french food and friends

Do you have friends that are like your favorite pair of shoes? Always comfortable, easy, familiar and ready for any adventure? Well for us, that's Sam and Jenna. They are dear friends that we've known since college. However, it wasn't until we moved to Denver that we really got to know each other.

Funny story actually -  I was terrified of Jenna back in college because one day she cut me off in literature class and disproved my entire point about Odysseus in front of a room full of fellow students. Mean Jenna! (She still refuses to believe this ever happened.) But we connected during our first year here in Denver and have been fast friends ever since.

St. Pats

"Ash"pen Ridge

Weekend Snowboarding!

Dirt Bike Queens

Having extremely adventurous spirits, Sam and Jenna have always dreamt of living abroad. From the beginning of our friendship, Adam and I always knew there would come a day that we may have to say good-bye to the Van Aswegenes, but we preferred not to think about it. But now here we are - soaking up as much time as possible with our friends before they pack up and move to Amsterdam.

So tonight we decided to celebrate Sam and Jenna's move to Europe with a French meal at Z Cuisine. Yes, yes - Amsterdam is Dutch but a French dinner still felt relevant since Paris will be a quick train ride away. Not to mention, I'm not sure Denver has any Dutch restaurants.

Boy did we dine in style. We started with a salad that had four meats on it - duck gizzards, head cheese, chorizo and blood sausage. I was little hesitant to try the different kinds of meat but I refused to be one of those people that won't try new things. Not to mention, that would be terribly un-French. So with that, I was determined to at least try the salad and might I say, I really liked it!

From there I ordered the most amazing duck ever. Sam would challenge this statement because he also ordered duck but it was prepared differently. He would say that he ordered the most amazing duck ever so we'll just have to agree to disagree (mine was better). Jenna ordered fish and...you guessed it, it was the most amazing fish she'd ever had. Adam ordered skirt steak and it was also divine. We topped it all off with a chocolate crepe that was a little piece of heaven, and then wished we could exit the restaurant and find ourselves on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower.

My face usually looks like this when hanging with Sam and Jenna! Always a good time!

Sam and Jenna, we are so excited for you and this next chapter in your life. We can't wait to come visit next summer and look forward to many, many more memories together. It's only the beginning...