CHIPOTLE !!!

 Now, who couldn't possibly love a good dose of Chipotle??  History was made last week as the first Chipotle opened up in Prescott.  The burritos are stomach stretching monstrous.  If there's one thing I don't like, it's walking away from a great restaurant feeling miserably full.  So, the usual is the vegetarian burrito.  I can eat it all and feel nowhere near full.  The only feeling is that of satisfaction.  All the great fresh organic/natural ingredients makes it even better.  A little lemon squeeze on the guacamole dip gives it that extra freshness.    It all tasted just as good as it did in Phoenix back when I was making weekly weekend  business trips several years ago.  Chipotle was a favorite stop then....and it was definitely some kinda heaven today.

seed sower

inside the Grand Canyon University Arena at the station table

There is truly nothing like those moments where God reveals himself in ways that do nothing but catch you by surprise...followed by humility, humbleness and the supernatural satisfaction of having been reminded that living in His will and control is far better than anything we could dream up for ourselves......

It was Sunday.  Three days after my 39th birthday.  That one that tends to be the resounding reminder [for some] that #40 is only 365 days away.  Mike's intention was to treat me to a day of culinary pampering before and after working the Third Day concert.  The night before we were out with the kids at a Sundogs' hockey game...thanks to Tim and Jamie for the free tickets.  Not watching the clock Mike later stayed up with the kids to watch a movie that ended at 1am.  So, it was a good thing we slept in.  But not for long.  Driving down the mountains to Phoenix is rather time consuming.

Mike wanted to check out the Filipino Red Ribbon restaurant in the Arizona Mills mall.  We weren't really all that sure what to expect when we got there.  Next to the food court, it was in a small sit down space with a very limited savory menu.  However, the desserts were a plenty.  We chose to indulge in what more the food court had to offer for the main course.  Then we walked back into the Red Ribbon where we enjoyed a few yummies [ube and chiffon cake].  They were quite the yummy-licious symphony.  While our druthers included a halo halo, the cakes were good and helped literally fill us up to the brim.  We purchased several bags of pandesol to take home as our Thanksgiving dinner rolls.

what's any cake without some whip cream on top?

We arrived at the Grand Canyon University at the same time that David and Jay Lene did.  Micah White is incredible  with his public relations skills making sure that everything goes smoothly....and continuing to build relationships during events to keep his work plate over flowing.  Seems to be a very easy going person almost incapable of stress or frustration.  

It's always fascinating when I'm behind the table to see/meet the various people Michael has built relationships with over the past decade in Arizona.  It's also weird, at the same time, to be introduced as "the wife" they know so much about...yet I know none of them.  After ten years, I still really don't know what to do with that.  Or, does anything necessarily have to be done with that?  One of the ticket winners that approached our table, during intermission,  had driven down from Flagstaff.  Oofta!  That's twice the distance as Prescott/Prescott Valley.  So, what....three hours for him?  He was quite the fascinating character with so much to share of God's profound impact on his life. Because of my earlier days of having wastefully occupied my time in front of the television, I was more than well aware of what he was talking about as far as his career goes.  He's one of those guys that operates those monstrous cranes [at the top of the crane] loading and unloading shipping crates in ship yards.  Crane operators make up to 600k/year.    His work is in Dutch, Alaska where he says 1/4 of the population is that of Filipinos.   He's spending one of his three month work breaks to spend his time and money with/on his young boys.  Working three months.  Off three months.  What a nice set up.  However, he was quite interested in us as well.  After a few questions the subject settled onto or pending move to the islands as media missionaries and a little background information on the young people of the Philippines.  He asked to pray for us, took our hands...and did just that.  WOW.  Then the most fascinating God moment took place. He asks, "Can I do something?  I want to sow seeds into what you guys are getting ready to do.  I want to help fund your work."  Just as I was starting to explain how he could do that via our website [for which I wrote down the URL on a piece of paper for him minutes earlier] he says, "I want to give you some cash right now."  He pulls out his wallet, starts counting ["one, two, three.."] and hands Mike $400.  Yah, what do you follow that with but a heart full of gratitude, humbleness and "Thank-you"?  You don't.  You just let God bless you and you give no one but him all the credit for it.  After all, his blessings don't stop with you.  Imagine how self centered the Christian mentality would be if his love, grace, mercy and other blessings did.  However, his intent is that those blessings get shared/spread around the world for HIS glory and no one else's.  It's his global plan as he uses every single one of us individuals for his purpose.  It's that big picture of his that reveals the greatest [and] most incredible life purpose beyond ourselves, and is far bigger than us, that can't be explained in human words. Those $400 are for the Filipino people ["my" people], the Philippines...and the rest of the world that still needs to be introduced to a personal relationship with him.  It's for him.  This isn't the first time we've been blessed with such a big gift.  Yet, it was this night, and this incident, that seemed particularly fascinating for reasons I haven't quite found the words for.

