Vail Cascade Blog

Equipment:

• Stand up paddleboard: Sizes are based on the paddler's weight and experience. More experienced and lighter paddlers can choose narrower boards. Novice paddlers should choose wider, flatter boards, which offer more stability.
• Paddles: Stand up paddles Choose a paddle that's roughly 6” to 8” taller than you are for maximum benefit.
• Personal Flotation Device: The U.S. Coast Guard classifies stand up paddleboards as vessels, so always wear a PFD.
• Proper clothing: For cold conditions where hypothermia is a concern, wear a wetsuit or dry suit. In milder conditions, wear shorts and a T-shirt or bathing suit—something that moves with you and can get wet.
• Sunscreen and Sunglasses.

Carrying Your Board to the Water

Most stand up paddleboards have a built-in handle. Just lean the board on its edge, reach for the handle and tuck the board under one arm. Carry your paddle with the other hand. 

For longer distances, or if your board has no handle, you can more easily carry your paddleboard on your head. Stand the board on its tail (end) with the deck (top of the board) facing you. Lay your paddle on the ground within easy reach. Grasp the edges of the board with both hands. Walk yourself under the board so that your head is about midway between the nose (front) and the tail. Stand upright with the board overhead, still holding it by its edges. Now bend down and pick up your paddle and carry it alongside the board. 

Head for the water.  Flat, calm water that's free of obstacles like boats and buoys is best for beginners.

Head for the Water

When you're learning the sport, it's best to start out in ideal conditions: flat, calm water that's free of obstacles like boats and buoys.

Mounting the Paddleboard and Beginning Your Adventure

When you're a beginner, it's easier to kneel on the board rather than to stand directly upright. Here are a few pointers to get you started:

• Standing alongside the board, place your paddle across the deck of the board and use it as an outrigger. The paddle grip is on the rail (edge) of the board; the blade rests on the water.  Hold the board by the edges. One hand will also be holding the paddle grip.
• Pop yourself onto the board into a kneeling position, just behind the center point of the board.
• From that kneeling position, get a feel for the balance point of the board. The nose shouldn't pop up out of the water and the tail shouldn't dig in.
• Keep your hands on either side of the board to stabilize it.
• Once you're ready, stand up on the board one foot at a time. Place your feet where your knees were. You might also bring a friend to wade out about knee-deep with your board. Have your friend stabilize the board as you get the hang of standing on it.
• Your feet should be parallel, about hip-width distance apart, centered between the board edges.
• Keep your toes pointed forward, knees bent and your back straight.
• Balance with your hips—not your head.
• Keep your head and shoulders steady and upright, and shift your weight by moving your hips.
• Your gaze should be level at the horizon. Don’t stare at your feet
• Practice balancing on the board in flat water, then take off on a paddle boarding excursion!

For guided standup paddle boarding tours or rentals in Vail, visit: Timberline Tours, Alpine Quest Sports or Lakota Guides. Or as a guest of Vail Cascade, let us help you plan your adventure getaway and we would be happy to help coordinate your paddleboarding experience! 

Paddle your way to a whole new adventure in Vail Colorado!

The Vail Whitewater Park is the perfect entertainment for tourist and locals alike.  Are you a kayaker?  Get some great tips from the pros, try out different boats, and even take lessons.  Take pictures with the kayakers, picnic, and watch the demos from the shore or the bridge…it’s truly an adventure for the whole family to enjoy.  Go here for more information.

Don’t own your own bike?  With onsite bike rentals available through Charter Sports, located at Vail Cascade Resort, you don’t have to miss out!  Learn everything you need to know about biking and cycling in Vail. 

If your kids are interested in biking, Vail Mountain Bike Camps offer the perfect solution.  From kids camps to private lessons, road races and group instruction, it’s the perfect way to get started or to up your ride to the next level.

So come out, enjoy the scenery and put some pedal to the metal in honor of National Bike Month.

Among the themes at CBC in San Diego was American Craft Beer Week, which is coming up next week! Beginning Monday, May 14^th and continuing through Sunday, May 20^th there will be craft beer features, promotions, highlights, and who knows what around the country to celebrate these amazing beers, brewers and breweries.   For more information, Craft Beer.com provides the entire listing here at CraftBeer.com

Vail Cascade Resort will be celebrating American Craft Beer Week also! Enjoy $5.00 Small Plates with the purchase of any American Craft Beer on our list for the whole week. Our off-season menu offers the following Small Plates for your dining enjoyment: 

                Moroccan Lamb Meatballs  House-Made BBQ Sauce
                Crispy Goat Cheese  Tomato Jam, Colorado Honey
                Ahi Tuna Tacos  Ginger Slaw, Wasabi Aioli
                Sweet Potato Fries  Chipotle Aioli
                Hummus & Pita  Roasted Garlic Hummus, Grilled Vegetables

The Lamb Meatballs, Crispy Goat Cheese & Ahi Tuna Tacos are especially fantastic pairing items, so try them with a flight of craft beers and experiment! 

