Category Archives: food

ugly mug

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ugly mug

 

There’s so many great things about our new neighborhood. I’ve mentioned the many coffee shops, and here is a cappuccino from one called The Ugly Mug. They brew Stumptown coffee which is a local roaster.

This shop has a high shelf filled with a lot of mugs. (ha!) They serve a handful of pastries, coffee and espresso, and even beer and wine. They’ve got games and books and the rumour is that you can bring your dog inside although I haven’t witnessed that yet.

I’ve come in today to start working on some photos that need to be edited. It’s been a whirlwind of unpacking, planting, meeting new people, job hunting, and going for walks. David and I are both so amazed by all the lush greenery and the budding blooms of spring. It’s incredible. You can find more photos of our journey on our instagram feeds here or here.

interview series! jessa!

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I first met Jessa through my work at Liberty Market. I run the twitter and facebook, so there are a lot of people that I interact with pretty regularly even if they don’t know it’s me right away. Jessa and her husband Dan were coming to almost every single community dinner that Liberty Market ran each month. (I think maybe they missed one?) So, I would chat with them there while I was taking pictures, and eventually we’d get to chatting when we would run into each other during the week as well. Jessa is someone who runs hot! She’s always got several pokers in the fire-she’s making things happen!


(more photos from the May 2012 community dinner found here.)

 

Jamie: Tell us a little about yourself.
Jessa: A favorite quote of mine is “Give me dirt & I’m happy.” 
I’m a country girl living in the city and in my very limited amount of free time, I find myself wheeling & camping with my Toyota FJ to find dirt. Nature is my rock, my home, my everything. When life becomes too much, I find myself in the middle of nowhere soaking it all in and even getting married in it! I am in love with photography so anyone that follows me on Instagram can see who I am and what I like in a nutshell. I’m simple…but complex at the same time since my mind goes a mile a minute. 
I’m not one to talk about myself… But I could go on and on and on.

Jamie: I can relate. I feel so much more connected to myself when I am out in my yard or my community garden. There’s something about the smell and things growing that really centers me. Are you actually from the country or do you just gravitate towards it? I was born in the middle of downtown Phoenix, but sometimes I think that my family’s roots as dairy farmers in upstate New York runs deep. Where did you get married?

Jessa: I was born in Tempe and grew up in Gilbert backing cotton fields and even the well-known Morrison Silos. As a kid I remember the bus ride passing all of the fields and stopping at the small farm houses to pick up the farming kids. I always wanted to be them. My family is originally from Danville, Illinois, and I’ve heard that my great grandparents had a large farm. Must be in my blood…. 

Dan and I are seriously in love with nature, and we couldn’t see getting married anywhere else. In July every year the Toyota FJ Summit happens in Ouray, Colorado, and it just so happened all of our friends were going so we decided to plan a small wedding at the base of Bridal Veil Falls. To get to Bridal Veil Falls, there was an easy option and a hard, scary option-of course we chose the hard scary option of doing Black Bear Pass BEFORE the wedding! Life is Short, live it each and every day! After doing this trail and being two hours late to the “set time” to meet everyone else at the location we were happy to be on flat, stable dirt! We had one of our best friends become a Dudeist Priest online, many friends wore Fuzzy Duds, and we did our own vows around wheeling and nature. It’s a day we will never forget! 


(photo provided by Jessa)

Jamie: So pretty much everyone who knows you, knows that you are the driving force behind The Gilbert Farmer’s Market, but how did that happen? What was the journey leading to it?

Jessa: This is a fun story of how the GFM was born... Yes it’s Dan and my baby! 

Many people know about me because I’m the one behind the social media but my husband, Dan, is the other half to the market that many people don’t know about. We have worked with each other for years so there was no question about this partnership. 

Let’s go back to the summer of 2010. Dan was in real estate working for the banks and I was working with my dad at our family’s popcorn factory. The one and only Bubba’s Popcorn where we create magical Flavors of popcorn like our number top seller’s Dill Pickle, Fruit Stand and of course Windy City. 

