ZIPLOC OMELET - Has anyone tried this? It sounds very interesting.

I just got this in an email from my sister. It looks like it might be good for when all your family is together. The best part is that no one has to wait for their special omelet !!!)

Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker.

Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them.

Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc.

Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes or until done. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.

Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

Nice to serve with fresh fruit and coffee cake; everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece...
Imagine having these ready the night before, and putting the bag in boiling water while you get ready. And in 15 minutes, you've got a nice
omelet for a quick breakfast!!!

Simple Summer Pleasures...
I don't know if you like food as much as I do, but there are certain kinds of food that have etched indelible memories in my mind.

I have always loved summer and the promise of fresh fruits and vegetables! Growing up in Ohio and having a grandmother that sold produce at her roadside stand for a living, made me appreciate it even more. We often had fresh picked melons, tomatoes, beans, and more straight from the garden. Have you ever bit into a Beefsteak tomato that's bigger and deeper red than an apple and let the juice just drip down your chin? There's really nothing that compares to it.

And to this day, some of my favorite meals were the summer corn roasts that we used to have at our neighborhood HOA clubhouse overlooking Lake Erie.

My dad would build a grill about 6 feet long and 4 feet wide from cinder blocks and metal grates and he and the other neighborhood dads would roast corn (in the husks) until everyone had their fill. That aroma was so amazing and the taste of sweet corn picked that morning, swimming in butter was to die for! Did you know that the longer the corn is off the stalk, the less sweet it is? So the sooner you can cook it after you pick it, the better it will be.

At those corn roasts, the women would all bring their best picnic dishes, potato salad, watermelon, hot dogs, baked beans, apple pies, chocolate cakes and the works. The kids just enjoyed the feast on extra long picnic tables topped with red checked cloths. We'd skip down to the beach every few hours to take a dip, cool off and work up an appetite, then come back up the hill for more scrumptious food! What a day it was! Summer and corn season always reminds me of those special days.

Anyway, I digress...down memory lane.

Today I'm talking about a few other simple treats. I've been trying to take more healthy food to work for lunch lately and have been buying more celery. I really like celery. It's nearly the perfect snack, after all. My problem is that if I don't cut it up all at once I'm too lazy to do it in the morning when I'm putting together my lunch. So, I cut up these stalks yesterday and just LOVED the way they looked in the container. You know that if you store them in water they stay crisp and fresh and you can just grab a few whenever the urge strikes.

I also bought this little pot full of fresh Basil from our local Sprouts store. I love having these around to pinch off a few leaves for salads, sandwiches or other recipes. I'm hoping to be able to start my own little herb garden soon, so I have access to other herbs all the time. Once you've had fresh herbs, you never want to go back to the dry kind.

The Desert Botanical Garden here in town has a class on Herb Gardening that I'd love to take the next time it's offered. Would anyone like to take it with me?

Sicilian Garden Salad
Last week I went to The Kitchen for lunch again. It's becoming one of my favorite places. I hope it can survive this slow economy. They're running some great lunch and dinner specials right now, so if you're in the area, stop by and check it out. They also do catering. It's at 8977 N. Scottsdale Road, near Doubletree and we want to keep them in business.

While I was there I tried a new salad at the deli counter. It was called a Sicilian Garden Salad and it was delicious.

So delicious, in fact, that I tried to copy it on Friday when I was at home. I didn't copy it exactly, but it turned out pretty well, if I say so myself. Here's a picture of it. These are the ingredients. Just mix them together and chill. It would probably also be good added to a nice cold pasta, but this way it's much lower in carbs. A great picnic salad!

• Marinated artichoke hearts (quartered-with a small amount of the marinade added too)
• Sun dried tomatoes
• Fresh cherry, yellow pear or mini heirloom tomatoes
• Grilled asparagus
• Grilled red or vidalia onion
• Hearts of Palm
• Black or Kalamata olives (pitted)
• Small balls of fresh mozzarella cheese (or sliced string cheese sticks)
• Chopped parsley (it's not in this salad but was in the one I bought and added a lot of freshness)
• Small amounts of Good Balsamic vinegar and olive oil to taste
• Fresh ground pepper and salt

Of course, you can leave out anything that you don't like. I would say the artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes add the most flavor. Try it and let me know what you think.

