back in the U.S. of A.

For a brief time, at least. Mike and I spent a week in Denver back at the beginning of August, and I can't even begin to tell you how lovely it was to see our dear friends and family. My whole family--yaaaay!--swung through on their way to a wedding in Canada, and we stayed with Mike's mom and had dinner with his brother. We also got to visit two of the three brand-new-ish babies born to close and wonderful friends since we left; spent several roasting hours at the Botanic Gardens (but at least it was a dry heat...!); drove to Boulder several times; and generally kept busy with shopping and eating. Turns out, I didn't fully realize just how much I had been missing Mexican food (New and otherwise) until I had stuffed myself silly with it on this trip, but more on that later. Now, a few pretties from the Gardens, my favorite place in the whole of Denver.

Don't know what this is, but I love the color!

Apparently, it was water lily season.

I heart the succulents/cacti room.

It never ceases to amaze me what they can grow here. Incroyable, as Jean K. Jean might say.

More water lilies. You cannot possibly conceive of how many photos I took of these.

Different kinda lily.

Orchids in the new conservatory.

Some sort of hanging weirdness in the tropical conservatory.

Duckies! These guys are a joint venture with the zoo and have only been there a couple of months. And they're TINY and have blue bills. I love them.

Some sort of neat frond-y thing in the tropical conservatory.

Seriously, I even saw a Bird of Paradise growing there outdoors once. What can't they grow??

Even more seriously, back to the food. We didn't quite hit all of the eateries that I wanted to revisit, but we got the usual suspects: Twister's (twice! mmmmmmmm, enchiladas rancheros! and now opening a new branch in Denver proper!), Casa Vallarta (for pork carnitas and a burrito Colorado!), Señor Ric's (for $11 margarita pitchers, queso dip, and green pork chile con huevos! seriously, stop by on a Tuesday night, at Mississippi & 225 in Aurora--the margaritas are great and the green chile nice and spicy!), Illegal Pete's (for shredded beef/green chile and cheesy chicken burritos), Snooze (for brunchtime goodness with my best friend in all the world!), Sonic (I know, seems out of place on this list, but their green chile bacon cheeseburgers are so fantastic, and who doesn't love tater tots??), and, of course, Taco Bell (a true weakness of both my husband and myself, plus, somehow America managed to export only its more worst large fast food chains to Europe--McDonald's and Burger King, YUCK--so we needed a far tastier lard-and-"meat product" fix, please don't tell me what's actually in it, because I'll just end up being sad but continue to eat it anyway, and then that would just be mean of you). And then for the new-ish experiences: Rioja, for some fairly fancy dinin', and Jack-n-Grill for some super affordable and tasty New Mexican food.

So...Rioja. I'd really been wanting to eat there since before we left, as it came highly recommended by our friends Dane and Sarah, whose recommendation for food I'd take anytime (thanks, guys!). And whom we met there for a lovely fine dining experience. We all started with apps to split: an order of the fresh bacon (in a cardamom/curry/garbanzo bean puree), the Thai scallops (lemongrass panna cotta, compressed pineapple, plantain tuille, coconut kaffir lime purée, Thai red curry vinaigrette--not that I know what all of that means, or particularly like scallops, but these were quite nice!), and the Rioja picnic (wow: fennel salami, red wine bresaola, and Parma ham; pine nut crusted goat cheese; Italian gorgonzola; olives; truffle fennel salad; orange confit; and almonds, with some sort of giant grainy crackers). The entrees: mine was one of the evening's specials with some sort of fish and basil-filled ravioli in a salty broth with sweet cherry tomatoes, scallions (I think...!), and salmon meatballs; tasty, but nothing terribly spectacular. Mike (and Dane--the big winners of the evening, I posit) had the grilled Kurobuta pork chop with Dubliner cheddar tater tots, grilled bacon-wrapped summer beans, applewood smoked bacon vinaigrette, and black truffle crème fraîche. A giant dollop of which they slathered on top of the pork chop, rather dramatically, when the food was served. One comment on the service: Dane was away from the table at the exact moment when our entrees were served, so the waiter offered to have the kitchen keep it warm for him (bonus #1). Upon his return, they presented him not only with his own plate, but with an additional plate of the tater tots, as they felt that his original tots were now "soggy." Whatever you say, guys, but it all boils down to twice the tater tots (bonus #2!). If that's not service, I don't know what is. Anyway. Desserts: I had the lemon tart with a pine nut cornmeal crust, with lemon confit, pine nut brittle ice cream, and lemoncello granita...and I cannot even begin to describe how shockingly tart the granita was, but at the same time, how utterly delicious! (I really need to figure out how to make that at home, and then just keep it in the freezer for emergencies requiring frozen, super lemony treats.) Oh yeah...and the tart et al. was pretty fantastic, too. Mike had the “whopper” torte, with a crispy malted shortbread crust, chocolate flan, caramel mousse, and malted creme anglaise. Also very tasty, but pretty darn rich after such a large (and also rich!) meal. I will be honest, though, while the service was quite polite, and our water glasses were never empty, and we were never at a loss for delicious breads (with lavender! orange! goat cheese and scallions! and other things I can't remember!), it was a bit slow...as in, it took us three hours to eat, and not because it was Italian-style with 6 courses and a nap/walkies in between. Nope. Just slow. HOWEVER. All in all, I can highly recommend Rioja for a really nice dinner on Larimer Square. Mmmmmm, Larimer...

