my Dutch friends and then my parents – around the area.

Which first required us to revamp the small third bedroom in the house we rent, which had become a dumping ground for odds and ends. We snagged the daybed on Facebook Marketplace for $40 (and probably spent an equal amount in baking soda and bleach trying to get the cigarette smell out).

And then it was off the the races doing all the most “American” things we could think of to show our Dutch friends the best time during their first trip to the heart of America. Which included…

Thursday night ladies night at the Grizzly Rose dance hall, which felt like a scene from Footloose.

And eating all-American bagels (although these could be considered “fusion” cuisine with that amount of hagelslag).

And drinking out of red solo cups.

And celebrating America’s fascination with Oktoberfest. While I didn’t necessarily come in last for the Stein Hoisting competition, I will be working out my shoulder muscles all year for my comeback in 2023.

And my favorite Colorado past time, hiking! What we hoped would be a drive up my first 14-er, Mount Evans, turned into a hike when the road was closed.

But with Zucchini Corn Salad waiting for us at the bottom, we survived.

No sooner did they jetset back to Holland than our parents landed in town. So we hiked out to peep the pretty yellow leaves at Guanella Pass.

And woke up far too early on a Saturday to go do the Snow Shape pre-ski season workout at Red Rocks.

And…put up the tree. The Halloween Tree. (Not pictured: the glow in the dark toy meat cleaver found at Goodwill that is now the tree topper.)

Back in the headquarters, we’re full steam ahead with testing and shooting recipes for the holidays. We’ve got some new ones, like Beetroot Carpaccio, and reshooting some oldies, like this Grapefruit Brulee.

I’ve also been working on recreating a bunch of my favorite recipes from my trip to Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina last month, like this cevapi “sausage” sandwich, and the ajvar roasted pepper sauce.