My life is always changing, it’s something I’ve accepted since it’s been happening since my childhood. I woke up on Friday morning at 4 a.m. after a dream about a farmers market, and that it was ours! I remember this like it was yesterday, I snuck out of bed and our two rescues followed, I grabbed my laptop and sat on the floor so the dogs wouldn’t wake up Dan. By the time the sun was coming up, I had researched WHERE all of the markets in Arizona were and was ready to go learn as much as I could as fast as I could. One thing I was very strict about from this day was to not solicit at any market and instead grab their contact information and contact them later. I wanted to respect all of the other coordinators, and I still do this today. 

Long story short, we did the necessary research, put together a packet, met with the town of Gilbert, and opened on October 23rd, 2010! 


(picture of early morning at GFM location, taken from the GFM FB page)

Jamie: Wow. That’s really amazing. Most people say they have a dream, but they didn’t really HAVE a dream! So what are the roles that you both play? Was it hard to leave the popcorn factory? (Also, I am imagining it’s exactly like Willy Wonka’s except with popcorn.)

Jessa: The popcorn factory is a smaller version of the Willy Wonka chocolate factory, just with popcorn!    We are currently rebranding ourselves and will have many more products and Flavors coming before the end of the year! Fun stuff is happening and it’s so good to see it finally growing! 

I never really left the factory while I was researching for the market we adjusted a few things and hired people to cover my shift in the factory. I have become more of a behind the scenes owner for the factory.

It’s been a wild ride with the market and I’m just lucky to have done something about the dream I had, what if I hadn’t? Something I always think about now! NEVER talk yourself out of a good idea! 
For the market, Dan and I cover everything together from website building and maintenance, to building a farmers’ market app for iPhones, to social media and paperwork. We have a system where we cross-check each other’s work on a regular basis so everything is very organized. We’re OCD and everything has its place from paperwork to market set up on Saturdays. It’s not an easy job by any means but we enjoy it!

Jamie: Would you like to share an internet link or two?
Jessa: I’d love to! 
My Favorite AZ Rescue, who I used to volunteer at: Friends for Life Animal Rescue

This is one of our favorite towns we have ever visited and believe that everyone should see the beauty! This just happens to be where we got married as well! Ouray, Colorado

One More Link: 
Fuzzy Duds: The non-official clothing of our wedding! 

My newest favorite site:  
We always hope to get a chance to travel to a new place and what better way than to stay with a “local” at their home! SO FUN! 

Thanks Jessa for spending the time answering all my questions! Please feel free to ask her your questions in the comments below!

matt’s big breakfast and giant coffee

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Chanelle and I went on a little adventure yesterday to Matt’s Big Breakfast and Giant Coffee. They both belong to Matt and Erenia Pool (and also The Roosevelt Tavern which we didn’t visit.)

Matt’s Big Breakfast is delicious! They focus on simply prepared local ingredients. You may have heard of the incredibly long wait, but they’ve recently relocated just a block north into a larger building! With bathrooms! Yay! I ordered a cherry bourbon sausage and a fried egg. So.freaking.good.

After that, we drove over to Giant Coffee-Chanelle ordered a macchiato and I got an espresso con panna. They serve Four Barrel Coffee which is from San Francisco. Very third wave style.

I added the whole set of photos to my flickr sets here and here.

so you want to plant some seeds…

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A lot of people have asked me lately, “Is it time to plant?” and “What should I plant right now?”

Here in Arizona, we are coming out of the dregs of summer. If you were dedicated, you may still have some plants in your garden that are thriving: peppers, chiles, eggplant, okra, and melons or squash. The rest of you have a bunch of dried up sticks. But never fear! It’s time to bust out the shovels and rakes once again! It’s time to plant all the things!

