You went to a bar mitzvah once. You played the dreidel in grammar school. You learned about Judaism by watching Fiddler on the Roof, Schindler’s List, and comedienne Sarah Silverman. With that kind of education, you’re still clueless about the Jewish experience. Time to get your Gentile booty down to…
According to legendary rodent Punxsutawney Phil, we’ve got another month of winter ahead. Screw that. This is Phoenix, the land of the blazing sun. We’re breaking into spring early with pool parties, outdoor festivals, and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s Spring Opening Celebration. The event features gallery talks with the…
Let me guess: when you’re looking for comfort food, Asian cuisine doesn’t exactly pop to the top of the list. While yummy, sushi lacks the warm, tummy-nurturing sensation that comes with mac n’ cheese or Aunt Sally’s meatloaf. But there are a few Asian dishes that easily calm frazzled nerves after a hard…
Happy Fat Tuesday, Chow Bella-ites! While other Mardi Gras revelers are thinking about beads, boobs and margaritas, we know those of you who are more food-centric are wondering what kind of crazy Mardi Gras concoctions you can get for the holiday. While searching the decadent blog archives at CakeSpy, this popped…
This past Saturday, The Farm at South Mountain was packed with locals eager to learn about, and taste, delicious ripe tomatoes at Slow Food Phoenix’s Tomato Fest 2010. The name of the event sounded so similar to Spain’s famed “La Tomatina” festival in which gazillions of folks pummel each other with ripe tomatoes that…
With all the bogus adds for “sexual stimulants” and “potency enhancers” that pop up on the Internet, it’s hard to believe anyone’s claim that something you ingest can boost your libido or improve your romantic encounters. The verdict is still out on whether aphrodisiacs work, but some people swear by them. The new Happy High Herbs…
Uh-oh. It’s the Thursday before Valentine’s Day and you haven’t said a word to your honeybunch about Valentine’s Day dinner. Maybe she/he is assuming you’ve got stealthy super-secret plans that will be so romantic they’ll squeal with delight and impale themselves onto Cupid’s arrow. More likely, little snookems is getting antsy that…
Scottsdale’s galleries are proof positive that in a recession, art is one of the first luxuries to go. Longtime residents Victoria Boyce and Leslie Levy closed their doors in 2009 and went online. A dozen or so smaller galleries followed. One Scottsdale gallery owner I recently spoke to admitted he…
Nothing makes for an awesome party like exotic dancers, drag queens, and naughty balloon hats — at least, this is true if you’re Hugh Grant, Josh Duhamel, or the fun-loving crowd at Alwun House’s annual Phantasmagorical Cabaret. Catch performers on two stages, including drag diva Ivanna Bump, Indigo Fire erotic…
Every Valentine’s Day, happy couples snuggle by roaring fires while sipping champagne. Lucky sons of bitches. The rest of us wear black and get blitzed on PBR alone at home. Sigh. Thankfully, there’s a better option: the Valentine’s Day Massicree. Don’t let the name scare you. These guys aren’t actually…
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we thought we’d get you in the mood with a little friendly competition of gooey, rich and chocolatey desserts. We have two serious competitors: a deep, dark chocolate cake and a brownie-like dessert served with a side of warm chocolate sauce. So light some candles…
Here at Chow Bella, we try to follow food trends as they pop up. So when we started seeing little peanut-sized lumps of cheese at farmers’ markets and groceries around town, we figured it was time to stop and find out how and why they’re made. If you’re from the Midwest (especially…
Seems everyone’s getting into the alcohol business these days, from Olivia Newton-John and Dan Aykroyd to Ludacris and Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan. The difference is that Keenan is actually hands-on with his winery, while we’re guessing the Grease and Ghostbusters celebs aren’t getting their manicured nails dirty trimming vines or mashing grains. Filmmakers Ryan Page and Christopher…
Now that Phoenix is gearing up to tax grocery store bought food, we’re looking for ways to eat out all the time. I mean, if we’re going to pay tax on food, we’d rather have a beef torta from Gallo Blanco or a pulled pork sammy from Bryan’s Black Mountain BBQ than a boring homemade…
If you were trapped on a desert island and could only take five items with you, what couldn’t you live without? Toothbrush? Makeup? Deodorant? Teddy bear? Call us crazy, but we’d take a giant tub of mac ‘n’ cheese — our favorite comfort food. The plane could crash, the coconut…
We used to pity the retirees who cling to work by greeting Walmart customers with gummy smiles or consulting for their old companies. Then, we remembered the alternative usually involves golf carts, plaid pants, and adult diapers. Eek. When former Phoenix advertising exec David Robb retired, he turned work into…
Hopeful authors get rejection letters piled higher than a stack of Nicolas Cage’s unpaid bills, while wannabe singers are dissed on national TV. Artists have it easy — galleries that aren’t interested usually just ignore them. But when award-winning photographer Joel Meyerowitz juried Arizona State University’s latest student show, the…
If you think poets are a bunch of lit geeks, old geezers, and pathetic whiners with floppy emo haircuts that endlessly quote downers like Poe and Dickinson, then get your presumptuous booty to the Fourth Annual Treetop Poetry Festival, opening with a competition at MADCAP Theaters. The two-day bout is…
If you think poets are a bunch of lit geeks, old geezers, and pathetic whiners with floppy emo haircuts that endlessly quote downers like Poe and Dickinson, then get your presumptuous booty to the Fourth Annual Treetop Poetry Festival. The bout is like a giant cage match, but with competitors…
Last year we said goodbye to Tapino, Pink Pony and some of our other favorite haunts. But today we’re not thinking about layoffs or gas prices or the restaurant tombstones that’ll inevitably pile up in 2010. Today we’re going all Pretty Mary Sunshine on the economy’s ass, courtesy of Roaring Fork and Mary Coyle…
So you’re in a restaurant, chowing down on the best tuna mac or pizza or boeuf Wellington you’ve ever had, when a crazy thought comes to mind: I can do this at home!! Without a pro chef’s fancy appliances and gadgets, you might be challenged to create restaurant-worthy food. Still, after seeing the Worst Cooks in…
We were scouring local farmers’ markets this weekend for cheese curds (more on that another time) when we spotted a giant cheese on wheels. True, everything is better with cheese, but can you improve a classic ’65 VW van by chopping it up and turning it into a rolling block of…
