Telluride

From Chicago, I flew to Lubbock, TX (big upgrade, ha) where I spent the night before heading to Telluride, CO with my boyfriend and his friends. Growing up I went to Deer Valley, UT each spring break to ski, but I hadn't been in a few years and had never been to Telluride so had no idea what to expect. Although, like most college ski trips, our accommodations were sub-par, the town of Telluride and its over-the-mountain sister-city of Mountain Village really blew me away.

Telluride itself is a quaint, historical little town with a population of 2,500. The main street is lined with restaurants, ski stores, small hotels and lots of small bars. While the town has remained rather small through the years, there have been many restaurant additions over the years and most of the food we ate while there was incredible. The first night we went to Rustico Ristorante where we had some delicious bruschetta, pizza and some great Italian wine. After a long day of traveling and skiing, we were exhausted and went back to the condo afterwards.

The next day, we woke up bright and early and skied all day with a short break for lunch on the mountain at Gorrono Ranch which had a live band and outside fire pit daily. The runs that we did were limited to mostly blues and double blues and at around 3 we were exhausted.

On the gondola ride back to the other side, we stopped at the peak of the mountain at Allred's for aprés ski consisting of a gourmet grilled cheese (brie, pesto, marinated tomatoes) and some truffle fries and a couple of white russians. Oh, and, the highlight of my trip, two Bernese Mountain Dogs...a mom and an 8-week-old puppy. I almost started crying they were so cute.

After a 20 minute bonding session with the pups, we headed back down the mountain to shower and get ready for what was our favorite dinner at Cosmopolitan. While it was a little expensive, it was definitely worth it. The duck confit was amazing.

Our last night was definitely our biggest let down. We tried out the Chop House at the New Sheridan Hotel; it was over-priced, under-cooked and generally just bad.

While Telluride was extremely charming, if I ever go back I think I would definitely stay in Mountain Village. Mountain Village is much more convenient for skiing and has many more hotel options and activities - there was an ice sculpture contest in the middle of the village when we were there!

Thankfully, unlike the rest of the group, we flew home. If we had been on the bus with all of the others, I wouldn't have been a very happy camper....

Chi-town

After ringing in the new year at Lake McQueeney, I ventured to Chicago with my mom and dad for my dad's second knee replacement. He had his first one up there in September and it was such a success that he went back for his second. He goes to Dr. Richard Berger - nicknamed in n' out Berger - who does it non-invasively allowing his patients to literally walk out of the hospital 4 hours after their scheduled surgery time

Although the surgery day wasn't too much fun, I fell in love with the city of Chicago. We stayed at the Four Seasons hotel (which has fabulous room service we found out the day of surgery) and ate at some great steak houses including the classic Gibson's and newer, more modern Chicago Cut...which I might add uses 30 iPads as their wine lists. .

The day after surgery, my mom and I did a little sight seeing, including visiting "The Bean" and one of the most famous view points in Chicago to see the city line. Chicago really is a beautiful, bustling city - much like New York, just a little..cleaner.

Tré

For some time, it was fairly hard to find any good Italian food in San Antonio. There was always the local favorite of Paesano's with their Shrimp Paesano and Florio's for great New York style pizza, but when it came to true italian, there was not much to offer. That is until Chef Jason Dady opened Tré Trattoria near the Witte Museum on Broadway. Chef Dady had apparently already opened a few other restaurants in the San Antonio area, but this was his first in the Alamo Heights area and it became an instant hit.

With their phenomenal spicy pizza (soppresetta and pepperocinis), the great bolognese and delectable italian style rib eye with parmesan mashed potatoes, I feel as if I go on a smorgasbord every time I visit Tré. Their all italian wine list, fresh procuitto and pulled mozzarella just add to the genuine italian-ness of this perfect little spot. Although the service can be a little snooty at times, its worth it for the quality of the food.

Dady just opened another location at the quaint Fairmont Hotel downtown (and it has brunch!!) and I cannot wait to give it a try!

Christmas Break - Tito and NYC

Because I had no finals at the end of the semester in the fall, I was able to go home fairly early to start what became my 6 week break from school. I was pretty eager to get home to this little guy that we got 3 days before I got home from school.

My 17-year-old brother got Tito for his birthday, and although the new addition was supposed to be "his," he still had three weeks of school and football practice and not much time to train a dog, so he became primarily my and my mom's responsibility. Because we have two older golden retrievers, Tito was smart enough to catch on really quickly and has become a perfect addition to the family.

A few weeks after I got home from school, I flew up to the wonderful New York to meet my mom who had been there already for the weekend for a friend's birthday. One of the many friends of a friend that she came in contact with whilst there was the head of the CIA (culinary institute of America) who insisted on taking us out to dinner while I was visiting. When my mom told me we were going to Cipriani I wasn't totally impressed...but when we arrived with the man we were with, the attention we got was impeccable. Little did I know that at 10 o'clock stairs fall out of the ceiling leading to a private, members-only club that we were lucky enough to get to visit as the guests of August. It was a memorable night to say the least. After a few more wonderful meals and some early Christmas shopping, we returned home just in time for the Christmas holidays to begin.