What do I plant?:

-leafy greens: including lettuce, kale, spinach, swiss chard, celery, mustard, bok choy, arugula, parsley, cilantro (all of these grow GREAT in pots too, so if you are one of those people with no actual “garden” then plant these (seeds are fine) and stick them in full sun.) You don’t need to cut the head either, you just pull the leaves off the plant and it keeps making more! Neverending salad! Also, swiss chard is an amazing one to have because not only is it a good looking plant, but you can eat the leaves in a salad or saute them with butter and garlic. I find the leaves to have a nice umami flavor-it’s a bit salty.

-broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower: And if you usually don’t like these, it’s probably because you’ve never had it fresh. These particular vegetables get really bitter when old. So give it a go.

-root vegetables: carrots (rainbow variety is fun!), parsnips, radishes, turnips, BEETS!!!!

-snowpeas and peas

-onions, leeks, garlic

How do I plant them?:

You need to ask yourself some questions:

-Where do I have FULL SUN? This means sun all of the day? None of this shady area of the yard nonsense or morning sun stuff-winter vegetables need ALL OF THE SUN.

-In this sunny area, will a garden bed fit or am I going with pots?

-How much money do I have? Starting from seeds is the cheapest way to go. But, you get the most production from plants starts. (Also, in order to get Brussel sprout production, you need to start with starter plants. Trust me, the season just isn’t long enough in Phoenix for the plant to develop sprouts. Garden beds can be as expensive and elaborate or as basic and cheap as you want. You will need to and compost and soil amendments to your soil. And a can of earthworms doesn’t hurt either. You can get your soil tested to be super scientific if you are into that, but I’m really lazy, so I would just dig up that part of the yard and add in as many bags of compost that you can afford.

-Drip system or hose watering?

Once you figure out what and where, it’s how:

Next, is the actual shoving seeds into the ground part. This sounds easy, but it actually takes a long time. It’s super fidgety. Go get yourself some wooden shims or stakes and a sharpie too so you can label all the things.

-Open your packets with scissors. (organic seeds are way awesomer, so buy them from a nursery or the internets) Tearing the packets open gets seeds caught in them.

-You pretty much follow the planting instructions on the packet. (But the general rule is the tinier the seed, the closest to the top of the soil it goes.) Almost every seed will sprout, but not always. You plant and bunch of seeds, you wait and wait until you think nothing is ever going to happen, then they all start coming up and you have to “thin” them. This means, you have to rip out a whole bunch of sprouts so as they grow into plants, they don’t crowd each other out. Expect this especially with carrots. Those stupid seeds are so tiny, and if you don’t accidentally spill half of them, you’ll lose your mind at another point and simply start sprinkling them down anyway.

-Water water water. Seeds in the ground=watering three to four times a day. You have to keep the soil moist until the seeds sprout and the roots develop. Once that happens (they look like little plants, then you can back off on the watering.

From here, it’s a matter of thinning and weeding. Any questions?

portland farmers’ market

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we went to portland recently, and the farmers’ market downtown was amazing!

the smells! the flowers! the food!

there were so many choices of fruits, vegetables, and meats;

i can’t believe people could ever shop at a grocery store if they lived nearby.

potatoes

old timey hipster musicians

artichokes

tomatoes

mushrooms

tomatillos

shishito peppers

beans

mushrooms

interview series: chanelle!

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I first knew of Chanelle through twitter. She was doing what she does-taking photos, talking about food, having a good time…to be honest I was jealous. She then showed up at a the first Ignite Phoenix I went to, and she presented on The Art of Enjoying Food (I just watched the video again.) We began following each other on twitter, talking back and forth, and we first met at her house! She invited me and Rachel (also who I had never yet met), over for chocolate, knitting, and pajamas! Some time after that, I asked her to be part of my group reading through The Artist’s Way. Along the way, we became friends in real life. 

 

 

Jamie: Tell us a little about yourself.

