Category — Random

Did you see the article posted last week on The Daily Meal website listing the 50 most powerful food folks in America? CLICK HERE for the full article.  At least they got #1 right!

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Before we dive into our citruspalooza (citruspalooza is defined by days upon days of citrus-related recipes) I have to give a huge shout-out, muchas gracias, kisses and hugs, and a big bowl of thanks to Tarbell’s Restaurant. Mark Tarbell and I have been friends for the last 20 years, and he is a wonderful friend to have! I first got to know and love Mark when he hosted an incredible trip to Napa Valley when we were both board members of the now-defunct American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF). Way back then, Mark was the F&B Manager of The Boulders in Carefree, AZ.   In 1994 he ventured out and opened his namesake restaurant at 32nd Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix. He also now has three additional restaurants in Colorado.
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I know, you are used to me complaining about it being so HOT in Arizona. But today, I am not so much complaining as just telling you, that it is COLD in Arizona! So cold that we had actual snow flurries yesterday here in our desert. And so cold that this morning, a little polar bear ornament is awaiting birds with ice skates to join him on the frozen-solid bird bath.

It has happened before, but not for a long time. I have two cute desert snow pictures of Marissa when she was a toddler. Those are a little extra treat at the bottom of this post, but first a couple of photos showing our current winter cold spell…

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A Blessed and Very Merry Christmas!

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Did you know that 23 is a prime number, meaning that it is a natural number that has exactly two distinct natural number divisors: 1 and itself?  

There are 25 prime numbers between 1 and 100. They are: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89 and 97. And strangely enough, the current ages of three out of the four people in our family are prime – weird! Dave is 53, Connor is 19, and… TODAY, Marissa is 23!

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Everyone should set goals for themselves. Most people do so at the beginning of a new year. Today I am setting a goal for my blog. It is a short-term goal that is to be accomplished by the end of this year, and I need YOUR help to achieve it!

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If you love shopping, then you probably love Black Friday. As for me, absolutely NO WAY! I never venture out on that day or any Saturday or Sunday between now and December 24th! But for those of you diehards, I give you some Foodie Deals I found while searching the web for the upcoming ads. The things I do for you… it’s only Monday, so keep your heart rate down and start planning ahead!

As expected, many of these are “limited quantity” doorbuster deals so please rely on the fine print and exact details in each specific ad in Thursday’s newspaper or online ads. None of the information is guaranteed – remember, I found all this on the internet! But maybe it will help give you a helpful heads-up before you head out to the malls. Have fun, I’ll be praying for you.

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This past weekend, we were traveling yet again, this time to Illinois for our niece’s wedding. This particular niece, Katie Hopkins, who is Dave’s brother’s daughter, just so happened to be our flower girl, 25 years ago, at our wedding. She made an even more beautiful bride than she did an adorable flower girl – hard to imagine!

Thankfully, my jet-setting days are over, done with, and finished, for the rest of 2010. It is exceedingly difficult to put up new blog posts about cooking when one is spending countless hours in airports, having items confiscated by the TSA, and visiting faraway lands all the time! Maybe Canada and Illinois aren’t exactly exotic, but travel is not only exhausting – it is expensive and hazardous to your health! Expensive not only because of ticket prices but also paying for bags (which was necessary on the week-long Canada trip – luckily not so on the Chicago weekender) and having to replace those confiscated nail scissors and hairspray -oops! Unhealthy because I (and only I) had to go through the x-ray body scanner, 3 out of the 4 trips through security, these last couple of weeks. That just can’t be good for you. Even at the dentist, one is shielded from the harmful rays – but not at the airport – “Here is a tasty plate of cancer, cooked up, especially for you, Bon Appetit,” is what I imagine the TSA is saying to me!

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