Rebuilding

Thanks to everyone who sent us lovely notes. It was nice to know that our friends out in cyberspace were thinking of us. My father passed away in the beginning of April. I miss him terribly.

 My husband and I decided that it would be best to move to Phoenix, AZ to spend some time with my mom. This was our second big move in the first year of our daughter's life, and we are still not settled. New York City to Boston to Phoenix, a baby, and two deaths in the family... it takes a while.

We are working to find a way to live sustainably in this desert metropolis. Stay tuned for our efforts.

Juicing and Grilling

Each morning during our visit to Phoenix, my father has been making us fresh squeezed orange juice. What a delicious treat! My parents have an orange tree, so it's very local. When I was growing up we had two orange trees and two grapefruit trees, and one of our "jobs" was to help pick the fruit and squeeze them. We drank a lot of juice and also froze it in ice cube trays for later.


Yesterday morning we had a friend over for bagels with cream cheese, salmon, white fish, lettuce, onion and tomato. This is one of those easy meals that's more about the shopping and a little presentation than actual cooking. The guys headed over to an excellent NY style deli, Scott's Generations, to pick-up the fixings. My husband did a beautiful job plating everything up.


After a busy day out and about visiting friends and sight seeing, we had my grandmother and uncle over for a BBQ. It was a hot job, but the results were great. Grilled asparagus, summer squash, zucchini and sirloin with baked potatoes, it's a classic family combination. It was our last dinner in Phoenix on this trip, and a fitting way to be sent off.

A Day of Eating

We always seem to eat a lot when we are visiting family and friends. There are restaurants we want to try, old favorites to revisit, and lots of people to eat with. Yesterday we started out with some homemade egg and chorizo burritos. The chorizo came from a Phoenix institution called Schreiner's Fine Sausage. They have traditional German sausages in addition to sausage inspired by Portugal, Spain, England and Mexico. Everything is homemade and delicious. We sauteed the chorizo until it was cooked through and added scrambled eggs. Cooked it until the eggs were dry and wrapped up the mixture in a tortilla. It's a breakfast treat that's quick and easy to prepare.

For dinner we headed over to a new restaurant, Hula's Modern Tiki, to meet friends. They had a wide selection of offerings that included lots of fish, burgers and Polynesian inspired plates. I had their fish tacos with a tiki twist and my husband had Duke's Luau Pork Plate. Both of our meals had their coleslaw (mine was in the tacos and his as a side), and it was great. It started with a typical coleslaw recipe, but added ginger. I plan on recreating it at home.


After spending an evening visiting with friends, we stopped for ice cream at Mary Coyle's on the way home. This is another Phoenix institution, and I have great memories of going there after choir concerts and dance performances while I was growing up. All the girls would pile in one booth and our parents would be in a booth a few spots away. We loved getting to feel grown-up with a booth of our own and the old-fashioned ice cream parlor feel. Today I love the delicious ice cream and the good memories associated with the place. The ice cream is all made on site, and is rich, creamy and not too sweet (the menu brags that it has 16% butterfat content). My husband and I each got our favorite flavors, peanut butter crunch and peppermint chip. Lots of places only make peppermint chip at Christmas time, but Mary Coyle's serves it year round, and it is the perfect way to finish a hot Phoenix summer day.

Matt's Big Breakfast

Can you tell where we are? We arrived in Phoenix, AZ late Thursday night. Yesterday, we woke up bright and early (because we are still on east coast time), and headed over to my favorite breakfast place, Matt's Big Breakfast. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the place is tiny! They have tables to seat about 20 and then counters that seat 10 more. They serve simple food with high quality ingredients, and they do it really well. I wanted to make sure we got there Friday morning because on the weekend there is usually 1.5 hour wait to get in. We got there at 8:00 on Friday and waited 20 minutes - not too bad.


My husband got the breakfast sandwich with thick-cut peppery bacon, grilled onions and scrambled eggs on a lightly toasted challah roll. I had a taste and it was delicious. We split a side order of hash browns because they are a must! They are cooked in butter and have the perfect crunchy crust with a nice soft inside.


I usually order the special when we to to Matt's because it generally includes eggs with some type of green chilies and chorizo. This is just the type of breakfast an Arizona girl living in NYC craves. But yesterday's special was less alluring to me, a Denver omelet made from eggs, ham and green pepper. So I finally took advantage of the opportunity to try their famous waffles. They make the batter in small batches all morning because they actually use beaten egg whites to create light, fluffy waffles. My father and I both had them, and they didn't disappoint. They were served with real butter and maples syrup and the delicious thick-cut bacon.

The next time you are in Phoenix it is worth a trip downtown to get breakfast at Matt's.