Pepe's Taco Villa

2108 W Camelback Rd., Phoenix

This is where I did my Friday lunch thing this week. I am not sure I want to go there after dark but it was a pretty good lunch.

Oh yeah, the Yelp review

Fez Foodies

3815 N Central Ave., Phoenix

This is the name Thomas, the GM, has bestowed upon folks who come on 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month to try new items on the menu at Fez. Every so often he hosts a special event just for Yelpers and their friends/family. Yesterday from 4-6 was the time for this event. As usual he went all out again. I am guessing just under 30 folks total showed up. Thomas provided door prizes, happy hour drink pricing, and all the wonderful hummus and fry fread we could consume. We had a choice of ordering off the menu or trying a couple of special items, I chose the special items; a spinach/raspberry salad with walnuts and blue cheese and a flat iron steak with mashed red skinned potatoes and asparagus. And then finished off with a piece of cheesecake. Really good stuff. I would say roughly half of the party had the special. I have no clue why I did not take any food pictures until dessert arrived. Got to meet some new folks and chat with some Yelpers I already knew. With a beer and gratuity I dropped $40 so this is not a bargain place. But the food and prep are not bargain place type stuff either. A good time was had and I thought I was going to need assistance to my car.

Mamma Mia!

2008, Musical, Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan

I have missed out on seeing the stage production. Every time it has been in town I have either not had the money, the time or a date or a combination of them. I still want to see it and hope the screenplay has not ruined it for me. It was an excellent movie in my opinion.

Pinto bean hummus

A couple of weeks ago a Yelp friend had commented on a black bean hummus she had at Cafe Carumba. That spawned a discussion on how Hummus has come to commonly describe bean dips other than the basic Mediterranean fare made with garbanzo beans. Much the same way Tapenade is used for almost any spread containing olives in addition to the original recipe from Provencal, France. So I had some pinto beans in the cupboard and tossed in some stuff to make some dip.

1 cup pinto beans, soaked, cooked
Tahini
Sesame oil
small minced onion
minced garlic
olive oil
small can crushed olives
chili powder
kosher salt
lime juice

Notice I did not mention measurements in many cases. I just sort of tossed stuff in and in a few cases added some more after tasting. I bought real Tahini for this one and am not sure it worked any better than plain sesame oil which I normally have, by itself it tastes awful. I'll see how I like it with a more traditional hummus before I decide whether it is worth having around. I used some really hot chili powder in it and it gives a pleasant after burn but little up front taste, I think I would have been better served using Sriracha. Like many mixed things it improved setting in the fridge. I don't care what fancy name you give it, it's still bean dip. :-)

Normally stuff like this is prepared in a food processor. As you can see by the picture the 1-1/2 cup model I have is not really up to the task. Food processors are not that expensive but I am out of room in my little apartment for cooking toys. Last time I made hummus I used my blender and was not pleased because I would have had to thin it out more than I would have liked to make it really work well. So I stepped back about 4 decades and used a hand held electric mixer. It worked great!

Wet stuff

It is rather rare for us to get spring rains. A week ago we were in the 100s and this morning it was down to 68°. Yesterday it was threatening all day with no output and before my driver went home I remarked that it would only rain when I was leaving Costco. Should have kept my mouth shut! it started raining on the way there, was raining heavy as I left and shortly after I got my purchases inside it stopped for the night. It was sprinkling this morning again as I sat on the balcony with my coffee and I had to put on my rain gear to go to breakfast at Crazy Otto's. Three egg Denver omelet, a pile of potatoes and a piece of dry sour dough toast covered in country gravy.

Arizona rain gear

Wheels

No, I really couldn't afford a new car but the divorce agreement was written in better economic times. And I need a vehicle to deliver saw blades with. No cash out of pocket, 0% interest for 60 months. With the back seats down there is quite a bit of room back there. I can even put in 8' lumber by folding the RF seat back down. It even has it's own phone number.

OOPs

Over the weekend one of the lights above the vanity burned out. So I picked up a new one at Wal-Mart last night. Got home and removed the old one and lost control of it and it came crashing down. One of the rules dealing with sharp objects all day is if you lose it back away rather than trying to save the situation. As I did so I blinked and heard the shattering glass sound. Visions of shattered light bulb filled my head. As I looked upon the damage I saw a complete light bulb. Do you think that the used up bulb had broken? Of course not, the bulb was fine. What had shattered was the ceramic toothbrush holder. So I started a new Wal-Mart list as leaving the toothbrushes on the counter is not the most sanitary way of storage.

