But the restaurateur came full circle later in his adult life after working in restaurants in Italy, Los Angeles and San Francisco. “Most of the restaurants I worked at in Italy had a garden going,” he explains. “And I saw a lot of urban gardening projects in LA and San Francisco. I became a huge advocate of urban gardening.”

So when he was staring out of his kitchen window at a sad little plot of dirt, he knew exactly what he should do with it. After negotiating with his landlords at the Peloton, the development where Pizzeria Basta resides, and promising to keep the garden looking nice, the chef called in Abbondanza, a local farm, to plant an organic garden.

“We started with 100 basil plants from Abbondanza,” he says. “They transplanted six-inch already-started organic basil plants, and brought in organic soil, too.” Then he added chard, kale, nasturtium, arugula, mizuna, tomatoes and a variety of herbs.

For the most part, the vegetables took root — Whitaker is still getting chard, basil and nasturtium from the garden, and he plans to jar the basil so he can use it into the cold months. “In this concept, basil is everything,” he says.

But he struggled with the tomato plants: “They didn’t go as well as we liked,” he admits. So next year, he’ll focus on getting those right by expanding his growing area, adding fifteen feet of beds on the patio which will soak in direct sunlight that should help the produce thrive.

That’s something the owners of the building, which is filled with condos, are also excited about. “It’s become part of their regular tour,” he says. “We put effort toward making it nice so we could go back and ask for more space.”

Whitaker supplements his outdoor garden with a little windowbox planter full of herbs that Altan Alma Organic Farm brings in every three or four weeks. “They bring them to us in dirt,” he explains, noting that the restaurant keeps them growing in the sunshine as the cooks use them for recipes. “It’s crazy how inexpensive and good those herbs are.”

Though the chef supplements his garden with a lot of produce from local farmers, he says he’s pleased with how much he’s gotten out of his own plot of dirt. “We’re only a forty seat restaurant,” he says. “We’ve gotten a lot of use out of it.

Plus, he says, it boosts morale during long hours in the kitchen: “If we’re standing there rolling dough, we can look out the back window and see a big field of basil.”

The Seattle online retailer (Nasdaq: AMZN) said it compiled data from all book, magazine and newspaper sales in print and electronic form since the first of this year.

It then produced a list of the nation’s top 20 most well-read cities larger than 100,000 residents.

College towns dominated the ranking. Cambridge, Mass. — home of Harvard University — topped the list, followed by Alexandria, Va., Berkeley, Calif.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Boulder.

Boulder was Colorado’s only city in the top 20.

“We hope book lovers across the country enjoy this fun look at where the most voracious readers reside, and that everyone gets the chance to relax with some great summer reads,” said Mari Malcolm, managing editor of Books, Amazon.com, in a statement.

Click here for the full list from Amazon.com.

He says where he lives is a huge component of his happiness. “I lived in San Francisco, lived in Miami, New York City, Chicago, and I just think that this community, for me and what I wanted to do, it just fit.”

“This community” is Boulder, Colorado, where Dave – who owns a restaurant called (what else?) Happy – is far from the only one mainlining the vibe of well-being.

“There’s an energy here you just don’t feel in other places,” said one resident, Sean.

Ingrid Asmus wouldn’t walk her dog Strider anywhere else.

“Up there the spring beauties are blooming and the bluebells are out and the sand lilies are starting to come out,” she remarked. And she’s only five minutes from downtown.

If happiness is a state of mind, then Boulder is its capital.

But don’t just take their word for it. Take Dan Witters’ word. He runs the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a projected 25-year study – the most in-depth ever – of Americans’ overall satisfaction with life.

“We talk to 1,000 American adults every single night, every night of the year, so by the end of the year, you’ve captured 350,000 respondents,” Witters said.

Gallup has interviewed more than a million Americans since 2008, enough to map our happiness.

No surprise: On a statewide level, Hawaii heads the top ten. But this isn’t just about good weather. Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska and Colorado are next, and no Southern state made the list.

Overall, Americans are pretty happy. In a new CBS News poll out today, 91% of us say we’re either very happy or fairly happy.

That leaves just 9% who say they’re not too happy.

CBS News poll: Happiness

But the Gallup research digs deeper, beyond vague feelings of “happiness,” to gather more measurable data on 55 aspects of overall well-being – everything from emotional and physical health, to how satisfied we are with work.

