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Arizona Rentals BlogArizona Travel, Vacation Rentals and Exploring
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Good News for all of our winter visitors and summer renters! Arizona Lodging Experts just expanded into the west valley and we have a brand new vacation home in sunny Goodyear Arizona.
Goodyear Home
This property features a private pool that is fenced in for added safety.
Fenced pool area
An open great room floor plan with billiard table.
The living room with sectional sofa and chair.
The Master Suite.
Big waves on sandy beach looking towards the old port
I went to Puerto PenascoMexico (Rocky Point) for the first time in 20 years. The last time I visited I was just out of high school and drove down with some friends for Spring Break. This town has changed a whole lot. And not for the worse but for the better. All along Sandy Beach are beautiful high rise condos and beach front homes. I stayed in the newest building called Sonoran Sky and it was beautiful. The lobby of the Sky is gorgeous with tile flooring and large glass windows that look out to the ocean. They also have a gym that faces the pool area and the beach. I drove down in my own car and purchased Mexican Auto Insurancewhich was relatively cheap, only $45 for three nights. The parking lot at the Sonoran Sky is totally secure and I wasn’t worried in the least about leaving my car parked out there.
Sonoran Sky Pools and the beach at low tide
Riding horses on the beach.
All in all, the two days went by way to fast. I was really starting to relax and get into the swing of things too. I think next time I go to Rocky Point I’ll definitely want to stay one full week. Getting to Puerto Penasco from Phoenix is so easy too. It’s less then 3 hours to the border and once you cross it’s just 60 more miles to the beach, fun times and relaxation. I also wanted to say that at no time did I ever feel like I was in danger. There were always cars in front of me and behind me with Arizona plates, other tourist all going to the same place I was.
Sandy Beach looking towards Cholla BaySunset from Princessa
Good freinds Shea and Lolis sitting down for breakfast at Tacos Luis!
Tacos Luis in Puerto Penasco. This is were you come for breakfast if you want to eat good like the locals do!
El Poblano Tacos - The best Carne Asada and Pastor
Shea, Lolis and Santana at Santana's Coffe in the old port - Rocky Point.
The best seafood in Rocky Point. Get the 7-seas soup. It's so good.
Live crab - just off the boat. Only $1 per crab!
Jumbo shrimp from '3 Boys II' in the Malacon - Rocky Point Only $7US per pound of Jumbo Shrimp.
My good freind Lolis enjoying the Pastor Tacos at El Poblano in Rocky Point.
Sedona, Arizona's Famous Red Rocks
Snow Covered Mountain in the Distance
Sedona, Arizona
I have a wonderful appetizer that you can serve at your next family gathering, and it will be “love at first bite”! This recipe was inspired by the Jerome Brewery in Jerome, Arizona.
This recipe is called Chef-Shea’s Artichoke Bruchetta.
Here are the ingredients you will need.
(This recipe feeds 3 to 5 people)
3 Medium to Large Artichokes
1/2 – 1 Cup of Mayonnaise
1 5oz Container of Shredded Parmesan/Reggiano
Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
First, you will need to steam the artichokes in a large pan for 40 to 45 minutes so the leaves and heart get nice and soft. You will want to add water about every 15 minutes or so to ensure that you don’t run dry during the steaming process. It can evaporate fast if you’re not watching. Cover the pan and let the steam go to work, checking every 15 minutes when you add water.
Steamed Artichokes
Once the artichokes are steamed to perfection, you can remove them from the steamer and place them on a large plate to cool for a few minutes. You don’t want to “dive right in” and begin shucking and scraping the leaves because they are piping hot right now. Let them cool a little, but not too long.
steamed for 45 minutes
Now, after a short cooling down period, you want to begin to remove the leaves one by one and scrape each leaf from top to bottom with a spoon to scrape off all the wonderful soft “meat” and then put the goodies you scraped in a bowl for mixing later. You will get a good amount of scrapings from the leaves, which you will add together with the artichoke heart, once you reach the heart of each artichoke. For each heart, all you want to do is scrape off the fuzzy part on top of the heart and cut off any of the green stem left on the bottom, so all you have left is a clean artichoke heart, like so.
