Seriously?
A little tasteless, no? Why is this still up?
On a happier note:
Soy mochas!
Pouring rain!
Vitamin C!
Back to Cali tomorrey morning!
Category Archives: Arizona
Really, Arizona?
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Filed under Arizona, guns, marksmanship, pouring rain, road trip, soy mochas, vitamin C
Raw Vegan Academy and Cafe!
After spending seven hours in the booth and wandering the fine arts along the streets of Carefree, Arizona, the artist and I went to visit a client-turned-friend of hers who is opening up a new raw, organic vegan restaurant in the area.
This isn’t your typical little hole-in-the-wall startup restaurant. This adorable little cabin-style building is nestled away from the road, surrounded by cacti, shrubs and rocks, and has the most beautiful sunset you could imagine.
Well, if you ignore the wires, it is GORGEOUS! One of those moments where you had to be there, I guess. Just take my word for it.
Sara (who you may remember from my first trip to Carefree – she brought the raw vegan cheesecakes!) has been renovating this building for a few months now. This section of the restaurant will be the “academy” room where she teaches clients how to eat, buy and LIVE the raw vegan life.
I got to go behind the counters and check out the setup.
Ready for the best part???
THE MENU!
I’ll admit, some of those shots scare me, but I’ll try anything once!
This place opens in two weeks! If you live in Arizona, I seriously recommend you try it. Everything Sara has ever brought to the show has been greedily shoved into my face. I love gorging and feeling healthy at the same time 🙂
Hi ho, hi ho, off to the booth I go!
Filed under academy, Arizona, Carefree, Cave Creek, cheesecake, Chef Sara, raw organic vegan, sunset
Dreams of a New Year!
Happy New Year! Now that I have my resolutions securely down and written in stone (or in a really pretty notebook), I’m ready to share! FIRST though, I’d like to share some of the “Morning After” quotes that I heard at work today:
1. “Did anyone else wake up miles from their house and not know how they got there?”
2. “Anyone have a great story about last night?” “I do, but I can’t share it…”
3. (In reference to someone’s bruised cheek and split lip) “What happened to your face?” “I don’t know yet. I’m waiting for someone to text me and tell me.”
Yep. Happy New Year.
NOW for my resolutions!
1. Only try NEW beers when out – unless from a local brewery, like Ladyface, Island Brewing Company, etc… Gotta support the local breweries!
Bonus points if I try beer that scares the CRAP out of me – haha, get it? Weasel Crap Beer!
2. Spend more time with family and friends.
My GORGEOUS parents!
The lovely Tanya.
Serenading Dan.
Sleepy Malachi – who is being lame and flying off to France for six freaking months.
Sweethearts Jenny and Boa.
Grayson the Thoughtful.
Beautiful Allie.
Plus TONS more. It’s a year to focus on what’s really important – the people in my life.
3. Get back outdoors and HIKE!
4. Eat more vegetables, whole grains and olive oil!
Kitchen Sink Salad contains all of this!
5. Quit my retail job.
Seriously, it’s hazardous to my health!
I know I said I was putting in my two weeks notice last week, but I chickened out when I told my sweet coworker and saw the look on her face. I’m such a people-pleaser.
6. Travel more!
Stormy Arizona deserts.
Bee parts.
Me on the road = Ecastatic!
7. Drink more Monstas!
Cuz they’re DELICIOUS! And good for me. And stuffs…
8. Spend more time in the kitchen.
And spend more time out back, with this amazing view!
I need to get back into my apron and start cooking, STAT!
9. Attend more blogger meetups!
Need I say more? No, no I do not.
10. Join the Homebrewers Association, as well as the local homebrew club, and BREW IT UP!
Beer is good! Beer is good! Beer is good! And stuff!
(Lyrics from an actual song)
11. Start my new website and blog. That’s right, I’ll be heading up an actual website this year, as well as changing the name of my blog! I’m hoping the transition will be easy for you, but there’s still some time to get used to the idea before I officially move. EXCITED!!!
There you have it – a sampling of my resolutions! I have a few more, but decided that twenty feet of pictures was probably more than people could handle as it is. I hope you had a blessed beginning to your new year, and that you’re as excited for what’s to come as I am!
