Colorado Eats!

Let me start out by saying, I LOVED Colorado High Country. Seriously, I was ready to never come home. But then my faithful traveling partner–hi Dad!–reminded me that I wouldn’t live the high life for very long in high country without a job, so I decided to come home. Reluctantly.

I wish I could tell you I cooked something fantastic while I was away, but alas, I did not. You see, I was dealing with sort of primitive conditions:

Do you realize how hard it is to bake a layer cake in one of those things?

Okay, I’m just kidding, that wasn’t my kitchen at all–it was from a cabin in the town of Frisco–but a real woman did live in that cabin until late in the 20th century–I don’t know how she did it!

This was my kitchen:

*dreamy sigh* Yes, that is a double wall oven you see on the left. Yes, I did lay down before it and cry when I saw it, knowing that I wouldn’t have time to use it. You see, I’m the kind of person who has grand dreams about double wall ovens, but that’s probably a story for another time. Like everything else in our borrowed home, the kitchen in the house was fantastic, but alas, unused by us.

So if I wasn’t cooking, what was I eating? Oh, lots of wonderful things!

First off, we had two fantastic meals at the Arapahoe Cafe.

The place doesn’t look like much but man, was the food amazing. It also has an interesting history–the cafe was originally in the old town of Dillion (which is now at the bottom of Lake Dillion, a lovely body of water that helps keep Denver hydrated) but it was moved up when the town was flooded. So nothing in the restaurant is quite even…but we like it that way! Everything we ordered there was wonderful, including the very bizzare but delicious cobbler.

This is a terrible picture of the best thing at the Arapahoe–the smoked pork chop with sour cherry glaze and a mashed sweet potato with pineapple chutney. This was the kind of meal where the heavens open up and the angels sing for your first bite. Really.

If you are ever driving through Summit County Colorado (I-70 runs through the county) get off at the Dillion exit and eat at this place. It’s that good! And if you’re skiing in Colorado, you’re probably really close–five of the best ski resorts in the state are in Summit!

We also found the local farmer’s market on Friday morning. What can I say, we have good market radar.

This more of a producer (baked goods) than a growers (produce) market, but we still found lots to taste, love, and ultimately buy. Probably a bit too much–darn that 50 pound weight limit on luggage!

A few of our favorites:

Sweet spreads with a bit of heat.

Greek pastries made in Vail, but my tastebuds could have sworn they were from Greektown! Guess it’s those grandma’s recipes!

Carolina Style BBQ high in the west.

With fresh pickles on the side. Oh yes, please.

We also found some time to sample local microbrews at the Dillion Dam Brewery.

Once I got over my initial fear of the dam breaking under the stress of the high water (the local rivers were all at 100 year flood stages and the brewery is literally RIGHT below the dam) we were really able to kick back and enjoy this dam good beer! The food wasn’t bad either.

In neighboring Breckenridge, we found lots of sweets, including this signature one designed off of the area’s main attraction.

Cute, huh? And yes that is cannoli cream, shipped from NJ for these cupcakes.

All in all, it was a fantastic food trip in the high country. With all that hiking and high altitude adventuring, I had plenty of appetite to sample everything. And you know that makes for a happy blogger.

Even if she is posing with a windburned face next to a picture of the first car over Loveland Pass. Only in Colorado!

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