February 24, 2014 · 12:17 pm

Local Love – Comida

I chase taco trucks.

Actually, “truck” is too restrictive a term.

I should include wagons, carts, RVs….  Hell there was one guy with a cooler in his trunk that used to stand in the parking lot on campus when I was in undergrad – I was a total sucker for his special version of steak tacos– which were folded over deep-fried flour tortillas filled with steak, grilled onion, cheese, and insanely spicy salsa, all wrapped up in foil pockets and piled in a cooler where they got kind of chewy as they steamed together.  (I miss you taco dude.  So much.)

Don’t get me wrong, I love any kind of food truck, and the front range has so many amazing offerings it boggles the mind.  But if you have tacos on board?  Chances are you see a lot of Keri.

I stalk them on social media, plan errands so I “happen” to be in the area they are parking for lunch that day, and end up taking extra laps around the neighborhood reservoir in response to “that incident with the taco truck for lunch yesterday.”  (One is never enough.  Or two.  Or three….  Need. More. Tacos.)

When it comes to the taco truck – there is no better, more mouth-watering, more delicious, more AWESOMELY perfect example than Comida’s.     I have an actual physical reaction when I see Tina (the truck)  in all her hot pink beauty shining in the Colorado sunshine – my heart speeds up, I get butterflies in my tummy.  My arm starts automatically flailing for my wallet.

Sadly, sometimes you just can’t go running all over town chasing down a moving lunch.  Sometimes you want to linger in a comfy chair in a climate controlled building while eating.  Mostly always Sometimes tacos without a margarita just sounds too sad to comprehend.

Here is where Comida ups their awesome right off the charts.  In 2012 the good people behind the great taco truck opened their first Cantina in the Prospect neighborhood of Longmont.  All my favorite taco truck treats (say it twice – fun to say,) PLUS more amazing menu items, PLUS booze.  You had me at “booze.” Sold.  The Prospect Cantina celebrated 2 delicious years in business just last week!

I can’t get enough.  My only problem here is option anxiety.  If the idea of keeping my order down to a reasonable number of items seems impossible at the window of their truck, it is a concept that doesn’t even have space in my head at the cantina.  I have to have the jicama and cucumber…. And the chips and guac….  And the arrachera taco(s)…. Oh, but the tortas – I HAVE to have the “sirloin situation” torta….   It gets out of control, and I am not even ashamed. (Just full.  Really full.) The food is creative and fun and prepared perfectly – off the truck or off the line at one of the Cantinas (A second Cantina location at The Source in RiNo opened in Fall of 2013.)  It is no secret that Keri is very much in the “food is love” camp, and this food?  In this food, there is most definitely love.

So….  do I stalk the truck or motor up 287 for tacos today?

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The full Comida website

Comida on Twitter

Comida on Facebook

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February 21, 2014 · 2:43 pm

Garbage Run. Just Sayin’.

We love Ishmael.

Not the narrating whale chaser from Moby Dick -We love  Ishmael our garbage man.

It was because I neglected to check the schedule and thought the trash was delayed a day of this great love for him that I waited until I heard the truck making its way around the outer circle of the ‘hood today and didn’t put the trash on the curb.

Then I jumped up from where I was sitting -clad in an old sports bra and jammie pants- at the kitchen table, taking out the power cord of my computer on my way out of my seat, and raced up the stairs to grab the diaper pail.

Slipping back down the stairs I grabbed my black puffy coat to cover my upper half and rushed out the garage door.  With one hand clutching the stanky can full of diapers, the other wheeling the rest of the trash behind me, I ran up the middile of the road, hair stuck to my head with a goopy blue-tinged deep conditioning treatment, yelling “WAIT!!” “ISHMAEL!!!”  after the lumbering truck several houses up the way from ours.

I am not kidding, he stopped what he was doing, set down the neighbor’s trashcan, and laughed so hard he was crouched over with both hands on his knees.

See – I made him happy.

Because we love Ishmael.

Just Sayin’.