50 Wonders of the Arizona Food World (or more specifically, Phoenix Metro area)

On May 20th the AZ Republic published a list of top 50 Wonders of the Arizona Food World. Most of their list is below (I combined, changed and dropped a few). There are quite a few that I haven't had a chance to experience even though we've lived here for a while. I would love to get input from all the AZ folks on which you would choose as your top 10 either from this list or add your own recommendations. It seems to include restaurant, food products and more. I'm sure there's a lot missing, especially things outside of the Phoenix metro area. I added one in Sedona to the end of the list.

I'm thinking of taking time out to visit some of these places to appreciate the Arizona food experience, but want to be sure that it'll be worth my while. I imagine there are a lot of restaurants that aren't included here, so feel free to mention 1 or 2 of those if they are at the top of your list.

Please add a comment with your Top 5 or 10 whether they're on this list or not.

I put an X by the ones that I have had a chance to visit or taste.

- Liberty Market, Gilbert - www.libertymarket.com
- Chris Bianco - Pizzeria Bianco, 623 E. Adams & Pane Bianco, 4404 N. Central Ave., Phoenix
www.pizzeriabianco.com
- Goldwater's Salsa - www.goldwaters.com
- Durant's restaurant - 2611 N. Central Ave., Phoenix - www.DurantsAZ.com
X - Rock Springs Cafe - 35769 Black Canyon Highway - www.rockspringscafe.com
- Carol Steele - Aravaipa Farms Bed & Breakfast & Jams, Winkelman
- Orange Patch, citrus grower, 3825 E. McKellips Rd., Mesa
- Mark Tarbell - Tarbells restaurant, 3213 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix - www.tarbells.com
- Stacy Saba & Leslie Updike - Cookbooks
- The Pork Shop, 3359 E. Combs road, Queen Creek
X - Queen Creek Olive Mill, Queen Creek - www.queencreekolivemill.com
(haven't been there but have had their delicious lemon olive oil)
- Kai restaurant, Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, Gila River Reservation
www.sheratonwildhorsepass.com
- Flor de Michoacan, Mexican Ice Cream, 734 W. Main Street, Mesa -
- Maya's at the Farm at South Mountain, Produce, flowers, herbs, 6106 S. 32nd St,Phoenix
- Los Reyes de la Torta, Mexico city Mexican food, 9230 N. 7th Street, Phoenix
- Phoenix Ranch Market, Mexican market, multiple locations, Phoenix, Glendale
- Granite Creek Winery, 2515 N. Road 1 East, Chino valley - www.granitecreekvineyards.com
- Simply Bread, 2117 N. 24th St., Phoenix
- Cowboy Ciao, 7133 E. Stetson, Scottsdale
- Sea Saw - Nobuo Fukuda, sashimi chef - 7133 E. Stetson, Scottsdale
X - El Chorro restaurant (now under new ownership) 5550 E. Lincoln Dr. Paradise Valley
www.ElChorroLodge.com
- Vincent's on Camelback Restaurant, 3930 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, VincentsonCamelback.com
- Lee Lee Oriental Supermarket, 7575 W. Cactus, Peoria and 2025 N. Dobson Rd., Chandler
- Four Peaks Brewing Co. 1349 E. 8th St, Tempe, www.FourPeaks.com
- Fajardos' Cafe (formerly Lily's Cafe) 6706 N. 58th Dr., Glendale
- Patio Dining - tell me where your favorite outdoor dining spot is.
- Robert McClendon - McClendon Select Farms 15888 N. 77th Ave, Peoria or at Town & Country Farmer's market 20th St & Camelback, Phoenix - www.mcclendonsselect.com
- Fry Bread House, 4140 N. 7th Ave., Phoenix
- Desert Sweet Shrimp Farm, www.desertsweetshrimp.com
- Barrio Cafe - 2814 N. 16th St., Phoenix, www.barriocafe.com
- East Valley Institute of Technology's Culinary Arts Program, 1601 W. Main St, Mesa
www.evit.com
- Downtown Phoenix Public Market, Sat. am, Weds evening, 721 N. Central Ave, Phoenix
www.phoenixpublicmarket.com
- Black Mesa Ranch goat cheese - www.blackmesaranchonline.com
- Fairytale Brownies @ AJ's and Duck & Decanter - coupon at www.brownies.com (Fairytale Fun)
- Los Dos Molinos Mexican Restaurant - Phoenix, Mesa, Springerville, www.losdosmolinosaz.com
X - Sam Fox Restaurants - Sauce, North, Olive & Ivy, True Food, etc. www.foxrc.com
- Schnepf Farms - Peaches, Pumpkins and more, 24810 S. Rittenhouse Rd., Queen Creek,
www.schnepffarms.com
X- Monti's La Casa Vieja steakhouse - 100 S. Mill Ave., Tempe www.montis.com
- Molly's Tamales - 8806 N. 43rd Ave., Glendale
- Binkley's, 6920 E. Cave Creek Rd., Cave Creek, binkleysrestaurant.com
- Cafe Bink - 368999 N. Tom Darlington Dr., Carefree
X - Pinnacle Peak Patio Steak House - 10426 E. Jomax Rd., Scottsdale, www.pppatio.com
- Barbara Fenzl -Southwest cookbooks and cooking school, 6610 N. Central Ave, Phoenix
X - Poore Brothers Potato Chips, Goodyear, www.inventuregroup.net
- Nogales Hot Dogs, 1945 E. Indian School Rd., Phoenix
- Robin Miller cookbooks and "Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller" TV show
X - Yavapai Restaurant - Enchantment Resort - Sedona

