Scottsdale Culinary Festival

What a fantastic family day! Craig has been looking forward to the Scottsdale Culinary Festival since hearing about it from another student a month or so ago. He is totally a lover of good food. When the weather channel said rain and low 60's we were pretty bummed out. We decided to dress warm and tough it out and I'm so glad we did because it was such a fun day. This is how it worked - You pay a $10 entrance fee then put money on a GAP card to use at all the booths. There were 70+ restaurant booths that sold small entrees, side dishes and desserts for $5 and under. We tried so many different places that were SO yummy. The kids got pizza from Grimaldis Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria. I had a bite and it was to die for. However, after trying an assortment of different foods our favorites went to Roka Akor Sushi & Steak's flat iron steak & fried zucchini. I also really liked the New Orleans Beignets from the Grand Lux Cafe. Later I realized that the interestingly yummy sauce was actually Jack Daniels Creme Anglais Sauce.... OOops. It definitely wasn't cooked out. I guess I won't be enjoying that anymore. Honorable mention went to the street tacos, crab filled Spanish's peppers, and gelato. The atmoshere was fun. They had live music and dancing. There were some families but was mostly populated with lots of trendy mid-twenty to mid-thirty single crowd tyring to pick up on each other. I laughed at the girls who still chose to sport their mini skirts and tiny tops even with the unusual inclement weather. There were several roped off drinking areas but when we weren't eating you could find us at The Family Zone. There they had characters doing face painting, bounce houses, games, kid snacks, and balloons. Jace & Brooke especially loved the bounce house. Jace reminded me that we need to set up our bounce house at home .. the one that Nani & Grandpa got them for Christmas a few years ago. I haven't set it up since moving. I guess I need to find it in the garage. We stayed for about 5 hours then headed home right before another big storm started but not before grabbing some delicious Italian Gelato for the road. So GOOD! Actually we were quite lucky with the weather and came at the perfect time ... we didn't get rained on once. On the way home we saw a beautiful rainbow. What a perfect day!

Craig enjoying Roka Akor Steak - I tried some Indian from Bombay Spice ... it was okay.  It think it was my least favorite of the day.  Not that I don't like Indian food because I do.

Craig and I enjoying our New Orleans Beignets.  We tried for a family picture but failed.  The kids kept getting distracted and would run off.

They did sit still while eating their yummy pizza.  Eating time is awesome because those little mouths are busy chewing and forget about being loud.  Here is Brooke getting her face painted.

We ran into our good friends April & Vicente Armendariz & their twins Bryce & Katherine.

 Jace got a batman painted on his hand.  Brooke got a heart & rainbow on her cheek.

Bouncing away...

Jace was a grouch when they closed the bounce house down at 5pm. 
The 'stink' face returns! lol



Mommy & Brooke

 

 Stopping for Italian Gelato.  Hmmm ... what to choose??

How about Snickers/Cake batter, Strawberry/Lemon, Oreo/Mint, & Pineapple/Mango.
 I'll let you guess who chose what.