 

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February 18, 2014 · 3:09 pm

This Blows. (No really. It BLOWS.)

I’ve come to terms with life being a bit breezy way out here in the ‘burbs on the wind-swept plains.
Really, I have not. Really.

HOWEVER.
The wind along the front range of my beloved Colorful Colorado of late has been obscene.
Like “expect to see cows and Auntie Em fly by when I look out of the blinds, wondering if there is a witch left in Oz for the house to land on” windy.

“Drove Mega Coon from his winter slumber two nights ago, sending him in to the corner of my raised garden bed where he stood on his hind legs SCREAMING at Mother Nature for a good 10 minutes” windy (seriously, he is big, he is pissed off, and HOLY CRAP does he hate the wind!)

“Forced to set down coffee and drive with both hands so I didn’t accidentally change lanes while piloting Frederico Escapé to the office” windy.
Seriously effing windy.

So I sat in the car in the office parking lot this morning, watching the dirt and tumbleweeds and assorted debris blowing around, thinking about how stupid I was to have worn a dress with a full, billowy skirt today, and pouting for a good 20 minutes.  Then I made the least graceful entrance in the history of mankind, loaded down like a pack mule with all my stuff, hair blowing like I was on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one hand holding a wad of extra material from my skirt tight up against my legs, the other clutching my precious coffee as I shuffled down the row of cars and erupted in a gale into the main door.

Hot stuff.

Here is the thing about wind. Take anything, even the best thing ever, and add wind.  Said thing is instantly made much worse, if not totally ruined.
Beautiful day at the beach? Niiiiice.  Add wind and it’s just a painful sand shard shower that knocks over your umbrella drink.

Crisp, clear fall afternoon? So refreshing.  But plus wind? Caked with groddy leaf mulch and chilled in spite of the sun.

Gentle accumulating snow outside your window?  Oh so very pretty. Until wind blows its stupid self in and BOOM, nasty-ass blizzard knocking out power to your Hot Toddy and Movie viewing snow day and creating toilet paper and bread hording situations at the Kroger, yo.

Andplusalso, wind makes me people cranky as hell. No one is happy with jacked up hair and God-knows-what blown into their eyes. Even Binky-the-wonder-dog is uber-ticked about having to go wizz in the wind. (Careful where you are standing in that situation, BTW. Just sayin’.) Getting Jr from the car to the door of daycare requires tether-ropes and sandbags at this point – a gust caught his hood yesterday afternoon and I thought we were going to be on the news:  “boy achieves solo flight via dinosaur hoodie – last seen over Ft Collins, film at 10.”

I loathe the wind with a passionate and boundless hate. With a hate that gives me energy like a cup of coffee, but with a side of rage.
Hate. It.
Please go away wind. All your blowing totally sucks.

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February 12, 2014 · 9:55 am

“Walk-ing. You know, Walking?” Just Sayin’.

The temperature has finally started to creep up from the range where I am forced to use random exclamations in the place of a good cuss, and so I walked the short distance to the store to grab a couple of items yesterday.

When the express lane attendant started to bag my purchases, I unzipped my backpack and said “Oh, I’ll just stick those in here, I am walking.”

This statement is almost the rule, and NOT the exception at the grocery store where Urban Keri shopped, and certainly not any big deal.

Suburban checker lady looked at me like I was on fire, actually burning there while standing in front of her.

I took the milk from her hand and put it into the backpack, raising my eyebrows in a kind of “see how this works?” expression.

Not so much.

I walked away, resisting the urge to sarcastically tell her that my minivan was in the shop.

 

Just Sayin’.

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February 11, 2014 · 12:26 pm

Local Love – Valentine’s Day

Ahhhhh Valentine’s Day.

Cards and Conversation Hearts; chocolates and flowers; strawberries and champagne….

(Or a big middle finger to the greeting card companies and a desire to turn Cupid’s bow and arrow right back at his diaper-clad little self.  To each their own, eh?)

