Tea Time in Boulder, and Home Again

69°f/20.5°C, cloudy all day after severe storms last night. Very humid, more storms on the way. A lot of localized flooding in our area. Can you tell we are home again?

Yes, we are back in West Virginia today, resting and regrouping and petting the dogs a LOT. We arrived about 11pm last night, with some spectacular lightning chasing us all the way. Fortunately the storms held off until the wee hours, and we slept so soundly I guess we missed it all!

But, our last day in Colorado was pretty special. We spent the night in Boulder again at Sarah's parents' home, to make the trip to the airport easier. Her Dad arrived during the night from his trip to Scotland so we were able ro have a nice visit with him before we left. Her mom is still on Scotland,  visiting a friend in Ayr (which made me think of you, gz!). 

But the afternoon before we left, we went to lunch at the most amazing restaurant I have ever seen. The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse was gifted to the city by their sister city in Tajikistan. What a gift! I believe it took seven years of work by master craftsmen to complete,  then was shipped to Boulder. 

Just look at this place! The city took years to decide what to do with the gift and it just sat, disassembled,  in storage. Finally it was decided to use it as a teahouse, which was the givers' intention anyway I think, and a vendor was chosen to operate it.

Photo from the internet

It was truly breathtaking to see, and there was so much for the eyes to take in.

There were several of these stunning handcarved wood columns and a fountain which I unfortunately did not get a photo of.

The food was simply delicious. Sarah had a Korean noodle dish which was quite spicy.

I had the "Uruguay Chivito Sandwich:

churrasco steak, bacon, ham, provolone, tomatoes, Boston lettuce, herb-aioli, roasted peppers, olives, fries". This is the description from the teahouse website, and my goodness was it delicious. And huge! I had to take half of it home, and left most of the fries too. Larry had the Cuban sandwich and said it was the best he had ever had.

  

Oh, and the tea-- I cannot even begin to tell you how good it was. The tea menu was actually a whole notebook, including black, green, fermented, etc. Probably at least 50 kinds, but I think more than that. I chose Forest Berry, a black tea with blackberry and elderberry. I bought some to bring home and will have a cup as soon as I finish this post. Such a treat.

The walkway to the teahouse was lined with fragrant roses.

I doubt I will ever get back to the teahouse, but I know if I lived in Boulder I would probably be there every day. And also probably go broke!

We had a light supper that night at a British pub called The Hungry Toad. We opted for a dish of fish and chips, which we shared since we weren't very hungry, and Larry enjoyed a beer called milk stout. He said it was very good. Both of us ended up with a tummy issue in the night, and I think it was the fish, as that was the only thing we both ate that day. Luckily the bug was short-lived.

Before we left yesterday we drove by the building that houses eTown Hall, a public radio program I listen to regularly.  Their weekly broadcast is a musical variety show hosted by Nick and Helen Forster very like West Virginia's Mountain Stage, and features a special guest who has done something to benefit the planet or society. 

I had hoped we might catch a show there but it didn't fit our schedule,  unfortunately.  Maybe next time. It was fun just to see the building, as i will be able to picture it next time I tune in. The building is completely powered by solar energy.

And then it was off to the airport. I hated to leave, honestly, but Sarah will soon be here for a few weeks to work on her cabin, so we are looking forward to that.

At home, these happy faces greeted us. 

Buddy

and Pip 

were very well taken care of by our son and a few neighbors! Derek said they were right spoiled by all the attention. I was very pleased and relieved that all went well with our boys.

And now, back to normal life. I still have photos to share, so there may be one or two more Colorado posts.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.