A Small Study of Street-Art

Pouring sweat. Bruised knees. Raw fingertips. Could this be the results of football? Soccer? Sumo wrestling?  Nope, it's the "victory scars" that a sidewalk street artist acquires when creating a 
street-art painting.  

Street painting, also known as sidewalk-art is the process of rendering artistic illustrations on street pavement or actual sidewalks. It's been around since the 16th century; specifically popular in European countries. Artists depict their art usually where festivals are held. Sometimes as they "paint", passing audiences throw coins in appreciation. World War II caused an interruption in this particular art but in 1972 it was revived in the traditional manner along with a new  3-D perspective technique.

At first I wasn't sure how to proceed so I started by purchasing a set of brilliantly colored chalk sticks from Prang, Freart, (12 sticks). Next, I taped together several large sheets of newsprint, side-by-side. After securing the paper sheets on a wall, I drew on numbered graph lines. Using the graph lines, I sketched my simple illustration on to the newsprint. Then I cut out large areas like a giant puzzle (usually 4- 6 pieces).  

At the art-site, I would then "trace" my pattern pieces on to my assigned space using a white chalk stick. My first street-art piece measured 4'x6'. At later festivals, I graduated to 8'x10'; more impressive to passing audiences.  

I always start first with rendering the face simply because it's placed in the middle of the illustration; making it easier to work out to the edges. Street-art festivals are usually held in summer. An over-sized, wide-brimmed straw hat, sun screen, and plenty of water are necessary "accessories".  

In recent years, I participated in four street-art festivals. Each were held in a two-day period that gave the artists plenty of time to finish a small "masterpiece".

At one particular festival in Fort Collins, Colorado, most of the artists were half-way through their art work at the end of day #1. During the night, a hard summer rain hit the area. On day #2 we all came back to our renderings which looked like they had melted. Colored chalk streaks meandered throughout the street pavement.  

The festival visitors were aghast at this colorful mess and expressed their condolences for all the artists's hard work. But we artists were ecstatic at viewing the newly painted abstract art that mother-nature did!   

What a fun way to become like a child again, gleefully drawing on the street with chalk all over my face and clothes. My mother would be proud indeed.

Introducing: The Newly Released "The Travel Writer's Wife"

A wet blob of what I thought was saliva trailed down across my lower left cheek. Not being able to see what I was doing, I tried to wipe it off with the back of my hand. I continued to bicycle on my way home from the dentist.  

When I walked in the door, I looked in the mirror to see that my face and teeth were covered in blood. Apparently, going over a bump in the road, I unknowingly bit the inside of my lip. The Novocain from the dental work totally erased the feeling on the left side of my head, including my nose. A wheel spoke could have jabbed through my skin and I wouldn't have felt a thing.  

As I was cleaning my face in the mirror, I glanced down at the dining room table holding a box of my newly printed book, The Travel Writer's Wife. I smiled a red-tooth smile. It was such an accomplished feeling seeing it there; all finished with an official front and back cover.  

It was nearly a year of writing with interruptions of travels, family happenings, and just general day-to-day obligations. My book is a travel memoir about some of the adventures, (both big and small), that my travel-writer husband, Ron, and I took. He has also covered these trips on his website: www.globalgumshoe.com  

I've taught classes on how to keep a travel art journal (whether you are an artist or not). My journals were the catalyst for writing this book. As I looked back through the pages for writing ideas, I was amazed at how many details and events I had forgotten about. I'm so grateful I jotted them down. A chapter of instructions is included about recording your own personal adventures.    

Regarding some more travels, I wrote about the emerging East Berlin, where to purchase Turkish Delight candy in Paris, riding a reluctant horse on a Dude Ranch, and flying a multi-million dollar flight simulator. Along with: where to visit a zoo with no live animals, vintage train rides, blue corn onion rings, to eat horse meat or not to eat horse meat, and European Christmas Markets.    

