BIRTHDAY!!!!

Yes, recently it was my 49th Birthday, and in celebration we went out with some friends to Denver's The Squeaky Bean.

Lucky me, my birthday week happened to correspond with Denver's "restaurant week", which means that Denver's finest restaurants create special, limited-edition menus for the annual occasion.

It was our very first time at The Squeaky Bean, and, since we are all four of us major foodies, the restaurant-week menu was like paradise for us. 

Each hand-written, prix fixe menu was paperclipped to a vintage '60s cookbook, just to add to the evening's vintage atmosphere.    

 Behind the elegant diningroom, a vintage bingo board. Also, chandeliers made form vintage silverware, and a shrine to '70s Farrah Faucette near the illuminated bar.

 Our sweet friends A & B, who joined us for my birthday dinner!

 

 My beautiful friend A, facebooking cocktail photos ;)

 This first-course queou d'ecrevisse elicited much laughter from the table at large when it was accidentally placed in front of me, just after I had told a funny story about my recent conversion to crawfish activist. Long story.

 B and his hand-carved icecube, which was truly a work of art.

 Second courses, served on bite-sized wooden spoons.

 Although my first course, a deconstructed ratatouille, was incredible, my main course of sole with fennel, mussels and lemon gelée ended up being so superb, so surprising, so exceptional that it blew the entire night out of the water!

 Mike's main course, also delicious but not quite as superb as mine.

 Me with my superb birthday cocktail, entitled the Nino Brown, made for me by the bartender who also happened to be the fiancé of our babysitter that night.

Mike and I, birthday evening shot taken by our dear friend A.

 Recently, Q and I had the pleasure of joining our friends at Leon, where we had the artspace all to ourselves to view Leon's Garden by Eric Robert Dallimore.

 The installation is constructed from pine beetle kill wood out of Silver Plume. Our area of the Colorado Rockies has been beset by pine beetles for several years now, and I love to see people making creative and constructive use of the beetle kill. 

There are now snowboards made from beetle-kill wood (Weston, my husband has one and they are beautiful!), furniture, etc. 

Dallimore's constructions are simple, beautiful and thought-provoking, and he can tell you a great deal of interesting information about the pine beetle epidemic and the reasons behind it.

 B inspecting pellets for wood-burning stove made from beetle kill.

 The moss is beautiful, and has to be hand-sprayed regularly with water to keep it living.

 The girls were enthralled with the exhibit and spent much time discussing, inspecting and viewing from different angles.

 The artist answering questions.

 

 Maps showing the scope and progress of the beetle kill.

 S taking phone pics.

 The girls enjoying the space.

 Sasha looking for new angles.

Instagram girl hard at work. 

Leon's Garden is open through March 2, and I highly recommend it, both for adults and kids!

Leon

1112 East 17th Ave

Denver

 Busy, busy with client work right now, but I needed to post these shots of Q's latest haircut at Scarlet salon.

 Such a stunning cut, thanks to Carrie. Asian hair is very difficult to cut, and even harder when the Asian is five-and-a-half.

 Carrie did a stellar job this time around.

 

 

 

Learning to use her new digital guitar with daddy. 

 And rockin' it out. She was working on playing "We Got The Beat" by The Go-Go's, currently her favorite song.

 

 

Beefing up on sushi and miso soup at our local Japanese joint after a long, hard flu season. Time for us all to be healthy again for a while!

 This week, we are taking a little "health vacation" from school, due to several rampant illnesses, and the fact that we've already been sick as a family for almost six weeks of this dreadful flu season. 

Q hates to miss school - she loves it so - so in order to liven up her time away, I've been working overtime to make the days as exciting as possible for her.

 Yesterday, we booked a very special High Tea at Denver's historic Brown Palace hotel, a local institution since its opening in 1892.

 The stained glass ceilings are a highlight of the Brown Palace, as are the cast iron railings of the 18 floors of balconies. The hotel is a magnificence of Colorado red granite, Arizona sandstone and Mexican onyx.

This being Q's first experience with a real high tea, it was particularly appropriate that she got her first loose tooth yesterday morning (we are in great anticipation of the tooth fairy). She felt very much the big girl!

 Mastering the sugar tongs.

 The spread.

 

 Tray of delights!

 Q's verdict on the tea sandwiches.

She has such poise!

 

 Edible gold leaf on a lemon cake.

 Full!

 The Brown's elegant powder room.

 Outside the spa doors.

 

Afterward, we met Daddy for 1/2 yard of beer at the Yardhouse. 

 And Q kitted herself out in her best harajuku style with layers of pink bangles and some pink hair extensions!