Pizza at Mom's

Pizza a la Marilyn (my Mom's pizza).

A cute duck planter from Mom.

Tonight Jason and I went over to my Mom's and had pizza with her and my brother Mike. My Mom makes delicious pizza. Tonight's pies had pepperoni, marinara sauce, green peppers and purple onion.

We had the best dinner. Along with the pizza, I made a salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, celery, purple onion and a dijon vinaigrette dressing (sorry no picture on this one).

Afterwards Jason treated Mike and I to Dutch Brothers. We both had iced chai and Mike had a green tea. They have really tasty chai...it is so refreshing in the summer.

Recently Mom gifted me a duck planter that belonged to her grandfather. It had been given to him on Father's Day one year and it has been vacant for some time. Tonight I brought it over and she filled it with two cactus plans that she got at the dollar store. One is an aloe vera and I can't tell you the name of the other one. But they are both very cute and cheerful.

How is it that my Mom knew I needed a friendly duck planter? She knows we all go through rough patches in our lives, and simultaneously people we care about are going through their own rough patches. Our lives collide and then they may split. My Mom thinks that sometimes people aren't able to be in other people's lives due to circumstances, even though we may care for them a great deal, and I think she is right. She has a way of making sense of some things that just amazes me. She's very insightful and thoughtful.

I guess I'm toasting you here, Mom. Cheers! And...thanks!!

La Reyna Michoacana - diablito paradise

Reina Michoacana has all kinds of fruit popsicles, in Spanish known as "paletas."

There is a good selection of ice cream.

A diablito, or Mexican slushie, with mango.

I had to go get some car repairs today and on the way home I stopped at Oasis Raspados on McDowell and 32nd Street...but, it was closed! So, I went to my backup place, La Reina Michoacana right down the street just south of Thomas on 32nd Street.

At La Reina they make sandwiches (tortas) and they have ice cream, popsicles and raspados, or what I like to call Mexican slurpees.

I am having a diablito which is crushed ice, chili powder, your choice of fruit (mango for me), chamoy, lime juice, Asian peanuts, saladitos (salted, dried plums) and a "straw" tamarind candy. It is delicious and refreshing. It wakes up all of the tastebuds in your mouth since it is spicy, sweet and salty.

From the pictures you can see that La Reina is a good place to go in the summertime in Phoenix. And no lines! At least none today...

Reina Michoacana 2601 N 32nd St Phoenix, AZ 85008

Lone Star - what's for lunch

Leftovers from today's lunch at Lone Star.

My Aunt took me to Lone Star for lunch today. It's a great spot to grab a bite. We sat in the bar area and it was not crowded. Our waitress was very efficient and friendly.

Char had a burger with American cheese and bacon, with fries. Her burger looked pretty tasty.

I opted for a French dip sandwich- they call it something else though (don't remember). It comes with fries and a pretty kicky horseradish sauce.

A delicious and satisfying lunch. And I had leftovers!!!

http://www.lonestarsteakhouse.com/files/home.aspx

Your sweet tooth

Helados Fruit popsicles are delicious and refreshing.

My favorites are jamaica, horchata, fresa and mango. They also have tamarind,

pepino con chile and others.

This post was inspired by an article in the nytimes.com about the high cost of artisan ice cream. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/dining/04icecream.html?ref=dining

I'm a big fan of gelato, but I haven't gone to The Gelato Spot in along time, mostly because of the high cost. Mind you, the quality is first rate, but when I go I get a strawberry or coffee gelato shake, and it sets me back about 5 buckaroos.

Instant gratification is a hard thing to get over, but with the current economy, I am getting over it, as it were.

However, I do seem to make room in my budget for a chamoyada from Oasis Raspados about once a week at 4 bucks a pop. It's a meal, really...since it has fruit and peanuts, I guess that's how I justify it.

So... otherwise, how to curb one's sweet tooth? Try:

yogurt with fruit

a frozen snickers bar

prunes

cinnamon toast

Helados Mexico frozen fruit bars (Food City)

canned fruit

What do you enjoy to curb your sweet tooth? The kitchen wench wants to know...

