Where to Celebrate Australia Day in Arizona

Mr. Big is a 90-year-old eucalyptus tree outside of the town of Superior, AZ. Not every tree has a title. But, at 8 feet thick and 140 feet tall, Mr. Big gets your attention.

It (He?) is the largest tree in one of the largest collections of Australian plants in North America – at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

To celebrate this forest of outback transplants as well as the cultural roots from their native soil, the Arboretum celebrates Australia Day with walk-a-bout tours and didgeridoo jam sessions.

Phillip and I went last year with friends Anne and Jameela. We watched a demonstration on playing the didgeridoo, and then Phillip tried it out. Meanwhile, outside there was a guy swinging a bull-roarer over his head. Because, I guess, that’s the kind of thing that can happen on Australia Day. So Anne and I gave that a try.

Then we caught up with the tour through the Arboretum’s eucalyptus forest with Australian native and horticulturalist Paul Chambers pointing out different types of Australian plants, telling stories of his work importing them to the U.S., and sharing aboriginal traditions.

We left for a bit to get lunch at Jade Grill in Superior (my fave!).

Afterwards, we came back to the Arboretum, and there was a didgeridoo concert under the eucalyptus trees. We could still hear it from across the Queen Creek as we hiked the High Trail.

A video posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Jan 17, 2015 at 8:38pm PST

Australia Day 2016 is coming up this Saturday. You can check out the schedule of events on the listed on the Arboretum’s website.

January 8, 2016May 23, 2023

The Living Room in Chandler

I finally made it in to The Living Room, a cozy wine bar in Chandler, one summer day when my friend Katie was in town. A monsoon storm had just blown through, cooling the temperature down from unbearable to pleasant, and they opened up the patio for us.

The bruschetta was awesome. One kind had ripe cherry tomatoes. The other had prosciutto that reminded me of Spain.

My sangria was ok. Turns out I’m very picky about sangria. After that, I ordered the same red as Katie, and that was really good. That’s probably what I should’ve done in the first place. Katie has great taste and is kind of a Living Room expert from her Chandler days.

The servers came around just often enough, not so much they kept us from catching up, but enough to get our orders and bring us more bread, so we could finish off our delicous artichoke dip.

November 25, 2015October 17, 2024

DIY Holiday Spice Mix

I have a present for you.

I’m going to give you the (up until now) secret holiday spice mix recipe I created myself. It was part of a set I made for family gifts one year and sold at a fundraiser another.

I looked at combinations of spices in some our favorite dishes and cuisines, found commonalities and experimented until I had the proportions just right for a delicious and versatile blend.

I’ve substituted it for pumpkin pie spice, including when I made pumpkin pie from scratch. It would be fabulous in spice cookies or sprinkled over a whipped-cream-topped dessert. You can use it to make chai or Mexican hot chocolate, or add a dash when you brew your morning coffee for pumpkin spice without all the sugar.

It even works with some savory dishes. Think Indian curries or Morrocan chicken with raisins.

Fill up a spice jar and tie with a ribbon or some baker’s twine, and give it as a hostess or holiday gift. There will be printable labels for this in an upcoming issue of our newsletter (before Christmas), so make sure you’re on the list!

Ingredients:

1.5 TBSP Ground Cardamom
6 TBSP Cinnamon
1.5 TBSP Ground Clove
3 TBSP Ground Ginger

Mix well and use as needed.

Makes approximately 3/4 cup (12 TBSP), about enough for 2 small spice jars. Give one and keep one. Or increase the recipe to make additional batches.

October 28, 2015

Seattle Restaurant Week and Elliott’s Oyster House

Seattle Restaurant Week

My recent Seattle trip happened to coincide with the first part of Seattle Restaurant Week (SRW), where local restaurants entice diners out of their normal routines with 3-course dinners for $30.

SRW goes through Thursday, October 29, so if you’re in Seattle, you can still join in!

Check out the full list of 165 participating restaurants on the SRW site. You can sort by neighborhood, dietary restrictions, etc. Click on your restaurant of choice for location and menu information (subject to change).
Ask for the SRW menu at the restaurant. It may only be available by request and may differ from what’s listed online.
Look for lunch. Many (but not all) SRW restaurants also offer lunch menus with 2 courses for $15.

Elliott’s

SRW recommended Elliott’s Oyster House, located right on the Seattle Waterfront, near Pike Place Market.

Really, it felt like a bit more of a touristy joint than I may have chosen on my own. But (a) I do like to eat seafood when I’m actually on a coast, (b) sometimes even the touristy locations can surprise you, and (c) SRW offered to pick up the tab.

So I thought it was worth a shot. And it was. The food was good and so was the view. You can see Puget Sound from just about any table inside or out on the patio.

Phillip’s sister Liz (along with her two boys) braved the traffic/parking to drive us. I think both situations are currently worse than usual, due to some city project that has put a gaping canyon of construction directly in front of the restaurant. (Don’t worry, there’s a bridge.)

Oysters

When you walk into Elliott’s, you see bins and bins of different varieties of oysters. So many. And they change up the selection seasonally.

The oysters remain intact and unshucked until ordered. Fortunately, the staff includes some fast shuckers.

Their SRW menu included other types of seafood that aren’t in the name of the restaurant, as well as beef and vegetarian dishes. The day we were there the offerings varied a bit from what was online. So Phillip, Liz, and I perused our options, while the boys set to work coloring their sea-life-themed kids’ menus with those cool triangular crayons that don’t roll off the table.