Facebook

OK, I finally bowed under pressure. I got tired of many of my Yelp friends telling me of albums they had on facebook. Already found out one of the people I knew in High School lives and works in the west valley. If somebody knows me well enough to know my full name I am not hard to find.

Gallo Blanco

401 W. Clarendon Ave., Phoenix, inside the Clarendon Hotel

website

My neighbor and I went there last night for PFN (Phoenix Friday Nights). Most of the folks there were Yelpers. We ate , drank and mingled by the pool for a few hours. Both of us had the little mini tacos. She spent many years in Mexico and assures me that is the way soft tacos get served down there. She also had grilled corn on the cob which comes slathered with Parmesan cheese and I think mayo. Good food, good drink (I had Hefeweizen and she had margaritas) and reasonable pricing.

The simple life of Noah Dearborn

1999, Sidney Poitier

A made for tv movie about a 91 year carpenter who is fighting to save his land from a developer. It is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Chicken cabinet cleaning casserole

Most of the cooking I did this weekend was with the intention of replenishing my supply of frozen leftovers for lunch. While the chicken, noodles and vegetables part of the menu did not vary the sauce certainly did. My intention was to make a thin chicken gravy with white sauce and chicken stock and then firm it up a bit with some eggs. The further through the bottle of wine I got the less I felt like that much effort.

This is what I ended up with:

2 chicken breasts
8oz noodles or pasta cooked to directions
16oz package of frozen veggies
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can cream of celery (or brocolli) soup
garlic, I used ground
Italian seasoning
bread crumbs, optional
Not used, but I wish I had some bacon to crumble in.

Cook chicken in microwave 8-10 minutes, until done. Set aside to cool.
Thaw veggies on counter about an hour. I used mixed but you could use almost anything.
In large mixing bowl combine soups, garlic, seasoning and stir.
Cook pasta. This time I used an old fashioned noodle which is a little thicker and not crinkly.
Cube chicken and add to bowl with pasta and veggies.
Fold into 3 qt baking dish.
Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Bake in pre heated 325° oven for 45 minutes.

It turned out better than I thought it would, and really did not take much effort. Now I have to replenish my stock of cooking soups, I do not recall using that many in any one month before.

Well Duh!

If all you do is plug the crock pot in and do not turn it on your dinner will not be ready when you get home. For some reason I remembered plugging it in but not turning it on (I think better in the past tense) around mid day so I went home for lunch and turned it on. There was no meat in it so there was no harm done. I suppose you are all just dying to read what I cooked. :-)

Simple crock pot beans

I seldom cook the same way twice.

I cup pinto beans. Soaked over night and rinsed
1 large can enchilada sauce, whatever heat you prefer. I used green medium.
2 medium onions, diced, less what I reserved for that morning's omelet.
1 heaping tablespoon ground garlic. Garlic makes everything good!
1/3 cup loosely packed brown sugar. I have used pure maple syrup too but be careful and only use a couple of tablespoons.
2 pinches very hot chili powder.

Turn on crock pot! Go to work, come home, eat. Hot from the oven cornbread goes really well with this.

Restaurant 28

5025 W. Olive Ave., Glendale

Website

This is where I had lunch on Friday. If you go to the website, it has not been updated to reflect the smaller location without room for the piano.

Yelp review:
"Almost couldn't find it. A few months ago I had seen the sign as I was driving by and after researching it I added it to the list of places I wanted to try for lunch. In that time they moved back to their old location next door and the sign moved with them and is harder to spot from the street. There is a large difference in size between the two suites and after a year of dealing with an economy that is poor they gave in and moved back. That leaves them with only 4 small tables. As I was the only customer at the time that wasn't a problem.

I had never been in there before and was greeted like an old friend by everybody. The whole atmosphere of the place feels like everybody enjoys being there.

I had the Friday special of beef tips, beans, potato salad, and I upgraded the roll to corn bread. To drink I had an unsweetened iced tea. Total was $12.39 including tax for a big pile of food. When the waitress asked if I had saved room for desert all I could do was laugh. Several of the sides seem to be purchased and something served me was warmed in the microwave. What their specialty is is the meat. Tender but still just a touch chewy, the way I like my Q. Sauce does not get added until it is served. I am sure the cornbread was baked there and I liked it because it is not very sweet. For a small place they have a large menu. So far, and I will try some other menu items, this is the best Q I have found this far West and the only decent one I can get to during a lunch.

The parking lot is a little hard to navigate with a full size truck if it is close to full. That contributed to a 3 instead of a 4 along with the purchased sides."