Food Fest 2011.

The months of March and April are absolutely insane with birthdays. Example:
3/4 My Dad's Bday
3/18 A's Mom's Bday
3/31 J's Bday
4/3 A & D's Bday
4/30 A's Dad's Bday
This abundance of birthday celebrations equals complete gorging on yummy food and birthday cake(s). Yes, plural.
I was unable to update my blog due to my culinary stupor.
Here is an example of what we did:

Friday night: Celebrating J's Birthday at Houston's. Houston's is freaking amazing. They have one of the best veggie burgers in the land. I love their baked potatoes and coleslaw too. After the incredible meal, we went to A's grandparents for cake. It was a white chocolate marble rum cake. It was beyond delicious. Light and fluffy and insane. I wanted to take pictures to share with you all. But honestly, I couldn't wait for three seconds, dug in and only had empty plates and a bloated stomach to show for it. Moving on to Saturday.

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Saturday: Went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch with my mom, as we usually do. If you've never been there, it is basically the best place on Earth. A HUUUUGE salad bar, homemade soups, baked goods. I love. I'll take a picture of my mountain of a salad next time, because I of course didn't take a picture because I was very hungry. You would think with the amount that I was consuming, I would not have been in such a rush. Whatever, I do what I want.

Saturday night, A's father invited my family over for dinner to celebrate J and A's birthdays. It was very nice. He is quite the cook. I wish I took a picture of how much freaking food was on the table, but you know the drill by now. Fatty. There was greek salad, grilled vegetables, rice, fingerling potatoes, bread and butter, and things I didn't eat the best grilled salmon my dad has ever had, and steak (which my mom enjoyed). For dessert there were two different types of cakes and fruit. Now, I annoy the crap out of everyone by scarping the whipped cream off of cakes... it is so rude... but it's such an impulse. I should be hit.

As if this all wasn't enough. Sunday.
It was A's birthday. So we started off the day doing what everyone wants to do on their birthday. We went to get genetic testing! I will go into greater details about that whole event at a later time. I'm on food right now. Afterwards, we went to lunch at the Wildflower Bread Company. We love it there. Such amazing bread. Since I'm on a big wedding diet, I continuously consume bread. They have the best Rosemary Sea Salt Bread I have EVER tasted. I could eat a whole loaf. Luckily, I stopped at two pieces. I ate said pieces in about 1 second. A hid his fingers, for fear I would inhale them next. Me:

I ate some soup, too. But, who cares. Pretty Wildflower Yummies display:

Dinner. A's mom took a whole group of people out for A's birthday. A's uncle in from Chicago. Her friend. My parents. J and of course A. Oh and me, because I'm an eating machine. We went to Pita Jungle. One of my favorite restaurants. They have a great Happy Hour that I meet my friend K at once a week. We don't drink. She's pregs and I'm more into the food. They have little tapas style cheap plates. And we love it. I also enjoy the local art that is displayed and sold straight from the restaurant walls. Here's an example of what was hanging on the walls last night. 

Anyway.... we all sat outside. It was a beautiful, slightly breezy night. We had a fabulous time. We had appetizers of hummus and baba ganoush.
I got the most amazing mixed beans (that I get everytime) and a falafel sandwich. It enjoyed meeting my thighs.
Here is the gorgeous cake that A's mom got for A and D (D was in Cali, but we celebrated him from afar). Again from AJ's (which has an amazing bakery). It was Tiramisu. I didn't eat any of the actual cake, but I picked the chocolate off the top and ate it all. I'm not classy.

Today... I would like to say I ate responsibly. But I didn't. Muhahaha.

Olive YOU!

I love Olives. This may be an understatement. I REALLY love Olives. I have loved Olives since I could chew solid food. I remember putting canned jumbo black olives on each one of my fingers and eating them off systematically. I think that it was because my mother craved salt when she was pregnant with me. She religiously ate cream chipped beef. Now, I don't eat beef, but she said it was so salty that it was close to the equivalent of pouring salt down your throat. Below is a picture of my favorite Olive Bar. It's at Safeway. They have a Greek Olive Medley that is absolutely to die for... and this amazing Feta and Greek Olive Salad.

   In other unrelated news, I'm going to be playing in a charity soccer game next weekend... and I'm freaking excited. I played soccer for a good chunk of my childhood. I loved it. I was never that competitive, but I keep telling J (who organized the team), that I want to win. He reminds me it's for charity, and I remind him that we're going to be supporting the charity, but we may as well win while we're doing it. We're having a practice on Saturday morning. We'll see how it goes. I can talk a good game, and I hope my gams can still back it up. I'll keep you updated!

