I dropped off the radar for the last few days, I know. But can you blame me? I am vacationing!!! And loving it too!
My hubby and I flew to Tucson AZ a few days ago and were in for a shock the first day--it was BROWN! I was hoping for some beauty that I imagined in my overactive brain, but going from green WA to brown AZ in a few hours was a SHOCK!
By day 2, however, AZ started growing on us. Dry heat, lovely mornings and evenings, gorgeous mountains... I could not complain. The heat made us eat less and drink a lot more water, but we still wanted to explore local offerings.
On the first day we headed over to Lovin' Spoonfuls, an all vegan restaurant. The food, although heavy with soy on most dishes, was AMAZING! There was nothing that we did not like. The mushroom soup--we gobbled it up, even my mushroom-hating hubby, along with some veggie burgers and salad. If you are in Tucson, this place is a MUST visit!!! [I will post some images later :)]
Then we stopped by Whole Foods and Trader Joes, grabbed few fresh fruits, greens and veggies and kicked back for the night. It was LOVELY, although produce is quite overpriced!
The day after we explored Tucson and Tombstone areas--loved it all, and the stories and images are coming.
On day 3 we headed out to Phoenix to meet up with our college friends. Not knowing what the offerings would be there I looked up a restaurant WAY ahead of time that I thought would be great to visit. The rave reviews online made me think that they surely deserved it.
Blue Nile Cafe--I was underwhelmed by their foods and offerings. An Ethiopian cuisine with vegan and raw vegan offerings DID NOT live up to its praises. I thought that their falafel salad was... pretty awful, and their raw cinnamon rolls could not be even placed in a category of good raw dessert. I could feel that the nuts were un-soaked [my body has an immediate reaction to acidity of un-soaked nuts], and they were lacking taste... and size. Having paid $7 I expected to see a portion that I could share with my hubby and friends, instead they brought out 4 tiny morsels that not only have an unpleasant to taste, but were also unpleasant to look at. I was expecting something like this:
but got NOTHING close to it, and felt quite embarrassed in front of our non-vegan friends. to have brought them there... TWO THUMBS DOWN!
On the other hand, we visited the city of Scottsdale--upscale, shopping heaven of any shopaholic, which I am not. The area abounds in various restaurant offerings and shopping as far as the eye could see. If we ever moved to AZ, I think Scottsdale would be a great contender in our decision making. Perfect for my photography business!
We stopped by a local pizzeria there... with way too many choices, none of which were vegan. We had a deep-dish pizza with no cheese [our waitress was shocked when I asked for a cheese-less pizza, and I had to repeat myself several times, which actually annoyed me a bit]. Pizza itself turned out pretty good but one sliced filled me up.
Today we had a different sort of experience--we hit 3 different farmer's markets. I was hoping for tables full of fresh produce... and was left underwhelmed once again. Most of foods sold were cooked/baked goods, candy, meat, etc. with little fresh produce to offer. We did, however, find a GREAT watermelon and lovely grapefruit. I am not a grapefruit eater but these fruit made me a covert. YUM!
I was disappointed, though, not to have found ANYONE selling fresh cacti! I was so hoping to try out a few different varieties and thought AZ would be the place to do it... Oh, well, that is my sob story and I will stick to it.
So, the rest of the time we are taking it easy--sun, pool, and my hubby's lovely company.
I will catch up with all of you lovely readers later.