Happy New Year! Let’s make it worthwhile!
Tucson: Part Three!
My mornings in Tucson consisted of lunch for breakfast. Every day. I fell in love with the beautiful Sabine’s Cafe Passe, where I grabbed panini every morning.
Roasted bell pepper, avocado slices, fresh tomatoes, lettuce and a slice of pepperjack cheese piled on top of nine-grain bread and pressed until melted.
Something else I may have to recreate at home!
During the festival on Saturday, I had some time to go and explore a little more. I stumbled across a dance studio that was advertising a free dance show. How could I not check that out? FREE!
CUTENESS OVERLOAD!!!
All the dancing made me ravenous! I visited a local college hangout for lunch.
“We love your bum.” Definitely a college hangout.
It was packed inside, so I grabbed a New Belgium Abbey and grabbed the first seat I found.
I placed my order and spent AN HOUR waiting for it to arrive. Luckily they had plenty of photography on the walls to check out, and all of the patrons were incredibly trashed and rowdy and fun to watch.
This is the HALF-ORDER of their “Lady Madonna” sandwich. It is PILED with turkey, bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. I ate a quarter of it and was stuffed. I also demolished most of the sweet potato fries.
We had an amazing day of sales and decided to celebrate with dinner and drinks at the hotel.
There were no complaints about the view.
We were nestled in a corner outside where we enjoyed the incredible scenery and were serenaded by acoustic guitar.
How could I not? Cadillac margarita with a sugar rim!
We started with guacamole, prepared fresh tableside with a mortar and pestle, that was full of avocado, fresh tomatoes, lime zest, jalapeno and onions.
I also can’t say no to salmon!
This nears the top of my “favorite salmon entree EVER” list. The salmon was delicate and crispy on the outside, set atop a bed of rich, flavorful steamed lentils and spinach, and covered with tangy Peperonata – caramelized bell peppers.
I might be drooling as I remember this right now. Or that could be the novocaine from my visit to the dentist…
We also split a vegan tamale pie that was filled with corn, black beans and elbow macaroni, and topped with a tamale dough, cabbage and tomatoes. This wasn’t quite as worthwhile.
I filled my plate and then cleared it completely. I also got seconds (and possibly thirds) of the salmon.
Becki was a happy girl.
Filed under Abbey, Arizona, Bumsted's, Cadillac, grilled salmon, guacamole, Madonna, New Belgium, Sabine's Cafe Passe, Tucson, vegan
Tucson: Part Two!
We’ve had a busy two days here in Tucson! The 4th Avenue Winter Street Fair received a record number of visitors on Friday! Luckily, I still had enough time to escape the booth and wander around.
This street fair is referred to as the “flea market” by the fine artists who attend. I definitely noticed that the majority of the sales here are random trinkets that have no use.
Three dollar bracelets, anyone?
TONS of clothes!
It always bothers me when I go to a booth that sells clothing and the tag says, “Made in Nepal.” Why can’t these people sew their own clothes and sell them? I want something authentic that I can’t order online from a production factory located overseas!
After we wrapped for the day, my cousin Stephanie came by to show me the not-so-dirty-and-ghetto part of Tucson. I’ll be honest, didn’t think such a place existed.
I was wrong! Steph took me to a local barbecue place, Daisy Mae’s, nestled in the hills of Tucson.
When you enter, there are dollar bills signed and stapled to the walls. Once a year, Daisy Mae’s donates all these dollars to a charity.
My beautiful cousin and the host promised me that the ribs would rock my world.
My world was ROCKED. These ribs were so tender that when you touched the fork to them, the meat just melted off. I demolished the entire plate and didn’t regret a single forkful!
It was a struggle to lift myself out of the chair after consuming eighteen thousand pounds of ribs, but I eventually rolled myself back out to her car.
Afterwards we headed to the University of Arizona campus to check out the area.
We also visited the A-FRICKIN-MAZING games/lounge area. This place was decked out with pool tables, DDR, ping-pong tables and random video games.
If you didn’t know, I am a billiards FANATIC! I used to play every weekend with my family when I was still wearing overalls, and am still in love with the game!
Afterwards, Steph drove me back to the hotel where I ended with a nightcap and Skype-d with the family.
