Last year's pre game bday dinner

I love spending time with my pea!  I don't get to see her enough since we both have crazy schedules, lives, we live across town from each other and well, timing doesn't always work. (A year later and still that way...but we do try!!)  But when we can make it work ~ we have the best of times and so much fun.  Like our Texas trip last year! Was SO MUCH FUN!!

She had gotten us tickets to the Dimondbacks game, so she wanted us to do dinner before the game.  What an awesome way to spend the evening with my best friend for my birthday!!








We started the early evening with drinks at The District at the Sheraton Down Town.  Had never been there before and it was close to the ball park so it was perfect!

We started in the bar for happy hour for a bit since dining opens at 5pm (see a pattern?? -LOL!!)
Happy hour is from 3-7 and then 10p-close Mon-Sat.








                                              Our bartender Mitchell was great!








There are so many options for drinks from beer, wine to hand crafted cocktails and cocktails is just what we girls were wanting...but what to get?!

After telling Mitchell what we liked and were looking for we made our decision.  I enjoyed the Jeremiah Peach Tea (let me tell you that this drink goes down REALLY smooth and quick!!) and Prickly Pear Mojito for Chrisie.
They were the perfect recommendations!!

We still had a while before dinner and the game, so we ordered another round (DUH!!) and looked at the bar menu for some lite munchies.  :)~  What we loved is that most of the items on the menu are from local growers which is awesome!!  We decided to try the tuna ceviche and the tepary bean hummus.

While we were waiting for the appetizers, I decided to wander around and check out the space.

I really love this space!  It has just about everything for everyone.  By that I mean that it can be intimate, social, casual or formal.  There's so much space for what suits your occasion as you can see by some of the pictures, but you REALLY need to check it out yourself to fully get it ~ especially if you haven't been there before.

After I was done taking pictures I returned to enjoy the apps that had arrived and looked amazing!

The presentation of the hummus was so farm to table! You know that the Chef takes pride when the presentation makes you say "Ooooh..."

Loved that the veggies were in ice in a mason jar. (great idea!!)

The hummus was SO GOOD!!  It had a little drizzle of Queen Creek Olive Oil and the pita chips were crisp and well....we ate it all!!







Notice that they only brought one fork for the tuna ceviche?? (BIG problem!! ~ LOL!!!)

LOL....they did bring side plates and an extra fork...otherwise I would have had to use my fingers to fight my pea for some!!  We should have ordered another but we didn't wanna ruin our appetite for dinner.  :)

It was melt in your mouth good and yes..just as with the hummus....we ate it all!!!

Perfect bites to hold us over.  On to dinner!!








                      This was our server Ian and he was amazing!!










So many yummy choices it was hard to decide what to have for dinner.  Chrisie decided to have the short rib stroganoff.

It may not look like much but the bowl was deep and she had 3 HUGE chunks of short ribs in that bowl.

The noodles and the short ribs were cooked to perfection. Not a bite went to waste!!














Me....I chose the salmon cedar plank with the asparagus parmesan risotto and I WAS NOT disappointed.

The salmon was so moist and tender it was SO GOOD!! And the risotto??  Well....let's just say that it looked like I licked my entire board and pot clean!

WHAT?!?!  It was good!! (don't judge!!)

So...you would think as much as we had to eat and drink that we wouldn't have room for dessert, right?!
WRONG!!!  LOL!!!

Now typically I'm a creme brûlée girl, but we both saw whoopie pie and of course we had to get it!!

They were SO cute and SO yummy!!!  Had a nice strawberry flavor with a hint of rhubarb.  AND it came with a strawberry shake!! (that green stuff is pistachio)







With dinner done it was time to head over to the game.  You would think that after having such an AWESOME dinner that the night was perfect- RIGHT?!?! NOPE!!!

Aside from getting to spend the day with my best friend, an incredible dinner and going to the ball game, the piece de resistance?!?!

That was the night that the Dback's were playing the Oakland A's and we were losing 6-8 at the bottom of the 6th.  7th and 8th inning came and went....no score for either teams.  Top of the 9th and the A's are up to bat...no score. (bitting nails at this point!!)  Bottom of the 9th ~ I think at that point Dback fans were hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

First two Dback players struck out. (need another drink!!)  Then Chris Young was up to bat, he was walked.  Next up was Aaron Hill ~he swings to get on first, moving Chris to second. (GULP!!!!)  Batting next was "Tatman" Ryan Roberts.....HOME RUN BABY!!! He brought in the runners scoring all 3 runs to win the game 9-8!!
It was an AWESOME way to end the night!!!

                                                      Best memories, best times, best friends!!!

Last year's birthday dinner with Paige

Hello my readers!!

Slowly getting caught up on my blog!  My goal is to try and get all caught up from last June till current.  o_O   (keyword- TRY)  A lot of work to do but I'm up for the challenge.  ( I am!!! I am!!!)