As we drove away, later, we gabbed of God's amazing methods of proving just how strongly he desires to work through us...thus, how he clearly intends to keep his promise of continuing to provide for all our needs to get us to the Philippines....for Him.

on the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel  for some sweet tea......

.....and some great southern food.  Fried okra is always a must.

pacific seafood

Feb 3, 2011

Something Asian.  Something seafoodish. Something buffet-ish. That's what Mike wanted for his celebratory dinner.  Now he's two years away from turning "over the hill".  Since I'm close myself, there's been more notice-taking of how the 40's offers youthful hope.  It may not need to be such a dreaded milestone after all.....er...um....we hope.  Ha!

Phoenix's Pacific Seafood Buffet looked promising with over a hundred different offered items.  What was interesting was the limited indulgence of crab....both steamed and fried.  The steamed ones disappeared even faster creating a competitive line.  What an odd sprint moment to be in it with very young orientals with adrenaline to get our tab's fair share.  The steamed meat was so much easier to pull out of the shell than the fried meat.  [A point taken for future maw shoving].  The fried meat was that stubbornly attached to the shell.  This hardly seemed to be the "appropriate" setting to be shoving any kind of food up into my maw with greased fingers as a result.  Until today, I'd never been to a seafood buffet restaurant where steamed crab was so limited.  We were there 1 1/2 hours taking our gormandizing time and it was only ever replenished two....maybe three times.  That was the only disappointment.

Unlike Mike, I discovered that no matter how flavorful the seasoning, octopus will never be any level of affinity. Bleh......

This was the second or third day I was experiencing the affects of not having been on any green food supplement for over three months.  So, not only was the fatigue at it's highest, but it was accompanied by headaches that didn't want to go away.  I found myself pining for some bowen works and/or the energy to use the tension releasing magic balls I'd purchased at Costco days prior.  However, it took three mores days of the unpleasantries to make the connection.  Of course, within just a few hours of having gotten some of the berry green down the feeling of pounding head compression was almost entirely gone after the Super Bowl party. 

The deserts were just as unimpressive as that of any other buffet restaurant.

cracker barrel

It's mom's last day here with us and she wanted to take us out for lunch.  She wanted Cracker Barrel.  Unfortunately, we had to wait nearly an hour for Mike to get out of a meeting with Steve.  Fortunately, for me, Tricia was there so we had a little bit of jibber jabber time before she headed out for her lunch break.

The nostalgia of Cracker Barrel is perfect for our area.  Quaint, warm and country-fide.  The gift shop was, no surprise, decked out for the Christmas season.  

Motivation to decorate a christmas tree has escaped me for the past several years.  Sure, it's a fun memory maker for kids.  However, I doubt it will be a source of resentment and bitterness.  Kids actually do care more about the bigger things in life.  An honest thought to buy, but no....I didn't...... 

Should I ever decorate a tree again....white would definitely be the color theme....

Oh, my.....what a BEAUTIFUL purchase that would be!

Yah, there's definitely something beautiful about white.... 

I didn't bother to check the price tags.....

but it was nice to look at.....

Red is definitely a Christmas color....

If only to escape santa who seams to permeate everything holidayish everywhere we go.......

and beneath all that.....

I wanted a window seat....

Okay....that sounds like a plane seating order....but none the less, I like sitting by the window.  The heater was right under it which was really great on this very cold and blustery day....

There's nothing more country-side-dishy than fried okra....

went great with the meatloaf, green beans and mashed potatoes.....

mom wanted dessert so we shared the pecan apple struesel pie.....

divinely perfect....do I dare try it at home?  Maybe....just maybe one day.....

Tonight Sierra and Tori learned, for the first time, of the pending trip to Manila in May.  They had no problem verbalizing their desire to go with us.  The idea of being left out of an intriguing adventure doesn't typically go well with most kids.  

