Denver -- the food

One thing my family likes to do is cook. And bake. And when we're all together, cooking is even more fun. We had a lot of good food while I was there:

Mom's birthday dinner consisted of glazed salmon, brown rice, asparagus, Chinese cabbage salad, and Grandma's popovers.

Her birthday cake was a yellow cake with lemon filling and White Mountain frosting. I contend that people that don't like cake have never had good cake. We're a from-scratch cake family, and I loooooove cake. (I didn't even get a picture of Denise's cake, which was German chocolate, also my traditional birthday cake.)

One night we went to Senor Burritos, a family favorite.

Mom and Denise and I all had the smothered shredded beef/bean burrito. Delish.

Grandma and Grandpa had the single enchilada. Is that what it takes to weigh 114 pounds? (for real)

One day I made Hannah's miracle bread, so they could all see how unbelievably fast and easy it is. It wasn't my best batch (it was a little dry), but they were all impressed nonetheless.

Grandma had the brilliant idea of buying a Rubbermaid container (with cute green handles, no less!) and storing a 25-pound bag of bread flour from Costco in it. She and Denise each have one and keep them in the garage, filling their indoor canisters as needed. Also, they now only buy bread flour. I'm totally doing this.

Denise made this delicious pasta dish (from Weight Watchers), along with homemade breadsticks. I loved the pasta and I know my family is going to go crazy for the breadsticks.

Grandma and I made this incredible rosemary artisanal bread from a recipe my aunt Linda sent us. It's one of those that you stir together, no kneading required, and then it rises for 12-18 hours. It bakes in a cast iron dutch oven and is just as good as any bread I've ever had in France.
Now I have to buy a cast iron dutch oven!

I just had to take a picture of my grandma's measuring cups. I love the rounded shape of these KitchenAid cups and I have a set of orange ones. But the aqua, green and brown line-up just makes me happy.

This is by no means inclusive. On my last night there, Grandma cooked pork chops, baked sweet potatoes, broccoli, bread, and berry cobbler, despite being sick. What the?

I'll be posting the bread, breadsticks, and pasta recipes on my recipe blog, as well as a new one that Grandma gave me for Triple Caramel Cake!

A common sight: Uncle Mark doing the dishes. Good man.

Oh, and here's something cool: I found out that Grandma has a weekly appointment with some young friends from her ward -- they come to her house and she teaches them how to bake something new! Isn't that brilliant? They get to learn from her prodigious baking talents and enjoy her company, and she gets to benefit from the friendship of young women! I think I shall mention it to my R.S. president...