Meet The Chief

So my dad is very into Native American Arts and Artists. He's very involved with the Heard Museum, a true Arizona treasure. He loves all things Native. A few weeks ago, A was traveling around to garage sales looking for rare and amazing treasures- and, in his searching, he found this:

   We call him The Chief and he is freaking huge!!! He's about 8 1/2 feet tall and made fully of wood. He is handpainted front and back. He's definitely not cuddly or cute.
   There is some extremely long and intricate story about the piece's Arizona historical significance, but it is all very hazy mostly because I wasn't feeling well the day A picked it up. After waking up from a long, strange nap and feeling like utter crap, A tells me I need to go out to the garage. Let me paint the picture. The garage is pitch black and like everything in our house, the light switch is high up and I can hardly reach it. I turn on the lights and look in front of me. Nothing, I look to the left, still nothing. Then, I look to the right, and I see him. Now, A told me dude was big, he even told me he was close to 9ft tall, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Standing in the dimly lit garage, I am staring at him. He is huuuuge! Like super huge! And massively creepy.
   Unfortunately The Chief hung out in our garage for a good two weeks. Every time I entered the garage I was pretty sure he was staring at me. Now, this is not my dad's first creepy life size cut out. He also had Frankenstein in the basement in our house in Philly. That was also scary in the dim light.
   I am happy to report that today he made his way to my parents' house today! I cannot be happier. I have no idea what the Chief is going to do at his new home or where the hell he is going to hang out, but I'll report back.
   Here's a picture of my lunch from today. Kashi Pesto Pasta Something or Another. Yum! And yes, I eat with pink utensils. Not exclusively, but I would like to.

Whole Foods Lunch

   They call it "Whole Paycheck" for a reason. It's so gorgeous and fun to go to "Whole Foods" but so freaking expensive. But look how pretty! (Yes, I find grocery stores "pretty")

I love that they have organic, local handmade soups and they make anything into a "cake" (example: crab cakes, shrimp cakes, salmon cakes, risotto cakes, and spinach and feta cakes) The only one I would actually eat would be the spinach and feta (though I have lactaid issues, I can tolerate goat milk, which grosses me out to think about because it came from a goat... and goats are creepy(SEE!)

 

but I love the taste of it, so I ignore the fact that it comes from the dude above and think of it coming from some cutie like this:

So here is the "cake" display! Isn't it pretty:

   So I'll admit, though I love that they have handmade soap and "cakes" of many kinds, but I don't actually buy either of those things. I do, however, slather massive amounts of the lotion and body splash testers all over my body, and end up smelling like a walking flower basket and fruit bowl. Truthfully, I just go to see what's going on and buy Amy's and Kashi frozen foods, for lunches at work.
   There are 3 "Whole Foods" in my general area, but I'm picky and only like two of the three. I'm in love with one of them, so my mom and I trekked up there. Side note: The most amazing "Whole Foods" I had ever gone to was in Pasadena. A's twin brother, D, took us there. There was an ESCALATOR in the "Whole Foods". So anyway, my mom and I ate lunch. She got BBQ, a cheeseburger that she said was good. I got the salad bar, I call "salad bar" but really I just put a bunch of random crap on a plate and eat it:

And a mixture of some black and pinto beans with a bit of mashed potatoes. Don't judge.

My Art Collection

   I would call myself an appreciator of the arts, and I've been working on a small collection of my own. I don't know how exactly I would describe my taste, so I will let my art collection speak for itself. 

   Since 7 months out of the year are completely beautiful in the Phoenix Metropolitan area, there are a ton of outdoor art festivals. We've been going yearly, and I've been very excited to discover (well, I didn't discover him!an amazing artist, based out of New Mexico. His name is St. Victor Diaries (Lynden St. Victor) and his work is incredible. I don't have any of his originals, though I do have several prints. I could not love them more. All of the paintings have complex stories and are rich with symbolism. My fiance, A, absolutely hates them. He thinks they are totally macabre and disturbing. I think they are powerful, romantic and uplifting! Such different perceptions, variety is the spice of life! haha! So these are the pieces that I own.What do YOU think?

Here's a link to St. Victor's website: http://www.stvictordiaries.com/

Nitty Gritty

   I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, rooted in Rock and Roll and well aware of the South Street art culture. Upon moving to Arizona, I couldn't figure out where the hell all the cool artists were. After doing a fair amount of traveling around the state, I found that there were little pockets all over. I found some interesting stuff in Jerome, Arizona. The town itself is a work of Art, built high and narrow on a mountain, in a way that seems incredibly dangerous and ultimately amazing.

