Zona 78, West Tucson

On vacation a few weeks ago, our innkeeper recommended Zona 78. It's close, and it's Italian, so we said, "Why not?" Little did we know what a treat we were in for!

Zona 78 makes most, if not all, of their cheeses and noodles in house. How sweet is that? Plus, they try to use local produce. It might not all be organic, but they sure seem to be health-conscious to those who are trying to make good choices. Beyond that, the aesthetic value was pleasing. While it's located in a strip of stores, which first made me wonder about the atmosphere, we were greeted at the door and shown right to a seat without a wait. They have a bar area, tables, or booths, whichever your preference. We sat at a booth, and the lights weren't too bright, but they weren't too dim either. (I personally hate it when it's so dark that I can't see the food I'm eating. Read: What are they trying to hide?) Families as well as couples filled the restaurant, and I could quickly tell that it was a popular place, even for a Thursday night.

When ordering, we decided to try their BBQ chicken pizza, by recommendation of our server. We soon found out why:  a thin crust with chicken, crispy bacon, caramelized onions, and fresh mozzarella cheese in perfect combination. We easily ate the whole thing!!

But I get ahead of myself. We enjoyed an appetizer too- Local Tomato and Mozzarella Bruschetta. They have a different take on it, because the slice the cheese and tomato, and bring out this great creamy balsamic vinegar sauce. It was tasty!!

On our way out, the door was open for us again, and the attendants were very conversational. As we were about to pull away, the manager came up to give us a coupon for a free appetizer when we returned the next time. We explained that we were just vacationing, but really enjoyed ourselves, and left.

Well, well, two nights later, we easily decided to go back. And guess what? The manager actually remembered us and made a point to come to our table and say thanks for coming back. Now that is good customer service, right? I was impressed. So we used our coupon to order the Bianco Pizza, an appetizer, and then split the Rigatoni Bolognese. It was plenty for both of us, and the homemade ricotta was very good. I only wished I lived in Tucson so I could make it a regular stopping point!!

A Growing Garden

My first garden is doing quite well! We put up a chicken wire fence to keep some of the small animals out a few weeks ago, and everything is growing well. It looks even better than this picture that I took a few days ago!

The corn is about three feet tall, and my tomato plants are a little shorter than that. I even have a few blooms on the tomato plants. (Thanks dad for the stakes). My beans are really starting to expand, and I can't wait for fresh green beans!! Oh, it just sounds so good! And my peas are looking tasty as well. I've counted several pods forming, though they aren't ready to pick yet.

I have only weeded twice or so, and even then the weeds weren't too bad. I'm so thankful for that! I did have trouble with bugs getting the bean plants early on, but they seem to be doing better now. That diatomaceous earth stuff must work, and it's supposed to be organic too. Needless to say, I always rinse things really well before we eat or preserve them.

I am hoping that by the end of the month, I will have fresh peas at least, and maybe green beans soon after. Yum!!

Making Strawberry Freezer Jam

Making strawberry freezer jam wasn't as hard as I thought. Of course, they probably have to test the directions on a bunch of people before they print them, but still, I was pleasantly surprised that all of my jam set up like it was supposed to in the 24 hour waiting period before I put it in the freezer to store. The hardest part (or most tiresome) is actually cutting and mashing the berries up. Mine were freshly picked from my parent's patch, but they had a few spots to work around and you are supposed to mash them with a potato masher, one cup at a time. (My arm is now sore, but for the record I did two cups at a time and it worked fine)  Still, it was worth the effort and I did four batches. Not all of them are even in the picture.

 

I also tried the less-sugar needed recipe, which calls for Splenda. But it's not a freezer recipe, it is a cooked recipe. I personally don't like that as much, but it is a ton less sugar (twelve small packs of Splenda compared to four cups of sugar). So it does help in that aspect. All in all, I will stick with the freezer jam, or maybe look up another recipe for less sugar that is a freezer jam recipe. Those just seem fresher when you actually use them.

Thanks for a successful canning session, Sure Jell.

Tucker's of Over the Rhine

Two weeks ago I ate at Tucker's in Over the Rhine. Wow! I felt like Guy Fieri really needs to feature this place on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It's totally unassuming, and almost doesn't even look like a resaurant from the outside. The place can't be more than 20 feet wide and 45 feet long. The food prep area is on the left side of the restaurant, with a counter to eat at right next to it. Maybe 6-8 booths line the right side. Just from appearances, I wouldn't know to even go there if a friend hadn't recommended it, but it was so worth it!! The place was packed!

From the menu, it looks like they do a lot of breakfast, but have other typical American mainstays as well. I ordered the french toast with hashbrowns on the side. And here's what it looked like: Yum, huh? It tasted that good too!

 My friend got this plate. Looks pretty tasty too!!

The whole staff was very friendly too, and made you feel like your were eating in your own kitchen. I was really impressed. I hope to bring my husband back to try it the next time we go to Cincinatti. In fact, we might drive the hour to Cincy just to eat here! Yes, it was that amazing. Be sure to try it!!

A few other pics from the group I was with... you can tell they are enjoying their food!

Busy... of course!

The last few weeks since I've blogged have been busy. Of course, it always gets this way at the end of the school year, and by the time summer gets here and I don't have to use an alarm, I sleep ten hours a night at least. (I think that whole sleep debt theory is true!)

So, since I last blogged, I got back from chaperoning a school trip, graded final projects, submitted senior grades, organized a class party, cleaned to house, did about 10 loads of laundry, supervised the wood laminate floor being but down in my house, helped with after-school tutoring, painted the shed, planted some plants, and made (and ate) carmel twists. Whew! Oh, and went shopping with my best friend! It is so nice to be back in Ohio and be able to actually hang out!