One of the frequent questions I am asked is how I pack. After several years of trial and error, I've got it down. Some of those tips are in my chapter, The Art of Packing.  

I'm an avid reader myself and I don't mind at all when photos or sketches are placed in a book. So I drew more than 130 illustrations to add a touch more insight and a bit of humor.  

The Travel Writer's Wife is now available on Amazon and also on Kindle. Is this a plug for my book? You bet it is! 

Now, the lesson to be learned is: drive, don't bike home from a dentist visit.   

Farmer Girl Gourmet

Chocolate lovers please don't hate me.I do like my share of chocolate but I'll choose a piece of caramel over chocolate any day. A swirled dollop of caramel rested on top of creamy homemade butterscotch pudding, (butterscotch, being the "cousin" of caramel.) The thick sauce slowly cascaded with each spoonful of Farmer Girl's dessert: Butterscotch Pot de Creme. This dish was the last sweet comforting impression that I left with at the end of out farm-to-table meal.  

Ron and I visited the Farmer Girl Community Bistro located on the quaint Main Street of Lyons, Colorado. With only a 45 minute drive from our home, we found the small mountain town tucked in at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. 

The modern casual decor of hardwood floors and recycled barnwood covering the walls, composed into a warm and cozy place to share a dinner. The word, "LOCAL", is painted in a large white script on the wall to remind us what this cuisine is all about. All dishes are created from fresh seasonal fare obtained from locally sourced food businesses.  

I appreciated seeing the words, "Small Plates", on the menu. That means more food samplings without getting overstuffed. We shared the Sweet Potato Falafel plate that offered fritters, herbed yogurt, homemade pickles, hummus, and flatbread.  

The Chickpea Fritters are paired with a dipping sauce of homemade beet ketchup. I cannot resist freshly-made mozzarella. It was served alongside slices of grilled nectarines, Japanese turnips, cucumber, and a balsamic glace. I carefully assembled them neatly on the houses's crunchy crostini and popped the little tower in my mouth. Quite tasty and I didn't spill a drop. 

For a large plate entree, we shared the game hen with jalepano grits and a side of sunflower seed mole. Now, that's originality for you. Alas! The pudding arrived to crown our local agricultural cuisine. I left quite pleased with the last traces of creamy rich caramel lingering on my palette.    

Two Tasty Fine Dinings in Denver

Palettes Contemporary Cuisine

Some things just go well together; like peanut butter and jelly or socks with sneakers. And even better: a great restaurant located inside an art museum. Ron and I had the opportunity to drive down to Denver to review the Palettes fine dining restaurant located in the North Building of the Denver Art Museum complex.

Our first glance was of a big room with numerous tables covered in crisp white linens. The flatware has a hammered nickel surface lying astride large folded white napkins. Oversize pieces of framed artworks hang on the white walls producing a a colorful contrast. We were seated at a table next to a large picture window. People-watching on this sunny, cloudless day kept us entertained during our meal.

Anthony, our server, explained the menu and shared with us his personal favorite entrees. The current museum exhibit, Samuri, was showing at this time. A complete menu from appetizers to entrees was created by their Executive Chef, Austin Cueto, to complement the exhibit. Pastas are made in-house. Palettes's pastry chef also "steps up to the plate" and creates unique desserts to follow the theme. 

I started with a salad of organic baby lettuce, gold beets, Humboldt fog cheese, candied walnuts and berry vinaigrette dressing. My entree consisted of corned beef brisket nestled on top of a root vegetable hash, topped with pouched eggs and a romesco sauce. Both dishes were as colorful and artistically presented as the paintings on the walls.

Anthony continued to fill my coffee cup with a rich robust Italian coffee,that happened to pair well with the carrot cake french toast for my dessert course. Yes, good old carrot cake taken one step further.  Along with lovely garnishes, a little jug of warm maple syrup accompanied this unique sweet.