Our Friday Night Flights Featured Flight for May 11^th ($7) will be as follows:

                Orval
                Uinta Hoodoo Kolsch
                Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
                Ommegang Three Philosophers
                Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti 

Your mission from last week has been accomplished on the Craft Draft scene! We have rotated another handle to the new draft lineup. The new draft feature is: Ska Modus Hoperandi.  Stop by and try it as part of our Craft Draft Sampler (or) enjoy one with a $5 Small Plate for American Craft Beer Week next week! 

Friday’s Craft Draft Sampler ($7) this week: 

                Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
                Sierra Nevada Alpine Spring
                Full Sail Amber
                Ska Modus Hoperandi
                Fuller’s London Porter 

Thank you so much for your support of our craft beer program and American Craft Beer Week!

Vail boasts 17 championship golf courses, half of them open to the public.  Gypsum Creek, Eagle Ranch, Eagle-Vail and Vail golf courses are already open, with Beaver Creek and Red Sky scheduled to open soon. It’s a golfer’s paradise. Check out the recent article in the Vail Daily newspaper: http://goo.gl/ONLiC ...and you’ll note, it’s not all bad news in Vail. Ah yes, a silver lining to the warmer weather. Lemonade out of lemons. 

Vail in the summer also offers a variety of cultural events like the Teva Summer Mountain Games, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, the Vail International Dance Festival, Hot Summer Nights concerts, and much more for the family to enjoy. 

Looking for summer lodging? Vail Cascade Resort has specials and packages sure to save you money and get the best out of your dream vacation. Check out VailCascade.com for more information and we’ll see you this summer in Vail.

At Vail Cascade Resort, you'll work with our wedding specialist who has the experience, creativity and commitment to help you design your wedding ceremony and reception just the way you've always imagined.  At every step of the process - from planning through your special day - your wedding specialist will be with you, ensuring that everything you envision turns out to be perfect. 

Here are a few important tips to remember when planning a mountain wedding:

• Couples desiring to be married are required to obtain their own marriage license. Click here for the information required for obtaining a marriage license, as provided by the office of Eagle County Clerk and Recorder.
• Consider the elements when dress and shoe shopping.
• Always, always, always, have a back up weather plan.
• If having an outdoor ceremony or events, provide sunscreen or sun protection.
• Prepare your guests for the side effects of altitude! Provide them with bottled water in their hotel rooms and mini oxygen bottles and first aid kits if asking them to participate in on-mountain activities.
• Take advantage of creative wedding packages and custom menus designed to make planning your special day as enjoyable and simple as saying “I Do”. 

At Vail Cascade, unforgettable moments become cherished memories and a lifetime together begins in a mountain setting as natural as your love. From spectacular outdoor settings and elegant ballrooms, to exquisite cuisine and exceptional service, Vail Cascade will help you turn your vision for a dream wedding into a reality.

Visit our website for more information, submit a wedding request, or simply call Lindsay Wooten at 970-479-7056.

The events produce a mountain of fun with the Teva Games, Outdoor Reels photography competition, Mountain Click interactive expo, Gear Town, DockDog canine competitions, Mountains of Music free concerts and the Teva Mountain Ball.  Encompassing sports, music and the mountain lifestyle, professional and amateur athletes from around the world compete for prize money in kayaking, rafting, stand up paddling, mountain biking, road cycling, World Cup Bouldering, amateur climbing, fly-fishing, trail running and a half marathon. The games, sponsored by the Vail Valley Foundation in Vail, Colorado, are one of the biggest draws and crowds are expected to be large and enthusiastic.  

Check out all our lodging specials at Vail Cascade Resort & Spa, cheer on your favorites, and enjoy the celebration.

Vail Cascade, a Vail mountain resort offering premium condominium rentals in Vail, is pleased to feature this mouth-watering dish, Raspberry Duck Breast with Tuscan Kale Spring Roll created by Jay Spickelmier, Chef at our Vail Colorado restaurant Atwater on Gore Creek. This dish is a combination and a testament to Jay’s work experience. The dish includes a little Asian, classic French and a St Louis tangy BBQ married together to enliven the senses and instill well being.   

Recipe:  
6 Maple leaf farm duck breast or purchase from your market 

Optional Garnish ideas:
1 clam shell fresh raspberry
2 Tb freeze dried raspberry
1.5 oz neutral Pop rocks
1 cup Yellow baby celery leaves

BBQ Sauce:
1 cup Raspberry purees
1 cup firefly raspberry tea vodka
2 cups raspberry sherry vinegar
½ cup mustard seed
4 bay leaves
2 yellow onion
1 cup roasted garlic
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup red chili paste (homemade is best)
¼ pound of butter 

Spring Roll:
1 package of egg roll wrappers
2 each carrots julienned
1 bunch Tuscan kale julienned
2 quarts Napa or green cabbage shredded
2 cups miattake (hen of the woods) mushroom sliced
½ cup raspberry sherry vinegar
½ cup flour mixed with a little water to form a thick paste for sealing roll.

