An Infinite Number of Monkeys

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/30/dilly-dallying-in-denver-day-4-the-final-day/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60447

It is the last day of April and I am finally posting the final part of my time in Denver, which was literally almost two months ago now, but that’s neither here nor there. On the fourth day, one of Alex’s other friends from college flew in for their birthday as well, and got there very early in the morning. So all three of us got into shenanigans today!

You always have to start out the day with going to a cute coffee shop, so we went to Savageau Coffee & Ice Cream.

This little coffee shop had a really cool layout, with a whole wall of different, framed mirrors. I ended up getting a white chocolate and pistachio flavored iced matcha:

With coffees in hand, we headed over to the Denver Botanic Gardens. I was extremely excited to visit the botanical gardens, as I love flowers. Things were just barely starting to bloom in the still chilly spring air. Heck, it had snowed two nights before, so I was partially expecting everything to be dead. And while a lot of plants were still dormant, there was plenty to see.

Alex had actually just been gifted a membership to the gardens, so they used two of their guest passes on us, which was really nice. I believe it’s about twenty dollars for standard adult admission, otherwise.

I took a lot of flower photos, and it was difficult to decide which ones to show y’all. I ended up picking out ones that are purple and pink, because those are my two favorite colors. So enjoy these handful of shots from our time walking around at the gardens:

The Denver Botanic Gardens had so many beautiful orchids, most of which were in glass cases or on huge display carts. They were absolutely stunning and they had a wide array of colors. Orchids are one of my favorite flowers, so these were very cool to see.

The gardens were such a nice experience. I just love walking through trails with different plant life all along the sides and learning about new flowers. The gift shop was really cool, too! There was a huge variety of items, but I only ended up getting a couple pins. All in all a successful outing.

We left just in time to head to our early dinner reservations at Ash’Kara. This was another restaurant where we wanted to partake in their Restaurant Week offerings, but we actually showed up at 4pm, and the dinner service (including the Restaurant Week stuff) didn’t start until 5. So we actually ended up sitting and enjoying Ash’Kara’s happy hour for a little bit before we got to have our actual meals. Thankfully, they weren’t busy at all and let us hang out whilst we waited for 5pm to roll around.

I really loved the interior of Ash’Kara. It’s very colorful and eclectic, has cool light fixtures, and has a lovely bar.

Here’s their happy hour menu:

And the beverages:

While these drinks definitely sounded good, I ended up ordering a mocktail. This was their cucumber spritz, which is just cucumber syrup, lemon, and soda water:

And Alex got another one of their mocktails, the passion-hibiscus spritz, with passion tea syrup, hibiscus, lemon, and soda water:

I loved these glasses, they remind me a lot of Jupiter glass but with a more ornate design. Both of these drinks were super light and refreshing without being too sweet, as mocktails sometimes can be. I actually ended up getting Alex’s drink for my second one because I liked it so much, but both were great choices.

We wanted to get a couple happy hour food items, but didn’t want to fill up too much before we ate our actual dinner. We ended up ordering the Castelvetrano olives:

Castelvetrano olives just so happens to be my favorite type, so these olives with orange zest and Calabrian chili were absolutely delish. They were bright, briny, and really packed a punch. They were easily shareable and a great start to the rest of our meal.

We also got their pickled veggie platter:

If you like briny, pucker-worthy pickles, this is the appetizer for you. Crunchy, fresh veggies with a ton of pickle-y bite to them. I liked the pickles the best, just because the carrots were hard for me to bite through (I have sensitive teeth).

And for our final shareable, we got the fried halloumi and panisse:

Oh my goodness, look at that golden brown color. That is picture perfect right there. While I absolutely love fried halloumi, I wasn’t sure what panisse was. You can really tell a difference between the cubes of panisse and the halloumi, too. My friends didn’t know either, so we looked it up and they are essentially chickpea fritters, like polenta but made with chickpea flour and then fried.

The fried halloumi was the best I’d ever had. It was hot and crispy, and the cheese squeaked like a Wisconsin cheese curd. The panisse was soft and pillowy on the inside, and I was happy to try something I had never heard of before. This was an absolutely bomb starter and we all really enjoyed it.

Finally, it was time to view the Restaurant Week menu. Set at $45 a person, here’s what we were looking at:

This one turned out a little blurry, so let me walk you through the different options and tell you what everyone got.

For the first course, you basically pick between four dip options. There’s hummus, htipiti, labneh, and babaganoush. You can also add on pita, pickles, fries, and olives, but whatever dip you chose did come with your own naan as a vehicle for your dip.

I got the labneh, Alex got the hummus, and Alex’s friend got the babaganoush:

My labneh came with roasted grapes, sumac honey, sesame seeds, and chives. The hummus had a sprinkle of paprika and chopped parsley on top. The babaganoush had a paprika oil on top with crispy shallots and some microgreens.