Having been in the floral design industry for a good part of my 20’s, I confess I am somewhere in between. I lean toward cussing the whole thing and assaulting the cherub, but I do love any excuse to eat an amazing meal.  (Unless you bring me flowers – in which case I will shove them up your nose and stomp on your foot as I turn to walk away.  I have floral industry Valentine’s Day induced flower trauma.)

So, where do you go if you want to show your honey some Local Love this Valentine’s Day?

A few suggestions:

I would rather get the tar-and-feather treatment with a vat of molten chocolate fondue and the stuffing from a red-and-pink teddy bear than go out to a restaurant on or around February 14th.  The only day that is a bigger nightmare for dinner out is New Year’s Eve, FFS.  Skip the crowds and pre-set menus and drop in to your local butcher for the perfect steak (or chop, or a selection of charcuterie, or something else special and delicious,) to make a meal that is sure to show your other just how significant he or she is to you.  If the idea seems a bit intimidating to you, stop by Wally’s Quality Meats . The staff is approachable and quick to offer suggestions both for selection and preparation,  they will lead you to the perfect pick (and preparation,) to wow your Valentine.

Sweets for your sweetie!  You have to have a little something sweet on Valentine’s Day, right?  Of course.  Two of my favorites from around the area:

Sweet Cow – The original store in Louisville sees a lot of action from this family. So good. So. Dang. Good.

Indulge Bakery –  Red velvet cupcakes, people.  Come on now.  (Or Salted Carmel.  Or Butterscotch pie.  Oooo, or Cookies!!)

Wine. CLEARLY you are going to need wine to compliment the fabulous meal you are about to whip up, (or to cover up for not listening to Keri about Wallys’s and serving Chipotle by candle light instead. ) Even if you have your everyday favorites, a special bottle of something grape can be THE thing that marks an occasion and sets it apart.  For this reason a visit to  The Wine Cellar (attached to Wine and Cheese,) at the Orchard Town Center is in order. Tell them what you are preparing, tell them what you like (or don’t,) and they will assist you in selecting a bottle (or two.. ahem.. why not?) This is a boutique approach to wine, so every bottle is a stand out, and (fair warning,) stopping in for something new here can be a bit addictive.  You’ll be back.

Maybe you need a little gifty to bestow upon your beloved? Now if you are me, nothing says loving (to be given OR received by Keri,) like a growler or two from Big Choice Brewing. But if beer doesn’t = romance to you then I have just three words for you:  Curating The Cool. A fun and funky and, in keeping with its name, very well curated selection of vintage, along with handmade items.  Hint, the perfect change-his-life gift for your guy is a selection of Mod Cabin shaving and grooming products, which CtC carries.  You are welcome.

But Keri, ONLY flowers will do.  She/he/whatever EXPECTS the flowers.  I can’t skip the flowers.

Then call  Lafayette Florist. Or better yet, stop by and talk to the designers.  Skip the internet flowers-wedged-in-shipping-box situation and have a conversation with these folks to get something special that shows you didn’t just “get flowers.”  You got an arrangement that will appeal to the recipient.   The great designers at Lafayette did my wedding flowers and they were beautiful, elegant, perfection.  (It is not easy to please a floral designer on her wedding day, believe me. They did.)

Hint – if flowers are your goal, shop now. Like, maybe don’t finish reading this, just get on the blower or in the car and shop NOW.  Except do finish reading this first, because hello – Keri worked hard on it and that’s just rude.  Seriously though, if you want Valentine’s Day delivery, or even a nice arrangement to pick up and hand deliver yourself, get that squared away today, because calling on the day (or the day before,) is going to make for an extreme uphill battle.

There you have it – your NoBurbs Valentine’s Day  survival  – nay – THRIVAL guide. (Yep.  That’s not a word. That’s what I do, people.)

Use it well, and remember:  when it comes to steak, cupcakes, and wine, sometimes NOT having a significant other is a good thing.  :::Side-eyeing The Mr.::::  Protecting your portion can be so much work.

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