photo courtesy of http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/

On Saturday, Dave and I drove 25 miles from Sedona to Clarkdale to ride the Verde Canyon Railroad through the Verde Canyon along the beautiful Verde River in Northern Arizona. The train passes by ancient Sinagua Indian dwellings carved into the mountainsides and ends up in Perkinsville, a deserted ghost ranch, and then turns around and comes back.  In the 1960’s a few scenes from the classic western “How the West Was Won” featuring George Peppard, Debbie Reynolds, and Eli Wallach, was filmed in Perkinsville.

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I am done whining, back to a recipe! I am certain you are thinking, “It’s about time!”

At the request of a kind follower, Dagmar, I am also putting up a few more pictures of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon.  Tomorrow, I’ll share a few photos from our trip on the Verde Canyon Railroad, along the beautiful Verde River.

The recipe may have a long name, but it couldn’t be easier to make. Tri-Tip is a classic cowboy beef cut that is thick, nicely marbled, and very flavorful. It is the triangular cut at the tip of the sirloin.

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What the heck, people?!?  I pour my pain, my suffering, and my heart out to you people about my serious ankle injury and the one and only empathetic comment I get is one from my mother-in-law!?!  This just makes me sad. Not sad because my MIL commented – that made me happy and it was very kind and very sweet of her!  No, I am sad because none of the rest of you had anything nice or funny or even sarcastic to say. 🙁

OK, I’m going to give you all another chance. Maybe I didn’t post nasty enough pictures of my foot. It’s actually looking worst now, so to get the sympathy I deserve… more photos for you to “man up” and comment on!
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Isn’t this view, oh so pretty!?!

And how about this one?

Yeah, not so much… this is my sprained ankle.

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We spent yesterday in Jerome with Connor. If you’re not familiar with Jerome, you can CLICK HERE to learn all about Arizona’s famous mining and ghost town – turned artist and tourist town.

Besides roaming around downtown, we also toured the Jerome State Park and checked out the mine shaft at The Audrey Head Frame Park.

This is the mine shaft you can look down… it is deeper than the Empire State Building is tall… just a bit of a drop!

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Weekly Tip #2

When making something with raw ground meats, such as meatballs or meatloaf, you need to know how the mixture tastes before you cook up an entire meal.

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On Sunday night, Peggy and I attended a wonderful event at a fun new venue called The Accidental Yard, in Old Town Scottsdale. Doesn’t she look so pretty standing in front of the door that is the address of The Accidental Yard? Although I’m not actually certain that the door opens or if it really leads anywhere… since we followed the cute signs and walked around the corner to the entrance.

The property is between the Cavalliere Blacksmith Shop (est. 1910) and the Mission Restaurant and Lounge on Brown Avenue and Second Street. The Accidental Yard will encompass about 10,000 square feet on the L-shaped property that includes the two buildings and a yard that stretches to an area behind the blacksmith shop. The property had been vacant for years. It is being renovated by co-owners and founders, Joe and Kelly Garcia, into an urban garden that will soon have an attached coffeehouse, bakery, and restaurant. Joe and Kelly, are long-time vendors at the Old Town Farmer’s Market and Kelly owns Butter & Me Cupcakery.

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If you live in Arizona, and you don’t already follow Chow Bella, you really should! Doing so is the best way to stay up to the minute on all food-related happenings. You can CLICK HERE to go to their web page. Or CLICK HERE to go to their page on Facebook and then get updates by “liking” them. Or you can always follow Chow Bella on Twitter.  If you’re saying to yourself, “Why should I trust you and bother to do any one of those things?”  Well, if you’re going to be that way… here is just one fun reason why… from Chow Bella today…

Nine Awesome Ways to Get Candy Corn-ifed for Fall

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I found this lovely orange Kuri squash at the Phoenix Public Market in downtown Phoenix. It was almost too pretty to use, but I finally caved and made it into an equally lovely soup. Any winter squash will work just as well; butternut, pumpkin, acorn, whatever you find or have on hand.

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I am finally letting my subscription to Family Fun magazine run out. I’ve been in denial for …oh, let’s say the past 8 years, that my family status (meaning the ages of my two remarkable and incredibly talented children) has long passed the prime target audience of this great magazine. Kinda like a 25 year old still subscribing to Seventeen Magazine… it’s just sad!

But, if YOU happen to have young kids or grandkids, you NEED to get this magazine! There are SO many great ideas for crafts, vacations, recipes, backyard fun, parties, and on and on and on! But since my “kids” are 20 and nearly 24 – it is seriously time for me to let it go. Well, now we celebrate everything in normal adult ways. Like, for Halloween, we could throw a party for friends and family or have a quiet night with a horror movie marathon (choose movies through hellhorror.com or equivalent websites). However, I still miss the magazine since it provided great fun ideas.

As a matter of fact, Family Fun was born the same year as Connor – founded in 1991 by Disney and it is the country’s number one magazine for families with children ages 3-12, with more than 2 million subscribers. Now, if one of my two were to get married and have a child (BIG HEADS UP…that is the “right” order – BTW!) then, I will immediately re-subscribe! Until then, I shall reminisce with a couple of my favorite Halloween ideas taken directly from the pages of my beloved Family Fun… Oh yeah, and here are my truly awful photos from when I could not remember how my own camera worked at 4 AM… yeah, good times!

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