Chanelle:

i am a mother to two super rad spawn, caleb and arie, who will undoubtedly change the world…. and wife to one wonderful husband, gabe, who has changed my life and the world already.  we all love anthony bourdain, macaroni and cheese, pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

i love food. and drink. reading about it, photographing it, writing about it, preparing it and also eating it. especially the eating part. i have worked in and around kitchens my whole life, i collect cookbooks, and usually think about what i want for dinner before i’ve even had my first bite of breakfast.

i am also a musician.  music is life to me…i can find harmony in everything.  i’ve been told it’s like a superpower.  🙂
we have a music room in our home with everything from a rhodes to a vintage drum kit to an accordion to a kazoo. i have even used a lemon-pepper mill as a shaker while jamming with friends.  it sounded really good but tasted better.
i create and perform music with my husband gabe as “the bear and the bird” and nothing makes me happier.   we have performed in a singer-songwriter showcase and at a couple local venues, and we are currently writing new music to share soon.

aaaand i am a photographer.  mostly food [surprise!], but i venture out into portraits, music photography and powerlines too.  i see and hear the world a little differently, and i like to share that with anyone who cares to see the world through my heart.  once upon a time, i was in the top five best flickr photographer finalists in mashable’s open web awards.  and i have had my photos displayed in a children’s art museum too. that felt pretty good.

i don’t like: capitalization, mushrooms or pants.

 

Jamie: I’m trying to imagine your expression if you had to compose an instagram with proper capitalization of yourself eating mushrooms while wearing pants. Does that make me a bad person? But I suppose my real question is what has your journey as a musician looked like?

 

 

Chanelle:
first of all, jamie – i love you.  second, i will never properly capitalize an instagram of myself eating mushrooms while wearing pants with anything but the most ridiculous expression on my face.  imagine bitter beer face combined with the wicked witch of the west and add some indigestion.  whatever visual that gives you is probably pretty accurate.

as for my journey into music, i feel like i have just begun, honestly.  i am finding my voice, my sound, myself….more and more every day.  i always sing, always play, always listen…and always learn something new about music, myself, others through every note.
i grew up listening to my dad play the most beautiful renditions of classic 70’s rock songs [cream, yes, led zeppelin, ah yeah!!] on his acoustic guitar, and i finally found the self-discipline to teach myself guitar when i was 15.  i mostly softly played songs to myself in the quiet of my own room through my teens and early twenties.  [side note: i am old.]  i am horribly self-conscious, and being on stage or recording in the studio [or just being around people ever, haha!] – well, it’s frightening.  i was not ready for that for a long, long time.  i still don’t feel ready. 😉
a couple years ago i started reading this wonderful book called The Artist’s Way [you may recall, since you invited me to be a part of a book club for that very purpose] [have i told you how grateful i am for you lately?] ANYWAY, i was so encouraged and inspired to break out of my crippling internal fears and finally express the art inside me, so i decided to get crazy and go perform at a local open mic night. *gasp* i was nervous as hell, had only my two spawn there to root me on and you know what?  i was terrified.  AND I LOVED IT. in an ALL CAPS KIND OF LOVE.  i began practicing every day, sometimes several times a day, recording rough covers on my laptop and with fear and courage, posted those recordings online.  i cannot say that a major record company discovered me and offered me a gazillion dollar record deal, i have never been asked to play live on conan, nor has jack white phoned me to jam [my ultimate dream of dreams] BUT, it gave me the strength to do many, many other things i needed to do to be true to my heart of hearts and i cannot even think about all i have been through since without many grateful tears.  i started and performed in a band with a dear friend of mine, bryan mok, for about a year, moved forward from an oppressive marriage and then unexpectedly found the love of my life, recorded an album with another dear friend Kymberlee, and have now started a musical project with my husband that has good, good things in store.  just to name a very few.

 

i have finally learned to follow my heart with my voice, and it has only become stronger, better, happier every day, thanks to the lovely supportive souls i have encountered along the way.  freedom is a beautiful anthem, and i am grateful to sing it.

