Wild like a goose

I would like to share with you all a lovely snippet of Colorado life that I was introduced to in Hayden, CO.

First, let me make something clear. I do not care for food fads, and one of the ones I do not participate in is the gluten free diet (because I do not have celiac's disease, I don't think that I'll contract it somehow from eating gluten, and on top of it all I think the belief that gluten is unhealthy is just silly. That's just like saying that peanuts are unhealthy for me even though I don't have a peanut allergy).

But the gluten free banana muffins at Wild Goose Coffee at the Granary in Hayden are legendary. Legendary! Like, I-don't-even-like-muffins-but-I-bought-four-at-once-and-they-didn't-last-a-day legendary. They have crunchy, caramelly sides and swirls of ripe banana and brown sugar, and it's not just in one bite, the whole friggen muffin is that way.

We tried the peanut butter & nutella one, and the poppy seed ones, too. Although they were good (and contained gluten, yay!), they were no match for the banana one. There just was no competing.

Go to Hayden, if only just to eat this muffin.

The granary itself was pretty impressive too. One of the owners, Patrick Delaney, showed us the storage facilities that he plans to turn into an industrial kitchen and a barn-dance facility.

(I only got pictures of the back of his head, oops...)

And the story of the place is cute, it's called "Wild Goose" because one day a friend of the Delaney's brought them a "duckling" he found abandoned on the road. The family named it Al, and cared for it until the duck turned into a (surprise!) goose. Patrick said Al flew away last year to do that migration thing and that he could return any day now!

Check out Wild Goose Coffee at their website: Wild Goose Coffee at the Granary

They're just outside Steamboat Springs, so if you're in that section of the woods pay them a visit!