Lobster Cooking Class

Last Friday night, we headed downtown to take a Lobster Cooking Class through LLU.



We met at somebody's home that had a kitchen set-up for cooking & we prepared 3 lobster dishes. The first couple started out making lobster bisque.



There was a fun overhead mirror to watch what was going on in the pots and pans. Our teacher was tons of fun & had been trained in Paris.



H & I worked together to make lobster tortellini.



Not to shabby for our first attempt- it was yummy too!



The lobster bisque was topped off with a delicious puff pastry & tasted amazing.



For the grand finale, we each picked our own whole lobster and boiled them.



We also learned quite a bit of lobster trivia during the evening.



Including how to tell if a lobster was a boy or girl lobster.



Me & my dinner!



You thinking of eating lobster was all fancy-schmancy at a nice restaurant, but we got all down and dirty cracking our lobsters & splitting the claws. It makes quite a mess!



My little camera failed me on this photo, but it was really funny in person. H had pulled out the perfect claw. We will definitely be trying this at home more often .

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Finally got my family pictures back with the pups!

Downtown Denver

While in Downtown Denver, I also had the chance to walk around the parks near the State Capitol.

There was an incredible garden with the most beautiful and unusual flowers. They were so pretty that they didn't even look real.

On both the East and West end of the plaza/park area that separates the State Capitol and City Hall are these neat amphitheatre-structure type of things.

I swear that it's too hot in Texas to ever grow these beautiful flowers.

There were also some very neat and unusual buildings downtown.

I love that Denver has more parks and green space than just about any other major city. I'd love for us to have something this nice in downtown Houston & the super fantastic weather to go with it.

Although they didn't have any skyscrappers as big as the ones in Houston, they have some very large (and pretty) office buildings.

If I end up missing one day, you should tell my husband to check in Denver. :)

I imagine really, really rich people have these types of gardens in their backyard and spend the afternoons taking leisurely strolls among the beauty and tranquility.

Seriously, if I win the lottery a garden this beautiful will be at the top of my To-Do list.

And one awful panoramic of city hall. I was tired & just snapped a few quick shots without paying much attention to anything. The building itself is beautiful and very impressive.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I think I'm finally getting over this awful cold & allergies that have had me under the weather for a few weeks.

The Colorado State Capitol

I was very lucky two weeks ago, getting to travel to Denver & Joshua Tree. My luck was even better because I had some time to stop by the state capitol in Denver & then have dinner with Sue & Don. I'd tried to get there before, but because of fight delays & the early winter sunsets, I only got pictures of some other things.

It was a gorgeous fall day to be outside exploring the Colorado State Capitol grounds, nice cool breeze & a warm sun.

The building was surrounded by a lovely little park, with just a few bums wandering around.

Have I mentioned how much I love Denver and the weather and all the trees?

I'm very impressed with their really gold dome! With all the gold found in the mountains, they probably had plenty of it.


This capitol sits atop this lovely little hill, that slopes down toward the city hall & nearby park.

Not sure why the flags were at half-staff, but I loved that they had the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon flying high.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: First day of early voting in Texas! I'll go if the lines aren't too long. :)

Atop Mount Evans

After our spectacular drive up to Mount Evans, the view from the top was awesome. You could see downtown Denver in the distance.

Friends are always better with altitude.

We both laughed that we were waaay too sore from our hike down Pike's Peak to attempt to climb the last few hundred feet to the very top of Mount Evans.

Isn't that an awesome road? The highest, last few miles were closed just a few days after our ascent.

I was fascinated with this old little building. I love how the lines mimicked the mountains.

Who knew fields of rocks could be so beautiful.

Just fascinated by these trees that are hearty enough to survive the cold and winds atop a mountain.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm pre-posting this with the assumption that we won't have power Saturday morning. I'm hoping to be able to update in the morning if we still have power.

Edit to update: Still have power at 3:30 AM, but the winds are really picking up. The eye came ashore near Galveston around 2:10AM. I'm just mesmerized staring outside at the tress and rain whipping around.

Driving up Mount Evans

Monday morning, we headed back to Denver & met up with one of Stephanie's friends, who offered to drive us up the world's highest paved road to Mount Evans. Another 14-er peak showing us amazing views, but I especially enjoyed the stop at Summit Lake. I'll just leave this post with photos only and no commentary interrupting the great shots.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Ike is still looking like a direct hit, but it's only a Category 2. We'll be fine, but hopefully all those on the coast have evacuated for the expected 20' storm surge.

Garden of the Gods

On our way out of Colorado Spring last Monday morning, we had beautiful weather & decided to stop by Garden of the Gods again.

Loved all the colors & shapes of all the rocks. I wonder what they looked like millions of years ago.

They seemed so random & just jutting up out of the ground all over the place.

Oh, happy friends!

There were even some rock climbers going up and coming down these rocks. Some of them look so delicate, I'd be afraid I'd break one or knock it over and destroy it forever.

I can just imagine the wind, rain and water that must have carved these giant sculpture over thousands of years.

The park was also a great place to see the entire Manitou Springs area & Pike's Peak in the background.

And a little tiny baby garden in the distance. I imagined these rocks were growing & would one day be as big and beautiful as the other rocks.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Um, just maybe hurricane Ike will go away. I've got big plans Friday & Saturday!