Apple Desserts for Fall

It’s apple season here! And I wanted to share a few of the delicious-looking desserts I’ve been seeing recently.

First, if you’re planning to go to an orchard, check out these apple-picking tips from Bon Appetit. I wish I had read an article like that before Phillip and I went to pick apples at Apple Annie’s in Willcox! We had a fun time, but would’ve been helpful to know a few tricks.

Speaking of which, did you know you could core an apple with a metal melon baller?

1. Baked Apples (via a Beautiful Mess): Whole apples covered with puff pastry and stuffed with pecans – yum!

2. Caramel Apple Bar (via Craftberry Bush): A fun idea for a fall get-together, slice up apples for people to dip in their favorite toppings!

3. Apple Pie Bites (via The Blond Cook): A quick recipe for crescent roll-wrapped apple slices that taste like little pies. I’d try these with my DIY Holiday Spice mix.

4. Peanut Butter and Apple Oatmeal Cookies (photo and recipe by Creative Culinary): Okay, peanut butter + apple + oatmeal cookie…how could I argue with that combination?!

Do you have a favorite apple dessert?

—-
Photos via respective sites.

August 25, 2016August 12, 2016

Graz Kitchen Fresh

I love a good grilled cheese sandwich.

The first time I went to Graz Kitchen Fresh for a breakfast meetup and saw they had a whole menu of them, I was like “oh, I’m coming back!”

And I’ve definitely been back. So I felt like a post devoted to the goodness of Graz was long overdue.

Open for breakfast and lunch, Graz is a juice bar and sandwich shop focused on fresh ingredients.

It’s located just south of Downtown Chandler and Gangplank, where I sometimes work. I can easily pick up lunch on the way in or pastries for our Monthly Momentum meetup.

I’m kinda hooked on their green goddess sandwich. It is goat cheese, mozzarella, pesto, arugula, and avocado on this whole grain bread toasted on a sandwich press. I mean, seriously.

They serve Peixoto coffee and occasionally do a breakfast sandwich pop-up there. They also provided the food and coffee for Craft Camp. If you order ahead, they make crazy good cinnamon rolls.

August 18, 2016May 23, 2023

Where to Stop for Date Shakes on California Road Trips

We don’t order date shakes at home in Phoenix. We could. There are a couple places that serve them, since date palms grow here.

But we only look for them on road trips through a certain western Arizona/eastern California corridor.

I-10

If you’re headed from Phoenix to Los Angeles on the 10, there’s the Hadley Fruit Orchards store in Cabazon near the dinosaurs.

The decades-old farm store recently moved to a shiny new building. They still have a little cafe, and it’s still a great place to stop for snacks – all kinds of specialty trail mix and dried fruit and veggies, much of it from the local area and/or their own blends.

Shakes come in a reusable souvenir cup. Last time, we got there near the end of the day and they said they were out of regular date shakes but had banana date shakes. So they must mix them in advance-? Anyway, you could mostly just taste the banana, and it wasn’t the same.

I-8

If you’re on I-8 headed for San Diego, I’d recommend skipping the well-publicized Dateland and opting for Martha’s Gardens in Yuma instead. Coming from Phoenix, it’s about another hour down the freeway but worth it. The shake we got at the Dateland Travel Center tasted overly, artificially sweet with dates in clumps. The Martha’s Garden shakes were blended well and sweet without being sickeningly so.

The Martha’s Garden store is smack in the middle of a working date farm, down a dirt driveway surrounded by rows of palm trees. While Martha’s store shelves are mostly stocked with bulk dates, they do sell some other local products like honey and salsa.

From the counter at the back, you can order sandwiches, date shakes, coffee, or a shot of espresso in your date shake. Behind it is a room of tables and chairs – and a couple outlets if you need to recharge.

Have you ever tried date shakes? Do you have food/drinks you only get on road trips?

July 30, 2016July 22, 2020

Anaheim Resort District Dining 2016

I got a little obsessed hunting for local food options in the Anaheim Resort District (where the Disney Theme Parks and Anaheim Convention Center are located) ahead of Star Wars Celebration last year.

