Boulder

Yesterday morning we were up at 6 AM to join some friends who live here for a hike on the Mesa Trail. This trail is part of the extensive hiking trails that Boulder has developed in the public lands the city has purchased as greenbelt space to the west of the city. As you walk along you have views out to the east of the plains and the city, as well as views back to the west and north of the mountains. We had a very nice 6 mile hike thru woodlands and open areas. I found a couple of lazuli buntings, a new bird for the year, singing at the tops of pine trees. I was not able to get a photo of one, so instead the photo above is of a mountain bluebird.

We got back, had breakfast and watched the U.S. men's soccer team lose 2-1 to Ghana in overtime, thus ending a pretty exciting World Cup for the U.S. 4 years ago Ghana knocked the U.S. out of that World Cup with the identical score.

Last night our friends with whom we have been staying, and my friend from Austin and I went to a restaurant called Arugula. It is mostly Italian in its food offerings. Its specialty is gnocchi, and I was looking forward to having some. They have a regular menu and then daily specials. We arrived at 7:30 only to find when we got ready to order that they had already run out of gnocchi. Bummer!

I did enjoy a nice cured meats starter plate of speck, hot coppa and bresaola with bruschetta. I then had some excellent fresh mozzarella with cherry tomatoes that had been marinated in balsamic vinegar. My friends had arugula salad, and house salads to start. They followed that with trout and roasted potatoes, and orecchiette pasta with a bison bolognese sauce.

For my main course I ordered hanger steak with gorgonzola dolce, and what was supposed to be sauteed tuscan kale and turnip greens. Instead all I got was turnip greens, and when the waitress asked the kitchen about it, they claimed that the local farm had told them it was tuscan kale. Having lived in Italy for a year, I knew there was no tuscan kale, which is called cavalo nero in Italy, in the sauteed greens. So either the kitchen did not know its vegies, or they were not being honest with the wait person. I told the waitress I was offended that the kitchen would tell her and me that there was tuscan kale in the side dish when clearly there was none.

With the meal we had a nice bottle of '08 soave from Inama followed by the '07 pinot noir from Baileyana. The latter I had in Tucson earlier this year, and last nite's was equally enjoyable. My venting about the tuscan kale resulted in a complimentary dessert. We ordered 3--a flourless chocolate cake with an orange cream sauce, a molten lava chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce, and a spiced mascarpone with sliced fruit and berries. All 3 were quite good. We returned home and had some '03 Dow LBV port before turning in.

Yesterday's hike added only 2 more new birds for the week with the bunting raising the YTD up to 628. Today my friend and I are going back up into the mountains near here to do some hiking. Stay tuned!