Noshtopia Phoenix

Our @skinnyjeans Fun "Meet New Friends" Tweetup: Drinks, Music, and Lots-o-Good Times

It's time to have fun and meet some new friends this Friday night, August 6th.

I have officially been a resident of Phoenix now for 9 months and one of the challenges when you are new in town is making new friends. One of the beautiful things about Phoenix metro is that people are soooo friendly, and we are one of the largest cities in the US made of transplants, so many of us are in the same boat - trying to meet new people!

So, as a way to help people meet some new friends and have lots of fun, me and my friend Kristin Cregar have arranged for an impromptu @skinnyjeans (my alter tweet ego) "Meet New Friends" tweetup this Friday, August 6 from 8pm-midnight at O'Donoghue's Irish Pub in North Scottsdale.  I say impromptu because this all came about just Saturday night when friend Kristin and I went out and had an awesome time at Prime Bar listening to the band Easton Ashe.

I had so much fun I wanted it to continue :-D

There will be cool drink specials just for our tweetup:

• $3 Beer on Tap - Honey Moon and Blue Moon brands
• $5 Absolut cocktails - think Cosmos, Martinis, Mixed Drinks
• $2 Kamikaze shots

And playing their awesome music live at 9pm til closing will be the band Easton Ashe. I'm telling you all, these guys are really talented and nice guys. They are based here so I say let's support our local talent while we drink, chat, dance, and be merry!

Here's the tweetup sign-up. It helps to give us head count. If you don't tweet, it's alright just show up and make sure you look for me. I want to say hello to everyone who shows up. And don't be surprised if I hug you as I am a hugger!

See you Friday!

 

Phoenix Break Time: Taking A 6-Week Coffee Break From Noshy Blogging

You all know how much I love coffee. In fact, I love it so much I'm going to take a 4-week 6-week coffee break from blogging Noshtopia and Noshtopia Phoenix.

I need time off.

Recently, when I went away for 2-weeks to go to my grandfather's funeral, visit soul sister @jenmyronuk in CO for Blouderversary and her birthday, and then up to EVO 2010 to do my first keynote, a great deal of things happened and being away gave me time and space to think and come to reality about certain things in my life.

Having lived in Phoenix now for 9 months and being away from California has also helped give me some new perspective on life and loving.

You could say I got existential this past month...and it's all good!

Have a wonderful summer and I'll see you all back on August 10. Update: August 24

In the meantime, please enjoy some of the best of Noshtopia:

Food:

• What I Eat: Snack Ideas For Summer Road Trips

• Recipe: Ginger Teriyaki Organic Grass Fed Beef With Lemony Kale

• Easy to Make: Dairy and Mayo-free Tuna Salad

• Recipe: Protein Packed: Pumpkin Yogurt Parfait With Bananas and Gingersnap Granola

• You Don't Have To Be Vegan To Eat Vegan Foods

Life:

• Coffee Talk: Problems Are Just A Homework Assignment From Life

• Relationships: Seeing The Flowers Beyond The Cactus

• When Cookies Are Love

Mobile Food Photography:

• Mobile Camera Food Photo Tip: Simple Way To Make Your Food Pics Look More Interesting

 

 

Taking A Break: Need Space And Off To Grandpa's Funeral

 

My grandfather passed away on Thursday so I am off to California this week for his funeral. Grandma passed away in February, and so both of them are gone within four months. In the picture is them at their 90th birthday party seven years ago.

Yes, both my grandparents were born in 1913, before sliced bread was invented and out in 1924, pretty amazing!

Besides my grandparents passing, there is a great deal of other things going on behind the scenes and I am just pooped and drained. So, I need a time out to refresh and recharge. Besides, it's a perfect time to rest being that it is summer and all!

I will be back on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. In the meantime, feel free to drool over this fabulous gluten-free Apple Pie with scoops of dairy-free orange ice cream at Nourish. Oh it was so delicious!

Update 6/23/10: I'm still on the road now in Boulder,CO and then heading up to Park City, UT tomorrow for the EVO 2010 Conference where I'm doing my first keynote. It's very exciting! I'm going to take a little bit more time to recharge. I'll be back Wed next week 6/30. I'll be active on Twitter so you can follow me @skinnyjeans and @nosthopia. Enjoy!

