Rocky Mountain Hi!

After a very long drive from Lawrence to Boulder (CP slept this time), we arrived downtown and realized that we had nowhere to stay! We'd called a campground close to downtown, but it had no openings. We were temporarily stuck... After discussing the options (arguing) for a bit and calling a few more places, we found a local hotel that not only allowed dogs but could also fit the RV for the night. We were in!

We unpacked at the Univeristy Inn of Boulder and took real showers with CLEAN towels. We indulged ourselves and watched a little TV while we were getting ready. If you can believe after 2 weeks of no TV (besides the Celtics game), we settled on watching MTV. There was nothing else on the other 35 channels!! It was some reality show about stuttering teenagers. (Wow, now that I read that, it sounds weird) We then hopped on our bikes to the downtown Boulder area of Pearl Street. We had some locally brewed beers and a yummy chicago style buffalo chicken pizza. We walked up and down the street with SM sitting on a few benches as CP checked a few shops out. We stopped at Boulder Baked, a bake to order cookie shop where we grabbed three cookies for the road.

We headed back to the hotel for some much needed blogging (SM) and sleeping (CP). While CP slept, SM quietly giggled watching Betty White on Saturday Night live. God bless her!!!

Boulder is a beautiful city. Surrounded by some of the prettiest mountains. You felt like you could actually reach out and touch them they were so close. We were sad to not be able to stick around long enough to enjoy all the outdoors has to offer around there. We had to be in Aspen by 2:30 that day. So after a great nights sleep in a real bed, we stopped at Breadworks, a local bakery, for some coffee and breakfast (the yummiest swiss cheese and scallion popover ever!) and hit the road.

Next stop - Aspen and the Grand Cochon!!!

The road to Aspen was gorgeous(!!!) and hilly. Along the way we stopped at the Continental Divide, elevation 12000. With snow drifts on the ground and the thinnest air we'd ever breathed, we walked to an overlook point and took some pix. It was so worth a stop, even though SM wasn't sure what it was exactly (SM - the only thing I haven't known on the trip so far :)). In case you don't know, the continental divide is the hydrological divide of the Americas, basically the line along which water on one side drains to the Atlantic Ocean, and the other side to the Pacific Ocean. Pretty neat. We weren't used to the altitude so we didn't stick around - the dizziness and sense of impending vomitting was humbling.

We got to Aspen with plenty of time to spare. We checked in to our hotel. Well not really. Our room wasn't ready but we were told we had been upgraded to a two bedroom suite. The hotel was incredible! No doubt it will be the nicest accommodations of the trip (No offense to Mel, the recently christened name of our RV)

We grabbed our bikes and rode around town. Aspen is beautiful. Perfect looking. It's like someone said "I want to design an affluent and picturesque mountain community." We didn't quite fit in - between Scott's "Got Pork?" t-shirt, our RV and our bikes literally covered in dust and road grime. But we had fun! We stopped by the tiny Aspen Brewery for a quick beer and made some plans to hang out later that night with some friends who had recently moved from Boston to New Mexico. As luck would have it, they were at a work conference in Snowmass about 10 miles up the road.

The Aspen Brewery was started about two years ago by a couple of friends who had been homebrewing together and dreamt up a business plan. We'd say they are succeeding. Their beers were available all over town and the brewery was the location of the after party for event we were in town to attend.

We finished our beers (SM- an IPA, CP- a Brown) then headed over to the real reason we had come to Aspen. The Grand Cochon!

"Eating meat is a privilage. We respect and appreciate the animals that provide us with food, and treat them accordingly."

-Flying Pig Farm

You may recall that this winter we attended the Boston Cochon 555, a culinary competition where 5 local chefs cooked 5 heritage pigs which were paired with 5 wineries. The chefs that are chosen to participate are known for "whole hog utilization", meaning that they use as much of the animal as is edible. (CP - You will be happy to learn that thinly sliced pigs ear can add a delicious crunch to salad of wilted greens. Seriously. Delicious. SM - Mmmm.... head cheese)

What is really cool about this competition and the one in Aspen is that not only do the chefs get a listing in the brochure but the pigs and the pig farmers do as well. Heritage breed pigs are old breeds of pigs that are delicious, but not well suited to commercial farming practices. Therefore they are pasture raised almost exclusively by small family farms.

