Living, Life and Lifestyle

My brother is moving back to Colorado.

Almost certainly.

Well, maybe.

Aside from the obvious questions for his move (Where to work? Can he afford a home? What to do with the old friends he's leaving behind? Will he make any new friends?), my brother has his priorities in the right place: a home near the best coffee, bar and restaurant in town. We have been tasked with today's mission: the hunt for Eden!

(BTW, when we Google Search "Eden", we get an apartment complex, spa and a Baptist church. OK, so not as easy as that. Although the spa looks nice and isn't far from a good neighborhood. We need a road trip.)

Some of my favorite restaurants include Bastien's (Home of the Sugar Steak!), Trattoria Stella, Tom's Home Cooking (incredible Southern comfort food, only open for weekday lunch and always too crowded to hold the people who want to sit and eat--but WOW! is the food good!), and my wife loves Domo. We also go to Pints Pub and Cuba Cuba whenever we can.

So we drove around. One can find good coffee nearly everywhere, and bars and pubs are on every street corner. As we knew it would, the decision will come down to the neighborhood with the best restaurants. I love Five Points. It's a center for African-American cultural heritage in the West and has a jazz history dating back to the 1920's and 30's. The homes are beautiful Victorians and American Four Squares. Tom's Home Cooking is here. Unfortunately, as with most historical and cultural centers throughout the nation, whenever they are "discovered" by the masses, homes get overpriced, douches move in and the neighborhood jumps the shark. So far this hasn't happened completely in the Five Points, but already taxes and rents have become too expensive for many of the original residents.

Highlands boasts great homes with character and a gentrified neighborhood that smartly enough replaced old cool with new cool. Here you will find great shopping, Common Grounds Coffee, Stella's, funky bars and my brother's favorite place for fish and chips, Mead Street Station. But with so much within walking distance, Highlands is already pricey.

Other areas include Wash Park (Washington Park) which is like Highlands 15 years later, Lafayette Historic District which is near Colfax and Colorado and has many cultural and artistic outlets nearby, Congress Park which is lovely and largely unrecognized by many in Denver (Bastien's is halfway between Lafayette and Congress Park), and Capital Hill which is still a rough neighborhood with pockets of excellence, but is the closest to downtown and Domo, Cuba Cuba and Pints Pub.

So where should my brother live? Everywhere is close enough to get around well, and great food and drink exist all over town. Bottom line, anywhere is going to be good and every place will also have it's challenges. I recommend visiting for a while and look around for yourself. Take a day or two, a week, a month. Maybe rent for a bit and try it on. See how it fits.

Tonight's dinner after driving around all day:

Something Like Really Great Stroganoff, Made with Venison and Served Over Homemade Noodles

1 lbs Venison, trimmed, sliced thin (I'm using Round Steak)
1 lbs Mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Canola Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup Bourbon
1/2 cup water
Sour Cream
whatever other Spices you like to add, to taste (I'm using Rosemary, because that's what I have too much of laying around)

Saute the mushrooms in melted butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Keep flipping or stirring. You don't want them to get overly brown, just a really good, soft saute. Remove from pan and set aside.

Turn up the heat to high! Add canola oil. (You could use any kind of fat, bacon grease would be best, but I'm trying to watch it right now.) When it gets hot (starts to smoke and moves faster than water on the bottom of the skillet) add the venison. Cook for about 1 1/2 minutes without touching. Flip, cook for 30 seconds longer. Add the rosemary. Stir in the bourbon and deglaze the bottom of the pan a little (be careful: hot bourbon will erupt suddenly into flames. Don't come crying to me when you don't have eyebrows--you have been warned.) Add the water. Add the mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and anything else you want to season it with. Reduce to lowest setting and simmer for 20 minutes (or longer). Make some pasta. Or rice.

Just before serving, add enough sour cream to make a good sauce. Cook only long enough to heat thoroughly.


Egg Noodle "Pasta"

This is not pasta. It's egg noodles. But it's good and when you're well practiced, it's a nice substitute that's fun to make.

Flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Dump a couple of cups of flour out on a clean counter top. Make a hill. Stick your fingers in the top of the hill and move, gently in a spiral until you've formed a "volcano" shape.

In a bowl, combine the egg, water, oil and salt. Mix until frothy.

Pour into the volcano. Using your other (CLEAN hand) gently mix the liquid mixture into the flour, using the same spiral motion. When the liquid has taken on all the flour it can hold, move the rest of the flour out of the way and start to knead. You want to incorporate a little more flour--just enough that you have a firm, smooth ball of dough.

Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap. Let stand for 10 minutes.

If you have a pasta maker, use it. If not, get a good rolling pin and roll the dough out into 1/16th of an inch sheets. Using a ruler and knife, cut into 1/2 inch wide ribbons. Slice the ribbons into 3-4 inch lengths. Or get a pasta machine. Make your life easy. I don't care.

Add to lightly salted, boiling water. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain and serve immediately!