Now we need to mash the artichoke hearts with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of mayonnaise, depending on how much scraping you end up with, and a 1/2 cup of parmesan reggiano cheese. Add ground black pepper to taste. Mash with a fork until creamy and spreadable.
creamy artichoke goodness!
Turn the over to 400 degrees.
Next, you want to arrange some slices of bread on a baking sheet and spread your fresh bruchetta over as many pieces as possible until the mash is all gone. You also want to sprinkle a little more cheese over each piece as well. When the oven reaches temperature, you want to place the cooking sheet in the oven on the middle rack and set the timer for about 8 to 10 minutes. Here is the end result!
Ready to eat!
My wife and I love to use a nice fresh round loaf of Italian bread. This tasty treat will delight everyone who tries it. Enjoy!
Squeaky Green Sudz
A few months ago I switched from using my usual mass produced body soap that we all get from our local grocery store and started using some real good Organic Soaps from a local company called Squeaky Green Sudz. I can tell you that I noticed a real difference almost immediately. My skin always feels better moisturized and softer when using a good organic soap. Now that I look back at it, whenever I would use the major “brand name” soaps, my skin would always feel dry and leathery afterwards. Especially the Arizona water. We are known for having hard water which leaves your skin feeling dry. The fact that Squeaky Clean Sudz soaps have such wonderful scents doesn’t hurt either. My favorites are the Bay Rum and the Honey Almond soaps. You can check out the large assortment of soaps available on the shop section of their web page. They also sell gift baskets. Pretty cool!
I just found out about this cool Ice Cream Shop in north Scottsdale called Sweet Republic and I’m excited to go to the store and check out their menu. It looks like they have some really different and seemingly strange flavors on menu, like the Cheese Course Duo which is a pairing of Roquefort blue cheese and Arizona Medjool dates.
Sweet Republic also has somewhat more conventional, although not that common of flavors that you would normally see, like the Salted Butter Carmel flavor and the Real Mint Chip. The web page say’s they have 24 flavors available daily and seasonal flavors like Eggnog, Pumpkin Spice and Sweet Corn.
It looks like this shop has been mentioned by the press including bon appetit, and they have won the much coveted New Times Best of Phoenix.
I would recommend all of Arizona Lodging Experts guest to visit this shop when they come to Scottsdale. We actually have two vacation homes that are less then a mile from this shop. We have Arroyo Madera #154 and Arroyo Madera #142.
My wife and I would like to share our “Spicy Chicken Breast” recipe with everyone, so you can enjoy the amazing flavors and endless dinner possibilities that will come from this one simple recipe. So let’s get right to it!
Here are the ingredients you will need.
(Feeds 2 to 4 people)
4 Large Chicken Breast
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Stubbs Moppin Sauce (12oz bottle)
Beef Broth
Salt & Pepper (and any other spices you love)
Now, I need to mention that you will be cooking this delicious meal in the oven for one hour and thirty minutes, so give yourself some lead time to make sure dinner is ready when you are ready to eat, okay.
First, you want to turn the oven to 325 degrees. Now let’s go ahead and clean the fat of the chicken breast, if needed, and butterfly any thicker breast into thinner pieces or cut them into two pieces if you want. Medium to small pieces is fine for this meal and they will cook just how we want them to. Now add your salt and pepper (to taste) and any other spices you enjoy. Remember, this is “spicy” chicken, so you may want to add some additional ingredients to make it a little hotter. Here are the spices my wife and I use in our dish which gives it a nice spicy flavor, but its not hot for wimps like me that can’t handle really spicy food.