Thanks for your insights. Let me know if you'd like to join us for a Saturday outing to a few of these spots sometime.

West Maui Drive & Dinner

Doesn't my sweetie look cute in his convertible? Whenever we drive with the car top down, he just keeps saying..."This is so NOT us." But I think he's enjoying it anyway. The island breezes and the views are so wonderful. It's fun.

Yesterday we took a drive up the West coast of Maui. It's beautiful relatively unspoiled countryside. Here are a few of the sights that we saw.

This stack of rocks was at one of the pulloffs. I don't know if it has any significance. I just thought it looked cool with the gorgeous blue water in the background.

Next is a natural blowhole near the shore. You can get an idea of scale if you look at the person in pink near it.

Sad news is that when we came up from seeing the blowhole, we discovered that 4 cars had been broken into right there by the road while they were down at the beach. There was shattered glass all over the place from the car windows that were broken and one family was still there on the phone reporting that her purse had been stolen. What a sad thing to happen on vacation and pathetic that people would prey on others when they're trying to enjoy themselves out in nature.

Fortunately, we had our convertible top down and had removed everything valuable, so they didn't do anything to our car.

Last night we went out to the Sansei Seafood Restaurant.

We've heard they have great sushi. I'm not a raw fish fan, but Terry and some of the others in our group like it. Besides they also have other seafood options too. It was an amazing meal. I only got a few food photo ops because everyone started eating right when the dishes came because they looked so delicious. We had several of their award winning appetizers.

This was Terry's dinner. The crispy nest on top was filled with a tasty seafood cake that we also had as an appetizer. Underneath was a big serving of Ahi and rice. Mmmmm

Take a look at their site thru the link above and see how creative they get with their dishes.

And below are pictures of the moon in the morning (Terry took this one), then the moon last night behind the palm branches.

FOREVER FRIENDS GET TOGETHER:



We had an awesome time at our Annual Friends' Get Together on Saturday!

Check out the rest of the Family & Friends pics in the slideshow on the right.

As always, we enjoyed way too much food, even though we tried to keep it light this year. Everyone brought "leftovers" from the holidays, most of which were sweets. We also had a few appetizers, some great breads and 3 delicious homemade soups, absolutely amazing Seafood Bisque (thanks Michelle), Jay's wonderful Chicken Vegetable, and a great new recipe for White Chicken Chili (Thanks Betty Crocker).

Then some of us played a new game (to us) called Traveling Pictionary (thanks Kevin). It's tons of fun and all you need is paper, pens and a decent-sized group of people (like 6 or more). There are no winners or losers, just lots of laughing.

The rest of the gang sat by the warm fire outside and caught up on the latest in each other's lives. I'm kinda sad that I didn't get a chance to get out there by the fire. I was enjoying time with the "kids" and never got outside to enjoy the "grown-ups". That's one of my favorite times of year, slowing down for a few hours to catch up with some of our dear friends. What a blessing to have these people in our lives after over 30 years and seeing our children grow up together too! We love being back in town so we have more chances to enjoy these precious friendships.

Sadly we missed a few of the kids and regulars from the group, but we hope they get to join us next year. We really need to set a date now so we can all block it for next season.





We also stopped before the gathering at ASU to take some family photos in front of Grady Gammage, the beautiful auditorium designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. They're in the slideshow as well. Enjoy!

