Man v. Food Season 3 Premiere

He's baaaack! The Travel Channel's Man v. Food premieres next Wednesday, June 16th @ 9:30 E/P in the city of Boulder, Colorado. If you haven't had a chance to check out the show (I've only watched a few episodes myself) here's the low down on the premise and the man in front of the camera:

Adam Richman is a food fanatic who travels around the country discovering the biggest and best meals our nation has to offer. As a young boy growing up in New York City, he had a desire to taste.it.all. Though he's had no professional culinary training, he's held numerous jobs in the food and restaurant industry. Adam's ultimate hunger quest finds him on an incredible nationwide journey where he headfirst, no regrets, takes on extreme food challenges.

For example: In season 1 Adam visited Boston and took part in the infamous Eagles Deli Challenge: Challenge Burger 5lbs of beef, 20 slices of cheese, 20 slices of bacon and of course what’s a burger without fries, our challenge burger comes with 5lbs of em!

I assume this photo was taken in the midst of the chow-down. Holy mother of god. I'm no stranger to Eagle's Deli, and in fact I can barely finish a regular burger and fries. (They cured many a hangover back in the days when I lived right down the street in Brookline. Love their food!)

What's super cool about the Season 3 premiere is the fact that it takes place in Boulder, Colorado. What's so special about Boulder you ask?

a) My good friends (and faithful III followers) Laura and Craig live there.

b) I traveled to Boulder back in April and went to two (out of three) of the places Adam will be visiting in this episode!!

Man v. Mountain Pie. First up Adam visits Beau Jo's where he attempts to conquer one of Colorado's legendary 14 lb. Sicilain pizzas with a mile high crust and an avalanche of toppings. [Since I love Sicilian pizza, and missed Beau Jo's the first time around, looks like I need to make a trip back!]Man v. Saddlebags. Up next he heads to local breakfast joint The Buff where there is no doubt in my mind he will succeed at finishing the Saddlebags Pancakes. Pancakes filled with your choice of diced bacon, sliced sausage, or diced ham, topped with two eggs.
I am not sure if he will have that exact dish, but either way, the girls and I wish him the best of luck. Ashley happened to order this meal when we brunched there one glorious morning.
She was able to finish half which is a commendable effort.
The fact that we chowed down on Pecan Caramel Quesadillas before our brunch entrees arrived might have had something to do with her not being able to finish. Moving right along....

Man v. Wings. Finally, Adam takes on the Wing King Challenge at The West End Tavern. This challenge apparently involves a bucket full of more wings than all of Adam's previous chicken wing challenges combined. Umm what?! How in the heck does one eat 50 wings in 30 minutes?!In case you missed it, my first night out in Boulder included sipping Bourbon cocktails at this very bar! No wings were consumed, but you can read all about my night on Pearl St. and how impressed I was with The West End Tavern here.

Clearly, I can't wait to see Adam take on the food, especially at some of my favorite Boulder restaurants.

-Have you ever watched the show?
-Will you be watching the season premiere next Wednesday, June 16th?!

*A special thanks to The Travel Channel and Ashley for their amazing photographs*

Boulder Night 3 | Homemade Pasta Dinner

For our final night in Colorado, we lounged around the apartment, took long hot showers and drank some delicious (and super fun labeled) bottles of red wine; while our generous hosts prepared an Italian feast.

I love how this bottle is called Petite Petit and there are two giant circus elephants just chillin'

The Chime Pinot Noir was just the muscle relaxant I needed. Ski jumps & steep bowls of spring snow causes sore muscles sore like you wouldn't believe.

Laura prepared this colorful salad while Craig made the pasta dough in their Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Laura also made two red sauces.

This one had garlic, green peppers, onions and a special ingredient - pepperoni slices. Have you ever had pepperoni in a sauce? I hadn't. It's such a creative touch!

Craig and I set up a system where he processed the dough and I hung the linguine on the makeshift drying rack. It's actually a cookie sheet balanced on two boxes.

Making progress.

And loving this whole process.

Pasta dinner for seven coming right up.

Completeness. I filled the entire rack!

Linguine photo shoot. Obvi!


No Italian feast would be complete without garlic bread.
Laura goes all out.
We're ready to eat.

The super fabulous bowl the garlic bread is in was one of her birthday presents from yours truly a few years ago!
We were all in homemade pasta heaven and in agreement this was the best pasta we have ever tasted. So fresh, tender and doughy covered in a most flavorful sauce with generous chunks of green pepper and sliced pepperoni rounds.
The garlic breads and salad were the perfect accompaniments.
I can't thank Laura and Craig enough for their generosity and hospitality throughout our time in Boulder. They went above and beyond. I've been on a constant high all week long from this vacation. The weather was perfect, the meals were incredible, the photo shoot memories will last a lifetime and the skiing totally rejuvenated me from a long winter without. I feel incredibly blessed to have girlfriends I can plan a trip and travel across the country with. The adventure possibilities are endless. I can't wait to see what life has in store next.

Boulder Day 2 | A-Basin & Silver Plume

Rise-n-shine!

Today's adventure consists of none other than my all time favorite sport: skiing!!