Cheesecake Factory

A 'las!  After responding to countless heart and ego stimulating yummy-licious birthday greetings on my facebook wall, I can now concentrate on blogging of the fabulously divine birthday-DAY.  The day before I picked mom up at the airport shuttle drop off.  The kids were so excited to have her.  They greeted us jumping up and down by the drive way.  Cute.  In the morning Mike took the kids on to school.  How perfect that my birthday landed on his weekly day off [Wednesday] this year!  

I wanted my birthday morning coffee in my new fall mug I found at the dollar store....

Then Mike pointed out the warning label I so airheadedly missed before purchasing several days ago at el chipo-mart....

I'm guessing there's led in the paint that even the shimmering finish can't protect any drinker from.  But not to be too discouraged.  Mom had brought me a birthday mug she found in California....

Yes, I laughed with MUCH satisfaction!

Mike made the Filipino [birthday] breakfast of beef tapa, rice, and eggs fried just the way I like them...garnished with tomatoes....

After shopping with Kelly [Blackwell-station secretary] at Costco for my various lettuces [romain, mixed greens and some avocados] and being an ear for Trish Lewis (I REALLY like her!)....I picked the kids up from school and then Mike and I enjoyed the leisure drive down to Phoenix.  First we stopped at the Fry's electronics on Thunderbird.  That's one crazy tech happening place.  Good gravy!  We were looking for a blue ray movie player that can do several tasks: netflix, web, pandora...etc.  Happy to type that they had the better deal compared to Wal-mart.  Bad for Wal-mart, good for us.  I'm beginning to dislike Wal-mart as it is.  But oh, well...should there be found a need to dedicate a carping entry for that subject later....welp, I'll leave the rest of the comments for that.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory up from Thunderbird, off of 83rd.  There are TONS of eateries in that area.  Americans have it good as far as culinary entertainment goes.  Much to pick from in every major city...and yet, so many seem to stay bored.  They don't know how to just be still and enjoy some peace and quiet.  Oops, does that include me?  Great for the industry, though....and good for the currently declining economy, yah?    

The mango margarita.....deletably divine.  I asked for half the tequila.  It was still very good.....

Mike's appetizer: spinach dip.  Comes with chips and tomatoes....

I had the Thai lettuce wrap all to myself....

....and I couldn't finish it.....so do you think I could really dig into the luau luau salad?  The fried egg roll wrappers I knew would go soggy if I didn't eat them up.  And that's all I ate of the salad...the rest was a great lunch for today.  Do these pictures do the salad justice??   It was evening...so no daylight.  It was uncomfortable to be setting off the camera flash but difficult to be discrete. Maybe you can get an idea of just how BIG the salad is [just like every other CF dish] when clicking on the photo.  Hmmm.....

Mike's was a nice juicy medium cooked steak with country "flavored" mashed potatoes and fried asparagus....

the onions got tossed to the side.....

With a great cup of coffee, never leave the Cheesecake Factory without some lip lickin' cheesecake!  Mike couldn't finish the Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate cheesecake....

from the Cheesecake Factory website 

Yah.....lick those lips after hitting the picture for a bigger deletable view....!!!

....and I could only eat one bite of the red velvet cheesecake....

from the Cheesecake Factory website

...did you click on it for a bigger lip lickin' view?  I couldn't pass up something so stunningly vibrant!  They were both good to....

the last bite as the perfect after-"party" leftovers!

I've now been walking, breathing, eating, drinking, running and living on this earth for 38 years.  Definitely looking forward to new ventures God has in store for us!!!!

sweet tomatoes

Sweet Tomatoes is one of our favorites in Phoenix.  A salad lover's paradise.  Tyler was more than happy to come along and enjoy the fresh goods too.....

After three weeks on the Hcg diet...Mike was more than happy to indulge in a few extra goodies....

My splurge was the coke.  

who doesn't like a good oriental chicken salad? ......mmmmm!!!!!

Clam chowder is ALWAYS excellent with salad.  With Tyler's mistaken spillage of the cheese bread into the chowder [when bringing it to me] turns out to be a delectable combination.  

so....that's my new favorite way to enjoy clam chowder......

Michael does the perfect impersonation of his tastebuds' psychotic excitement....

and he adds the guey delight of mac-n-cheese to their happy dance...

Tyler's insanely brain freezing indulgence....

.....and despite all that splurging....Mike still lost a couple more pounds....CRAZY!