Local Eating during Independent's Week

This week LocalFirstAZ is celebrating independents (get it: for Independence Day) and one of our favorite ways to comply is by eating local.  We actually eat local most of the time when we go out, but this week, we are focusing on dining at local restaurants and/or food trucks..

Friday, we had dinner at La Hacienda www.LaHaciendaTucson.com

Saturday, for lunch with my 95 year old dad, we were at Lucky Wishbone for chicken and shrimp www.luckywishbone.com .

To lighten our load, at an early Saturday dinner, we stopped by the reopened Rincon Market and enjoyed their salad bar.  NOTE:  Their grand opening is all day 6/30 www.rinconmarket.com . 

 

 

Sunday, we are eating in, and Monday we will be doing a picnic on Mt. Lemmon and stopping my the cookie place in Winterhaven.  Who knows what Tuesday will bring, but Wednesday we will be at the localfirst mixer at Alfonso Oil Company on N. Oracle, chomping on bread, cheese and olive oil.  My guess is that local wine will also be available www.localfirstaz.com .  Through localfirst you can also get a $5.00 off summer discount card at many local businesses, including restaurants.

Tucson has no shortage of great local places to eat, including the Food Truck Round-Up and the Food Truck Rally. 

 So, please consider, eating local, especially during the summer!  And check out the upcoming event at http://facebook.com/dohappytoday

Tucson Local Food Fair and Farmer's Market at Rillito Park: Another BrightSpot

With this warm Spring, we lucked out and experienced a "below normal temps" Sunday.  Perfect for an outing to the first ever Local Food Fair, and, for us, a visit to the Farmer's Market regularly held at Rillito Downs Park. One of the sponsors for the Food Fair was LocalFirst/Tucson.  The breeze turned into a wind when we were leaving, but it didn't blow away the smiles or appetites.  We enjoyed a lamb pita with dilly-green beans and chocolate baklava, prepared by the Sunnyside High School/JTED Culinary Program (sorry no photo--we ate it fast, before Mark could take a picture.)

We also sampled a chicken and rice entre from Snow Peas, a "Modern Asian Kitchen" that is new to us.  We will try it out for a full meal when we are on Tucson's east side.  Check out their menu at www.facebook.com/SnowPeasAZ .

For "dessert" we each had the new pastry hit (modelled after the NY dossant), a part donut, part croissant (topped with maple bacon icing) from Prep and Pastry.  That's where I had my birthday tea and am still waiting for the owner to send me the detailed menu from it so I can post the menu with more of my birthday pictures.  Their pastry is in a photo below.  Check out their menu at www.prepandpastry.com .

The other photos are of the wonderful vegetables at the Farmer's Market.  We spent money and time and both booths featured below and got an earful of hydroponic gardening info from the enthusiastic student/gardeners from the UA. The garden is at the UA Campus Farm.

 Enjoy!!

 

 

Local First Arizona Mixer, Tucson

This week, Mark and I attended our first Local First Arizona Mixer at Creative Juice Art Bar www.creativejuicebar.com .  Both of our businesses have been Local First Arizona members since last November, but we haven't been to a Mixer before and now we think it will be regular "date" we had so much fun! 

We met some folks we knew and met quite a few that were "new" to us.  The experience at the Creative Juice Art Bar was just enough "art" for me to feel that I was capable of doing it.  Everyone had a complimentary wine glass, with wine served by Gallifant Cellars www.GCwine.com .  I tasted the pink and red wines and since it only takes a little bit of wine for me to get a buzz, I was willing to try painting the wine glass.  Paints, pallette, brushes and water were displayed on the tables and my finished product now holds the business cards I collected from this Mixer (and future ones).  Appetizers, pizza and a decandant flourless (gluten-free) chocolate caked were served by Renee's Organic Oven www.reneesorganicoven.com .  I went back for three servings of the artichoke cheese bruschetta and Mark had two thin slices of the cake, minus the bites I allowed myself.  There was a DJ and cool, easy music that kept the 70+ local business owners in an energetic and congenial mood--definitely enhanced by the artistic atmosphere and complimentary food.

Local First Arizona Tucson Coordinator, Deanna Cheavas, did a brief "update" of exciting Local First Arizona events and developments including the October launch of their Localism campaign.  I highly recommend you check out their website and sign-up for the newsletter and other ongoing updates from Local First Arizona.  And, of course:  go local!  www.localfirstaz.com .

Bentley's for Lunch: Our "get out of the computer cave" BrightSpot

One of the challenges of working at home is getting out from the "computer cave" (i.e. home office) and reconnecting with the world.  I have found myself slipping into a more solitary mode the past few weeks and, as a result, my mood shifted to match with our partially cloudy skies.

So, today, I purposefully said to my spouse, "We are going out to lunch today.  Where do you want to go?"  A friendly spot, just south Mountain Ave. and east on Speedway, is Bentley's where we know we can get an affordable and tasty lunch and order from a selection of specialty teas.  Lately, we have been adapting to our budget and waistlines and split a meal.  Here's today's special for lunch: turkey (on multigrain from Small Planet Bakery) with provolone, sprouts, lettuce and Roma tomatoes.  We ordered a side salad and, for $1.00, added a second side of fruit.

All elements were fresh and plentiful. The total was $11.00 and it was enough for both of us.  (And, we confess, we also split a fudge brownie/not pictured which was tasty to the last smooth crumb).  The energy in the room elevated our spirits: two toddlers were flitting around like butterflies, conversations were animated and, as always, the parade of patrons is worth an extended time for viewing.  Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea is also a member of Local First Arizona, so make sure you take time for stopping there and supporting one of the first local cafes in Tucson.

http://www.bentleyscoffeehouse.com/