All three of the dips were so divine. My labneh was so creamy, and the texture worked really well with the soft grapes and tiny crunch from the sesame seeds. The hummus was excellent, and had plenty of garlicy flavor without being overpowering. The babaganoush might’ve been the star of the show, with the savory, roasty flavor of the eggplant and perfectly crunchy shallots. The naan our dips were served with was warm and soft. All three of us were eating each other’s dips because they were all so good. The labneh and babganoush are a must-try.

We also added on an order of Za’atar fries:

I love za’atar and think it is an underutilized spice in many people’s cooking, so it was awesome to see za’atar fries. These were hot, fresh, crispy fries with just the right amount of herbaceous and saltiness from the za’atar.

For course two, you could choose between salad and falafel. Alex and their friend got the falafel:

I got the Fattoush salad:

This salad had chicory, pickled red cabbage, pomegranate arils, fried sage, roasted delicata squash, and naan breadcrumbs with a shrub vinaigrette. Oh my gosh, this salad was bomb. So many different textures and flavors happening here, yet nothing contrasting in a negative way. Crunchy pickled cabbage, soft roasted squash, fresh greens, and tart pomegranate, it was a beautiful dish. I really loved this salad.

For our final course, we could choose between braised lamb shoulder, lemon pepper salmon, or a roasted cabbage dish. While Alex and I got the lamb, their friend got the roasted cabbage:

I almost got this, and when I saw it I knew I wouldn’t have regretted my choice if I had. With tons of caramelization on the roasted cabbage and plenty of caramelized onions, it looked so flavorful atop that soft basmati rice.

Here was our lamb shoulder:

There were a lot of words that accompanied the lamb shoulder description that I didn’t recognize, and I had to ask the waiter about several of them. The lamb is served with a sweet potato tershi. While I love sweet potatoes, I didn’t know what a tershi was. Turns out, it’s like a dip or a spread that is typically made from pumpkin or squash, and is usually spicy or at least warmly spiced. Thankfully, this version wasn’t very spicy, just nicely spiced. It also had zhug, which is sort of like pesto, but with cilantro and parsley instead of basil, and different spices like cumin. There was also hawaji in the dish, which is a Yemeni spice blend I’ve never heard of it. Now, I did know already what kataifi is, and it’s the crispy shredded phyllo you see on top.

Now that we know what everything is, this dish was incredibly delicious. Super tender lamb and soft sweet potatoes contrasting the crunchy kataifi. The bright, fresh, herbaceous zhug lightened up the rich, warm flavors of the lamb. This dish was so unique and unlike any lamb I’d had before. I highly recommend this dish if you like lamb, or if you’ve never had lamb and are curious to try it. This dish would be the perfect introduction to it.

Ash’Kara was a really awesome culinary experience. There’s pretty much no Mediterranean restaurants around where I live, so experiencing this amazing cuisine was such a treat. I absolutely loved all the different flavors and unique dishes I got to try. I would a hundred percent revisit Ash’Kara if I go back to Denver.

So, that’s pretty much everything I did for my few days in Denver! Tons of amazing food, great drinks, cool museums, awesome flowers, and of course, friends.

For the rest of my time in Colorado (which was about another three days), we went out to Palmer Lake and stayed in an AirBnb with more of Alex’s friends. It was a lovely mountain lodge and we had a lot of fun, and I made this charcuterie board:

This board had dill Havarti, a red wax Gouda, double creme brie, drunken goat, and whipped hot honey goat cheese. Plus prosciutto and salami, smoked salmon, jalapeno and garlic stuffed olives, pickles, cheddar crisps, and candied pecans. Aside from the dijon mustard, Alex’s mom makes jams and spreads, so we used her cherry berry, apricot mango, and blackberry spreads. I also threw together a sweet treat board:

Alex requested two things: blackberries and strawberries. Trader Joe’s (where we got literally all of this from) had these special white strawberries called pineberries that were supposedly really good, so we gave them a shot. There’s also mini peanut butter cups, milk chocolate covered pretzels, and then these super yummy little mousse cakes. There’s the raspberry mousse ones with vanilla cake, and the chocolate ones. They were ridiculously good.

Anyways, aside from enjoying our time in the cabin playing games and whatnot, we also saw the Red Rocks Amphitheater (not attending a concert, just saw it regularly), and the Garden of the Gods. The Garden of the Gods was honestly such an amazing experience; the beauty of it all brought a tear to my eye. I highly recommend checking it out. Who knew rocks could be so awe-inspiring.

The last thing I have to post about is the Denver airport, and it might be for different reasons than you’d expect! So stay tuned for the actual final post about Denver.

Have you visited the botanical gardens before? Was it when everything was more.. alive? What would you have ordered from Ash’Kara? Do you like lamb? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/30/dilly-dallying-in-denver-day-4-the-final-day/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60447

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/30/the-big-idea-brenda-w-clough-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60433

Imagine a world where political servants actually served us, and whose decisions were backed by the will of the people, rather than their greed. If it sounds like fantasy, you may want to check out author Brenda W. Clough’s newest novel, Off the Screen. Follow along in her Big Idea, and remember to vote!