The winner of the Boston competition was Farmstead, Inc (from La Laiterie in Providence, RI). If you have a chance, it is really worth a visit. They own both the restaurant and the attached cheese shop. Worth a trip for the cheese plate alone that includes candied nuts seasoned with herbs de provence. The nuts made such an impression that we tried (SM - CP succeeded) to replicate them two Christmas' ago as gifts.

Note: Do not ask SM about who should have won the Boston Cochon unless you have a lot of time and patience. The short answer - we both felt that Hungry Mother in Cambridge should have won (SM emailed HM for a t-shirt to wear at the Grand Cochon competition, but failed to get one), but were happy to support the local boys from Farmstead, Inc.

As a backdrop - Aspen was hosting the Food and Wine Magazine Food and Wine Expo the same weekend we were there. We arrived at the event, which took place in the Jerome Hotel, just as it was beginning. We were in luck - we saw several familiar faces. Oh wait... we don't actually know any of these people. We've just seen them on TV! The event was a Who's Who of the chef world. We are huge Top Chef fans so we were a bit star struck to see Gail Simmons, one of the judges, and several past contestents and winners. Then we saw a crowded corner with flash bulbs popping- Jacque Pepin, the famous french chef, author and television personality was at the event as a judge! Wow, we felt pretty fancy just to be in the room with these people. The highlight of Scott's day was when one of the Top Chef Voltaggio brothers saw his "Got Pork?" shirt and said to him "Cool shirt". "Did you see that?!?!" He squeeled. We're so proud..

We spent the beginning of the event watching a few chefs present their food to the judges, and the judges eat and comment on the food. While standing there, SM struck up a conversation with a women who, because of his t shirt, mistook Scott for a pig farmer (which we did take as a compliment). Turns out her nephew IS a pig farmer and his pig was being prepared that day by the NYC restaurant, Fatty Crab. Her nephew started his career as a manhattan attorney. He and his wife bought a country house in Sushan, NY. To get a "farm" tax break, they started raising a few pigs to sell at NYC farmers markets. Well, people loved their pork and soon restaurants all over NYC were ordering from them and they became full time farmers. We had the chance to meet and chat with him. He invited us up to NY to visit his farm and we are very hopeful we will be able to take him up on the offfer.

During the event each of the chefs prepared several dishes for the judges. Their marks were counted as 49% of the total score. The same dishes were served to us spectators, whose vote counted for 51% of the total. We sampled some amazing food that day and got the chance to chat with some humble, talented and energized chefs. We stuck around to see the winner get crowned and, more importantly, the event organizer to invite all attendees to the Aspen Brewery for the after party.... ON HIM!

As the event ended, our friends Karla and Brian arrived in town. We snagged a few extra Cochon passes for them and we all headed to the after party for a few free beers. We then headed out for a bite to eat (more for them than us) at Little Annie's. It was so great to catch up with them and honestly to have conversations with other people besides each other. We really feel so fortunate that our paths crossed with Karla and Brian so easily on our trip. We wish they would move back to Boston but will settle on knowing we will see them again soon in August for the Hinterkins Wedding Bash.

We crashed.

After sleeping in a bed fit for a king and queen, we rolled out for a leisurely morning in Aspen having some breakfast, working out at the hotel gym, doing some much needed and free (our suite came with a washer/dryer) laundry, and spending just enough time in the pool and hot tub. We hit the road, excited to switch gears and put our hiking shoes on!

PS- Back in Boston, this weekend was known as Molly-Palooza. CP was sad to miss it, but hopes they had a blast celebrating Molly for the amazing and soon to be married woman she is...