 

 

Jamie: You and I are very much into The Enneagram. What has learning about your number done for you in your life?

Chanelle:

the enneagram is an incredibly enlightening personality guide… it has educated me on the healthy and not-so-healthy aspects of the way i view myself, others, and the world around me.   when i first learned about the enneagram, and more importantly, that i am a four [introspective, sensitive, brooding], i felt as though a great weight had been lifted from my soul.  i no longer felt crazy for processing life in the unique way that i do…and i felt like i could finally begin to understand and appreciate myself and others just as we all are, and learn to be the best version of myself moving forward every day.  i truly encourage everyone to use the enneagram to learn more about themselves, to become better, more enlightened.  socrates once said: “know thyself”… and therein lies the first and most important lesson.  only after you learn who you truly are can you begin to know others, and how to truly love them.

 

Jamie: I think I experienced that same lightening of the soul when I discovered all that entailed being a one [principled, purposeful, perfectionistic], and that I could could let myself and others grow. The thing I like best about the Enneagram is that it gives a direction for healthy integration of self. For example, for someone like me, I’m supposed to try to relax! Hahaha! What?! So, uh, what are you supposed to do?

Chanelle:
well, fours are naturally creative and intuitive and feeling…but that can go dark very quickly. i experience such a depth of emotion over *everything*, and i have to be careful to remember that my feelings are not always a reality, and therefore do not need to define my total experience.  i am supposed to be confident in who i am, purposefully creative, and not jealous of my perception of the peace and calm and self confidence EVERYONE else seems to have.  a healthy me means a joyful, creative, inspired and inspiring heart…. using my intuition to love and learn and move forward and enrich the lives of others.  also, i am supposed to be more like ones, haha!  so let’s just trade.

 

(photo credit: chanelle sinclair)

 

Jamie: Are you more auditory or visual?

Chanelle:
yes.

 

(photo credit: chanelle sinclair)


Jamie: Would you like to share some internet links?

Chanelle:

daily dose of inspiration and love: http://thedailylove.com/

my two favouritest food blogs in all the land: http://mattbites.com/
and http://orangette.blogspot.com/

know thyself: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

for your ears: http://thebearandthebird.com/

<3

 Jamie: I just want to thank Chanelle for participating in my series! As always, your questions are always welcome in the comments of this post.

 

some changes

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i’ve basically been exhausted my whole life starting in my teens. maybe it has been the cumulative effect of years of homework and late night shifts with too much caffeine; maybe at some point i contracted the epstein-barre virus-who knows? but the result was a long wearing fatigue, a litany of various meds or vitamins i could experiment with, and the accompanying depression. not to mention, the lack of clarity of thought and the inability to really direct a course for my life.

the journey has been extremely frustrating both physically and mentally.

a little over over a month ago, i decided to try the paleo diet to address the energy issue since so many people reported that theirs improved when they switched to a paleo diet.

things have certainly improved. i don’t suffer from the mental fog i was really struggling against. my energy levels are up. my skin seems to be improved. i feel happier. my legs don’t ache like they used to. i’ve lost a little weight. i get to eat bacon and wings.

i won’t say that i am 100% better, but i am on my way. and this way of eating although difficult at times, somehow seems right to me. there’s a ton of information out there on the internet, and i encourage you to check it out. you’ll find that there are a million stories far more interesting than mine: tales of great weight loss and stories of vanishing disease. i suppose it sounds too good to be true, but if you are struggling with a health issue, i encourage you to look into this way of eating.

here are some links to get you started:

http://www.thepaleomom.com/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com

http://whole9life.com/start/

http://nomnompaleo.com/

 

 

 

montana in az

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one of my jobs is the social media for liberty market in downtown gilbert, arizona.
great restaurant; love the owners.
each month they host a community dinner. basically, you buy a seat and eat what is served to you.
it’s fun because you get to know other people at your table and the chef gets to experiment on you.
sometimes i buy a seat, but most of the time i take photos.
here’s my latest set.