Lawrey’s (about 6 to 7 shakes)
Garlic Sea Salt (grinder-3 or 4 turns)
Peppercorn (grinder 8 to 10 turns)
Black Pepper (grinder 8 to 10 turns)
Ground White Pepper (large pinch)
Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle (6 good shakes)
— next 4 ingredients 1/2 tsp each —
Ground Cayenne
Ground Paprika
Ground Chorizo
Ground New Mexico Chili Pepper
Now before you mix your spices and sprinkle them all over the chicken, put a little olive oil on the chicken so the spices stick like glue. Cover the chicken evenly with the wonderful spices. Next we want to prep our cooking dish. For the amount of chicken you have, you want to use one large pan or two mediums pans. First, add about 1 table spoon of olive oil to the bottom of the pan and 1/2 cup of beef broth. This will ensure the chicken doesn’t stick and stays nice and moist during cooking. Now, put your chicken breast in the pan nice and even (touching each other is fine) and cover generously with 1/2 a bottle of Stubbs moppin sauce. It should look something like this:
Next, put the chicken in the oven (middle rack) and set a time for 1 and 1/2 hours. Now, just sit back, enjoy a cold drink and wait for the magic to happen. For some amazing reason, which I am truly grateful for, the Stubbs sauce breaks down during the cooking process and mixes with the oil and broth to create this amazing spicy oil-juice that you can save and use on other dishes such as “Chef-Shea’s Spicy Chicken Green Chili Cheese Enchiladas”, which I will share with you another time, I promise!
(Sneak Peak)
Spicy Chicken Green Chili Cheese Enchiladas
Once you finally hear the timer go “ding”, it is time to sample some of the best chicken breast you will ever taste!
Spicy Chichen Breast 325 degrees - 1 1/2 hours
You can serve them any way you want to, maybe with a side of veggies and mashed potatoes and a side salad, or maximize your dish and make some tasty spicy tacos or spicy chicken cheese enchiladas. The chicken is fork tender now and full of great flavor. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do, and don’t forget to save the juices in the pan for later use.
Happy Eats Everyone!
And to all of our visitors that are renting one of the premier Homes, Townhomes or Condos from Arizona Lodging Experts, we hope you too can enjoy some wonderful home cooked meals and margaritas during your stay “thanks to great blogs like these”!
Opening day for Spring Training is right around the corner, March 4th 2010 and I’m starting to get excited. Honestly I can hardly wait for it. I love going to the downtown Scottsdale stadium to watch the Cubs and the Giants slug it out. By the time we hit the 7th inning stretch were all going to be singing “Take me out the ball game” while chomping down on hot dogs, drinking a cold beverage and soaking in the sunshine in the awesome 70-degree temperatures.
I know for a fact many of Arizona Lodging Experts guest have come here specifically for the baseball games so I have a free tip for all of you! At the Giants home games Scottsdale’s downtown office will be distributing a Spring Training Coupon Book. Be on the lookout for it as the book has a lot of worthwhile coupons in it.
You can also buy your general admission tickets online at www.SFGiants.com/Spring
Play Ball!!!!!
The Praying Monk
My wife and I took this photo one afternoon while driving by the Praying Monk at Echo Canyon. The Praying Monk is a unique rock formation that looks like a monk kneeling to pray (top-right side). Here is a clear outlined view, just in case you don’t see it.
When you hike the main trail at Camelback Mountain/Echo Canyon, you will pass right by the Monk himself, so don’t be nervous, okay. Just continue to enjoy your hike and as you climb higher and higher on the mountain and begin to see the spectacular views before your very eyes. Because the trails are open from sun up to sun down, the top of Camelback Mountain is the ideal place to be at sunrise and sunset, if you are someone who enjoys memorable moments such as these, which many of us do, right?! Make sure to always bring plenty of water on your hikes, even if you think it’s not hot outside, and if you have room, grab you cameras too. You will be glad you did.
If you ever need premier lodging so you can come and enjoy the local sites and sounds here in beautiful, sunny Arizona, then don’t hesitate to call Spencer and Scott at Arizona Lodging Experts. With over 15 years experience and a great variety of lodging to choose from, Arizona Lodging Experts is the best of the best!
Oh, and the weather will be in the mid to upper 70’s for the next few weeks while we move toward Spring where it will stay in the low 80’s for a spell. Some come and enjoy this amazing weather everyone.