Lifestyle

by Lisa Barlow

(NOTE: Hanukkah starts on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasts for eight days. THIS YEAR THROUGH 12/1 – 12/9)

Latkes What does a nice shiksa girl like me know about latkes? Bupkis! But that doesn’t stop me from gobbling them down whenever they’re on the menu. In New York you can find great latkes year round in delis and Eastern European eateries. During Hanukkah, you can find them in many upscale restaurants where they are gussied up with crème fraiche and caviar, quails' eggs or truffles. You can even find traif versions that feature bacon.

Latkes are served on Hanukkah in celebration of the liberation of Jerusalem in 168 BC, after the Maccabees drove out the Syrian-Greek invaders. When the main temple was recaptured, only enough oil remained to keep the holy lamp burning for one day. Yet it burned for eight days, long enough for the city dwellers to manufacture more oil. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, has become the eight-day holiday that pays homage to the miracle of the oil. Not only is one candle of a menorah lit each day for eight days, but tradition holds that foods fried in oil, most usually olive oil, be served.

[click "Play",Dolce's Beau Staley discusses turquoise]

 

Earth Turquoise ring This is your month, Telluride's Sagittarii and Capricorns. And your birthstone, December babies, is turquoise – also blue topaz and Tanzanite. (Guess December is big on alliteration.)

But turquoise is the most popular and the oldest of December birthstones, found on artifacts dating back 5000 years in ancient Egypt (the tomb of Tutankhamen was filled with turquoise bling and Cleopatra used the ground up stone in her eye paint), Sumeria and Mesopotamia. Turquoise" means "Turkish Stone," in French and France is where the first deposits were found in the ancient world, before the first mines in Egypt. Turkey is the route the gemstone took when first introduced into Europe.

[click "Play" to listen to Dr. Brugge's conversation with Susan]

 

Brugge-doug A Three Mile Island in Colorado?

Probably nothing that Hollywood – or lethal.

Well, maybe not.

The infamous accident  took place March 28, 1979, a partial core meltdown in a unit of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania. Three Mile Island crystallized anti-nuclear safety concerns and resulted in new regulations for the nuclear industry. According to Dr. Douglas M. Brugge, the nuclear release at Three Mile Island may explain why there is "public and policy interest in the high-technology, highly visible end of the nuclear cycle."

At the same time, he continues: "The environmental and health consequences of the early steps in the cycle – mining, milling, and processing of uranium ore – may be less appreciated."

A day-long "Trainers Training" session for Telluride Adaptive Sports Program snowsports instructors was led by Program Director Tim McGough on Monday, November 29. The day was mostly devoted to sharing information, talking about areas to improve, but there was time in the late afternoon...

[click "Play", Dr. Diana Koelliker talks about the emergency room renovation]

 

New ER 001 The Telluride Medical Center plans to show off its newly renovated Emergency Room at an Open House. The happy event takes place Thursday, December 2, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m., including tours of the renovated facility. The medical staff and employees baked Christmas cookies for their guests, to be served with mulled hot cider.

For 32 years, the Telluride Medical Center has provided health care services to  Telluride and the 7,500 residents scattered throughout the R 1 School District. The Med Center is also the only 24-hour emergency facility within 65 miles. Without the Telluride Medical Center, imagine what long delays could mean to a person in critical need.

by Tracy Shaffer

ChoLon-Map In my fifteen years in Denver, I have never known a restaurant to create the kind of noise that the new ChoLon Asian Bistro has. Open only a month, I have heard friends from every hive buzzing "You have to try ChoLon" and ”Oh my god, I have a new favorite restaurant!". One fine Indian Summer day, I threw out my own "We have to try ChoLon" when I got a call from Tellurider, Jennie Franks, asking where to meet for lunch. Located in the Sugar Cube Building at 15th and Blake, you step from the bustle of LoDo into the hip serenity of the new Saigon: stately and relaxed, peaceful in its minimalist design, and alive with conversation and energy unique to Denver eateries.

There is no pretense here in ChoLon, only warmth, steaming from the baskets of Soup Dumplings and the heart of its chef, Lon Symensma.  Though he looks like a fresh-faced grad just hatched from cooking school, the award-winning Chef Symensma has more than a decade of global seasoning in his wok. Working in world-class kitchens from New York to Shanghai, with stops in San Sebastian and the South of France, our humble host has a refined palate and created an indelible menu that has embedded itself within my dream center. 

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Karl Straub]

 

The story begins with the Telluride Yoga Festival.

Sunset Telluride Inside... and Out interviewed senior Jivamukti instructor Karl Straub for the second annual Telluride Yoga Festival. This past summer, another Yoga Fest guest, the remarkable teacher, Mark Whitwell, introduced us to yoga instructor/entrepreneur Gail Mondry. Turns out, Mondry is connected to Telluride through her affiliation with the Grand Heritage chain, now running the new and vastly improved Peaks Resorts & Spa.

Recently, Mondry created a new business, Yoga Vacations, dedicated to yoga-based adventures in spectacular settings.

[click "Play" to get Erik's take on what's-for-Christmas]     On Tuesday, November 23, the annual Locals Show at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art marks the soft opening the holiday/winter season in town. The hard opening is Wednesday, December 1, when locals...

Ski The Himalayas, a film chronicling three climbers' 2009 and 2010 attempts at climbing and skiing 23,390' Baruntse is now available on Dish Network Pay per View in HD and SD today through April 14,  2011.  In the 90-minute documentary, ski mountaineers Ben Clark,...