Getaway weekend:
As you may remember, we just returned from the Leadership Catalyst Getaway at Bo's Cafe weekend. It's a 4-day marriage retreat that's hosted by LCI twice a year and I get the privilege of helping with the planning.

The first two photos give an idea of what the meeting room looked like. Check out the cool surfboards! It's hard to really get the feel for the place without being there.
This time it was in Carlsbad, California at the Four Seasons Aviara resort and each time we host the event, we get very positive feedback from the couples that are there. The teaching is amazing (I don't teach, so I can say that.) and we have so much fun creating the atmosphere of a casual beach cafe called "Bo's Cafe", a safe and comfortable place to be. It's a lot of work, but worth every minute of it. And the cool part is that we even get some time to relax in the middle of the weekend. That really helps me to recharge for the rest of the event.

For this trip the support team was privileged to stay some of the time at the beach house of a dear friend, Lee and his wife, Sandy. It's a beautiful, comfortable and welcoming home, perfect for a casual group like ours. Unfortunately, Sandy was out of town, but Lee came down and hung out with us for a while on Friday night. (I've known Lee since we were both in high school many years ago, but somehow he doesn't look any older. How did he do that?) What a treat to be able to catch up a little on his family and life. He also sat in with the guys while they were practicing for their performance the next night. They did a bunch of oldies, Beatles, etc. They all had a blast playing and singing the old tunes. The photo of the 3 guys with guitars is left to right, Rand, Lee and Randy. The other one is Terry with his mandolin.

I've included some other favorite photos too...

Can you tell that Linda was having a good time? Great smile, huh? Check out her blog for more photos and stories from the trip.

Check out the amazing dessert that Rand & Michelle made for us! It was puff pastry with little Snicker's bars inside, then drizzled with chocolate & caramel. Wow!

Michelle's stocking feet and the coffee mug just looked so cute together, and were the perfect picture of our relaxation at the beach house. See how the colors match perfectly?

And what's better than dinner with friends; homemade soups and stew, fresh rosemary bread and that delicious dessert! Mmmmmarvelous! I love that I can use my remote control on my camera to get a picture with all of us once in a while.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends that are humble servants who give of their time, talents, gifts and resources to minister to others. We're honored to call them our friends.

To top it off God provided a gorgeous Del Mar sunset with surfers and all.

Lunch at Dick's Hideaway -

The team at Leadership Catalyst , as well as a handful of dear friends and alumni of the ministry got together for an extra special lunch to celebrate the organization's 12th Anniversary.
I promised John that I'd try to get a pic of him without a weird face or his mouth open, so here are the two that I got below. Sorry John, the other 3 or 4 didn't look too good.


We celebrated at a "secret" place called Dick's Hideaway. You would never know it was there, if someone didn't tell you about it. I'm so glad I'm in on the secret, because it's such a fun place to go. The private dining room can be booked for larger parties of up to 24 people and it feels like you're truly in a secret room...filled with floor to ceiling wine racks on 2 walls, a small adobe fireplace next to the entrance and the tables and doors are all covered in gleaming copper. I'm not sure how much more Arizonan you can get in the "Copper State".

Dick's is owned by the same people as Richardson's which is around the corner in the same building and the relatively new Rokerij, which is just a few blocks north. I had a chance to stop for lunch at Rokerij (I have no idea how to pronounce that, but apparently it gets its name from the Dutch word for smokehouse.) It's a cozy, dark and quirky little place with a ground level dining area and a cool bar area with a fireplace and a couple of booths in the basement. They even had a fire going in the middle of summer, which was odd but made for some great ambiance. We had burgers and they were very tasty! I'd go back to try more of their menu.



Anyway, back to Dick's Hideaway...the food is technically Cuisine of New Mexico. Wherever it comes from, it's got a Mexican flair and is unique and delicious! Some of the dishes lean toward the spicy side so be sure to ask if you have a sensitive stomach. This is definitely a place that we need to bring Jay and Andrew. They would LOVE it! Here are pics of a couple of the lunches. First one is a "seafood" salad topped with a grilled Ahi steak! It also had miniature zucchini and yellow squash and looked awesome! The other was one of the specials, which included a pork enchilada, bacon wrapped shrimp and a jalepeno pepper stuffed with tasty mashed potatoes. I'm sure there was more to the potatoes, but I just know they were delicious!