 

Cool Snack Idea: Date Walnut Coconut Ice Cream Milkshake

 

Last week, @jwillensky and I stopped by Joe's Farm Grill during a quick trip to Agritopia. Jason pointed out to me that Joe's Grill has Date Milkshakes on the menu. I LOVE dates and was drooling at the idea of having a date milkshake. However, I can't have your standard milkshake because of the cow milk allergy.

So, not to be deprived, and thinking what an awesome, "I tried something new" snack idea to help cool down as it is now getting Africa hot here in Phoenix, I made my own date milkshake from:

 

• So Delicious Coconut-milk based Vanilla Bean ice cream
• Medjool dates
• Walnuts
• Rice milk

First, in my mini 3-cup food processor, I blended the dates, walnuts, and a little rice milk together in order to get the dates to really grind down. When the dates were as pulverized as I could get them, I added in 1/2 cup of the vanilla bean ice cream and about 1/2 cup of rice milk, and blended until I got myself a nice smooth milkshake.

I added the walnuts to add some MUFAs and protein to my shake...might as well add some healthiness while we are enjoying a sweet shake. And by the way, the shake is also vegan.

Nice: Lux Coffee Has Fresh Fruit

Most people would not think that fresh fruit at a coffee place is a big deal but really it is. When I saw these bowls of fresh fruit at Lux Coffee Bar, it was truly exciting and I'll tell you why. 

See, as a professional blogger, I spend a great deal of time at coffee places because it's my office outside the house. The food at coffee places tends to be standard dessert fare like biscotti, muffins, cookies, rice kripsy treats, or cupcakes...basically anything that is loaded with sugar.

 

Some coffee places will carry boxed salads, pretzels, sweetened nuts, bagels, or crackers. If the place has a kitchen, you'll see soup, salad, and sandwiches. But rarely, do you ever see simple bowls of fresh fruit.

You'd think that fresh fruit would be simple and easy to sell. The fruit is a nice option for those who want sweet but not a dessert type thing. If I had a coffee shop, you'd be seeing fruit all over the place. In fact, I'd probably throw in some vegetables like carrots and hummus.

I think it's really cool that Lux Coffee has the fresh fruit so they get a thumbs up in my book. Plus, they are next door to Pane Bianco which has some cool foods that are so cool that every time I've been there they run out of the thing I want. One day, I'll actually get to eat food at Bianco...it's almost become a private joke now.

I do wish that Lux carried milks other than cow or soy. When I'm there, you'll be seeing me with a plain iced coffee or just a cup of black coffee.

As a fun side note, I thought these owl salt shakers were really cute. I just had to snap a picture of them.

 

Note: All photos taken with an iPhone 3GS

Awesome Thai Shrimp Lunch Special at Cherry Blossom Noodle Cafe

 

Since I moved here to Phoenix seven months ago, seafood honestly has not been the greatest of experiences. However, I won't be so tough because I was incredibly spoiled by living in the Bay Area.

Well, some of that seafood experience changed last week when I had the most amazing shrimp. I had lunch with @bmok at Cherry Blossom Noodle Cafe as we talked photography and our Ignite 7 presentations. We started off with edamame because I always have to get my bean fix on.

 

I got the lunch special that had salmon, California rolls, and their Thai Shrimp which gets the Steph three letters...OMG!

 

The shrimp is very lightly breaded and has a light Thai sauce on top. But amazingly, the shrimp itself was very tender and juicy, and did not taste shrimpy...if that makes any sense. Oh how I loved this Thai Shrimp at Cherry Blossom. 

The lighting was a bit dark in the place, but I was able to get a semi-decent shot of the lunch special and shrimp so you can see what it looks like. I'm telling you this shrimp was heavenly so do try it if they have it on the menu that day!

A Moment In A Day In The Life Of A Food Blogger [pics]:

People are often fascinated that I make a living through blogging, so I thought I'd share a quick glimpse of what a typical moment in a day looks for me.

 

As I sit at my laptop, I am listening to the soothing cello of Yo Yo Ma in the background while I sip on hot herbal tea and write a blog post or edit photos.

Photo editing can take a long time because I take so many pictures. Just to give you an idea of how many photos I can take, over the 3-day Memorial day weekend, I downloaded over 300 pictures from my iPhone. Yeah, it's insane!

Today, I felt a bit artsy so I took a picture of my tea bag and played with some photo effects. I'll be speaking at Ignite Phoenix 7 at the Phoenix Art Museum on June 11 on, "The Art of Food Photography with a Mobile Phone." It will be fun, so do say hi if you can make it.