I have no complaints about anything in life at this moment.
Tucson: Part One!
After a painful nine hour drive, we finally made it to Tucson. We checked into a lovely hotel that has individual cottages tucked away in the mountains and headed to the show to set up.
First things first: FOOD! In order to be as helpful as possible in set-up, I must be fueled!
I strolled the streets searching for restaurants. Most of them were closed, yet all of the tattoo parlors, bars and smoke shops were still swamped.
I just don’t get it.
Luckily I found a cute little place, Delectables, that was open for another ten minutes and they were gracious enough to seat and feed me. I asked the waitress for her recommendation and got the chicken, pesto and Brie sandwich on a french roll.
This was delicious, but somehow I’ve never been able to come to terms with the fact that I’m eating wax when I’m consuming Brie cheese. Anyone else have this issue?
Post fooding, we were serenaded by a band (I thought it was one of those listed, but they aren’t playing until tomorrow…) while setting up our tent. These guys were GOOD! I wanted to go in and listen, but had to find contentment with listening to their songs through the window. If only I knew who they were :-/
The booths are up! Time for me to crash on my lovely Tempur-pedic mattress in preparation for the long day tomorrey!
I make no apologies for my awful grammar in this post. YOU spend nine hours on the road and three and a half lifting heavy booth material, then we can talk.
Filed under Arizona, bar, Brie cheese, Delectables, Plush, smoke shop, tattoo parlor, Tempur-pedic, The Vases, Tucson
Rapid Fire Blog!
I just got back from an hour at the hotel gym. After a 12 hour day. After 5 hours of sleep. Needless to say, this blog will be quick, otherwise I may fall asleep on the keyboard.
BAM! Sunset on the drive out.
BAM! More sunset!
BAM! Desert at sunset!
Rat-a-tat-tat! Busy booth at the festival!
Sha-Bop! ART!
THWACK! Surrealist photography!
BOOM! Clothes made from plastic bottles!
Ka-pow! Paintings!
Ka-CHING! Wine glasses waiting for tastings!
BANG! Overpriced painted umbrellas!
THWOP! Carvings!
BARK! Dog on a jewelry counter, trying on a diamond-studded collar.
HONK! Hooters directly across from our booth!
HISS! Fire juggler!
Kaplooey! A map of the gigantic show!
Ole! TexMex restaurant we ate at for dinner tonight!
SIZZLE! Free skillet cornbread with whipped honey-butter!
CRUNCH! Grilled shrimp and avocado on mini-tostadas with chipotle sauce!
BAM! My head hitting the pillow.
G’night!
Filed under Arizona, Arizona State, ASU, Hooters, recycled clothes, surrealism, Tempe, Tempe Festival of the Arts, University, wine, WoofWare, Z'Tejas
Blurbin’ from Fountain Hills!
It’s 10:40pm Arizona time, and I’m about to fall asleep on my keyboard, so how about another blurb post? Hint: your answer is, “YES! THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN A BLURB POST WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPY, BECKI!”
Ahhh, the beautiful mountains and buzzing power lines…
I am in love with these trees.
I also LOVE abandoned buildings!
This place was built as a racetrack for harness-racing, and has been unused for over forty years! I’ll definitely be needing to trespass and take some pictures on an upcoming trip :).
Random building in the middle of the desert.
Welcome to Fountain Hills, AZ.
A little slice of Native American/Retiree heaven.
Dinner time! Hello, Sofrita!
I LOVE the decor here!
I see selections for tomorrow’s meals too!
Any place that ties their napkins with tweed gets on my happy-list!
(I don’t know if it’s tweed. I just felt like saying tweed. Tweed makes my happy-list too!)
I got the vegetarian Guantanamera wrap which has grilled seasonal vegetables that have been chilled (apparently that’s a very popular thing in Arizona! I dig it!), served with hummus, lettuce, tomato and a ginger dressing.
After three hours of heavy lifting and power tools (‘cuz I’m badass like that…), I went for a beer with my friend Ben, whom I met at the Carefree Arts Festival. We’re on the same Arizona circuit for the rest of the year!
Nothing local, but I was willing to try something from Oregon!
