The Best Sampler Platter

I have been wanting to hang out with my little cousin Taylor for a long time now. She comes to Denver every other week from Pueblo to get chemotherapy treatments. And she's been doing this for a long long time - too long.

Well, I am happy that we finally set something up...

We (Mondo & Darren too) went for pizza first at Pizzicato's Gourmet Pizza in Capitol Hill. This place is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Their pizza is great (and so are their salads) - but they are also soooo freaking nice!

• They let us order late one night and didn't freak out about it, even though we offered to go somewhere else if they were already closing down.
• They heard my son talking about how weird it was to not see Parmesan cheese out on the tables, and brought him a little cup of freshly grated!
• They let us leave one car (in their six-car parking lot) while we went to a Mammoth game, and then pick it up after closing.
  

And - I love love love their Sampler Platter with Roasted Garlic, Caprese & Hummus appetizers for $7.50! Yummmm!

After dinner, we went to D Bar again. I had asked Tay if she wanted to go out for dessert, but since I had a half day off from work, I was able to squeeze in dinner. Anyway, she was excited about it because she says they watch Food Network Challenge all the time too! Keegan Gerhard wasn't in (they're actually filming a challenge here in Denver this week) and I didn't think the staff was as friendly this time, but the desserts were still just as good. Tay and Darren really seemed to like it. I told her we'd try again when Keegan will be there for sure, so hopefully I can find that out.
Pizzicato Gourmet Pizza
www.pizzicatopizza.com
1300 Pennsylvania St
Denver, CO 80203
(303) 957-2550
Menu: http://www.pizzicatopizza.com/home/assets/pdf/CapitolHillMenu6-08.pdf

Darren's Faves....

I was out of the house bright and early yesterday to take Mondo to the airport. The snow was coming in fast and thick, so I made a quick stop at the grocery store on my way home. Darren has been asking me to make potstickers and coconut shrimp (from my cooking class) for a while now and I thought, what the heck. So when I got home, I made the potsticker filling (which was a whole lot of filling) and used up all the wrappers I had bought. I made some right then and froze the rest (they freeze quite nicely). I told Darren he could have potstickers and coconut shrimp for lunch today.

It was a beautiful day today - the sun shining bright and the roads were nice and clear. But there was a blizzard just yesterday (welcome to Colorado) and I guess I kind of acted like I was still snowed in. I didn't mind cooking all day at all.

Anyway, Darren held me to it too. It was the first thing he asked me for this morning. But before anything, I made a batch of dough for pizza for dinner this evening. It came out really nice and I even added some herbs to the mix. The coconut shrimp was great - but I want to find a good dipping sauce to make with it next time. We had the pizza for dinner. Darren was in heaven and told me "I can't wait until you take your next cooking class!"

Phantom of the Opera

If you know me, then you know I don't sing. But when Darren was born, I guess I wanted to try to do the motherly thing and try to sing him. I knew the words to about three songs and one of them was The Phantom of the Opera. So that's what I used to sing to him. Poor kid!

When he was about three, my dad said "Darren, will you sing a song for me?" and Darren said "What do you want me to sing Grandpa?" My dad said "How about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?" and then Darren said "How about Phantom of the Opera?" and started to sing.

I love love love the Phantom of the Opera. Susan Kay wrote a book called Phantom that is a prequel to The Phantom of the Opera. I've read it at least a dozen times and I had seen the musical 4 times. So this year, when it came on tour to Denver again, I decided to take Darren to see it.

We got tickets with Mondo, JJ and Denise and their family. Before the show we went to dinner at the Aquarium. Darren liked it (probably not quite as much as me) and now we're reading the book together.

Darren's Dinner...

I love three day weekends.

Today I gave Darren the wheel and asked him what he wanted to do. He chose a movie "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and a fondue dinner.

I wasn't excited about seeing "Mall Cop", but I love watching and hearing him laugh, and this movie made him laugh. I love thinking that my son is going to be 13 years old soon, and he's not too cool to laugh. Or too cool to go to a movie with his mom. It was great.

After the movie we went shopping for fondue stuff (again). He was in a really good mood and didn't even complain that we had to stop at three stores to get all the stuff!

I talk about these amazing fondue dinners, but Darren never gets to go for a couple reasons -
1 - Hot Oil
2 - They're usually meant to be for an adult night out
3 - Hot Oil

Lately it seems that even though kids aren't sitting at the table with us for our dinners, they are attending. And it hasn't hurt anyone to let them try a piece or two themselves. Of course, dessert is something fun for pretty much all ages. So, I thought - what the heck. I'll do a small one and I can keep an extra eye on him and help him out as much as he needs it. He loved it! He was a bit afraid of the oil at first (probably because I scared him about how dangerous it can be), but he was really careful. He even tried broccoli and zucchini, which if you know Darren at all - you know it's very unlike him to mess with veggies.

It was a great day with my kid!

A day with Darren...

I had a great day with Darren.

Today was his first day participating in the Pre-Collegiate Middle School Development Program sponsored by CU Denver. At 8:30 in the morning we met at the old St Cajetans church on the campus. The kids participated in ice-breaker events, starting with introductions around a large circle of 70+. Then going on to one on one conversations, group games including charades and a building challenge. Lunch was brought in at noon, when the kids moved out to the sunshine day to enjoy each other's company on the grounds.

Darren and I drove off ahead to the 2nd part of the day, which was going to an IMax movie at the Museum of Nature and Science - "Dinosaurs Alive!".

We finished up about 3pm and headed home. On the way, Darren read out loud from "The Little Prince". He really did a great job on his inflection. It was a kick to hear him read it, although he did turn to me and say "what's wrong with this author?". Haha! Same question I asked when I read it!