Pan con Bistec

This morning we went to the Boulder Farmer's Market, and got some yummy things! Three different artisan balsamic vinegars - fig, white lavender, and dark chocolate (YUM). My salads will be so happy for these additions! Also, I can't wait to have an oven so I can make chocolate cupcakes with raspberry topping drizzled in that dark chocolate balsamic.

We also got me some new tennis shoes. Had a foot checkup yesterday and the doc said there's not much to do but wear firm shoes with insoles and NO YOGA. Or running. Basically the same I've been doing for months. I guess I'll have to become a gym or pool rat until this thing heals up more. He said hiking is ok, so the plan is to get in as good of shape as I can this winter so I am ready for hiking come spring. Oh, and snowshoeing is ok too! That will definitely happen in the next couple months.

And then for lunch we went to Cuba Cuba. Yup, it was time to try some Cuban food outside of Miami. Here's the outside. Cute, right? The inside was decorated with canisters of Cafe Bustelo and they played Spanish music I recognized.

And here is a picture of my lunch. Pan con bistec, of course, maduros and a Jupina - tastes like Hialeah! 

Well.. almost. The maduros were great - they got just the right amount of caramelization on the edges, just how I like it. Jupina, of course, was good. Chris's lechon asada... could have used more mojo. It mostly just tasted like grilled pork. And the pan con bistec... ehhhhh... They desperately needed to marinate it longer. It didn't have that yummy tangy marinated taste I love. And they put a ton of lettuce on it, which diminished the taste further. Also, the bread wasn't right. I think they get a C on the pan con bistec. They tried, and some bites were about right, but it was a far cry from a Subs & Rock sandwich.

I've heard there are a couple other places in town that one can find a pan con bistec. Including one of the more expensive restaurants where it costs about $15! But I will continue my search and at some point might need to try my hand at making my own. We'll see :)

Learning Golden

Another busy week in CO!
Last weekend we spent Saturday in Golden, attending a football game and the annual Chili Cook-off and Beer tasting. And then on Sunday we went for a 'little' hike to help burn off all that chili and beer. YES. Great way to spend a weekend!

Here is our awesome marching band, promoting the Chili Cookoff, at halftime. Yup, their outfits are just a pair of dark jeans and red flannel shirts, with hard hats..

This is me with our mascot - Marvin the Miner :D

This is a view of the crowded Chili event.

Every year students hike up to the M on this mountain, carrying a 10 pound rock. When they arrive, they whitewash the M and leave their rock. When students graduate, they are encouraged to hike back up to the M and take a rock with them. New faculty and staff are encouraged to participate as well, so next fall I will get to make my trek.

 On Sunday we went for a hike to the Royal Arch, from Chautauqua Park. This is the view as we started our hike. The park is a 5 minute drive from our hotel. We didn't doctor anything in this picture - it really looked that amazing!

And then a view from up at the Arch, 1,500 feet up from where we started at the car. The first is a view of one of the flatirons, through the Arch, and the second is a view of the University of Colorado from up above.

This week we also had snow, and I flew to IL to stand up in my good friends Ari & CJ's wedding. That will have to be another post. For now it is time for dinner! 

House Signing

We signed on a house!! What a crazy thing to do. A friend joked to me that my "Adult" card from AARP should be coming in the mail soon. This certainly feels like the year of becoming more grown up (being grown up is expensive!).

We should be in the house one month from now. The Monday before Thanksgiving. On the down side, we'll have to spend the long weekend unpacking. On the up side, we'll have the long weekend to unpack, we'll get to cook our own Thanksgiving meal, and will be able to curl up by our very own fireplace at the end of the holiday. Yup, I'm going to take every bit of romantic, sappy newlywed enjoyment out of that I can. :)

Meeting the Foothills

Busy weekend! Yesterday we looked at our top few houses again, and found out that while we were looking at them all, our probable #1 pick was being signed for by someone else. Lost that one. Oh well. So the house hunt continues this week. We'll go see our #2 again and see if we decide to move on it. Also, I finally got a smart phone this afternoon - welcome to this century, right? 

On top of all that, we went for our first CO hike together today! This hike just off my daily commute. During the spring/summer there will be enough light to take this lovely walk after work.

For those who are wondering, my foot is ok with our hike today. It's not super happy with me, but it doesn't seem to be swelling or anything. If it is not too sore tomorrow, this will mean I've made some good progress with healing. Cross your fingers!

Being a Kid Again

Our days are measured counting from the day we left Miami. As often happens when I move to a new place, each day seems like three or four, and it can be a boggling task to figure out when and where I am.

Last night it took me several minutes to calculate exactly how long it had been since we left, and to do that I had to count milestones - visits on the drive, the days we looked at houses, my first day of work (only five days ago!), the knowledge that the next day should be Friday...

Having the world so full of new places and experiences is like being a kid again. Every day on my drive to work I marvel at the new sunshine gracing the foothills and hope that it will never cease to fuel my imagination.

Here is a video of roughly what we see each morning.

We Made It!

Hard to believe we've been in town a couple days already! We started our house hunting project today. Will post a recap of that tomorrow or Saturday, once we've had day two of looking at things.

But first, some pictures from our last day of driving and arriving in Boulder!

One of the sights we knew would be on our drive was a huge easel with a giant Van Gogh painting on it. Kansas is the sunflower state, so of course it's a painting of sunflowers. The easel is conveniently located next to Bill's Shootin' Shop and Bubba's Meat Block... So first thing on Tuesday we took our portrait by the easel.

And then continued our drive. It was pretty exciting to finally enter Colorful Colorado. OK I know I'd told people KS wasn't so bad, but man western KS is hard to get through! Probably aided by anticipation about getting into CO. Sorry KS people, but dude.. (I will say that eastern CO isn't much better :P )

All of a sudden, at mile marker 371, we were able to clearly see the mountains! These pictures are from a little later, since the faraway mountains weren't too photogenic.

It has yet to sink in that we actually live in this place; it's gorgeous and SO different than Miami. It kind-of feels like a big vacation. Aided, surely, by staying in a hotel suite. I suppose at some point we will get used to it, but we were saying today that it might not feel real until we move into someplace and have all our 'stuff' back. And so the house-hunting adventure continues!