Thus, on a snowy day in Boulder, I present OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Fridge Soup.

1. From that still unopened package of bacon you bought because it looked like a good idea at the time, remove four fat slices. Cut them into 1″ squares. Start them frying.
2. If you like, add a quarter-cup chopped up roasted chilis. The ones that looked so gorgeous at the farmer’s market last week. You only meant to buy three ears of peaches ‘n cream sweet corn, but you can’t resist a bag of freshly roasted chilis.
3. When the bacon is about half-done, delve into this week’s CSA share. Slice up and add to the bacon pan the stems of that beautiful bunch of rainbow chard, one fat green pepper, and one yellow onion. Let these cook until the aroma makes you salivate. Let cook a few minutes longer.
4. Roughly chop the chard leaves and stick them in a soup pot with just enough water to cover. Dump in a can of navy beans. (This is why you stocked up on canned beans.) Dump in a quarter-cup or so of frozen turkey drippings. (This is why you save and freeze the turkey drippings.) Dump in a nice big anonymous spoonful (teaspoon? tablespoon? Who knows? Who cares?) of your favorite bouillon.
5. Take the pan of bacon-onion-pepper-chili off the stove and put the soup pan on. Turn fire up to “please come to a gentle boil, if you please.” Dump contents of pan into soup pot. Stir.
6. When the pot’s boiling, reduce to “simmer but don’t take forever about it” and wait as long as you can stand it.

Serve with OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Fridge Salad, which is all the mizuna and arugula still fresh enough to eat in a salad plus a couple radishes and carrots and cucumbers and raw zucchini and julienned roasted beets and, you know, whatever, drizzled with Ravenous Chocolate Vinaigrette.

Time to eat!

Typically some greens haven’t been used up. Make stir fry tomorrow with the choi, using those Hazel Dell oyster mushrooms you bought for just this purpose. Also one of those great long yellowish-green peppers that you’re never sure what to do with.

Take the rest of the chard, collard, arugula, mizuna, and whatever choi didn’t fit in the stir fry, and boil them down for Green Gumbo. (This has the advantage of using up more peppers and onions, though you may have to go out and buy the celery and parsley.)

“Next time on the CSA Overflow Creativity Show: OMG Nothing Will Fit In The Freezer! Stay tuned.”

–
(Reposted from my personal blog, because if the Boulder Farmer’s Market and Abbondanza Organic Seeds & Produce aren’t relevant to Denver Metblogs then I dunno what is.)

But that is not the reason for this post….

On my Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Anchorage last Monday I learned that Frontier recycles all of the aluminum pop and beer cans from their flights. I had noticed that the flight attendant was pulling the tabs off the cans and separating them from the rest of the trash. When I asked why, she told me about Frontier’s recycling program. In addition, she told me that her grandson’s Cub Scout troop was collecting the tabs on the cans for the Ronald McDonald House. Apparently, Ronald McDonald is recycling those.

I continue to be impressed with Frontier Airlines. I hope Frontier is able to survive in this difficult economic environment. It has been a godsend for Denver to have a decent alternative to United Airlines.

The rain is great for the garden, it’s nice to see so much green grass, and it probably means a lot fewer forest fires this summer, but … this is Colorado. We are supposed to get 300+ days of sunshine each year.

Fortunately, it looks like the rain is on hold – at least until this afternoon. We are going camping this weekend and I am hoping our tent stays dry and we can play in Colorado’s great outdoors!

2009 Downtown Denver Arts Festival Dates:

Should be a blast! Checkout all the local artists, support local talent!

This weekend is the Women’s expo at  the convention center!

What the heck is a women’s expo you ask? I the whole right side of the cenvention center (well it was last time) filled with everything a woman might want.

Tons of samples – last year there were at least 10 different types of chocolate and cookies – omg!

The generic female stuff – purses, shoes, clothes

And speakers!!

2 stages worth

Stage one will feature a line-up of speakers focusing on fitness, fashion and finance while the second stage will spotlight cooking, creative design and crafting.

famous folks like…

• Style Matters fashion columnists Judie Schwartz and Evelinda Urman will talk about how to wear high style at low prices and trends on what’s hot and what’s not.

• Shane Tallant, host of HGTV’s Designed to Sell, will lead an interactive and educational seminar on how to make a home stand out from the rest.

And local talent:

• Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein will present GIRLS ONLY: The Secret Comedy of Women, an original comedy celebrating the honor, truth, humor and silliness of being female.