Afterwards, Ron and I strolled over to the elevator and pushed the 7th floor button.Our plan was to view all the floors of the museum one by one.

Cafe Marmotte

At the corner of Downing and Alameda in the Washington Park area of Denver is a lovely little surprise: the Cafe Marmotte. This is a traditional French bistro with an American twist.
When Ron and I walked in, the first thing I said was, "What a charming and quaint restaurant. It's going to be fun to enjoy a meal here." With only 13 linen covered tables, personal service was a guarantee. 

I tend to notice firstly, the decor on restaurant walls. A traditional French interior ornament was covering one of the walls; a large mirror set in a elaborate gold frame. Colorful paintings adorn the rest of the cozy room.

Rachael McQueeney, the general manager, was so bubbly and helpful in answering all our culinary questions. She shared with us that Cafe Marmotte's staff's goals was to be approachable, warm and welcoming. From the kitchen to the front of "the house", everyone takes pride in what they do. A lot of returning regulars can attest to that.  

I just sat contently, anticipating the dishes set before me. I appreciated that a small loaf of warm baguette bread along with a rich butter was placed on the table to keep us delightfully busy while our orders were prepared. 

I am most content when a lovely bowl of soup is served. The Butternut Squash soup was flavorful and creamy; a simple soup that was cooked just like I would attempt at home. Ron and I shared the entree of Coq au Vin which was not overpowered with wine (like I disappointingly get in France). The burgundy braised chicken was served over bacon mashed potatoes, along with melted red cabbage and pearl onions.

I melted into the Warm Molten Chocolate Cake sided with in-house made grand marnier chocolate ice cream.  See, didn't I tell you; some things just go so perfectly well together!

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Mix a handful of Americans, a couple of Brits, and a pinch of an Australian. Put them aboard a canal cruise boat flowing down the canals of Holland for several days. Add some interesting field-day trips along the way, feed them glorious food; morning, noon, and night. And what do you have? A fabulous cultural vacation in an European country with laughter and good food.

My travel writer husband, Ron, and I experienced such a trip last week. With six smiling crew members to take care of 11 guests, we felt quite pampered and well taken care of on the barge "Le Panache" courtesy of European Waterways. I wrote more about the daily routine on a barge canal cruise  in my forthcoming book The Travel Writer's Wife.

Visitors from other countries desire to see authentic windmills that will reassure them that they are truly in the Netherlands. We visited Alkmaar where several of these beauties were majestically  standing. Some were converted into souvenir shops where Dutch chocolates, cheeses, and trinkets are sold.

My favorite shop was the one selling wooden Dutch shoes. The walls displayed hundreds of these wooden clogs from ceiling to floors. I stopped for a moment peering over the crowds of people watching a young man demonstrate carving a clog ,using primitive tools and vintage machinery. Along with the traditional style I spotted a couple of clogs with a bit of a fashionista touch.

The main reason we for chose this particular itinerary was the fact that it is the tulip season in this country for several weeks. At the Keukenhof Gardens, over 30 acres of hundreds of varieties of tulips were gloriously on display. Everyone had their smart-phones out clicking way. It was nearly impossible to take a bad photo of these colorful flowers. Tulip cultivation has been on-going for nearly 400 years in Holland. Along with the new varieties, some bulbs date back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

We were fortunate enough to be in Holland on the annual national holiday of King's Day ( April 27th). The birthday of King
Willem-Alexander, from the House of Orange, is celebrated throughout the nation. The Panache hostesses got us into a celebration mood by decorating the interior of our barge with orange balloons, crepe paper streamers, and party hats. Orange 
t-shirts were provided for us to "fit" in with the crowds of the orange-dressed town's people.

Our adorable chef, Franke Schaart, served us typical picnic-style Dutch finger foods. We took a stroll through the town of Haarlem where music bands, food vendors, and a giant Ferris wheel added the the festivities, It was a happy, orangey day. 