After all the data was analyzed, Gallup ranked the populations of 188 metropolitan areas from highest well-being to lowest. Boulder was number one.

What’s Boulder doing right? “Well, they’re taking care of themselves, for one thing,” said Witters. “Obesity is only 13 percent, smoking is only 13 percent. So they’ve got a very good handle on how to care for themselves, and so happiness is very high. Stress is low.”

But where there’s a top, there has to be a bottom.

According to Witters, the city at the bottom of the Well-Being Index is Huntington, W.Va., which has the unhappy distinction of being dead last in 2010.

Huntington is a former coal-mining boom-town, with high unemployment, an aging population, and more than anything, poor health.

“There’s no denying that a lot of the health problems that we see in this community are due to lifestyle – choices, whether they smoke or drink, or eat foods that are high in sugar and fat, whether they exercise,” said Doug Sheils, director of public relations at the Cabell-Huntington Hospital.

To be fair – Sheils says it’s not the city of Huntington, but the large pockets of poverty in the surrounding areas that drag the well-being numbers down.

But he knows the region has issues.

“One thing we know for certain: These statistics aren’t going to change by doing nothing,” Sheils said. “And so we’re doing everything that we can in our community to act and to change these statistics.”

To put it simply: Huntington needs a happiness project.

Which is just the job for Gretchen Rubin. This New Yorker is a former Supreme Court clerk, who six years ago had an epiphany – and turned her first rate intellect loose on happiness.

“People don’t think about happiness enough,” she said. “I was on a bus in the pouring rain and I didn’t have anything to distract myself. And I just looked out the window and I thought, ‘What do I want from life anyway?’ I thought, ‘Well, I want to be happy.’

“But I realized I didn’t spend any time thinking about whether I was happy or how I could be happier.”

And so the Happiness Project was born.

She picked 12 areas of life, from marriage to money to mindfulness, and concentrated on one a month for a year.

She ended up happier … and with some prescriptions for the rest of us.

“Happiness can seem very complicated and transcendent,” Rubin said. “So a good place to start is with your own body. So even things like getting enough sleep and getting a little bit of exercise are things that are going to boost your mood, give you a better sense of focus, give you more energy. And then it’s easier to do all the other things that will make you happier.”

What Gretchen re-discovered is the wisdom of that old saying: Happiness is a journey, not a destination, and one best guided by daily … incremental changes in lifestyle… with one above all:

“Ancient philosophers and contemporary researchers agree that maybe the key the happiness, if you had to pick just one thing, is strong relationships with other people,” she said. “So take the trip to see your sister’s new baby, go to the reunion, throw a party. Connections – anything that’s going to make you feel more connected with other people is going to add to your happiness.”

Back in West Virginia, Andie Leffingwell is working on connecting with the community at Huntington’s Kitchen, an outreach center where she promotes healthy eating.

“We’re not going to change everyone overnight, so we’re just trying to work on having fun and teaching cooking, getting families in this kitchen together, so we’re just making it an initiative here in town to eat healthier,” Leffingwell said.

It’s the same recipe that’s made Dave Query so happy in Boulder … connection.

“I don’t think there’s anything in the water or the soil; it’s just a really amazing place, and it has collected a really amazing array of people,” he said. “And I do think there are a lot of towns like that in America.”

Which seems to be what all those Gallup numbers add up to: No matter where you live, rather than winning the lottery or rewiring your soul, being happier is really just a matter of taking that first small step in the right direction.

“Sometimes the difference between who we are today and who we want to be, or wish that we were, are very small things,” Witters said. “They aren’t big steps, they’re little steps. What you need to do is have the knowledge that if you take that step, there’s going to be something better on the other side, waiting for you. And that’s at the core of the well-being equation.”

Tune in to the television show, CBS Sunday Morning on May 8th to see Boulder featured on a story about happiness. You’ll learn about restaurateur and fly-fisherman Dave Query and his restaurant, Happy, along with other locals who have found their bliss in Boulder.

Better yet, visit Boulder for yourself to experience the distinct lifestyle that makes it happy and healthy.