Financial advice and fitness tips:

• Financial adviser Wendy Spencer will help women learn how to track where their money goes, find ways to reduce expenses, develop easy savings routines and create a spending plan.

• Fitness and health expert Dan Polimino will discuss what roles proteins, carbohydrates and fats play in weight gain and weight loss as well as the four little things you can do each day to change your whole outlook on life.

There is also a special Boutique Marketplace, a new offering this year that will showcase products and services created specifically by Colorado-based artisans and businesswomen.

Buy local!

And so much more!

The Colorado Women’s Expo hours are Saturday, April 25, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The Colorado Convention Center is located at 700 14th Street, Denver, Colorado, 80202. For more information about the show, please visit

If you are interested in attending there is also an online coupon for $2 off you can use here: http://www.coloradowom…

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who thought it was a good day for a hike.  This was the most crowded I have seen any Open Space park in our area since last summer.  Both parking lots were full and cars were parked along the roads outside the park.

We saw tons of hikers, bikers and dogs on the trail today.

Even so, it was beautiful.  The sky was blue, the sun was out and it was warm.  I even had to take off my windbreaker because I was sweating so much.  Dry – probably too dry – and no mud or snow.

This is a great place to hike.  It is right behind Evergreen High School.  It is easy to access.  Also, it has trails for all levels because there are flat open areas as well as steeper trails that go through the woods.  And, if you are a climber, there are lots and lots of big rocks to climb.

I highly recommend this one!

I’ve now attended 2 wine tastings that Argonaut Liquors have put on at the Park Hill Golf Course.
It has been great.
They line a long ballroom with tables full of wine!!  LOTS of wine!

I’ve been to other wine tastings and this by far out guns any other tasting you have been to!!
Promise!

As you enter and confirm your reservation – price ranges from 25-35 – you can buy on line!!! (it benefits the Positive Project)
You get a multi page list of all the wine currently available for tasting in the room.
They also give you pencils so you can mark your favorites! yeah!!

The people manning the tables have an amazing amount of knowledge and want to share with you!

There is also a “snack” table in the middle for noshing. Different types of cheeses, grilled veggies, a couple warm items in the middle, brushetta and other yummies!
Gotta have something to sop up the alcohol!

This even is really fun, there are great deals on the wines if you like them – you order via email or call them and then you go pick it up when it’s ready!
How great is that!

I can’t wait to get the yummy italian goodies i ordered from last thursday!

See you at the next one!

(I’d tell you that these are not your typical werewolf-in-the-big-city novels, but you might not believe me seeing as how I’m such a fan girl and not likely to give an unbiased report. So you’ll just have to read ‘em yourself.)

The Denver Book Mall is also hosting a signing by Mario Acevedo, whose Colorado-based novel stars a vampire PI named Felix. (I haven’t read that one yet. It sounds like fun.)

Please go! For me! So I can live vicariously though each and every one of you! Because I really, really wanted to go, and circumstances intervened, spoil-sports that they are. (Stupid weekend having only 48 stupid hours in it. Grumble grumble grumble & etc.) Go on! Git!

…I should probably mention whereabouts and when. OK. Here’s the stats:

Denver Book Mall
When: Sunday, March 1, from 3:00 PM until I’m-not-exactly-sure.
Where: 32 Broadway, between 1st and Ellsworth.
Questions? Call Nina Else at 303-733-3808.

There ya go. Now git yer butts down there, and tell me all about it when you get back.

Publisher John Temple gave its eulogy in a press conference today at the Denver Newspaper Agency. He told the press that “We had hoped to find a solution, any solution other than this.” Temple revealed that the Scripps company, which owns the Rocky, had no offers in the search for a buyer which began in December.

When the presses shut down tonight, the Denver Post will be the only major newspaper in Colorado. The Rocky, whose photo staff won four Pulitzer Prizes since 2000, whose pages were graced by the likes of Damon Runyon, Gene Amole and Dusty Saunders, who has covered everything from the Big Thompson flood to the moon landing, to the statehood of Colorado itself, will cease to exist after tomorrow.

Denver will not be the same without the Rocky. She will be sorely missed by all who ever read her pages. Intrinsically a part of the city of Denver as well as the state of Colorado, the Rocky weathered the Civil War as well as two world wars, the Great Depression, and the rise of television news. And now, with the global economy in turmoil and the newspaper industry facing mounting casualties such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the San Francisco Chronicle, the Rocky must bow out.

We will miss you.