It’s been a great week visiting Andrew’s parents in the Phoenix area in Arizona—the weather has been in the 70’s all week long so we’ve enjoyed a bunch of hikes and outdoor jogging as well as some al fresco dining. We’re headed back to Brooklyn and some single-digit temperatures tomorrow, and while I’m not very excited about that weather, it will feel good to get back to my normal routine. AND, I’m going to be taking a five-session cooking class on essential techniques of fine cooking, which starts Wednesday! No doubt I’ll share a few tips from the class on the blog, so stay tuned for that.
Here are a few photos from this week in Arizona.
Hiking Tom’s Thumb Trail at the Sonoran Mountain Preserve:
A messy but delicious homemade beef Wellington for Christmas dinner:
Wild salmon with quinoa and roasted veggies at Farm & Craft:
Seasonal salad at Proof Canteen (we were sitting outside under heat lamps which is why the photo is red!):
Did you there are a bunch of Frank Lloyd Wright houses right in Phoenix? Most of them are private residences, so we could tour them, but we drove around to look at the exterior of five different houses. Two of my favorites are below.
Norman Lykes House:
David Wright House:
Besides going on our eating, hiking, and architecture adventures, we got to spend a lot of time with this cutie, Lucy! (She’s on Instagram here):
Brown Butter Pecan ice cream with Arizona pecans at Sweet Republic:
Roast pork with crackling for new year’s day (at 1 o’clock you can see some kind of rice and beans mixture—the grocery store was out of black-eyed peas, and all we could find that included them was this weird “protein mix” in the freezer section):
I hope everyone is off to a wonderful start to 2018!
lofigourmet.com 
Can’t wait to hear about the cooking class!
LikeLike