BRENDA W. CLOUGH:

I began Off the Screen more than twenty years ago. There’s a couple major drivers of the work, but the big one is the reboot of American democracy. It’s set in 2160, and at that point I felt that the United States could have refurbished its systems somewhat. 

But, in those golden 2000s, I abandoned the work because I couldn’t imagine why we would need to tinker with the system of American governance. Everything was fine, the economy was good, Bill Clinton was president and running things reasonably well. I couldn’t figure out any way to get from here to there. And so I closed the ms.

Well! Hah! When I found the manuscript on a thumb drive in 2025, it was obvious why we had a crying need for a reboot! The problem was plain to see: the serious disconnect between the people and the rulers. We, down here, need stuff done, and we can’t get Congress to do it. The Founding Fathers designed the system to be a representative democracy – we elect our two senators and one congressperson, and they go to Washington and do our will. But it’s not working. We need a fix.

This is not a new idea. Many, many political commentators today are saying this. Every time Heather Cox Richardson talks about what we can do in this moment, she calls for new ideas, new thoughts. Oh honey. You are calling my name!

So for this novel I redesigned America. Congress, that useless buffer, is now drastically pruned back. They are our servants, remember. We pay them to do stuff for us, the same way you pay the guy to mow your lawn or fix your car. We do not pay them to fly in private airplanes and feather their nests with insider trading. 

In Off the Screen, the citizens vote. All of us, every American every single day, has to vote. A neat system called DiDem, Digital Democracy, is tied to your online life. What do you do when you get up in the morning? Slug down a cup of coffee perhaps, and pick up your cell phone or open your laptop? In this book, when you swipe your cell open, the first thing that comes up is your ballot for the day. You have to do this before you get to open your email, or text your daughter, or check in with the office – it’s the starter screen of every American, and so it gets done.

Every morning you vote on a simple five issues, so the process takes perhaps a couple minutes. You spend longer finding the creamer to put into your coffee, so this is endurable. Each question is a yes/no vote, a KISS feature (Keep It Simple Stupid) that keeps it down to five taps on the screen. Then you’re free for the rest of the day to download porn or work on your bitcoin, anything. But daily voting in this novel is a requisite for citizenship.

These five questions are necessarily rather crude. Shall we invest in the repair of the Pennsylvania Turnpike? Should we impose economic sanctions upon Boeing? What about invading the Seychelle Islands? Yes or no, make a decision. Once the American people decide, it’s Congress’s job to do it: find the money for the turnpike, declare war against the Seychelles. And then, if that war means we need a bigger Army and maybe a draft, it can go back to DiDem again for more decision making. Do we increase taxes for that bigger army? Do we institute a draft? Yes or no? If we demand the impossible – yes, I want the Seychelles bombed back to the Stone Age, but no I don’t want to pay for it – Congress comes back with another vote: since we won’t pay for this war, do we sue for peace?

And not all questions are important enough to submit to the entire population of the United States of America. If you live in Arizona you may not care about the Penn Turnpike. So, every American votes every day on five questions. But we don’t all see the same five questions. A color-coded system of ranking gets minor questions decided by a smaller segment of the voters. If that first set of voters decides it’s important, it goes up to be voted on by a larger number. So at the end of the day, that decision to invade the Seychelles may get approved by an actual numerical majority of Americans, but it has to pass through a number of lesser votes to get there.

What DiDem gets you is the levers of power in the hands of the people. Congress is demoted to servants, the waiters at the restaurant who take your order and then set the hamburger in front of you. This is delicious to contemplate, isn’t it?

Unfortunately DiDem also means that a lot of stupidity occurs. The international proverb, in this novel, is that Americans cannot agree on which way is up.  I think we acknowledge today that people are by and large dumb as stumps. We make idiotic electoral choices that are swayed by crashingly disastrous criteria like fame, race, gender, sexual orientation, wealth, or fingernail color. For heaven’s sake, the Brits voted for Brexit! Even a perfected democracy does not free us from humanity’s innate flaws. Bad political decisions continue to be made in the world of Off the Screen, and I drop my hero Edwin Barbarossa into their chippers.

But he mostly ignores it, because he’s busy with the other Big Idea in this book. Live theater has been slain by AI. Actors exist mainly to be scraped for voices, pretty faces, and luscious boobs. And then someone decides to create the first live original stage musical in a generation. Eddie’s going to write the lyrics and score. 

Which means that I had to write the book and lyrics, because they’re in ongoing development through the entire novel. To acquire the rights to quote Sondheim or Oscar Hammerstein would be impossible. Believe it or not, sometimes it’s just easier to write a musical yourself.

And, because the canons of theater demand it, everything comes to a head on opening night: the show, Eddie’s fate, DiDem’s survival. This is the biggest book I have ever written, and if it had appeared in 2000 it would have been magnificently prophetic. But just as well it didn’t. We need it today.

Off the Screen: Book View Cafe

Author socials: Bluesky|Facebook

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/30/the-big-idea-brenda-w-clough-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60433