QOTD: "Genghis Khan conquered Asia with an army only half the size of New York City's civil service." - Emanuel Saved
Reading: Dervla Murphy, In Ethiopia With a Mule
Listening to: Na Mele O Paniolo: Songs of the Hawaiian Cowboy
Decluttering accomplishments: got through more of the papers from the living room floor
I heard about the crash of American Flight 587 on the car radio Monday morning, while I was on my way to LAX. It didn't seem to have any particular impact on my flight to Denver, other than making people edgier than normal. I thought it might slow things down, so was glad to be at the airport three hours before my flight. There was a huge line at Terminal 1. In fact, the line made several newscasts, as it stretched all the way to Terminal 2. My flight was out of Terminal 7 and it took me under 10 minutes to check in and go through security. I don't really mind waiting at airports. I'm used to it, for one thing. And, more importantly, I always have a healthy supply of puzzles and reading matter.
As for my meetings, they were somewhat frustrating. The highlight of Tuesday was one person's threat that "if we're still talking about this in two years, I'll mail each of you a dead raccoon." My personal opinion is that he ought to start trapping the critters now. I did have a few productive five minute conversations in the hallway during breaks. The other thing to note is that the conference room was freezing. It's really pathetic when you have to go outside in Colorado in November to warm up!
By the way, the big news story all over Boulder was "El Dildo Bandito." There had been an art exhibit at the public library called "Art Triumphs Over Domestic Violence." One piece in the exhibit was titled "Hanging 'em Out to Dry" and consisted of 22 colorful ceramic penises hanging from a clothesline. There was pretty much no attention to this (aside from favorable art critic reviews of the exhibit as a whole) until the library director vetoed hanging a large American flag outside the entrance to the library. The result was that a guy stole the penises, leaving an American flag in their place and a note that said "El Dildo Bandito was here."
That's the part that got widely reported. The details that missed the non-local news included the following facts:
By the way, the "bandito" was caught and charged with a misdemeanor. The library decided not to rehang the penises. (That probably has less to do with the controversy than the scheduled closing of the exhibit in about a week.) My take on this is that the library director was foolish in the explanation she gave for refusing to hang the large flag. She should have simply pointed out the flags that were already there and not said anything about her fear that a large flag outside the entrance might offend someone. But connecting the flag flap to the art exhibit is sillier. And stealing artwork you disapprove of is never justified.
Trips to Boulder also mean food pornography and this is no exception. We had a lavish dinner at Full Moon Grill on Monday night. A fennel and orange salad was tasty, but the kalamata olives overwhelmed the dish and the fennel flavor was not as intense as I'd have liked. For my entree, I opted for their wild mushroom lasagne, which was tasty, though not quite what I expected. It was essentially a stack of grilled vegetables with the pasta less noticeable than in a conventional lasagne. A warm dish of berries with vanilla bean gelato and a crumbly nutmeg cookie crust was a perfect autumnal dessert.
We were decadent enough to have breakfast at Le Peep on Tuesday morning - a rare luxury since we've taken to staying at a hotel with a decent continental breakfast included. But a hot skillet dish (potatoes, veggies, cheese) is nicely satisfying now and then. And they have especially wonderful thick slices of whole wheat toast. I also really appreciate the carafe of coffee, which enables you to refill your cup at your own pace, instead of having the bottom get bitter if they top it up too soon or having to try to get the waiter's attention to get more.
Our dinner that evening was much less successful. I suggested trying someplace new. Mary Joan and I drove over to Pearl Street and, after reading menus at both places, she suggested En Vie, rather than The Twisted Vine. It was an interesting and attractive room, with lots of art on the walls and live music nightly. The first sign of trouble was that the menus we each got were not identical. The waiter explained they had reprinted menus because they were out of some items, though it seemed a bit odd that they had left different items off each menu. The ahi (which I would have ordered) was one of the items they were out of. I settled for wild mushroom ravioli instead. We also asked about soups, as the menu said they had freshly made hot and chilled soups daily. The waiter told us that it wasn't cold enough for soup, so they didn't have any. We didn't push him too hard to explain why that ruled out chilled soups. The wait for the entrees seemed awfully long. Finally, the waiter came out and explained (with obvious embarrassment) that they had run out of butter and the manager had gone out to get more. At least they were decent enough not to charge us for the entrees. My ravioli were okay, though they actually had too much butter. We decided to give them a chance to redeem themselves with dessert. Alas, my eclair was just passable, with pastry that was far too tough. The place wasn't dreadful, but there are far better options in Boulder. We figured that if En Vie is still around in a couple of years (i.e. when I get the dead raccoon in my mailbox), we'll give them another try and see if they've gotten their act together.
We got good mileage out of the "they ran out of butter" story the next day. It was also a good reason to opt for the safe and familiar for Wednesday night. The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse is as wonderful as ever and I thoroughly enjoyed the Indonesian peanut noodles and a green tea scented with ginger and lemon grass. Everyone else at the table seemed happy as well. Good food and interesting architecture - what more could you want?
The what more you could want turns out to be books. Due to United's reduced flight schedule, Mary Joan and I (and several other people, but she was the one I carpooled with) opted to fly back on Friday morning, instead of making the mad dash to DIA on Thursday night. We did stay down near the airport Thursday night, which gave us the chance to explore Denver dining options. I'd wanted to try the restaurant at the top of The Tattered Cover for a while, and she was game. In case you're not familiar with it, The Tattered Cover is one of the greatest bookstores in the world. The Fourth Story Restaurant has a menu divided into chapters and a cozy, library like ambiance. We had a bit of a wait for a table, but who minds when you can nestle into an armchair with a book? When we did get seated, we split an appetizer of snow crab ravioli with peanut sauce and cucumber salad - a bit spicy and very tasty. I should also note that their bread (which comes with a little crock of tapenade) was particularly good. For my main course, I had seared yellowfin, which was nicely complimented by a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and an astoundingly good asparagus and shiitake mushroom risotto. My dessert choice was a poached pear with mascarpone cheese and pistachios, which was pretty much the essence of autumn. Continuing the theme, the check arrived tucked into a book. I had to look closer and the book turned out to be an old Loeb Classics edition of Aristotle. I admit that I haven't read much philosophy, but I didn't think Aristotle had much to say about balsamic vinegar or red pears - or spending roughly 40 bucks on dinner. Afterwards, we spent some time browsing amongst the books (and buying a few). All in all, it was an extremely pleasant evening.
The weekend at home featured unexciting meals (tuna casserole, anyone?) but I did get a bit of housework done, read a trashy vampire novel (Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris) and went clothes shopping, including the purchase of a great pair of lacy black dress slacks at Macy's. The main event of the weekend was Tellebration. Our turnout was fairly meager this year - only about 25 people aside from the tellers and a couple of other people from the group who had chosen not to perform. Fortunately, they were a responsive audience. I told "Border Crossings" and got a reasonable amount of laughter, despite the thin crowd. I had planned to stay up to try to catch a glimpse of the Leonids, but it was foggy on the drive back. I figured that between the fog and the city lights, there was little point in bothering. It's times like these that I really miss Africa. I'll bet that the Leonids put on a great show in Namibia.
Copyright 2001 Miriam H. Nadel