We left Boulder around 7:30am in a two car caravan embarking on an hour long road trip to the town of Dillon. We made a quick stop at Einstein Brothers Bagels to fuel up!
My toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with plain shmear hit the spot.
I took tons of scenery photographs on the journey. Lucky for me I was riding shotgun in Craig's Subaru. We went from the flat lands of grazing cows, through the town of Golden - home of the Coors Brewery and eventually hit the mountains in all their glory. Here is a look at the variety of landscapes we experienced.

Colorado = home of the Rocky Mountains!

I loved driving through these tunnels. I spotted lots of wildlife on the drive, shouting happily with excitement each time I spotted a family of Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep! {Photo source - since I didn't actually get that close}Eventually the snow capped mountains appeared. We climbed to higher and higher elevations on the winding mountain roads.

I spy ski trails...

Around the other side of the mountain you descend into the basin.

Arapahoe Basin to be precise.

A-Basin to the locals.

Skis, boots and poles rented: check. The guys in the rental shop were super friendly and made this such an easy process. It didn't make much sense to bring our own equipment cross country for one day of skiing. Plus with checked bag fees, forget about it.

Ready to hit the slopes!

Here are some of the views from the ride up the Norway double chair - climbing to elevations upwards of 13,000 feet.It was an absolutely gorgeous day out, if you couldn't tell. It was spring skiing at its finest, I was able to shed my winter coat after a few runs. And after a couple more we took a mid-morning beer break at The Beach. From the A-Basin website: The infamous "Beach" scene cannot be replicated by any other ski resort in Colorado. The Early Riser parking lot is home to a stretch of prime real estate known as the "Beach." The Beach backs up to the three lower mountain chairlifts, snow and great skiable terrain. From personal experience: The Beach is the party scene. You bask in the sun, you grill, you make friends and you drink beers. This is what it's all about!! Next we headed up the Pallavicini lift to some steeper terrain.I had a blast following this girl over the jumps.
We hit big air in the Treeline Terrain Park. ;)
Here is the view of the Treeline terrain park rails from the Norway lift.

Fun Fact: This is the highest terrain park in North America and stays open until June. (So claims the website!) I wish I knew how to ski sideways over a rail. It looks so cool / fun.

I can glide straight over a wide rail any day. Wahoooo. All those jumps, I worked up an appetite.
Back at The Beach Craig grilled up a little of everything. I ate a Bratwurst and some Kielbasa.
And drank another refreshing beer or three.
And I met up with another UNHer!

Lisa and I go way back, she was one of my roommates Sophomore and Junior years of college. She moved out to Keystone (10 minutes away) a few years ago. The scene at the beach.So.much.fun.

This is the life! Eventually we got back out there again.
This is the view looking back from the lift. I love the treeline angle in this shot, a perfectly diagonal line of evergreens cutting through the mountains. With the boarder chicks, about to check out the terrain on Montezuma Bowl. You can see some other ski resorts from this side. That is Keystone in the foreground on the right and Breckenridge in the distance.

Crusin' down the Columbine trail in Montezuma Bowl....

I accidentally covered the backside of this woman in snow. oops!

She's not too pleased.

Go Big or Go Home. As always, we hit more jumps in the park on the way to the base. On the return trip to Boulder I drank a few beers in the backseat. Erin rode shotgun.
We stopped at the Continental Divide overlook for what else....

A photo shoot.

This was by far the best shoot of the trip so I had to include all pictures involved. It is pretty funny when you can just click really fast from one page to the next and then focus on one person - pre, in action and post jump. You don't truly get that effect scrolling down the page.
Someone jumped the gun on that one.
Note - the beer can in my hand was empty. (I finished it right before the jump, when Tricia warned me I was dead meat if I splashed beer on her.)
What a bunch of whack jobs. On the way home we pulled off I-70 into a historic mining town called Silver Plume. Silver Plume is one of those towns you drive into and state "Where are we?" in a Charlie-esque Australian accent circa season 1 of Lost. (Anyone?)

This is Downtown.

Main St. Silver Plume, Colorado 80476
This is the Post Office (sorry taken from a moving vehicle.)

This is the...umm.....? Please note Santa up on the ladder.This is some sort of run down garage.

These are the houses.
And this is Sopp and Truscott Bakery.

A Bakery With Altitude!!Elevation: 9,118 feetEverything about it is absolutely charming; from its home situated on the paved dirt road surrounded by a backdrop of mountains, to the single green chair that sits out front, to the antique appliances lining the shelves of the interior.

All of their breads and pastries are baked fresh daily.

I basically took a picture of every thing at every angle. Outside and in.

I'm fascinated that this refrigerator it is still in working order.

If you live in or are vacationing in Colorado and ever happen to be driving up I-70 to or from the ski mountains, you must stop in.
I almost didn't spot these containers built into the wall.
Here you've got your rye, barley flakes, rolled oats, wheat berries and white rice.

This place is a real gem. This whole town is!Experiencing a little slice of Historic Colorado makes me feel all warm inside. I could have explored this tiny mountain town all day long.

Bye Silver Plume. You were the icing on the cake of a perfect day.

P.S. I purchased a Naughty Bar ($2.50) and ate it on the drive home.
This is a one of a kind, decadent, ooey -gooey baked bar of goodness boasting coconuts, walnuts, pecans and chocolate chips in a brown sugar filling with a flaky butter crust.

I adore Colorado! Take.me.back.