This week I have a banquet on Tuesday, church Wednesday, graduation Thursday, and then over the weekend my in-laws will be in to help put on the roof. Justin's trying to have the floor down in a few more rooms before they get here- I hope he is able to! All these projects get a little stressful, but I always like the end results. So it's worth it...

My garden is growing. My peas have been in about three weeks now, and most are 2-4 inches high now. The corn is still pretty short, but it has sprouted. I haven't seen anything from the green beans, but they have only been in about a week. Probably this week I will see something. I still need to plant tomatoes, so I am planning on getting them tomorrow after school. I love growing my own food. It's going to be an investment getting jars and canning supplies as I start out though.

I also added some plants around our awesome tree in the backyard- mostly hostas. I just love hostas! In a few weeks they are going to really fill out and look nice!

Spring is great- so much going on! But summer is coming too- and I can't wait for our Arizona vacation. Well I'm out for now, more later!

A New Dining Room Table, Part Two

Wow, it's awesome to see the progress on our table! It's all put together and stained now, and just needs to sealer on it. After that is done Bert is going to start on the benches.  Here's what we got so far:

A new dining room table, Part One

Our current dining room table was a $25 Craigslist find. It came with four chairs and a leaf, but it's still seats only 6, and that's a tight fit. Since we like to have people over, we wanted a bigger one.

Enter Bert, our bestest neighbor and woodworking genius. I've been looking for each in magazines for awhile, so we showed him some pictures, and he started sketching. The table will be 8 feet long by 3 1/2 feet wide. Yes, it's rather large. But I like it that way- more people can fit! It's made of pine, so that it has the character-inducing knots. Each end had a plank running perpendicular to the main boards, with plugs to add detail. Bert's designing it so that the legs are removable, since it's so big. (How cool is that? That was one of my ideas, but he worked it out.) There will also be a support beam that runs across the bottom and hooks into a beam at the ends, which doubles as a place to rest your feet. To top it off, Bert's making us benches too!!!

Doesn't it sound amazing? Like I said, Bert's the best. Of course we are compensating him, but just the fact that he's design and work on it (I might be picky...) is so darn awesome!! God really blessed us with a good neighbor.

Here it is coming together:

Such a foodie...

It's probably pretty easy to tell that I'm a foodie. I love my food! So does Justin, so that's a bad combination for our waistlines... Even with that, I think we are supposed to enjoy our food, just in moderation.

Well, we hadn't been to Colonial's in Cedarville since college... about five years. I'm sorry that we waited so long. We ordered a ham, bacon, and sausage, and it was delicious! The bread sticks are as good as ever too. They remodeled the inside a little bit, and that all looks great too. Why hasn't this place been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives?

Then on Thursday, I made what I'm dubbing The Reese's Cake. I made a chocolate cake mix and added evaporated milk, a pudding mix, and the regular requirements for everything else. After baking it, I whipped up some peanut butter icing. It was great because it wasn't too peanut-buttery. I got it from a recipe book my grandma H. gave me called "Cake Mix Magic." The icing was just right- not too peanut-buttery but still enough. I finished it off with mini Reese's on top. YUM!

Before and After: Master Bedroom

Today I'm writing about the before and after for the master bedroom. The biggest difference in this room is the paint. We painted the trim in Creamy, the walls in Bittersweet Stem, and the floor in Cocoon, all from Sherwin-Williams' Rustic Refined Collection. With the placement of the windows, it was difficult to decide where to put the bed, but in the end I decided the set it up in front of the back window. I got curtains that basically match the walls, so it doesn't seem like too much of an eyesore. Our bedroom set we got in California, and the comforter and shams were a bargain from TJ Maxx.

Among other things, I like that the bedroom is at the back of the house, because it eliminates any car noise or lights from the street. Not that it's very loud, but we had to sleep in the front bedroom before we finished the master bedroom, and I definitely heard a few cars and kept up by a few headlights. Also, it has three closets! Now, one of them will be eliminated when we make the 1/2 bath into a full bath, but that still leaves a nice-sized one for me, and a smaller one for Justin. The smaller was was a built-in cupboard, but we took off the front because it was very dated and dirty. We patched up inside and painted, and now it's functional. In the pictures, this one is right under the arch, and backs up to my closet.

Now, the half bath originally opened up into the kitchen, and we had to cut a new door and seal over the old one. Right now, it has a curtain in front of it too, because the door frame is a raw edge where you can see three layers of plaster.... not so pretty. Hence, the curtain. That's hopefully a late summer project, but we have to get the roof replaced first, clear out the back hedge, and put down new flooring in the whole house. I'll be sure to blog when it's done though! :)

Before:

After:

 

 

Spring updates!

Check it out! I transplanted some flowers, and they are giving me some color already! Aren't they pretty?

It's so nice that the weather warmed up the last few days, and is supposed to stay this way for a bit! Spring break just ended for me, and I feel like a got a lot accomplished. I already blogged about moving the flower beds back in the front, so that was a big objective for spring break. I also got to spend time with family over Easter, and my niece and nephew, who are 2 and 4 months. They are growing so fast. I was able to have some people over from church and get to know them as well, another big plus.

Then, drum roll please, I have a good draft of my book done! It's over 59,000 words! Now I am just sending it out for people to read and give me some critical feedback. I hope to get it back from them by the start of summer, then make revisions and do some serious editing over summer break. If that happens, perhaps I will be able to send it to a publisher at the end of the summer. That whole process takes some time, so that will be a big step in the sequence. Whew... but now I at least feel like I have something to work with!

With that triumph, I'm out!