If you're a regular reader of my blog you know that Paige is one of my foodie friends.
I love when we find new places to try or places that neither one of us had gone to before.





For my birthday last June, Paige wanted to take me for an early dinner since she wasn't going to be in-town for my actual birthday. Though I told her it wasn't necessary, there is no arguing with Paige. :)  She knew any excuse to get together to have dinner or drinks I was in!  ;)

We decided to check out the Roaring Fork.








Now, I know that I've driven past this place I don't know how many times never really knowing what it was or how to get to it.  And unless you know what or where it is, guarantee you've driven past it during the day without realizing it.

Now at night...that's a different story. (the restaurant name is lit up) But if you're not used to the area...trying to figure out how to get there is another story!  LOL






We got there shortly after they opened and sat in the bar area (they are only open in the evenings with happy hour starting at 4pm and the dining area opens at 5pm) but you can order food in the bar area.

The bar area is pretty spacious with a nice long bar, several high and low tops, a few booths and they have a outside patio area. The place has a rustic western feel to it.







We both ordered a nice glass of Cypress by J Lohr, a Cabernet (which was AWESOME!!) while we looked at the menu to decide what we wanted to start with.

We decided to go for the Fondue Pot Lamb Chop with butternut squash  (ok..maybe a bit curious than anything) - but OMG..it was SO yummy!!!

The lamb was SO tender and had a nice spicy kick. I think we could have eaten another order of it!!  Thank goodness for the side of bread that came with it..no cheese was left to waste. :)~







Shortly after we finished our glass of wine and appetizer we moved to a table in the main dining room.
(we typically talk for hours and wanted to be more comfortable ~ lol)

We had our server bring us another order of Cypress while we checkout out the menu.

Paige decided to go for the short ribs with horseradish mashed potatoes.

I know the picture doesn't do it justice (was dark in there and the flash made it look gross) but TRUST me when I tell you that she loved it!!

She even let me try a bite.  It was tender, moist and there was nothing left on her plate! :)

Myself, I opted for the bacon wrapped tenderloin with Mexican street corn and cheese grits.


To quote one of my favorite movies (guess which)

"Each flavor was totally unique. But, combine one flavor with another, and something new was created!"







It was really good...but I only ate half.  WHAT?!?
I had to save room for another glass of wine and dessert!!

So, of course we had another glass of wine and for dessert, well.....what goes well with a nice western-ish dinner but pecan pie with vanilla bean gelato!!

As always having a foodie outing with Paige is always a great time.  We will need to come back (can't believe this was last year!!) and check out the updated menu but thinking in the fall so we can enjoy the patio and the wonderful fall weather!

                               People who love to eat are always the best people!  ~ Julia Child 

OMG!!!!! o_O

Ummmm......Happy almost mid-year??  o_O

I had every intention to post this right after the new year!!!  (sigh)  But after Tough Mudder, I got a bad cold and then we started to do more running events......  I will not update you on that yet!!!

Time for me to get back on track!  So with that said - please (pretty please!!!) read on to see why I've been behind getting my blog updated.

Thank you SO much (from my heart) for continuing with my blogging journey!  I really appreciate it!!

My very best!

~ AZGEMFOODIE

Happy New Year my dear readers!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy holiday and has started the new year with a bang!

I know I last blogged in October letting you know that my blog is still very much alive and I promise it is!!  In fact, I did go to a foodie event today with a friend and will be posting that as soon as I get my others finished.

In the meantime though, I wanted to share what I have been doing that has slightly taken time away from my blog.

This started in August of last year.  My best friend, my pea, wanted to do Tough Mudder in February of this year. We had talked about this the year before and we didn't do it.  I told her if she registered for a team that I would sign up and we would do it.

Most of you, I believe are familiar with Tough Mudder or have at least heard of it.  But those folks who are not....it's a totally insane 10-12 mile obstacle (20-25) course designed by British Special Forces.  Did I mention that there is mud, water, ice baths, fire, walls, monkey bars and electroshock to just name a few???  OH!!! And the best part, an awesome orange headband and beer at the finish line!

Since she created the team, we've had 13 peeps brave enough or totally bonkers join.  So we started training.  We've done everything from hiking, yoga, bootcamps, running trails, cross fit and 5K's.



In October, a few of us signed up for the Zombie Run 5K.
Who knew that in October that it would still be in the 90's (degrees!!).
That WAS certainly an experience.


I've learned a lot since that first run. Things like read to see if they give details of the terrain/course and if it's not mentioned to email the event to ask.  I wore my Nike Flex and I had wished that I had worn my trail running shoes as we ran through the desert!  OUCH!!

In November , a few of us signed up for the Color Me Rad 5K.  Which was fun and messy.  We all started clean and finished rainbow colors!

While running on the course people (runners) were throwing color bombs at other runners to give them more color and there were color stations where the staff would bomb you with color!

If you've not done Color Me Rad before -you should!
It was a blast!