Put a napkin on the bottom and on the top covering the spring rolls in your holding pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Braised celery:
½ pound whole butter
½ cup chicken stock
1 quart diced celery
Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions: 
Duck
Trim duck breast of any excess fat, score fat diagonally creating lines through fat.  This keeps the skin from shrinking too much when cooking the skin side down.  For best results use a cast iron pan on med- low heat to start. You should cook the duck breast 90 % on the skin side.  This allows the duck skin to get crispy.  The duck breast should only take about ten minutes to cook.  Don’t start until everything else is ready.

BBQ
Caramelize onions with butter; add bay leaves, mustard seeds, chili paste, brown sugar and caramelize together. Deglaze with raspberry vodka, raspberry sherry vinegar and then add the remaining items.  Stir and let simmer for an hour over low heat. Blend and strain sauce or just leave it rustic. For this dish I did not blend the sauce.

Spring Roll
For sweating the vegetable use a large rondo. Pour a thin layer of oil into the rondo on med-high heat. Put all of the vegetable into the hot rondo and stir, do not get color on the vegetable.  You only want to sweat the moisture content out. Season the vegetable with a little salt and pepper, than add the miatake mushrooms, followed by the vinegar. Let the vegetable sauté for about a total of 6 minutes depending on the heat level. Put the veg into a perforated pan and place another pan on top, with 3 #10 cans on top, to press the remanding excess moisture out. After the mix has cooled you are ready to roll.   

Pull all of the egg roll wrappers apart first, laying them stacked back on top of each other. Cover with moist towel if you walk away. Place 1.5 oz of the vegetable mix about a third of the way up from one corner. Fold the corner over the vegetable and roll half way, fold the sides in, spread a little flour paste on top to seal and finish the roll. Place a clothe napkin on the bottom of your holding pan and cover with a dry napkin. Set aside for service with a 350 degree fryer. 

Pinenut Emulsion
Toast 1 cup pine nuts in oven for 6 minutes at 325 degrees. Blend in a food processor with two to three tablespoons raspberry vodka. Blend until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and white pepper. 

Enjoy!

It was a neat experience to walk through five different Atwater desserts: our White Chocolate Cheesecake, Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee, and Chocolate Mousse Cake from the top, and then we introduced Craft Beer Ice Cream Floats and finished off with a nice Cheese Plate & Berries…complete with narration and discussion with Executive Chef Todd Bemis. With each dessert we brought out a craft beer pairing: Unibroue La Fin du Monde, New Belgium 1554, Ommegang Three Philosophers, Lindeman’s Framboise & Odell Cutthroat Porter for floats, and Samichlaus for the finale with the cheese plate. It’s always interesting to see which pairings are favorites and who likes sweet vs. coffee and bitter flavors in their desserts.

I’m announcing this week’s Featured Flight and other information early this week, as I’m heading off to the Craft Brewers Conference this evening. We will be hosting our Friday Night Flights as usual, and were so pleased to have enthusiastic local support last Friday! I hear rumors that there’s going to be a craft beer cult meeting at Fireside each Friday…

Remember for off-season we are opening at 5pm and are serving craft beer, small plates, entrees and desserts in Fireside Bar. Oh, yes…there are also tasty specialty drinks and our phenomenal wine list available for those who have non-craft groupies coming in with them, and we always have great options for kids of all stages & ages.

The Friday Night Featured Flight for May 4….as always $7.00... will be as follows:

• Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weiss
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• Dixie Blackened Voodoo
• Avery Maharaja
• Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

Our Craft Draft Flight… as always $7.00 on Fridays… is on the edge of rotating another beer, so I’ll list both IPAs as options:

• Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
• Samuel Adams Alpine Spring
• Full Sail Amber
• Great Divide Titan IPA (or) Ska Modus Hoperandi
• Fuller’s London Porter

I will have placemats made for either option, and I suspect you all will determine which is on draft throughout the evening!

Last thing: Don’t forget that we have Craft For a Crowd as an option for your group as well! If you order 3 craft for a crowd flights (or more), then your group can choose from about 20 different craft beers on our list to create your own custom flight. It’s a very, very cool option, and it’s something I haven’t seen anywhere else. So come check it out!

As always – once again – Free Valet Parking for guests of Fireside and Atwater for your convenience.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy this terrific Spring weather!

Laura Lodge
Craft Beer Program
Vail Cascade Resort

O 970.477.5539
F 970.479.1021
llodge@destinationhotels.com