I love that I can spend my day being creative and helping people eat healthier. Life is good!

Let's Just Drool At Olive & Ivy

 

My fellow Aries gal @kammiek and I lunched at Olive & Ivy, and besides being so fun to hang around, she is my Fox Restaurants partner in crime. We've dined at True Food Kitchen, Culinary Dropout, and now Olive & Ivy. Perhaps, we'll just do the whole tour, which sounds really fun! If Sam Fox ever decides to open restaurants in the Bay Area, he will make a mint. Yeah, it's a formula but it's an excellent one.

But back to food and fabulousness. Above is the White Sangria, and it is really refreshing. There is a red version as well, but I like the while because it has lychee and blood orange in it, two of my favorite fruits.

Let me start and say that if you are one to skip the bread basket, make an exception here at Olive & Ivy and try a piece of their foccacia bread with the most amazing pesto dip. Really, this dip and bread is worth an extra mile on the treadmill.

 

The first appetizer we got was, the Bacon Wrapped Medjool Dates because I was so fascinated by the idea of bacon and dates. These puppies are tasty. The red sauce on the side is a bit ketchupy but I won't hold that against them.

The second appetizer was a bit of a mishmosh to make it vegetarian and Steph friendly. I aked them to take the Prosciutto di Parma Bruschetta appetizer, and eliminate the Prosciutto, and replace the Crescenza Cheese with goat cheese. On the bread was fig preserves and arugula. I really dug this Bruschetta!

For lunch, Kammie got the Wild Arugula salad which I passed on taking a picture of for some reason. I don't even know why as it was a beautiful salad. Then, we got the Sweet Potato Cannelloni with Brussels Sprouts, Tangerines & Pearl Onions and split it in two. 

The pasta looks like any other pasta dish, but the second you take a bite into the Cannelloni and get a taste of the sweet potato middle...three letters...OMG! There was some dairy mixed in there with the sweet potato which I paid for later on, but it was worth it.

Since I was already on a dairy roll, we got the Angel Food Cake dessert, and what I thought was interesting was how they creme brulee charred the cake.

 

And lastly, the designer in me just had to point out their cool coffee cups. There is no handle, and it's clear so, it almost looks like your coffee is just floating above the table.

 

The decor in Olive & Ivy is very stylish as is all the Fox Restaurants, but Culinary Dropout still gets my 5 stars for design. I do like the open kitchen they have in there.

 

Oh and there is a market on the side, so you can pop in and get some quick eats and perhaps a scoop of yummy gelato! Do visit Olive & Ivy, it's a delicious time.

 

Note: all photos taken with an iPhone 3GS

Plate Peek: Eating Healthy BBQ

This weekend, friend @josephranseth invited me to a BBQ at his friend Kristin's house. I'm so glad I went not only because of the fabulous company, but because I had one of the healthiest BBQ meals I've had in eons. So, I thought I'd share a peek at my plate...but you'll have to keep quiet because I did promise Kristin that I wouldn't take any pictures as she was nervous that me the food blogger might not be happy with the food.

Sorry Kristin, some of the food just looked too darn good so I just had to snap a few :)

Here's one of the tables with food on it. I noshed on some radishes and olives. There was grilled chicken, sausages, and hamburgers with blue cheese crumbles mixed in. I was so tempted to take a bite, but maybe next time we can mix in goat cheese instead of blue cheese so I can partake.

 

Here on my plate, we have a bountiful green salad, grilled asparagus,grilled artichokes, grilled orange peppers, 1/2 of a grilled chicken sausage, some olives, and some watermelon. I was so excited to see so many grilled veggies. Kristin's friend Michael is a chef and he did most of the cooking. I went back and got more asparagus.

 

A nice surprise, Beverly Kidd, news anchor at Channel 3 was at the BBQ too, and I got to get a picture with her and Joseph. She's a really cool chick!

 

Along with the healthy stuff, there was also a plethora of the fun junk BBQ foods, and I ate a couple brownie bites because well, ahem, how can anyone say no to chocolate, right? My first summer as an Arizonian was kicked off in an awesome way!

Healthy Snack Idea: Pina Colada Yogurt With Fresh Raspberries And Walnuts

Right now, I'm snacking on some So Delicious Pina Colada flavored Coconut milk based yogurt topped with fresh organic raspberries and chopped walnuts. It's really refreshing!

Gotta love the simplicity of healthy snacks!