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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Glenwood Springs Downtown Market





This season, we have started doing another Farmer's Market to unleash our products on the unsuspecting public, The Glenwood Springs Downtown Market. The market is held every Tuesday, from 4 pm - dusk at Centennial Park, right off 9th and Grand in downtown Glenwood Springs.

While this market may not be as big as the one we do in Grand Junction, don't let that fool you!! This is a great market, with great people!

Some of the other vendors and growers include our friends from Z's Orchard, Eagle Smoked Salmon, Back Alley Coffee, Colorado's Best Tamales (you gotta try their Habanero/Pork Tamales!!), The Lavender Lady, Osage Gardens, Andy's Kitchen and many more, with entertainment in the park too!

We have sold out each of the first two markets and look forward to many more!

For more information and a complete list of vendors, check out their website!

Sunday, June 27, 2010




Each Sunday, through September, the town of Palisade, Colorado (where I am lucky enough to live) has it's Farmer's Market from 10 am - 4 pm, in downtown Palisade, which may be a little of a misnomer as the town only has a population of 2,500 or so.

But located in the Grand Valley of the Western Slope of Colorado, a major growing area for peaches, cherries, apricots and other fine produce, The Palisade Farmer's Market has a lot to offer, more than what you would think for such a small area!

Some of the produce vendors include: Z's Orchard, Bikki's Ranch of Liberty, Palisade Produce, Rancho Durazno, Sage Creations Organic Farms and many more. Other vendors include Jeansonne's Fine Designs (a very good friend of mine, stop by and say hi to Susan!), Under-Wood Turning, Granpa Howdy's Kettle Korn Colorado Pottery and many, many more! If you like Green Chili, stop by Guera's Chili, say hi to Katie and try some of her award winning chili! Pear Blossom Farms is also here with Wendells Jams, Jellies and Sauces!

If you want to get away from the bigger city Farmer's Markets, drive on out to Palisade and stop on by! You may also want to stop at any of the many wineries in and around town as well as The Palisade Brewing Company and Peach Street Distillery!

Palisade is still a little of a hidden gem so come out out before we are 'discovered'!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Rope The Rockies






Every summer, we cook for an event, Rope The Rockies, held out at the Mesa County Fairgrounds and one that has become a little special to us!

Grand Junction is a stop on the United States Team Roping Circuit, which also has other events in Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and other states. This event (and others) is run by Rope The Rockies Productions (Cindy & Jeff Smith and Mary & Ike Cox).

This is the fourth year we have had the privilege to cook for these folks, nothing special, but Hot Dogs, Brats, Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers and this year, Chicken Kabobs and Corn Cobettes. Now we have cooked for many other groups, parties and events, some high-brow, some not, but this has got to be one the best crowds that we cook for! Everybody is friendly and appreciative and we do try to go that extra mile for them.

While this years attendance is down (go figure with this economy), we have no doubt that will change next year, back up to previous levels!

Next year, if you are in the area or any of the other events that these folks do, stop in, bring the family and have a good time watching some of the best riders you will see!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Almost a Teenage Foodie!






This past Sunday, June 13th, my son Austin turned 12! Only one more year until he is actually a teenager, yipes! I drove across the state, from our little town of Palisade, out to the northeastern plain of Colorado to a little town called Sterling to spoil, err, help him celebrate his birthday. It took about 7 hours to get there from here, which normally is not that big a thing, but when you run into snow when you are dancing across the divide, in JUNE!, you gotta love Colorado!

Picked up Austin at his mom's place Saturday afternoon and proceeded to do the Dad-thing, in other words spoil him and get him a ton of stuff for this birthday!

Of course, food came into this!

Started off with just some tacos for lunch and then a non-descript pizza from a local place which I will not even give a bad plug to, but for Sunday breakfast, we found a little spot, The J&L Cafe in Sterling, which is everything a small, local cafe should be. I have been finding myself increasingly drawn to these kind of places recently, as while I am not tired of people and places trying to 'push the boundries', I kinda like real people cooking real homey food and the J&L is a great example of such! You will not find any Michelin Stars awarded here, just good home-style food, cooked and served by local people for local people!

Looking at the menus, you find such local favorites as 10 different omelettes, Biscuits & Gravy (always one of my favorites when I am on the road) steak and eggs, burgers (including one called the Hay Stack, with a 1/3rd lb burger, topped with hashbrowns, brown gravy and diced onions, which I gotta try next time in town!), a German Sausage Sandwich, chicken fried steak and the rest of what you come to expect and a local cafe!

For breakfast, my lil boy (pushing 5'8" at 12 years old!) ordered the French Toast with a side of Hash Browns, which he promptly covered in ketchup, oh those kids! He devoured every bite and looked like he could have handled another order!

I stayed with one of my road favorites, Biscuits and Gravy with a side of Bacon, you know, the vegetarian approach! The biscuits were obviously made fresh that morning, with a heavy-handed serving of some really tasty sausage gravy, almost overflowing the plate. Perfectly spiced, not the kind where they try to over-spice to make up for a lack of other flavors, with a huge glass of OJ and side of bacon.

Breakfast with your boy at a great local cafe, doesn't get much better than that!

Open from 5:30 am - 8 pm on North 3rd Street in Sterling, stop by next time you are motoring up I-76 in Northeast Colorado!

Monday, June 7, 2010

The Markets are Back!!

The Markets Are Back!! The Markets Are Back!!

Well, after hitting 100° this week, I think we can safely say that we have escaped the grasp of winter and the weird Spring we had!

Spent a lot of the weekend potting and plating basil, parsley, rosemary, habanero's & jalapeƱos and getting the green, yellow and red bell peppers done next weekend! Gotta love the region we live in and the variety of produce that can be grown around here, but most of us cannot grow everything that we love.

Maybe the final proof of the arrival of summer is The Downtown Grand Junction Farmer’s Market!! Held every Thursday, from 4pm – 8pm on Main Street, the market runs from June 10th through September 26th.

Come on down!! Main Street is filled with farmers selling their fruits, produce, meats and poultry, food vendors (and yes, Cheesecakes!) and a myriad of other vendors, with such offerings as alpaca products, arts & crafts as well as various cooking products.

Even this early in the season, you will find a great variety and one that will get better and better as the summer rolls on!

Entertainment also abounds on virtually every corner, from 4th Street down to 7th Street, with everything from large bands to single artists and dancing groups..

The Market is running full this year with several new vendors and is truly one of the gems of the Grand Valley, so put down that remote, get out of the drive-through lane, hit up the ATM, round up the family and come on down to Downtown Grand Junction!!

The Glenwood Springs Farmer's Market also will be starting up on Tuesday, June 22nd, from 4 pm - Dusk in Centennial Park. Can't be long until Palisade's Sunday Farmer's Market and Fruita starts up too!

In keeping with the Farmer's Market theme, here is a great recipe website from the Farmer's Market in Davis, California. This is one of the best Farmer's Market recipe website that I have seen, check it out!

Are you planning on any road trips this summer? When you do, check out the local Farmer's Markets and the local eateries! When you do and you find something that you like, let us know! Drop me an email or letter about where you ate and what you had and we will run it on our column and on our blog! The first two readers that do this will receive... wait for it... a Three-Pack of our 'Cheesecakes in a Jar®'! Hey, free food just for letting us and our readers know? Doesn't get much better than that!

You can now also follow the adventures of Decadence on Facebook.

We are loading up recipes and discounts on our Facebook page and will also be letting our ‘fans’ know of upcoming events, sales and the like. There are even videos! Check it out and become a fan!