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. 

rain rain please DON'T go away.

we finally had a major rainstorm in the desert. monsoon season is beginning and it's fantastic. 

the thunder, lightning and inch of rain came on sunday morning and made me a very happy camper. 

the window were open, the rain was pouring down and it was the perfect excuse to spend another day on the couch. 

a celebration menu.

this weekend we're kicking-off ting's 31st year. and since last year we were moving and his 30th birthday was kinda a total bust, we're gonna make up for this year with back-to-back weekends of celebrating starting today!

earlier this week, i sent danny an al-a-carte birthday menu. he got to pick the plans and i'd handle the rest (along with a few surprises sprinkled in). we're off to lunch before the 3:30pm showing of Fast & Furious SIX. oh boy!

saturday swim session: a mini video.

want photos? click here. 

this is how we beat the heat one saturday in june.

we headed to suburbia and crashed the cross family's pool. it was exactly how summer days are meant to be spent. 

kids splashing, adults sippin' & dog tails waggin'. 

kelsey bug is a little fish.

mr. colton is the chillest baby ever. 

like father, like son.

the shark mister is a summer must buy.

those baby blues.

oh, logan. just one of the swim gang.

colton's second time in the pool. he's just six month.

(danny in the back still blowing up colton's crab raft)

my favorite part of the day was when ryan came back from picking up the pizza & salad steph ordered... 

an 8" small. bahahaha. someone was not pleased.

more photos over at steph's blog manyhatsofamom.com 

...

hey, arizona summer. back so soon?

the heat's been hovering in the 90's, 

but this weekend we got a heat wave punch to the face when it hit 109. 

and just like that... bam! summer is here. 

here's how we survived the first summer weekend of '13.

1: late afternoon lunch of imitations at postino arcadia with alicia & scott

2: summertime means lots of strawberries. love this cutting board handmade by my little bro.

3: new favorite summertime wheat beer, Mr. Pineapple by Arizona's local SanTan Brewery

4: "friends & family" dinner event at the new Pomo Pizzeria in Downtown Phoenix 

5: saturday's lunch lead to drinks at kelly's and then ultimately old town's new Hi-Fi Bar

6: sunday morning required an early trip to coffee & rainbow donuts on mcdowell road 

7: maple bar, chocolate sprinkles & old fashioned + milk for me. glaze twist for him. 

8: this weekend hit 109F, so we stayed inside and finally watched Zero Dark Thirty

9: alejandro joined us in old town 

10: staying cool with frozen treats from the neighborhood fro-yo shop

 11: sunday night's season premier of keeping up with the kardashians + season's 3rd batch of peonies

12: we made gigantic baked chicken burritos for sunday dinner. delish.

sunday pool time at the saguaro scottsdale hotel.

the morning after the paella party, a group of us gathered at the saguaro scottsdale hotel for a pool party.

thanks to an Instagram photo, a longtime girlfriend and i were able to connect in scottsdale. 

heather, one of my lifelong friends, joined us at the pool. it'd been years since we'd seen each other. 

heather, me and carly, another LA-based friend who also happened to be in scottsdale for the weekend.

gotta love the girl photo line. 

heather / rachel / alicia  teri / angela / carly / heather / erinn

john & nicoli gettin' their holiday tan on.

alex was tossing rachel around like a "piece of styrofoam"

e-raaaayyyy in the house. 

tip: the saguaro scottsdale is an awesome option for pool-less arizona locals who are looking for a fun, but low-key, pool scene. and by low-key i mean that although it's in old town scottsdale, you don't need to have high-heels and full-face of make-up to attend. swear. the saguaro welcomes locals to enjoy the pool amenities. it's easy to get a comfy lounge spot without having to buy overpriced cabanas, the cocktails are tasty and the DJ plays a great poolside set. a great place to have some fun and escape the heat this summer.  

posts from past times we've spent at the saguaro scottsdale hotel here & here.