I wasn’t up for another full beer, so the lovely bartender, Mo, gave me a half of the Mirror Pond Ale (also by Deschutes) for free.
Me as a little girl.
THE END.
Recuperation!
It is wonderful to be back home! I’ve been recuperating from the long weekend in Arizona, and now I’m packing up my suitcase again to head BACK TO ARIZONA tomorrow! That’s right, I’ve got another art festival to attend, this time in Fountain Hills. If you’re in the area, come see me!
This has been my staple breakfast at home: A hot-boiled egg (all the rage in Germany, where my roommate recently returned from), and a Pumpkin Pie Monsta!
I spent all day yesterday running errands and took a break a few towns over to get some lunch.
I got a personal pizza with whole wheat crust, spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers and soy cheese.
My friend went all healthy on me and got a salad with heart of palm, carrots, bell peppers, walnuts, mushrooms and sesame dressing on the side.
PizzaSalad – All the ingredients here are completely organic and farmed locally! Love it!
I’ve got to finish up laundry so I can keep packing, and head to the library to pick up some books I’ve been waiting for. Then I’m off to get my mane weed-whacked and get to end the day at my lovely retail job. Daily life is so NORMAL! I don’t know how to handle it!
Filed under Arizona, art festival, Fountain Hills, green business, green monster, hot-boiled egg, organic, pizza, PizzaSalad, Pumpkin Pie Monsta, salad, soy cheese
Goodbye, Carefree!
Today was the final day of the Carefree Fine Arts and Wine Festival… until January. And March. That’s right, I’ll be back here three times a year! My new job kicks ass!
To bid a fond adieu to the wonderful city of Carefree, we woke up at 6am and headed to the festival to get good parking so I could move the van as soon as the show wrapped and not have to risk running down fellow artists in the desperate attempt to get packed as soon as possible. Since we’d arrived so early, we got to enjoy a leisurely breakfast on the patio.
There’s nothing wrong with having repeats for breakfast, but this was the only place that happened to be open early, so I stuck with something semi-healthy. Veggie omelets are a good stand-by for me.
It was a slightly busier day, so I spent a lot of time at the booth chatting with the other artists and some rabid fans who collect my artist’s oil paintings. We were lucky enough to have lunch brought to us by the amazing Chef Sara! I am head over heels for this woman’s food!!!
She brought us a raw vegan wrap made with alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, carrots, cucumber, red cabbage, falafel (not fried, being RAW and all that), and a vegan tahini sauce, surrounded by seaweed. Not too long ago, I would not have touched this with a ten-foot pole, but I was AMAZED at how delicious this was!!! Sara, can you come live with me??
My only complaint – floss is needed immediately after eating unless you want to frighten people off with your algae-covered teeth. It’s a price I’d be willing to pay!
She also brought us raw cheesecake! This one is goji berry.
I AM SO SPOILED! This was the tastiest cheesecake I’ve ever had in my entire life – no cheese needed!
She also gave me the lavender cheesecake to sample.
It was very perfume-y, but still delectable.
I bought some of the donut holes to take home as a gift for the roommates to try. I’ll tell you, if I could afford it and all my food tasted like this, I could be a raw vegan for life! I am utterly floored by how delicious this meal was!
When the show wrapped at 5pm, there was a desperate race for the parking lot while all of the artists fought to get their vans and trailers to their booths as quickly as possible. I managed to get the very first spot and therefore navigated to my spot very quickly. It took about three hours to break down the booth and get everything packed up, then we headed to Venues Cafe for a celebratory dinner.
Of course I had to have an Easy Street… or two. Hey, it’s a celebration after all!
I got the grilled vegetable and avocado sandwich on fresh focaccia again – if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
A group of us spent about two hours at the restaurant and I ended with a decaf cappuccino topped with warm cinnamon.
Alec, the wonderful waiter who accommodated me all SEVEN TIMES that I went into the restaurant, brought out a complimentary chocolate mousse topped with vanilla amaretto cookies and fresh orange slices.
When we got back to the hotel, I went to the pool for a quick swim and spent half on hour floating in the warm water, staring at the stars as my breath created puffs of white in the chilly air, and thanking God for blessing me with such a precious, wonderful new adventure. I am so thankful.
A perfect ending to an amazing weekend!