Also managed to squeeze in some all-you-can-eat sushi at Sushi Katsu with Mike's brother Bobby and his wife Anastasiya, and how fun. They're planning to visit Europe over New Year's and we got to talk travel, which, as everyone might have guessed, is one of my favorite topics, second only, perhaps, to food. And on that subject, why, one might ask, would cosmopolitan quasi-foodies such as ourselves seek out sushi in land-locked Denver? It's simple: Switzerland, too, is quite land-locked, but Denver is a large airline hub, which means that fishies can be flown in quite fresh; and while is sushi here exorbitantly expensive, it cost $24 apiece to have all-we-could-eat sushi and appetizers at dinnertime, 10 minutes from our old house, on Havana. All we had to do was eat everything we ordered, which turned out to be no problem whatsoever. Yes, please! I couldn't even attempt to tell you which rolls we ate, being a relatively new convert to the glory of sushi: I just know there was tuna and salmon and chiles and scallions and avocado involved, as well as tempura shrimp and veggies and edamame. Yessss. Surprisingly good, fresh sushi (and other goodies, including those weird, but strangely delicious, sticky little mochi ice cream balls) in a strip mall in Aurora. Who knew?? A great recommendation from both our old next-door-neighbors and Mike's sister-in-law, and one we will surely be visiting again in the future.

And now, to the budget New Mexican food. Which, frankly, presented quite a refreshing change from the overpriced, underwhelming food one finds rather easily here in Zürich! I speak, of course, of the fabulous Jack-n-Grill, located, somewhat sketchily, on Federal, near the football stadium. We met up with some of my friends from back in the day at SWCA, most of whom live very near downtown Denver, and it was just tremendous to see them all: not to sound sappy, but these are smart, fun, independent, motivated women who I am very proud to call my friends. (Sniff.) But back to the food. This was only the second time I'd been there, and while my first experience was certainly just fine, I found it a bit underwhelming, as it promised authentic New Mexican cuisine, and the green chile was nowhere near hot. (Schade.) This time, however, Jack-n-Grill delivered. The margaritas were large and good, the chips and salsa were tasty, the guacamole was good, and the combination plates were huge, cheap, and delicious. All the things I look for in a good meal! Mike, the only male in attendance, and, as always, a terrifically good sport about it, had the no. 1, with a chicken enchilada, a soft chile relleno, a crunchy beef taco, beans 'n rice, and Christmas chile over everything. I, on the other hand, went for the no. 2: one beef and one chicken enchilada, with red and green chile, respectively; a bean tostada; and beans 'n rice. All of which came on two ginormous plates for each of us, and which neither of us could even get close to finishing. On the one hand, I'm proud of our collective self restraint; on the other, so sad to leave such delicious grub behind. If we'd had a few more days, you can bet that I would have taken those leftovers down, but as it was, my family and I had already filled my mother-in-law's refrigerator with no fewer than ten (no exaggeration!) styrofoam boxes...so I bid a fond adieu to my leftovers, and to my downtown friends. A lovely, affordable dinner on a lovely (if noisy and a bit smoky, thanks to stupid chain-smoking crazy guy!) outdoor patio, with some lovely people.

Wow, I did not mean to ramble on quite to this extent about the food. I seriously need to find a job in which they pay me to A) eat, and then B) to talk and/or write about it. Think I might have a serious obsession here. Too bad I have no actual/marketable skills or knowledge pertaining to the subject.

To sum up the Denver trip: we certainly don't miss all the driving, the strip malls, or the wicked (again, at least it's dry...!) heat, but we do miss the wonderful people, the lovely food, and affordable shopping (who knew I'd have to import a decent mouthwash?!). We'll be back to visit soon, but in the mean time, let us know if any of you are coming to visit: we have a list of goods we'll need you to smuggle bring in for us.

Up next: Zürich Street Parade. Way more than just a parade, I can tell you that.