My personal highlight of the week was a visit to the Aalsmeer Holland Flower Auction Market. It is located in the 4th largest building in the world. This gigantic warehouse is where more than 20 million flowers are shipped out to all points in the world-- daily! A long walkway for visitors is set up high with an overall view below. It looks like a busy beehive with people driving towed carts of crated flowers from one spot to another. Even painted dotted lanes and intersections are used to direct an orderly traffic.. A lovely fragrance from the gazillion flowers permeated throughout. An amazing sight; nothing like it in the U.S.A.

Along with the attentive Panache crew and a mixture of nationalities, we all temporarily forgot about the outside world, laughed a lot about silly things, and ate delicious food, wines and cheeses. In my travel journal I wrote: I will miss them; we made a good "traveling team". 

So here's to you all, my Panache boat-mates: Ronnie and Sue, Barbara, Nancy, Leslie and Tom, Marianna, Naomi and Kevin!

FTC Disclosure: This was a sponsored trip. All opinions herein are the authors. 

Take a Left at Iceland

Puffins, whales, 130 volcanoes, and chocolate covered licorice. Where am I? Well, Iceland, of course! We recently traveled to a part of the world that I didn't even have on my "travel-bucket" list. It seemed so far away and such an exotic place to visit, I never even considered going there.

IcelandAir  offers a great deal which is being termed "a stopover" for those flying east to Europe   (like we did) or  the western direction from Europe. You can stay for a seven-day layover without any extra charges.

Most tourists start their visit in Iceland's largest populated city of Reykjavik (about 200,000). The population of the entire country is 330,000. There are more than 700,000 Icelandic horses, so that makes the horses outnumber the people!

From the Keflavik Airport , we rode a coach bus of 50 minutes into the capital city of Reykjavik and checked into the Apotek Hotel. The hotel's decor is a modern style of soft grays and whites with accented black furniture. From the widows of our 4th floor corner suite we could see three main streets filled with interesting looking shops and restaurants.

A full itinerary for our three-day visit kept us busy exploring. Our guide, Heidi, definitely fit the description of the Icelandic people: fun, sweet, and speaking flawless English ( the second language on the island). She even laughed at all of my husband's silly American jokes!

We visited the outdoor open-air museum Arbaejarsafn, where a historical collection of authentic Icelandic houses from the 19th Century are on display. In the warmer months, festivals and activities are held there with people dressed in period costumes. I especially found the Turf houses interesting. Trees providing wood has always been scare on this island, so the inhabitants were resourceful in building the walls of their homes with stones and mud. The exteriors got a layer of grass turf for added warmth. People lived in Turf houses up to 1945, so something must have been working with this style of architecture!

We ate at two restaurants, the Matur & Drykuur and the Aatlo Bistro. These chefs are keeping up with the popular world trend of farm-to-table menu concept. Local fresh foods such as catch-of-the-day seafood, greenhouse mushrooms,and vegetables are used in their kitchens. The dishes were beautifully presented. Chef Kjartansson of Aatlo Bistro happens to be one of the sweetest chefs we've come across and was so gracious in personally serving us his delectable food creations.

Definitely taking one of the many bus tours offered will cover more outside areas than you could on your own. We rode with Sterna Tours on the all-day "Golden Circle" tour. I like tour guides that help inform you of what you're viewing along with historical facts. Our guide, Halldor, a native Reykjavik, even threw in some interesting folklore stories about  elves and trolls. Icelanders are quite proud of their mystic folklore stories.

We passed craters and volcanoes and acres of lava rocks covered with green moss. The terrain kept changing and at one point we were only yards away from a huge ice glacier. As out tour continued we saw fog, blue sunny skies, rainbows, snow, and low-hanging white fluffy clouds. Our warm winter garments kept having to come off and back on again.

Here listed are some of the interesting and oddity facts that I collected about Iceland.

