German Cold Cuts Lunch

 
When we moved to Colorado Springs 6 years ago, we had no idea how many retired military lived here.  Being raised in a German household and family I was also pleasantly surprised how many German folks live here. too.  

The benefit of that is there and several German restaurants and delis.

One of the newest is Schnitzel Fritz.  Not only do they serve hot meals, but have a small selection of German products and also have a large selection of German meats and cheese. 

We had out of town guests for lunch and wanted to serve something out of the ordinary, so we did a platter of assorted cold cuts and cheese, along with real German rye bread & pumpernickel  Yummy!!!

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Black Hawk, CO

This last weekend we drove up to Allenspark, which is just south of Estes Park. My daughters wedding is coming up at Wild Basin Lodge on 7/3. Since they live in Chicago we went to check out a few things for them. 

There is still a lot of snow in the high country.  This is Meeker Peak and we were over 8000 feet above sea level along this road. 

On the way home we stayed overnight at the new Ameristar Hotel in Black Hawk, one of 3 gambling towns in Colorado.  

All 3 towns were mining towns back in the day and still have the old west feel. 




We played the penny slots at the Ameristar, Isle of Capri and Fortune Valley in Central City which is just a mile from Black Hawk. The only real new machine we found at all of them was a community Wizard of Oz.  Most of the others are not anything very new or different.  The penny machines minimum bet is 30 cents or more.  

 The hotel room was one of the nicest we have ever stayed in.  Especially nice when we had a coupon for a drastically reduced room rate.  ;-))


We walked away with enough to pay for our trip, hotel, food and had left over too!! So we will be looking for more of those machines next time we go up there or to Cripple Creek which is only an hour from our house. 

We put in a huge garden for the 1st time. 5/22/11

When we moved into the house the yard was all grass except around the borders.  After we put the shed in we had a big pile of dirt, so we thought the area in front of the shed would make a perfect garden.  Last summer Gene started removing all the sod and spreading the dirt.  He covered it all with a large tarp to prevent any weeds from growing.  

Actually I was taking photo of the deer but the garden area and dirt pile is in the photo  yippee!  That day there were 9 deer in the yard - see that buck on the far left?!

Way in back next to the lilacs are 3 hills of pumpkin from seed, in front of them is 6 corn we started inside and in front of them is a row of corn seed.  Then staggered is 8 tomatoes - including 3 heirlooms!  And in front of them is 1 medium hot chile pepper and 3 mild Anaheims. Next are 1/2 rows of carrots and scallions then a row of radishes and mesclun, a row of onion starts, 4 leaf lettuce plants and finally a row of marigolds along the edge. 

 In back is 3 cukes we started inside, then an acorn squash.  Along side fence is a row of zucchini (a whole packet of seeds, and as prolific as they are we may be sorry - so I am thinking we will be stuffing a lot of blossoms).  hee hee. 

We also have 3 sections of green beans, 6 peas in little peat pots and a row from seed, 2 fennel, 4 Brussel sprouts started inside and 1 soy bean plant. 

I also have an herb garden - bottom left going clockwise is Rosemary, row of oregano seeds & basil seeds, oregano plants, dill seed row, large yarrow, basil plants, thyme plants, & cilantro.  Scattered are 2 dill plants and pots of dill and basil, we started in March. That is St. Francis in the middle. 

 

 This plot is at the bottom of our back steps.  Bottom section is curly leaf parsely and chives (in bloom).  Plus some scattered garlic.  Top sections is 3 different kids of strawberries. 

  

Along both sides of the driveway are these planters.  This one has 2 rhubarb, 1 red current bush & 2 red raspberries.  We have also planted 2 blackberries and 1 gooseberry bush in one the the border areas in the back yard - after we removed all the red landscaping stone.  yikes! 

There are also 40 onion sets scattered all over plus 20+ garlic cloves. 

As I write this on 6/3 - less than 2 weeks  since we planted - we have 10 corn seeds sprouted, 1 zucchini, 3 green beans, a lot of peas + the radishes, mescalin, carrots, oregano, dill and basil.  Plus lots of garlic and most of the onions are standing up big and tall.

Gene will not allow me to go to the garden center anymore this year (lol), so I have started a list of plants for next year. We are removing all the red rock along all the fence lines so we will have tons more places to plant.  Oh what to plant - what to plant! 

Now our big obsticle right now is protecting the plants from the deer and later this summer hail. Hoping having stretched some 6' wire fencing around the 2 sides of the garden to help keep the deer out.

So with everything hopefully we will have lots of herbs & veggies to give as gifts and to make crafts with.