   And one of my favorite places in Arizona, Forth Avenue in Tucson. So crazy about it. They have amazing little shops, food co-ops (which I never really buy food at but like to check out what's going on). I love the people watching there and the liberal attitudes. I also love the food, especially at Delectables (which has an incredible house salad with my favorite creamy Italian dressing and yummy hummus):

and the Chocolate Iguana (amazing candy!):

(I have more of a food tour of Tucson to come, but I'm focusing on the 4th Avenue group right now).
So when I think of these cool, artsy places..... they all have something in common. Interesting people and incredible murals on the outside of buildings. It gets you in the art mood, before you even step foot in a shop or a gallery. Well, we found a place that can hang with the rest of them in downtown Phoenix. It's called Roosevelt Row and it's at 5th Street and Roosevelt:

And guess what we saw:

Yup an amazing mural!
We also went into a few galleries (one of which reeked like weed- which my parents didn't notice). The coolest art, in my opinion was at the Pravus Gallery. It was an exhibit called Indian Ink II. Here's my favorite piece:

Credit to the Artist: Douglas Miles
There were a bunch of others, too, but you get the idea.
They also have cool shops down there... that have mixed merchandise, candles, magazines etc. Like this place, Made:

   Every third Friday, all of the Galleries are open and it's a big event. I'm going to make it down there soon. I'll report back about the happenings.
   We ended the day at Green for tSOYnamis. Obsessed much. Yup! I got the "Pretzel 1." My mom got a "Banana Creme Pie" and my dad got some coffee coco crazy one. They approved.

More Teese Please.

   I'm relatively new to the Blogosphere and I guess I'm not really new to the Phoenix area (7 years living here) but man, I still have a ton of exploring/learning/debating to do. They call it the Wild West for a reason, but that's all political and I'll get deeper into that in due time.

   Anyway, I'll give you a little background about me (a little is the key word because I don't feel like writing an autobiography right now). So I'm just telling you what's important for this post. Part of me is a total crunchy vegetarian flower child (there's another part that is a wannabe Gossip Girl- but we'll discuss that at another time, too). My parents are a couple of Haight/Ashbury, art collecting hippies who are surprisingly traditional about certain things, but not the arts. Two things: I do what I want and I love parentheses.

   My fiancé's younger brother, J, is an awesome, open minded PhD student studying some intense form of Biology, and he loves music/concerts, etc. He wanted me to go with him to a Toad the Wet Sprocket concert on Friday night and I said "Sure, as long as we go somewhere amazing that I've never been before for dinner!" Tall order. I love to eat and I've been feeling more experimental lately. I've been trying to avoid big chain restaurants (except PF Changs, Sweet Tomatoes, and Taco Bell- I'm not giving them up). I usually like to stick with what I know and am irrationally afraid of foodborne illnesses (I guess it's not really irrational but it has held me back from some potentially awesome hole in the wall places). Maybe it's the Food Network's "Diners Drive-ins and Dives" that's making me spread my culinary wings, but whatever I digress... Back to my story.

   So, J suggests a Vegan restaurant in Tempe called, Green. It's a cute little hippie joint in an unassuming strip mall. The inside is cute, but I was too into the food to remember to take a picture of the decor. View of the strip mall:

   It was amazing! Though I'm not a Vegan, I am a Vegetarian who can't tolerate lactose. I didn't realize how much I missed cheese until I had their incredible Artichoke Gratin. OMG! So good. They use Teese Cheese. It says on their packaging that it is stretchy and melty... and Mmmmmm.... it is!

    

    My meal was a Veggie Burger. It was bright red, which threw me off a little bit.... it was good and had Vegan Mayo on it. I liked the Mayo. I will eat regular Mayo (being that I'm not Vegan) but I pretended that this Vegan Mayo was less fattening than regular Mayo. It was a lovely fantasy! I was going to ask for extra, but then I remembered there was dessert to come.

   Behold the tSOYnami!!!

  

   I'm amazed. It's like a Blizzard, but instead of Ice Cream, Green uses Soy Soft Serve and they mix in an array of Vegan organic add-ins. They have suggested flavors, but you can add in whatever you want. I got the "Pretzel 1" which is soft serve, organic chocolate syrup, pretzels, and Vegan chocolate chips. Now, I have an obsession with Salty and Sweet (thanks to my best friend, B) and I was beside myself. I made this amazing combination even better by adding Organic Peanut Butter to the mix. J got some sort of S'more concoction. It had graham crackers, chocolate syrup, and ricemallows. Marshmallows made of rice. Insane! He loved it.

   So my special thank you to J, for opening my eyes and tummy to this yummy establishment. The concert was good, too. Loving Glen Phillips. He said that the people of Arizona need to elect a new House and Senate. He won me over.