Denver Restaurant Week

February and March in Colorado can always be pretty darn boring.  Football is over, the weather is bad, Fishing hasn't started, it gets dark early... the list could go on and on.  However isn't it clever that in the middle of the boringness comes Denver Restaurant Week.  Brad and I always try to take advantage of the good $52.80 price for a couple and enjoy at least 1 new restaurant and old favorites.  This year we went to 3 great restaurants and had a good time at all of them and enjoyed some wonderful food.

Cafe Brazil  

Cafe Brazil is a very bright and colorful restaurant in a fun area called the Highlands.  The food here was traditional South American cuisine.  It was very bold and flavorful.  We went for a dear friends birthday party and there were 7 people in our party and all of us had nothing but great things to say about the food and the ambiance.  The 5280 menu they offered was great and featured their most traditional dishes.  I got the...

Haystack Mountain queso de mano browned on the griddle, served with palisade peach chutney, Marinated red beet dressed with grape seed oil and cider vinegar, and 10-ounce Medium Rare dry aged Black Angus Top sirloin with a jalapeno shoyu marinade along side of fresh field greens with tarragon dressing.  

Brad got the...

Prato Rustico (Queso fresco, marinated grilled eggplant and Spanish piquillo peppers), Red cabbage salad with sesame seeds, smoked goat cheese and mango vinaigrette, and Marinated double cut spring lamb chops with yogurt cucumber red onion salsa along side cherub tomato and fennel salad.

Brad's Lamb was AMAZING.  We never really eat lamb but this was the best.  We highly recommend putting this restaurant on your list of new places to try in the Denver area.

Fogo de Chao

Fogo de Chao is every meat lovers dream.  Our great friend Maggie had gone to the same restaurant in Kansas City, MO and insisted we all try it out for restaurant week.  They advertise themselves to be an "Authentic Brazilian Steak House" and offer an excellent salad bar and traditional Brazilian side dishes.  You definitely need to fast before going and plan to spend at least 2-3 hours there as you will want to eat in parts.  We started off at the salad bar which had so many amazing choices including the largest asparagus I have ever seen.   After the salad bar you have a sign for them to stop or go when it comes to the meat.  If your sign is in the go position then they shower you with all the meat you could ever want.  There are over 10 meat choices and they will continue to put them on your plate until you have to be rolled out of the restaurant.  Also they come along and serve delishes side dishes.  We definitely didn't walk out of there with an appetite!!!  It was very good and you can enjoy it in many city's other then Denver.

Rioja

Rioja is Mediterranean ingredients influenced by local products.  The have amazing combinations of platters that always come together to taste amazing.  The atmosphere is very nice and it is located on the famous Larimier Street in Denver.  We even saw local news celebrities while dining.  Brad and I have been here 2 other times for other occasions and had nothing but the greatest experience and food.  I really enjoy their beet salad and their yummy desserts.  The also give you sugared mint leaves when you leave, I love the flavor and how light the mint leaves are.  This is a great place to visit before a show or game.  I HIGHLY recommend Rioja to anyone in the Denver area.  

Thank you to Tammy my sister in law for getting near imposable reservations so we could all enjoy the great experience of great food together.  

Already looking forward to next year an the new Restaurants to try!!!

My Family

Kelly's Korner is hosting Show us your Life: Family Edition today, so I thought this would be my first time to participate.  The concept is that you write about the topic for the week and then link it with other blogs.  Moving on to the important info: MY FAMILY (Excluding the hubby and the dogs)

My Mom

This is one of the very few pictures I have of my mom where she is actually smiling.  Usually she just has a weird stare on her face :)  Brad and I always make fun of her for her non-photogenic behavior.
My mom and and are best friends and I hate to admit it but the older I get the more I am starting to be like her!!! We spend a lot of time together and I have so many great memories growing up as she was the best mom that anyone could have asked for.  She even let me have 3 personal days when I was in school, I didn't have to fake sick I just said I need a personal day.  My mom raised me to be a strong, OPINIONATED adult and pushed me every step along the way to succeed in life.  I appreciate her love and her ability to always push me to be my best.  I am so glad that we live 2 minutes away from each other and am excited to share many more fun moments in life with the best mom ever!!!

Warren and Julie and Grandma

Warren and Julie are my in-laws.  Warren is Brad's Dad and Julie is his step mom.  They live in Boulder and we get to see them quit often.  Brad's Grandma is also included in this photo and is the cutest grandma any one could ask for.  She is so special and I always look forward to visits with her and she has so much knowledge and I love her stories.  Brad and his dad are very similar in many ways and it is funny to see the two of them together.  Julie is fun to be around and can always make us all laugh, the first time I met her she introduced herself and "step-monster".  I am glad to have great in-laws close by.

Bard and Bob

Barb and Bob are also my in-laws.  Barb is Brad's mom and Bob is Brad's Step Dad.  They also live very close to us and we enjoy seeing them when we can and always have great summer BBQ with them.  Barb is a great cook and always makes yummy food for special occasions and holidays.  Bob always blows up balloons for all birthdays and decorates the house with a Happy Birthday sign, it always makes me smile. We also hang out with them a lot for CU games as we both have season tickets and try to get together before of after games. Once again I am so glad to have all of our family so close. 

Tammy

I am so happy that Brad has one sibling, growing up as an only child was hard at times.  I now have a sister and it is fun to have someone to be close with and have secrets :)  Tammy is a couple years older then us and she also lives close.  We try to get together as much as we can and do fun different fun things.  I can't wait to share many more memories with her as there are always fun times when we are together, I am happy to have a Sister-in-law like Tam.

Well that is my inner circle when it comes to family.  Brad also has two step brothers Grant and Evan.  I do have a very big extended family with lots of Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  They are all so special to me and I had the best time growing up with each and everyone of them.  I still see them often now and love them so much and even though I didn't have siblings I felt like I did with them around.  Being an only child at times is challenging as there really is no one but you.  Also I was the youngest of all the cousins so being the baby I still missed out on some things but always had such a great time with the Bethurum Family. The more I think about everyone so many fun memories come to mind and I just LOVE them so much.

I have learned one thing from the post that I have no pictures of us and our families.  This will be something I need to change this year.  We see everyone all the time but just don't have any photos.

I hope you enjoyed learning about my family!!