One nephew decided to color the fish and everything around them blue.

I asked him “Is it all blue because they’re underwater?”

He looked exasperated and simply said, “no.” Then went back to coloring.

Sometimes it’s better not to question art.

The kids’, plates piled high with fish and chips, were served at the same time as our first course, which we all appreciated. (Bringing us food and not the boys would’ve been fun for no. one.)

Liz had a delicious New England style white clam chowder made with a good dose of bacon. I had coconut prawns on top of a mango salsa. The prawns were crispy and coconutty yet kind of needed the accompanying Thai chili sauce to complete them.

For the second course, I ordered the blackened trout salad. While the fish wasn’t cooked the way I’d expected, it wasn’t bad. It was served under a salad of mixed greens, walnuts, and apples, so that (literally) covered any minor flaws.

Phillip thoroughly enjoyed his salmon reuben, and Liz had a really good steak sandwich.

Lunch is not a contest. But I think Liz won.

Near to Elliott’s:

Argosy Sightseeing Cruises is actually in the same building.
Seattle Aquarium is a short walk. If you’re visiting both, you can get a combo Argosy/Aquarium ticket. They’re also both part of the Seattle CityPass.
Seattle Great Wheel
Pike Place Market
Seattle Art Museum
Olympic Sculpture Park (about 1.1 mile away)

—

Thank you to Seattle Restaurant Week for the Elliott’s gift card. We also received CityPasses from Visit Seattle.

October 8, 2015May 23, 2023

The (Fountain) Hills

The Fountain Hillstory

Fountain Hills is a planned community northeast of Phoenix that was created in the late 1960s by the guy who designed Disneyland and the guy who developed the city of Lake Havasu.

When you decide to plop a town into the middle of the desert, what do you make its centerpiece? The World’s Tallest Fountain! Of course.

Although, if you think that’s absurd, remember that the developer’s other project at the time was a much more remote planned Arizona community with the actual historic London Bridge – transported across the Atlantic by boat and reassembled brick by brick – as its centerpiece. After that, a desert fountain kinda seems like child’s play.

The Modern Landscape

The Fountain Hills fountain is no longer the world’s tallest, but it still shoots a stream of water into the air hourly that can go from 300 to 560 feet high, which is actually slightly taller than the Washington Monument. At its base is a concrete expressionist water lily sculpture.

The whole thing is situated in the middle of an artificial lake (called, unsurprisingly, Fountain Lake) with a sprawling park wrapping around it. (Guess what the park is called. Yep, Fountain Park. You win.) There are shaded picnic tables, public art, and a playground. Even though there always seem to be people around during the day, it’s big enough to feel a bit empty most of the time.

Saguaro Lake on a Saturday Is No Picnic

The last time we were in Fountain Hills, we hadn’t planned on going there.

It was the weekend before Phillip started back to school. We decided it was a good day to throw a picnic lunch together and head east to Saguaro Lake. However, we didn’t make it past the ranger checking for passes at the entrance.

Not sure how both Phillip and I missed the memo that you need a Tonto Pass even if you’re not going boating or camping (details below, so you can be more prepared than we were). Since you can’t buy the pass on site, we started thinking about other options.

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Fountain Park-ing

Fountain Hills was only about 20 minutes away, and I knew that, unlike at the super crowded Saguaro Lake, there would be plenty of space and plenty of free parking. So instead of turning back the way we came, we took a right and rolled into Fountain Hills just before 2pm.

We made a quick stop at a coffee shop overlooking Fountain Park. (Guess what the coffee shop was called. Fountain View? Nope. Mountain View.)

From the back patio of Mountain View Coffee Co., we could see the fountain start up. There was a path directly into the park and an open picnic table near the colorful mural wall. We started in on our lunch and watched a stream of water surge towards the sky then collapse down into the lake with just a hint of a rainbow forming in its mist.

– More info –

Tonto Pass

You need a permit to park in high-use recreation sites in the Tonto National Forest, such as Saguaro Lake.
For daily use, you can get a $6 Tonto Pass online or in certain stores outside the National Forest. (Full list PDF.) Watch for stores with the “Tonto Pass Sold Here” signs, while you’re on the way.
It’s not available at the actual recreation sites. You have to buy it ahead of time.
Even if there’s not a ranger at the entrance, you can still be fined for not having a Tonto Pass hanging from your rearview mirror.

Fountain Hills

The fountain is on for the first 10-15 minutes of every hour 9am-10pm, unless there’s too much wind.
Docents lead free walking tours of area public art October through April. (Donations accepted.)
Follow the Fountain Hills Art Walk Map (PDF) to take a self-guided tour.

In the Area

Saguaro Lake Guest Ranch horseback riding
McDowell Mountain Regional Park hiking
Taliesin West, former home of Frank Lloyd Wright, is on the way if you’re coming from the Phoenix area via Shea Blvd. It would be a great place to spend the morning before lunch in Fountain Hills.
It just occurred to me that the Macayo’s with the fancy new menu I wrote about recently (with the jicama tacos and crazy good churros) is also on Shea. So, alternate itinerary: 1. Fountain Hills 2. Taliesin West tour 3. happy hour at Macayo’s Scottsdale. That sounds like a good day to me.

Thank you to Alison King, who schooled me on Midcentury Modernism in Phoenix and Concrete Expressionism. Her site is Modern Phoenix, and you should totally check it out.

Tag: Food