TRAVEL! GREETINGS FROM BOULDER, CO (pt.1)

DREAM - When I'm away, I go through changes and sometimes my dreams open up.  Had a dream last night - a twist on the common theme of being unprepared.  I was asked to play guitar and sing for a live radio broadcast, following my brother's opening numbers.  As of a few minutes before show time, I had not determined what I would play and although I could not play anything from memory, I was not too concerned.  But I did think about how to kick it off.  I thought I'd set the audience's expectations by saying -- "Usually, they save the best for last...... not tonight".  (Where did that little piece of self deprecation come from?)  My plan was to say it while I started noodling around the notes for Smokestack Lightning. That was the plan. The whole plan!

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Let me tell you about GLACIER ICE CREAM.  This is a place that understands ice cream and isn't afraid to create a diverse set of flavors, including some of my favorites... CINNAMON,  COCONUT CHOCOLATE CHIP (looks like a mashed up mounds bar), ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE BUZZ, and a yet to be tried but sounds like I should, CHAI.  Easily as good as the best I've tasted. Hell, it's as good as what I make.  I left with 3 pints of gelato - Vanilla bean, Bittersweet chocolate and Tiramisu. It should last us a few days, then I'll go back for more. 

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STORMS  The local news crew had a ton of fun reporting Monday night's storms. It was tough keeping up with all of their foibles and crack-headed reporting but here's what I was able to capture. 

We apparently had:

• "hen egg" size hail (this made me wonder if other areas of the country have different local references to hail sizes - like in italy, hail comes in OLIVE and LARGE SCOOPS of GELATO sizes)
• "rivers of hail"
• "neon green thunder" (yes, in colorado, apparently they are able to hear colors)
• "absolute carnage" (the horror of a damaged greenhouse)
• "It sounded like a freight train" (ho-hum)
• A traffic reporter described one section of town as "absolutely, probably the worst hit"  (thereby defining a new way to waffle)
• "the car buried in hail... that might be the money shot"
• and then there was a woman taken away with "a tree embedded in her arm".  (good, now we need to start worrying about aggressive trees)

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RESTAURANT REVIEW - FALAFEL KING, Boulder CO   I posted this on the restaurant review site, YELP.  

Eating outside on the Pearl street mall. OK, the Pearl St. mall is not my favorite but the food at FK was excellent and just what I wanted for lunch. Although the portions were smaller than the price, it was tasty. I ordered the "4x6" (or "6 and 4"?) - 6 small, crunchy falafels and 4 sides - tomatoey eggplant salad, creamy and smoky baba ganouj, dolmades, and tabbouleh (my only complaint - the tabbouleh was more cracked wheat than parsley and lemon)... served with pita and a not too sweet pomegranate lemonade. Yum !  

Note to the woman who talked loud on her phone about how important she was and had the stinky artificial smelling candle or something in her bag - please talk lower and sit downwind next time, so I don't have to leave early !

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RESTAURANT REVIEW - MAY WAH (Thai, Vietnamese & Chinese), Boulder CO.  Also posted this on YELP.

In Boulder, I expect ALTITUDE, not ATTITUDE (*).  The attitude from the distracted hostess as we picked up our takeout was surly and impersonal.  

Sadly, the food was worse. 

Drunken noodles. A dull, lifeless, insipid pile of brownness, devoid of anything to perk it up.  Where was the occasional crunch of vegetable?  Where was the spiciness we specifically requested when the order was called in?  Where was the Thai basil ????  ARGHH! Worst version since that crap I was served one night in Peoria - which, like this dish, won't soon leave my memory.

The other food we ordered was bad too - Bob threw out his scallops. Said they were inedibly overcooked - but he ate the vegetables that came with them.  Helen ate some of the soft shell crab but complained about it. And from the taste of the over-battered piece I sampled, she shouldn't have eaten as much as she did.

Did I mention that even the RICE was bad. I've had many varieties of rice before - long grain, short grain, sticky, wild... this was broken grain. And it was blander and less glutenous than I thought rice could be.

(*) Trying to be modest, still I think this is the best opening review line I've ever written - on par with Alan Richman

COMING NEXT TIME....  The horror of flying with mongrels and curs....  The bus ride with pod people.... Hiking in the mountains..... And the infamous tale of SOMEONE (not me) who visited and drove the Suburu around town in FIRST GEAR.