I also just found out that they're open for breakfast too. That would be quite an adventure. Who's up for it?

Hours: Monday-Sunday 8:30 AM TO 12AM

Valentines Day...

It's always a nice day for me. Terry's so sweet to always do something special. This year I was greeted with a beautiful card when I woke up. I was also the only one in my office to have flowers delivered. I'll have to take a picture of them tomorrow. They smell amazing! There's roses and tulips and other flowers that I can't remember right now. The red vase had a heart and key hanging from it. He gave me the "key to his heart". Isn't that sweet?

When I got home tonight, there was another card with 9 big chocolate covered strawberries...mmmmm. We don't usually go out ON Valentines Day because neither of us like to fight the crowds, so we made dinner at home. We had huge T-bone steaks, king crab legs, grilled red peppers and snap peas, pretzel bread and a nice glass of Red Truck California Syrah (I liked the label). It was all delicious! I only ate about 3 bites of my steak because there was so much other food. I'll have it another day. Besides, king crab is my absolute favorite. I don't have it often because its so expensive, but I bought this on sale a while ago and had it in the freezer, so what better time to have it than Valentine's Day.

Online I found a super simple way to cook the crab. I put the legs in a big ziploc bag with a wet paper towel, sealed it up and cooked it in the microwave for a few minutes. It comes out perfectly! I also picked up the pretzel bread at Trader Joe's today. I discovered it when I was in Germany a few years ago and it's so tasty. If you've never had it, give it a try sometime. It kind of tastes like a soft pretzel but fluffier and without the salt.

Well, Blogger isn't letting me upload the pics of the food, so I'll have to try that tomorrow.

Oh, and Friday night we're going out to dinner at L'Ecole, at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute to continue our Valentine's celebration. I've heard it's really fun. The students are the chefs in training and they make delicious fancy dishes. They come out and talk with you all about what you're eating and it's supposed to be quite an experience. I'll let you know...I may take my camera if it's not too weird for the people around us.

December fun!

Although we had several gatherings with friends and family this month, I've decided to post about the last one first. I'll do the others later. On Saturday, 12/30, we had our annual gathering with several of our life-long friends. We get together with the same group each year and it's always one of the highlights of the holiday time. This year about 20 people were there.

This year we met at the Mozingo's. One of our favorite spots, since it feels like we're getting out of town even though it's just extremely west Phoenix, or officially Waddell, AZ. As you can see from the pics, it's like being in another world with a gorgeous view of the White Tank mountains in the distance. You'll also notice that it's now Autumn in Phoenix. Interesting that we don't skip the fall, we just delay it by a month or so to confuse everyone.

We all got there by mid-afternoon carrying lots of food and drink to share together. We found out that Rand was up at 3:30 a.m. to start smoking the meat! Now that's a committed chef and it was well worth it for us! That's another reason why we love going to Rand & Michelle's. They LOVE to cook and we LOVE to eat their creations. Michelle made a delicious seafood bisque (see photo above) to get us started. I definitely need to get the recipe. It was awesome!


Along with that we had tons of other food to keep us all happy until late into the evening. There is just too much to write about and too many pics to post here so I've posted them to this site if you want to see more.

Around 5:00 Randy started the big bonfire so it would be warm and toasty by the time the sun went down. You'll notice that Michelle also enjoyed poking around a bit in the fire. By the time it was dark it was perfect, even on such a chilly night! It was probably in the 40's by the time we left.

It always such a joy to see how all of our kids interact and have a great time together. They've pretty much known each other since they were born and I love to see how their relationships are evolving into close friendships as they grow up. Kevin and Shawn have a very similar sense of humor and are always laughing about some random thing. On Saturday Miranda & Nicole joined in with Kevin and Shawn and just sang their hearts out. They sang everything from Oldies to Christmas carols to Don Henley with some of the most "surprising" harmonies you've ever heard! I think they had a blast and even the older folks joined in for a while!

I also got to try out the new remote control for my camera. As you'll see from the 2 pics below, the remote eliminates the vibration that happens when you press the button on the camera to take the picture. Now there are two cool things about using the remote. 1. My night shots without flash are much clearer. 2. I get to be in the picture! (Open up the one of all of us around the fire. I'm on the far side of the circle. ) Cool huh?

Well thanks for staying with me through this long post.

I hope you have an awesome 2007, filled with the love of friends and family!