Arizona

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One of the things that I missed the last time I was in Scottsdale was the Old Town and all of its restaurants and shops. That’s the trouble with work trips; I often don’t get to leave the hotel property!

On this trip, we had group dinners on the second night of the sales and marketing meetings, and our group went to Cowboy Ciao. I was immediately excited when I found out about this as I saw their massive wine list.

We had a big group and were seated at a bunch of tables arranged to form a square so that we were all able to see each other. It made for a fun and boisterous evening!

When we arrived, our company’s owner ordered several bottles of Nicholas Feuillatte  brut champagne. Its bubbly, yeasty nose and smooth, crisp taste made it the perfect bubbly to toast with.

We also started with several appetizers:

Exotic mushroom pan fry

mucho mushrooms (including cremini, button, oyster, cepe, lobster, black trumpet, shiitake, morel, yellow foot) in ancho cream over double-cooked polenta, topped
with grilled portabellini, avocado, tomato and cotija cheese … our signature dish

Dungeness crab stack

mixture of crab and avocado, shaved fennel, lemon/tarragon vinaigrette, grape tomatoes

Yummy bruschetta

Our waiter also brought out a few dishes of their famous chopped salad to try. It combines all sorts of stuff like smoked salmon and trail mix! The flavor and texture combo was incredible and provided salty/sweet/crunchy/creamy goodness. Next time I would totally get this salad!

With our dinner, we drank Roth Cabernet Sauvignon. This fruit forward, delightfully satisfying wine, went well with my entree, a meaty halibut with coconut sweet potatoes! Sweet potatoes and coconut make the most decadent flavor combination in the world. I enjoyed the halibut immensely, but I definitely ate more of the potatoes. NOM.

By the time dessert time came around, I was stuffed but able to have a bite or two of my colleague’s bread pudding. Yum.

If you are ever in Scottsdale and want an interesting and delicious dinner, I would definitely recommend Cowboy Ciao.

Does your company have group dinners? Any favorite places?

Tags: Arizona, Food, restaurant

By the time this posts, I will be on a plane back to Boston, yet another national sales and marketing meeting over and preparing for a manic 2.5 work days before I leave for IRELAND on Friday. Woohoo!

The highlight of my lovely and busy trip to Scottsdale was most definitely the 6.5 mile guided hike that we took on Sunday afternoon. After a long morning that started with meeting room setup at 6:40, I was ready to be outside and away from laptops and presentations for the day!

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Blurry photo of the beautiful sunrise

Our guides picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the base of South Mountain in Phoenix where we split into a couple of groups based on how far we wanted to hike. Because I wanted to get a good workout in and because I am hardcore 🙂 I chose the fastest, longest hike. The guide setting the pace was not messing around. . . she took off, and we scurried along behind her.

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In the first 20 minutes or so, I honestly started to get a little worried. The very dry air, combined with our quick pace and the hilly terrain had me huffing and puffing. I started to wonder if my legs were still fatigued from my long run earlier in the week. Sometimes I think I am out of shape when I am just overly tired. Do you ever get like that?

After some time, I got into the swing of things and started really enjoying powering up and down each of the hills. The scenery was so amazing.

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Petro glyphs

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Along our way, we climbed many hills, scaled our way down some very slippery rocks, squeezed between giant rocks in a space so narrow I thought I was going to get stuck, and saw three coyotes! I was most excited about the coyotes because I was really hoping to see some wild animals! Luckily they were about 25 feet away and ran into and across a ravine when they saw us. Also lucky, it was not rattlesnake season so we did not have to worry about seeing any of those!

Our guides were very helpful, knowledgeable and interesting, and they had plenty of water and snacks for us.

After the hike, feeling exhilarated and exhausted, we all headed back to the hotel for drinks by the fire pit. I had one Italian mojito made with basil, then called it a night to take a hot shower and order room service.

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Sicilian tuna sandwich with green olive tapenade

The protein in the tuna hit the spot. I have been eating piles of veggies and staying pretty healthy but definitely lacking in the protein department. I need it with all of the activity going on!

So, I am looking forward to sleeping in my bed for a couple of nights, seeing my hubby and my cats, and getting a couple of workouts in. I won’t lie, I really wish I lived in a warmer climate like Arizona so that I could exercise outside year round. I think it would be amazing to be able to mountain bike, hike, run, kayak, and walk in the mountains in the winter. I am thinking I just need to do more fun winter sports. LOVE being active and outside!

I hope you are all doing well! I am way behind in blog commenting, but I will be back someday soon. Thanks for reading!! 🙂

Tags: Arizona, Food, hiking, Travel

Hi everyone! I hope you have enjoyed the two guest posts I have posted so far. Arizona is soooo warm and dry! What a difference from Boston. On Friday morning I left this:

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After five hours on a plane (bless the pilot for getting us to Phoenix an hour early!) I arrived to find this:

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After a quick cab ride, we were at our resort in Scottsdale. More on that later. Because we got in so early, I was able to move my long run from Sunday to Friday, allowing me to go on the group hike in the desert on Sunday. I set out from the hotel with a little map and hope that I would be okay with such a dramatic climate change.

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I won’t lie. It was rough. I am not a hot weather runner. I may complain about the cold, but I would rather run in 35 degrees than 70 any day I just bundle up and end up taking off layers. Running in Arizona, I was in shorts and a tank top and was hot. That kind of hot where my hands swell up and I feel a little nauseous. As a result, I walked a little more than normal. No point in making myself sick or injured over one run.

Part of the route that I took brought me through a golf course, and was I ever happy to see this:

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I know, it was for golfers, not for me, but I had a few small cups on my way out and then on my way back again. I think it saved the run!

Overall I spent 2.5 hours on the move, some walking, some running, all sweating and hands swelling.

I haven’t been taking many food photos, but last night I had a mountain of roasted red peppers with spinach artichoke dip, salmon, and a variety of salads including a shrimp and rice salad and a Nicoise salad with lots of olives and haricots verts. I also got to drink the Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc I chose for the reception. More on my AZ food later. There has been LOTS of it .  . .

I was happy to get the long run over with, and even though it wasn’t great, I am quite proud of being able to get off of a long flight and to start running right away.

I will be back as soon as I can with full food and wine recaps, plus coverage of my desert hike.

Happy Sunday!

Tags: Arizona, running, Travel

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