Pizzeria Basta :: Boulder

Mizuna Pizza

We’re not sure why it’s called the mizuna pizza when it doesn’t actually have mizuna on it—but it’s so good, we don’t really care. Prosciutto and house-made smoked mozzarella are topped with fresh grape tomatoes and arugula (rather than mizuna). The result is a crash course in why the Italians are so awesome when it comes to food. Pizzeria Basta, 3601 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder —LB

But I’m choosing to forego naming my top restaurants. Flawed establishments sometimes produce moments of sublimity, while technically perfect, five-course meals sometimes fail to register on an emotional level. The secret ingredient element to any great dish — passion — is a mercurial thing. With that in mind, in no particular order, I’d like to present my top 5 dishes of 2010.

Braised pork shoulder

Pizzeria Basta

3601 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder

It seems like a crime to fete Basta for anything but their exquisite pies, but during a recent Victory beer dinner, Chef Kelly Whitaker came out of his pizza corner swinging. While no one would doubt his acumen based on the stellar ingredients and loving craft typically present in his pies, when freed from his usual boundaries, he created a five-course tour-de-force. The standout was his braised pork shoulder, a butter-soft hunk bathed in aromatic spices. In a good year for pork, this was the best.

The list, which ranks four-year institutions that deliver a “stellar education at an affordable price,” also includes the Colorado School of Mines at No. 59 and Colorado State University at No. 90, according to a press release from the company.

The average annual cost for in-state students at a public college is $16,140, according to the release. CU’s average annual in-state cost is $21,051, almost $5,000 more then the national average, ranking it No. 85 for in-state tuition.

The average annual cost for out-of-state students at CU is $42,033, dropping the campus to No. 97 for out-of-state value for the money, well above the national average of $28,130.

Visit www.kiplinger.com for the comprehensive list.

Country Mushroom Soup
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1/2 pound sliced onions
1/3 cup brown rice ( rinse rice to remove excess starch)
2 – 3 quarts Vegetable Stock
1 oz butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced( wipe with damp cloth to clean)
1/4 – 1/2 cup Dry Cooking Sherry
1/4 teaspoon salt

In medium size stock pot saute onions in oil until translucent.
Add 2 quarts stock and rice to pot bring to a boil, then turn heat down and let it continue to cook covered for approximately 30 minutes, until rice is cooked, stir occasionally,( add more stock if necessary).
Add mushrooms and butter and continue to cook on medium heat for 10 minutes until mushrooms are tender. Add 1/4 cup Dry Sherry more if desired ( I use 1/2 cup) , add salt and cook 5 minutes more.
Serves 4 – 6

Here is a second favorite of mine.
Spinach Salad with Garbanzo Beans, Red Onions & a Cumin Orange Vinaigrette.

Fresh Cleaned Spinach … 1 bunch
Garbanzo Beans … 1/2 cup
Sliced Red Onions … 1/3 cup
These amounts can vary depending on your preferences.

Cumin Orange Vinaigrette
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed)
1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tablespoons Sherry Vinegar
1/8 cup of water
3 medium gloves of garlic crushed
1 teaspoon of ground cumin (optional, I roast the seeds & then grind them)
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in blender or small food processor.
Mix until completely combined. (4 minutes). You’ll notice it turn a lighter color. Pour over salad & serve.

The dressing will keep in the refrigerator for a week. Just be sure to give it a good shake before using it from the refrigerator.

Enjoy.
I hope these recipes work for you. I wanted to find something easy to prepare yet interesting.
Thanks

francine gindi
Ginde Cafe

3601 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-997-8775, pizzeriabasta.com

While most diners flock to Boulder’s Pizzeria Basta for the hand-tossed, wood-fired pies, we visit for the sublime lasagna. This isn’t just any old wedge of noodles and cheese; no, chef-owner Kelly Whitaker has taken this dish and elevated it to an art form. What arrives at the table looks like traditional lasagna, but the taste is so light and fresh you’ll wonder how he actually pulled it off. The answer is this: top-notch ingredients and craft. As with the rest of the menu, Whitaker works hard to source local products—in this case, flour and eggs (for the house-made pasta), milk (for the house-made ricotta), basil, and Colorado-grown San Marzano tomatoes (for the house-made sauce). If it all seems too simple to be a restaurant-worthy dish, well, wait until you taste it. We promise you’ll never look at lasagna the same way again.

You can listen to the interview here: