The beauty of having my own blog is that I not only get to decide what
I want to write about; I can also determine the frequency, format and
tone. I’ve set my own deadlines, which means I can break them, if I
choose. I have also created my own focus: where I eaten and what I’ve
read. So far, so good, I think. With that in mind, I am, nonetheless,
taking today to do something just a little different: to give thanks.
I am grateful beyond words (written and spoken) for the support of
The Blue Page Special. I am especially thankful for my family and
friends who have recommended books through the years. And, of
course, a meal becomes more than just food when shared. Thank you!
In keeping with the food theme associated with Thanksgiving, here
are some places around Colorado Springs where I have enjoyed not
just good food, but good food with special people – this excludes,
of course, the homes of family, friends (and my own). At some point,
I’ll write reviews of these places, but until then (in no particular
order):
The Margarita at Pine Creek
Nosh
Adams Mountain Café (Manitou Springs)
La Baguette
Yakitori
Josh and Jon’s Ice Cream
Bird Dog BBQ
The Keg (Manitou Springs)
Yakitori
Alfonso’s
Joanie’s Deli (Woodland Park)
Check them out if you haven’t already; or wait until my reviews!
Thank you!
The name Snooze is ironically misleading because this is an exciting, ambitious, and,
apparently, very popular diner. Although there are others in Denver, Boulder and Fort
Collins, we tried the Larimer and Park location.
To be perfectly honest, breakfast is not my favorite meal. Snooze could change that. The
menu has several items that piqued my interest: Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pancakes, Breakfast
Tacos, Snooze Spuds Deluxe and much, much more. I opted for the Sweet Potato Pancakes which
may sway me from trying anything else. The cakes were surprisingly light and airy; the sweet
potato flavor was subtle, especially under the ultra-sweet caramel syrup, so it took a little
experimenting to find the right taste balance. Pecans and ginger butter were perfect final
touches. My son ordered Red Velvet Pancakes, with a hint of rich chocolate, complete with
cream cheese frosting.
All the egg dishes use Neiman Ranch Cage Free eggs. I am not a coffee drinker, but I know a
good cup when I smell it. Hash browns while creamy are perhaps not as crunchy as they should
be. Service is very friendly and efficient. Still, it’s clear pancakes are the stars of the menu.
Afterall, Snooze boasts: Peace, Love and Pancakes!
Be prepared to wait, we were told 15 minutes, which was pretty accurate; as we were leaving,
those waiting for tables were being told 30 to 45 minutes. Snooze, an a.m. eatery, is a fun
misnomer because it is wide awake on all levels.
Five Plates
Snooze
2662 E. Larimer St., Denver
7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekends
6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays
Considering the content of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, this book probably warrants an R rating; not
for violence as the title might suggest, but its strong sexual content and graphic language. That aside,
this Australian Literary Society Gold Medal winner is riveting in its cross-cultural, cross-generational look
at parenting, friendship, family and marriage.
Told from eight different perspectives, the story follows the events that lead to and from an adult slapping
the young child of another couple at a family barbecue. It’s a slap felt by everyone related to, or friends
with, hosts Hector and Aisha. The ripple effects go well beyond the afternoon gathering.
Although there are eight different viewpoints, including Hector and Aisha’s, the omniscient narrator remains
the same, and the story moves forward rather than being retold from various angles. This is a clever way to
demonstrate the impact without repeating the actual event multiple times. The slap is never far from the sur-
face, but neither is is it a repetitive action. The ultimate question within the book – and for readers, as
well – becomes which side is right: those who agree with the boy being slapped and those who don’t.
The primary weakness of the novel is the whiney, self-absorbed characters who populate it. With few excep-
tions, it is hard to feel an affinity with any of them. Sure, it was a bratty four-year-old child who was hit,
but some of the other characters might have benefitted from a quick smack, too.
Three and a half Bookmarks
Penguin Books, 2010
482 pages
The Landmark Café and Creperie has several house specialties, but I
only tried those on the dessert menu. Oh, it was tempting to select
savory crepes as my entrée, but the brandied apples, sun dried tomatoes,
mushrooms and duck over fettuccine was too intriguing to dismiss. I had
never considered pairing pommes de terre with pasta, yet the unlikely
couple made a fine marriage. The duck approached the dry side, but the
elegant sauce of the brandy, apples and sundried tomatoes made it possible
to overlook this potential flaw. The boring house salad was salvaged only
by the tangy cranberry vinaigrette.
Apparently, spinach bisque is a Landmark specialty, but I didn’t find this
out until later. In addition to pastas, main course salads and sandwiches,
the menu features at least half a dozen savory crepes. Chicken Divan and
Beef Burgundy were among those sampled and deemed delicious.
Although our small group of Knox College students claimed to be full, every-
one still had room for dessert. My son and I made the mistake of requesting
the large serving of the Crepes Banana Foster. We erred only because it was
far too much – even shared. Still, the caramel sauce was decadent. The Turtle
Crepes also got two thumbs up. We all agreed that the crepes were difficult
to cut with a spoon.
We’re likely to visit Galesburg over the next four years, so we’ll have plenty
of opportunity to sample the house favorites, and find new ones.
Four Plates
62 S. Seminary St.
Galesburg, Ill.
Riding a train on an overnight trip is nostalgic on many levels, but not
necessarily in a positive way. It’s a slumber party with strangers; or
perhaps a little like a B&B with neither a real bed nor a good break-
fast. Sure, breakfast is served, but that’s where another questionable
parallel surfaces: it’s like school cafeteria food.
The California Zephyr is a good way to get from Colorado to the Midwest.
I wanted an aboard meal, and breakfast seemed the best option. Following
a fitful night’s sleep, my husband and I wobbled our way to the dining car.
The menu featured scrambled eggs, French toast, oatmeal or cold cereal,
and The Chef’s Morning Special: tomato, spinach, mushroom quiche. Every-
thing was overpriced, but we were game.
I ordered the special which included potatoes and a choice of biscuit,
raisin bread or croissant. Another passenger, who had just spent his
second night on board, was seated at our table; he said he had the quiche
the day before. I blame lack of sleep on my inability to react. I chose
the quiche, realizing just before my plate arrived, that it was probably
leftover from the previous day. In fact, what was once perhaps a flakey,
buttery crust had become soggy and bland. The thick slices of French toast
weren’t any fresher.
As for the passenger who joined us, that was similar to a B&B; and the train
was, indeed, a throwback to another time. Too bad the meal tasted like it.
One Plate
Breakfast prices $7 to $10.75, includes juice and choice of coffee, tea or milk
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese is a 600+ page novel about identity,
familial love and faith (or fate). Set in a missionary hospital in Ethiopia, the
story follows Marion and Shiva Stone, twin boys born to a nun who dies in
childbirth and a British surgeon father who abandons them. Now that’s one head-
turning premise!
Their unlikely birth, the loving physicians who adopt them and the unique bond
of twins share the spotlight with medicine. Marion is the narrator who tells
the story based on his own memories and from what those around him remember.
Chastity and promiscuity are important elements here. They’re bound by love
which means betrayal isn’t far behind. Verghese is a master of description.
His images are vivid and exciting whether of operating rooms or the countryside
of Addis Ababa where most of the story takes place. The story moves easily to
New York City then back to Addis Ababa. The revolution in Ethiopia is part of
the backdrop. Still, the focus is on the staff of the Missing Hospital, a mission
hospital, an appropriately humorous name.
The personality traits of the characters, particularly Marion and Shiva, are
compelling which goes beyond the circumstances of their birth. They are intelli-
gent and full of emotion, yet these twins are remarkably, even painfully,
different. Overall, with few exceptions, these are people we want to get to
know – and, thankfully, do! Don’t be put off by the number of pages; the end
comes all too soon.
Five Bookmarks
667 pages
Vintage Books, 2009
(Full disclosure: I wrote this one a few months ago)
Imagine if the movies 50 First Dates and Groundhog Day meet the book The Curious Incident
of the Dog in the Night Time and you’re close to the idea of The Housekeeper and The Professor
by Yoko Ogawa.This a pleasant story about friendship, familial love, and math – yes math, and
I am not a math person. None of the characters has what could be construed as a birth name: the
professor and the housekeeper are known by those monikers, while the housekeeper’s son is given
the nickname “Root” (which is far less cumbersome than being called the housekeeper’s son). A
fourth character is the professor’s sister-in-law.
The professor suffered a brain injury years before the story begins and lives each day with only
80 minutes of short-term memory. Each day literally, and figuratively, starts anew. To keep himself
from being completely shocked the next day, the professor attaches notes to his suit to help him
keep track of such details as, say, the housekeeper’s existence. In spite of his debilitation, the
professor is a mathematical genius, and he shares his enthusiasm for numbers with the housekeeper
and her son. The three, it turns out, also share a passion for baseball.