Then we saw a deal for MudFactor.  We thought that might be a perfect intro as to what to expect for Tough Mudder, just a mini (ok super-mini) of what Tough Mudder would be like. LOL!!!

This was their first time out to Arizona so we really didn't know what to expect.

5K obstacle runs can be challenging and by that I mean the wait can suck depending on how many participants. But we still had a great time!









In December, a few signed up for the Hot Chocolate 5K. It was friggin COLD that morning!!  This by far was the coldest run we had done so far.

I don't know about the other girls but I had to remind myself that I would warm up and there was a REWARD at the end!!!

Mug of chocolate goodies was worth it!
Will run for chocolate!!!  LOL!!!

And last weekend we did the PF Chang Rock'n'Roll  Mini-Marathon (5.4 miles).  The Mini-Marathon is new to the Rock'n'Roll series. Not all the cities have this and the distance varies as well.

We figured "eh, we've been doing 5K's what's another 2.3 miles...  o_O

We had a blast.  It was SO much fun and was the most put together event that we've done so far.







I wanted to share the craziness that has been going on ~ training, hiking, 5K's that have kept me from sitting down and working on my blog.  It not only takes a physical toll but for me a mental one as well.

But things should and will start settling down.  I do have several blogs in draft but I don't feel that they sound like the me that you all have read before and if it's not good enough for me...then sorry folks, not good enough for you either.

This has been such a crazy amazing journey.  I've made some new friends and have grown closer to old ones.

We did decide or at least started talking about possibly doing a 1/2 marathon and have our sights set on the PF Chang Rock'n'Roll New Orleans 2014!!!!

We have one more 5K race in a few weeks and then.....Tough Mudder!!!  AAAHHHHH!!!!

***** UPDATE -




Well, you didn't expect me to leave you hanging until I got all caught up did you??!! Did you??!!     o_O

So after PF Chang I mentioned that we had one more 5K race and then the mother of it all Tough Mudder.  That was the D-Backs Race Against Cancer.  That was totally cool as some of the players and coaches ran that too!

We got our picture taken with Luis Gonzales a.k.a. Gonzo!!  He's so humble and such a sweetheart.  That was the highlight of the run and what a way to end our day!

And FINALLY we come to Tough Mudder!!!  OMG!!!  Can I just tell you that was....well not sure how to explain what that was!!  It was awesome, it was crazy, it sucked (but in a good way), it was mentally and physically challenging.

But we set out to do this and we poured our blood (literally for some), sweat and tears (truly) into this.

Our team was amazing!  We had two friends come from other states to do this with us.
(Thank you Jeff and Zee!!!)







I can honestly say that I've never in my life experienced ANYTHING like this.  The worst obstacle for me was "Walk The Plank" (middle picture).  It was 15 feet tall and the water was 12 feet deep.  That was more a mental challenge for me.  Did I tell you the water was friggin COLD?!?!?!

The first obstacle was the Arctic Enema (picture on the lower left corner) also know as the ice bath.  The initial jump into it wasn't as bad as I thought ~it was diving into and under the divider to get to the other-side that SUCKED!!!  And getting out was worse cause we were FREEZING!!!






Fire Walker (picture on the top right corner) was no picnic...jump over flames only to land in 4 feet of muddy water and try and wade your way to the end only to claw your way out.

The doozy, frustrating most annoying was Everest (picture on the lower right corner).  Kinda looked like a skateboard ramp.  The funniest part was the DJ that was doing the MC at this obstacle kept telling people "Don't run AT it, run UP it."  People would get a running start and then hesitate as they got right up to it.

And we get to the crème de la crème...the grand finale.  The Electroshock Therapy (picture on the upper left corner). HOLY CRAP!!!  I'm not sure what was worse.  The fact that you could hear the current pulsing in the live wires or getting zapped!!!  I got zapped on the neck and had to take a knee - I think I may even had black out for a second, I'm not sure.  But I got through it and I finished with my pea.  After we crossed the finish-line we proudly went to get our orange head band and well deserved BEER!!!

We found the first group by the finish area and did a head count to see who else was still out there.  There were four more teammates still out there.  We wandered back over to the Everest obstacle and a little later we saw the final four of our team.  We cheered them onto the finish-line.  Waited for them to get their prized headbands and beer and met the rest of the group.

We all started together and we did get separated into three groups but EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE on our team finished!  No man or woman left behind!!
                                 



                                          So proud of team MudderSuckas!!!  Job well done!!!

TEAM MUDDERSUCKAS TOUGH MUDDER 2013

Jimbo, Monique, Brian, Me, Jo-girl, Jeff, Dave, Loca, Pea and Zee

we are missing Brian and Jennie

(Brian had a huge gash on his leg and Jennie had a black eye-both needed tending)

and honorable mention Aaron

(Aaron had injured himself a week prior to Tough Mudder and was unable to attend)