One of our favorite ways to celebrate Easter and spring is hosting brunch for friends and family. Finding a restaurant for brunch on Easter morning is quite the challenge. We find gathering together at our home for drinks, fun and a hearty meal is actually easier than calling every restaurant in town months ahead of time hoping to get a reservation. To minimize the stress of hosting a big brunch: Focus on dishes that can be prepped or made ahead of time. Make it a potluck! You provide the main and guests bring sides, desserts and drinks. Keep it simple. Don’t worry on providing tons of differ ..read more

Extra Virgin Olive Oil. EVOO. The bread and butter (the bread and olive oil?) of our business. But what is Extra Virgin Olive Oil? Why is it so special? What makes it so different from other oils? Olive oil is made by crushing and pressing olives to produce oil. It is literally the juice of the olive fruit. Regular vegetable oils are often extracted using petroleum-based chemical solvents and then highly refined to remove impurities. Extra virgin olive oil is not processed or refined. It is pressed fresh from the fruit of the olive tree, which leaves the color, vitamins, and FLAVOR intact. The ..read more

Can you believe it’s 2024? 2023 was an incredibly busy year for me, my family, and our stores. November and December were especially busy. I feel like I haven’t had the chance to catch my breath since October! I’m looking forward to catching up on some rest and relaxation in January…I hope.   That is one of several New Year’s resolutions I have this year. To get better at holding space for just myself. New Year’s resolutions can take so many different forms. They can be “small”, like deciding to go for a short walk every day after work or “big", like quitting smoking or committing to tran ..read more

November and December are our busiest time of year – both in our stores and in our personal lives. Between kids wrapping up school for the semester, sales at the store, hosting family and friends, holiday travel and more – it can easily get to feel like too much. It’s a constant stream of events and to-do lists. I have to be very intentional about holding space for rest and relaxation. Because this season is so hectic, holiday shopping can feel especially stressful. I really like finding just the right gifts for the special people in my life, but that takes a lot of time and effort. So, I want ..read more

Spooky season is back and better than ever! It’s no secret that fall is our favorite time of year, and Halloween is a highlight of the season. I’ve shared before that my family has many specific Halloween traditions, including throwing a pumpkin carving pizza party (say that 5 times fast!). And we always make time to get innovative at the bar with fall-themed ingredients. We also get to celebrate Halloween in our stores! Both Westminster and Fort Collins throw some epic trick or treat events, which gives us the opportunity to showcase our products in some delicious treats. There’s nothing bett ..read more

When Shaun and I tell people we own olive oil and vinegar stores, people are often confused. We have to explain that there isn’t just one type of olive oil or vinegar, but dozens and dozens. And when you factor in fused and infused olive oils and flavored vinegars, it’s hundreds and hundreds of types. That’s thousands of different combinations of oils and vinegars to make use of in your kitchen. There are many “classic” flavor combos that you’re likely already familiar reflected in our products – like Mushroom and Sage Olive Oil. Customers also love to buy combos like Strawberry Balsamic and B ..read more

  During school season, our already busy schedule gets even more hectic. It can be a challenge to make filling, healthy meals for the family, especially on weeknights. So, to help reduce my stress and feed the fam, I’ve decided to embrace the freezer. For a large chunk of my life, my freezer was filled with quick, easy, convenient microwaveable meals that were full of chemicals and low on nutrients. But after diving into cooking in adulthood, and learning how to embrace veggies and herbs, my freezer became a spot pretty much exclusively for ice packs and frozen fruit for smoothies. But th ..read more

September is National Honey Month, so as we head into September (Already!?!?) I wanted take a moment and celebrate the reason we have honey – the humble honeybee. Bees are essential for the health of people and the planet. Not only do bees make delicious honey, which has medicinal properties, they play a key role as pollinator, making them vital for our earth's entire eco and food system. I’ve gotta admit I fell down a bit of a google rabbit hole recently looking up facts about them. They are so cool! This is just a tiny sampling of what I’ve learned: They’re Fast. Honey bees can fly up to 15 ..read more

One of the best parts of summer in Colorado is the fresh produce. We have flavorful cantaloupe from Rocky Ford, juicy sweet corn from Olathe and, my favorite Palisade Peaches. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, these peaches are grown on the western slope of the state and are sweet, juicy and extremely flavorful. The absolute best I’ve ever tasted. Yes, even better than peaches from Georgia. The make the perfect treat on a hot, sunny afternoon. My family and I can easily get through a pallet of peaches just by snacking on them. But they are also extremely versatile in recipes. Peac ..read more

If you’re anything like me, you know how essential it is to have easy, great-tasting snacks that you can whip up in a matter of minutes. For our family, that often comes in the form of popcorn. Whether it’s family movie nights, game day parties or even school lunches, there is always a way to jazz up popcorn to fit the vibe. One of our staff even hosted an event with a DIY popcorn bar where guests could flavor their own popcorn treats with our oils and seasonings. It was quite the hit! We carry nearly a dozen different popcorn seasonings perfectly tailored to flavor freshly made popcorn, wheth ..read more