homemade bruchetta.

some of my favorite things.

bread. oil. cheese. fresh tomatoes.

i dug around the fridge and  found  pesto & a jar of sundried tomatoes which made for a lovely spread.

ethnic fare for four.

after happy hour, nick, angela, d & i decided on indian food for dinner. 

tempe has a ton of ethnic options - indian, thai, pakistani, ethiopian.

so per nick's recommendation, we landed at the Delhi Palace Cuisine of India and it was so good!

nick is quite the traveler, so we let him take care of the ordering on behalf of the table.
we had samosas, lamb curry, chicken tikka masala & a vegetarian dish plus two types of naan and basmati rice.

upon walking in, nick scooped up a spoonful of this herb & seed mixture, put it in my hand and told me to eat it... to cleanse my palette. it was, er, interesting. kinda like mint mixed with black licorice. cleansed.

when in india... kingfisher. 

nicoli deep in the menu. me & any, deep in the naan. 

equal parts deeeeelicious, flavorful & colorful. so tasty.

earlier in the week, i saw a link to this website on another blog and found it really interesting. you enter your birthday, and it talks about your personality traits based on the day you were born, day of the week, month, etc. it gives an overall "headline" along with health & personality traits. 

i entered mine and it was strangely accurate. so i gave danny's a whirl - holy crap - it was him. danny had the idea to print out angela & nick's and we'd all review/discuss them during dinner. we each read another person's and it was super interesting and almost eerie. angela & nick's were pretty spot-on, too. 

give it a try here: Secret Language of Birthdays

linner is the new brunch.

just you watch. it's gonna be the next big thing. 

i'm a big fan of linner (super late lunch). it just needs a cooler name. i like it because you get to sleep in, eat a late breakfast, do your chores (i'm one of those people who has to get things in order before i can really relax) and then crank things up around 4 o'clock when you've got tons of energy, it's still daylight and then you can just see where the night takes you. perfection. 

here's my thing with brunch... i'm a huge fan, particularly because i love daytime cocktailing. however, if i do a real boozy brunch, it's pretty much a guarantee i won't get anything done before i go and there's a good chance i won't do anything after. i feel like that's a perk of linner - you get to dabble in a little bit of both daytime and nighttime play. 

it makes tons of sense, right? here's a glimpse at last weekend's late saturday afternoon at the vig uptown. 

an arizonan's summer dream. 

the naturally lit indoor "patio" 

so what do you think on pushing this late afternoon concept with me? 

sunday pizza in the neighborhood.

there's no denying it: we eat pizza 3 out of 4 sunday nights a month. it's kinda a thing. (more about sunday traditions here) 

judge us all you want. 

last night, we decided to shake things up and walk to the local pizza shop to actually dine in verses take out on our couch. big deal for us. seriously, ooohhhhh big changes around here. it was the first time we'd eaten there. 

i'm a little obsessed with our neighborhood. 

these streets. 

landmark willo sign & the one of a kind easley's costume shop

arizona's NYPD pizza shop

the cheesy tv commercial pull of the slice with the cheese still stuck... perfection. 

hawaiian. a very polarizing pizza flavor. a personal fave of mine. 

i'd already finished the chelsea chopped salad. my fave. 

our dusky walk home on a warm summer night.

note: if you're looking for other good pizza in downtown phoenix, pino's pizza al centro is fantastic. 

however, they're closed on sundays. bummer for both of us. 

summertime sweets.

a 10-minute escape from the heat. 

reeses peanut butter cup for her. oreo for him. 

what felt like the longest drive EVER back from california.

leaving friends post-brunch on the most beautiful california day and waving goodbye to the beach to drive back into the blow dryer (what the air feels like on your face in arizona right now) when all we really wanted to do was go park ourselves on the beach to relax, was not cool. then the holiday traffic on the 10-E. the insanely crowded gas stations. the freeway accidents. the stopping six times. the heat coming through the windows. the i'm-sick-of-all-my-music-right-now. despite it all, we were home in six hours, but it felt like we drove across the country. terrible. 

i'm quite certain it was this 40-minute detour in palm springs that got us through it without complete meltdowns.

food makes everything better.

danny turns thirty one.

packages! lots of shirts this year. and a new tie clip. 

hunter was really interested in the oatmeal creame pies that came in vicky & joe's box.

mr. huntie helping with the unwrapping.

                                                                       

the birthday boy wanted mac & cheese + hot dogs, so that's what he got. i found "man of action" shapes and was really excited about it.

in his defensive, it wasn't as bad as i thought it'd be. i think the previews before the movie were the worst part. they were all very focused on one demographic: dude.

we checked out the sunday pool scene at hotel palomar in downtown phoenix.

dj shawn watson brought his american bulldog "buck" to the pool. buck is cool.

enjoying some poolside beats.

downtown view from our lounge chairs. 

muddled berry cocktails. my go to in the summertime. 

a friendly game of poolside pong. i may have beat the birthday boy :) 

  

preparations for the big upcoming camping trip. 

heaven for him. 

when in rome... 

gallo blanco. a downtown favorite that's made quite a few appearances on the blog.

my fave: mini chicken quesadillas. 

the BEST salad 

captain safety informed me that a lot of people break their teeth on corn nuts. i managed to escape lunch with an empty plate and a full grill. 

long story, but i made three trips to the grocery store over 2-days before i (kinda) finally pulled these off. 

....and then i dumped an entire batch of mix out and started all over again.

this photo is 100% candid. i was so mad and annoyed when he snapped it while laughing hysterically.

i wish i was kidding about how bad i am at baking. it's a true story.

in my defensive the bag was cut and i saw 4-cups of flour, not 2 3/4 cups. whoops.

so danny came to the rescue and stepped in to help out. 

we decided i'll be the mom that contributes to bake sales by planning & promoting them. period.