Penne with puttanesca sauce

Dinner is served...

This is a great pasta sauce. Mmmmmm

I was trying to figure out a simple and tasty dish for dinner tonight and it dawned on me...I had everything except the canned tomatoes. So, I picked up a can of diced tomatoes today at Safeway. Somehow in the shopping process, I forgot garlic. Oh well, it's okay...

To the tomatoes I will add olive oil, a handful of black olives and a tablespoon of capers. And some basil from the freezer. This will cook quickly on the stovetop and serve it over penne. I'll boil two cups of penne (so there will be leftovers for tomorrow) for about 15 minutes.

I can't wait to eat. It's been awhile since I've had pasta.

Happy eating...

What's for breakfast

Princesas is a great movie. It goes well with breakfast on a lazy Sunday.

A big latte is the ticket. The scone (below) disappeared rather quickly. Where did it go?

One of my favorite breakfasts. A blueberry scone.

It is a lazy Sunday. It looks like there is laundry on the horizon and maybe some reading. I found a book at the library this week called Tijuana Dream, and I am excited to open it up.

I made a big latte this morning with a cinnamnon stick, and I'm enjoying it with a blueberry scone from AJ's Fine Foods. My favorite of their scones is the currant, but for some reason they don't always have them, so blueberry is my backup. Their scones are really crumbly and delicious.

While breakfasting, I'm watching Princesas, one of my favorite movies. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434292/ Candela Pena (sorry I can't make the tilde on the n on my laptop) is a great actress. She was also in Torremolinos 73, which is very funny and a must see.

Breakfast...it's the most important meal of the day. Don't skip it! Especially when you can have a yummy scone from AJ's.

http://www.ajsfinefoods.com/

Postino on Central

A board of bruschetta at Postino. Yummy.

If you have a few extra buckaroos in your pocket, you must have a dining experience at Postino. There are two locations, one near me on Campbell and 39th St. and one near Jason (my partner in crime for indie movies, dining, swimming and...) on Central Avenue in between Missouri and Camelback roads.

Last night we opted for Postino on Central. As it happened, we had a few extra buckaroos in our pockets. Lately we have been economizing, so when the opportunity for fine, delicious dining at Postino presented itself, we jumped on it.

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it here, but Jason is one of the funniest people I know. And super smart. He is very quick witted with a dry sense of humor. The last time we were at Postino we met someone in the parking lot who was singing JD Hayworth's praises. Jason said to this person, "Yeah, he was a great weatherman."

I digress.

We started with salads. I had a barbara salad which has field greens, beets, dried cherries, candied walnuts, fried leeks and grape tomatoes. I like this with their herb vinaigrette. I also order it with shaved chicken. It comes with a hearty walnut bread (ask for butter). You must try this salad. (Note: if you order this salad at the Central Avenue location, you have to tell them the ingredients because it is a concoction from one of their lovely and frequent patrons at their Campbell location and it isn't in the computer yet).

Jason had a raspberry chicken salad over field greens, and it was very creamy and tasty.

We also shared a board of bruschetta with salami/pesto, prosciutto and brie/apples. I had a glass of fruity tempranillo-garnacha wine from Spain (okay, I had two glasses) and he had a tropical tea that looked very refreshing.

The meal was simply amazing. The quality at Postino is first-rate, so you always know it is consistent and fresh.

To end our evening we opted to visit the Dutch Brothers just down the street at Central and Camelback. Jason had an iced chai and I had an iced latte. Mmmmmm.

Post Dutch Brothers we drove through the nearby Windsor Square neighborhood where I used to live as a girl. I pointed out my old home which he had never seen before. I also pointed out friends houses, my piano teacher and my babysitter's old homes. The neighborhood looks really good and if I had a few extra bucks I would snap up one of those houses. Then we drove through Jason's old neighborhood not far away and he showed me the home where he had lived. It was very pretty, in a great neighborhood near Bethany and 2nd Street. Some of the lots are quite large and the architecture of the homes in the area is stunning.

A tour of our respective pasts was a great way to cap off the evening.

http://www.postinowinecafe.com/

http://dutchbros.com/