Ogawa demonstrates math truly is a language. The characters embrace its nuances and complexities
to master it with grace and apply it to another challenging concept: platonic love. Even so, the
sparse writing is a distraction. That, however, could be more a cultural difference than anything.
Three Bookmarks
180 pages
Picador, 2008
The difference between pizza baked in a wood-fired oven and a conventional one is like
the dissimilarity between dark chocolate and milk chocolate. The former simply has much
more depth. For pizza, the intensity of the wood-generated heat allows each component
(dough/crust, sauce, cheese, and toppings) to surpass its potential, so the final product
becomes extraordinary. That’s what served at Pizzeria Rustica.
The mozzarella is made in-house. It’s on the pizza, but to fully appreciate its creamy,
silky elegance try the Insalata Caprese of mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, basil leaves and tangy
balsamic vinegar. The Pagliasotti is an appetizer featuring the Caprese but also includes
olives, salami, prosciutto, fresh vegies and crusty bread.
Pizzeria Rustica uses authentic Italian ingredients, as noted on the menu, for the Neapolitan
pizzas. Although round, the pizzas are not exactly uniform since they’re individually hand-
stretched. The Salsiccia (sweet sausage) pizza we ordered had a few bulbuous air pockets,
but nothing was lost on taste. The pocket-free Rustica was topped with tomatoes, the
house mozzarella, prosciutto di parma and handfuls of fresh arugula. The peppery arugula
was an inspired addition. Another nice touch was the truffle oil for dipping the crust.
The menu is a primer in simplicity. A wipe board displays the daily specials, but don’t expect
much more than salad and pizza – and dessert. Prices are a bit high, yet sticker shock
is surprisingly short-lived; these are made-to-order pizzas with fresh, quality ingredients
very rich in flavor.
Four Plates
Pizzeria Rustica
2527 W. Colorado Ave.
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
I haven’t fished in years, but I can still appreciate a good fishing story, especially one full of
romance, mystery and, of course, embellishment. Mary Alice Monroe’s Time Is a River reels
in all of the above. Although flawed in many ways (an over-use of adjectives and the abundance of
see-through plot devices, to name just a few), this book falls into the curl-up-in-front-of-the-
ireplace-on-a-snowy-afternoon category. It’s a worthy diversion.
Monroe’s novel follows two stories: that of present day Mia Landan and that of Kate Watson whose
heyday as a fiercely independent woman was in the 1920s. Their lives become entangled through the
not sp subtle motif of fly fishing. Mia is a cancer survivor looking for new direction in her life.
Kate’s memory was tarnished thanks to rumors allowed to flourish through the years. Mia finds herself
in Kate’s old fishing cabin in the mountains of North Carolina and undertakes to solve the circumstances
of Kate’s fall from grace. The narrative unfolds through Kate’s long-forgotten diaries and Mia’s
new-found friendships.
This is a fun story, even if it is stocked with clichés and predictable experiences. Go ahead, let
yourself get hooked.
Three-and-a-half bookmarks
369 pages
Simon & Schuster, 2008
I’ve never read Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides (although I did see the movie) and I had
difficulty putting down his second book, Middlesex. I was curious about The Marriage Plot, and
my interest paid off.
Unrequited love, mental illness and faith are formidable as individual themes let alone combining
them. In Eugenides’s hands they’re like Legos that fit together perfectly, and colorfully. He’s an
exceptional storyteller. His characters and their conditions in The Marriage Plot emerge through
humor, angst and a variation of the coming-of-age-storyline. Madeleine, Leonard and Mitchell are
compelling characters. They got in my head, if not my heart. Their individual histories and the many
ways the trio intersect are amusing and heartbreaking in only a way life during, and immediately,
after college can be: full of promise and fear – and lots of partying.
Although Eugenides’s syntax is methodical, the evolution of the story is fun and the main personalities
evoke emotion. Madeleine is irresolute, Leonard is damaged and Mitchell is forlorn; in 406 pages
Eugenides provides ample explanation for each character’s strengths and flaws. The title makes
perfect sense from romantic and academic persepctives (Madeleine is, afterall, an English major).
I found something oddly familiar about The Marriage Plot, and it finally hit me that I had already
read two of the chapters in The New Yorker where they appeared as stand-alone short stories.
Those now make much more sense so the small sharp-edged pieces all fit together for me.
Four Bookmarks
406 pages
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux 2011
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