• In the winter there is only about two hours of sunlight. In the summer, 24 hours of sun shine.
• Tourism is their biggest industry.
• The new Whale Museum has 23 full scale size of whales displayed.
• To keep golfers happy, there are 14 golf courses in Reykjavik and a total of 66 in the country with more being built.
• Bobby Fischer, the 1972 World Chess Championship Player, won his title in Reykjavik and is buried in Selfoss, Iceland. 
• Green houses produce a variety of vegetables year round along with a variety of roses and tulips. 
• The air is the cleanest in the world.
• The water is so pure, you can safely drink directly from the tap. (I drank lots!)
• The hearty bred Icelandic horses sleep sitting on the ground instead of standing.
• Lamb and seafood are the main foods. There are lots of sheep farmers and fishermen.
• The wildlife consists of rats, field mice, minks, reindeer, and arctic foxes. A word about the arctic fox. They are in abundance and create a great danger to sheep and other livestock. If you kill one, you take the fox's tail to the government office and get paid a fee!
• Iceland is warmer than New York in the winter.
• Rotten shark fish is a popular dish.
• Tipping (contrary to rumors) is allowed. It is not mandatory but definitely appreciated.
• Icelanders are the biggest Coca Cola drinkers in the world!

 The Icelanders are a jovial and friendly people who warmly welcome tourists. So, on your way east to Europe, take a sharp left to Iceland and experience a land of unspoiled treasures.

Waltzing Kangaroo Serves up Hot Meat Pies in Colorado

It's so amazingly delightful to find a true "treasure" practically in your backyard. Ron and I just returned from visiting one: Waltzing Kangaroo, serving handcrafted Australian food, right here in our own Fort Collins. I was so excited, I just had to get the words down as soon as we walked through our front door!

Upon entering the clean, bright, and modern open-kitchen premises, we noticed that the pastry cases were in short supply of their meat, chicken , and savory pies.That was because the lunch crowd wiped them out!  

No fret, because two large trays of various baked Australian pies were pulled out from the oven. A finishing touch of egg wash was applied on the tops with a pastry brush and popped back in for a further 8-minutes. Results: perfectly golden- baked crusts.

The owners, Steve ( Australian) and his wife, Aimee ( American) Phillips, put years of thought and precise planning to making their dream come true: opening an Australian meat pie shop and introducing these delectable pies to an American audience.

There has been no short cuts in the preparation of their menu. Everything, and I mean everything, is made from scratch: the shortcrust and pastry shells, sausage rolls, salad dressing, the slow-cooked beef stock, quiches, and the scrumptious sweets.

Great care was considered in serving the perfect cup of coffee. They refused to serve nothing less than the best Australian-style espresso. The local Coffee Registry found this to be an exciting new challenge to take on. According to Steve and Aimee, they hit right on target. Ron, who never ever drinks coffee, wouldn't leave my cup alone!

We shared a delicious Steak & Gravy pie containing chunks of tender steak swimming in a rich all-natural gravy. The Lamb & Rosemary pie had flavorful morsels of lamb in a rosemary and roasted garlic sauce. Three popular Australian sides helped to round out the meal: mash potatoes, sweet potato mash, and mushy peas. We fought over the peas, (I wished my mother could have seen that; I was the kid who hid my peas in the dinner paper napkin!)

Aimee had us taste the Australian Bundaberg Ginger Beer (no alcohol). Ron and I  "voted" it the best of all the ginger beers we have tried throughout our many travels. So far, no disappointments; the treasures just kept coming right on through to the in-house made desserts. All are made fresh from scratch and in ample servings. We tried the Profiteroles, made in a light choux pastry filled with creme patisserie. The popular Australian Vanilla Slice is filled with vanilla custard between puff pastry and topped with a delicate lemon icing.

By this time I was already making a check list of what I'm going to be ordering on our soon-to -be return trip. Without any doubt, The Waltzing Kangaroo will be Fort Collin's newest hidden gem. And we are so grateful that this American-Australian couple have made such efforts to share their love of these iconic foods with us!