Oh holy greatness, does Matt know how to cook up some killer grub, or what?!

My Sunday morning girlfriends and I hit the Downtown Phoenix landmark early this morning, and, as always, it was sooo worth the wait! Of the 4 of us, I was the only repeat customer, and as the waiter pointed out–the rest of my companions ‘owe me’ for bringing them to the worship at the altar of Matt’s artery clogging goodness!

I had the cheese omelet with bacon added. A simple but blissful affair. The omelet comes with a side of their stupidly good home fries and 2 thick slices of generously buttered sourdough bread and the requisite accompaniment of Terra Verde Farms luscious blackberry preserves. I always have to restrain myself from swirling my tongue around the darling little ceramic dish that the preserves are presented in for fear that it might just be considered bad form.

Everything at Matt’s not only tastes outrageous, but is presented with such charm. My friend Julie had the winning moment of the morning, when upon seeing the super cute little red rooster glass the orange juice comes in, declared she MUST have an O.J.! Of course, it is freshly squeezed and perfect–she was delighted!

Vicky and Jenny, who share my ’sweet or savory’ dilemma, solved it by ordering one of each (the “Special” scramble with spinach, mushrooms, etc.) and the waffle and then split them. These are smart, smart ladies I breakfast with folks–real breakfast pros!

So, some of you may have seen advertisements for the Macy’s Come Together Campaign.  If you haven’t heard about it, you can check out the details here at: Macy’s “Come+Together” website.  The idea of the Macy’s event is that people host dinners, and ask their guests to contribute whatever amount they feel is appropriate and then Macy’s will match those donations dollar for dollar.

Some of you may also know about our famous “Lingo Family Thanksgiving”, a tradition that was started more than a decade ago.   This annual event has grown from maybe 20 or so merry makers, to last years record breaking 115+ attendees!  That breaks down to four 20 lb. birds, about 50 lbs. of mashed potatoes, at least one keg of Four Peaks Ale, and uncountable great memories with good friends.

I realize that this year has been a tough one for many of us, but I also know that we as a community are blessed beyond measure in so many ways.  This year, my thought is that we can enjoy our usual stellar celebration while also sharing with those less fortunate through the Come Together Campaign.

This is all still in the planning stages, but I think that “The Good Karma Mushroom” could make a huge difference this year in the lives of so many.

Look for details to come soon, and until then, if you are local and want to be part of our ‘little’ event, mark your calendars now and save the date!  Saturday, November 28th.

my gorgeous Auntie Berta "The Bird" (on left), at her 80th Birthday Celebration. That's my gorgeous Mamacita on the right.

This is particularly exciting because about 2 months ago, I began very seriously contemplating making the leap of faith to quit (one of) my jobs to pursue a completely new career as a personal chef.  I was really stuck when it came to a ‘catchy’ name for this new venture.

As I often do when I am in need of a sounding board, I called my mom to pick her brain.   Unfortunately, she didn’t really have any ideas, but said she would ask “Auntie Bird”, because, “she always has great ideas about such things”.   I was so tickled when the next day, I got a call from Auntie.  She was so excited and sounded like she was just going to pop as she explained to me that she had the ‘perfect name’ for my business.  “Denise is cooking!” she said enthusiastically.  I have to admit, I was a little ‘underwhelmed’, until she began to explain…”Just imagine, my husband says to me..’honey, what are we going to do about dinner?’ and I say, ‘Don’t worry…Denise is Cooking!’…that’s it!  it has to be that, it’s perfect” she said.  I giggled and agreed to give it some thought.

Well, as you can see by the name of this website and blog–I came around to her way of thinking…and now…I am proud to present to my precious Auntie Berta (and the rest of the world wide web), my new ‘baby’.  I had mentioned Auntie’s idea to my dear husband (and resident web guru) and he was completely supportive of the idea.  Imagine my surprise when I awoke one morning last week to find that after our conversation, he had secretly bought the domain and started putting together the ‘bones’ of what is now deniseiscooking.com.  I was in tears when I sat here at my computer and realized that I had so many wonderful people who believed in my dream and wanted to see it come to fruition.

I am so blessed to have the inspiration and support of such wonderful friends and family to guide me in this new adventure!  Please keep me in your thoughts as I leap off the cliff and trust that the universe will indeed catch me and help me to fly into a prosperous and fulfilling future.

Julia Child wisely said,  “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it”.  Well, I am passionate about good food and can’t wait to see what new avenues this interest will open up to me.

Thanks Auntie, and Happy Birthday!  I love you more than ice cream!  (and that’s A LOT!) Read the rest of this entry »