I talked to frequent Disneyland-goers about their favorite spots, exchanged emails with the Anaheim Convention Center and their concessions-provider Aramark, and even tried sorting through online business license records.

Once I was in Anaheim, I walked into restaurants I hadn’t been able to find information for to ask questions and pick up take-out menus.

In the end, I had this list of restaurants that are some combination of unique to the area, highly recommended, and/or offering something local, as well as being walking-distance from the Disney Parks and Anaheim Convention Center – without requiring admission.

So here it is, updated with current information and grouped geographically. I marked up a map to help you visualize it all.

1. Downtown Disney and Disneyland Resort Hotels

Located between – but outside of – the Parks, Downtown Disney includes shopping, restaurants, and live music.

While this is not the place to find indie eateries, there are plenty of unique spots that are true to their location in Mickey’s backyard. (I mean, it’s not like every city has an Enchanted Tiki Bar.)

Catal Restaurant – frequently recommended as one of the best restaurants in Downtown Disney.
Earl of Sandwich – for a quick bite.
Napa Rose Lounge (at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa) – for seasonal small plates. Full dinner menu available in the main Napa Rose dining room (reservations recommended).
Tangaroa Terrace (at Disneyland Hotel)
Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar (at Disneyland Hotel) – for drinks.

Find character dining, menus, accessibility, hours, etc. on Disneyland Resort’s site.

2. East of Disney

We walked by a lot of the places listed below en route from our hotel to the convention last year. We tried a few and liked breakfast at Chambers (and were guests of Hotel Indigo Anaheim), lunch at Tanor, late-night take-out from Sabrosada/Alertos.

We ran out of time to try the Pizza Press while we were in Anaheim, but the Pasadena location hosted us for lunch on our more recent trip. Summary of the upcoming review: it was super good!

Pizza Press build-your-own-pizza concept (similar to Fired Pie here in Phoenix). They’ve expanded to 6 Southern California locations.
Chambers Bar & Bistro at Hotel Indigo Anaheim – breakfast, sandwiches, flatbread, local produce, and seasonal desserts. While it appears the chilaquiles are off the menu (sad trombone), we also enjoyed their breakfast burritos.
Gandhi Palace – Indian restaurant recommended by Whitney Drake on last year’s BlogHer post.

Anaheim Resort Centre

In another post, I called this “Anaheim’s Local Food Corner,” because one unimpressive-looking strip mall contained 5 different non-chain restaurants.

California Pizza Place (menu) – narrow dining room with walls crammed with retro paraphernalia serving pizza, burgers, and pancakes. Delivery is also available.
Tanor Mediterranean Grill (menu) – Mediterranean/Persian food with delicious chicken shawarma.
Star Burger (menu) – fusion of burgers, kimchi, and bulkogi (Korean-style grilled beef).
Sabrosada (menu) – formerly known as Alertos Mexican Food, family-owned taqueria with five Southern California locations. We liked the al pastor and pollo asado mini tacos.
Panda Kitchen (menu) – American Chinese food. You can call ahead to pick up your order or dine in.

Anaheim GardenWalk

This is a bigger, newer shopping center populated mostly by chains, including the Cheesecake Factory that the German Big Bang Theory fans we met last year were so excited to visit.

Kip Barry’s Cabaret – Cafe, magic gift shop, and performance venue. Formerly Houdini’s Hideaway.
House of Blues – Restaurant and music venue, opening at the GardenWalk this fall. (Moving from their previous location at Downtown Disney, which has already closed.)

3. Anaheim Convention Center

The Anaheim Convention Center is across the street from the Disneyland Resort. I was pleasantly surprised to learn they are serious about sourcing local and sustainable food and beverages. If you’re attending a conference or convention there, you can check out ecoGrounds / Java City Fair Trade coffee in the lobby. They may also have the Hearst Ranch Grill open with all-beef hamburgers from the Convention Center’s own herd of free-range, grass-fed cattle.

If you don’t have an event badge or just want to get out of the crowded Convention Center halls for a minute, here’s what’s right next door:

Anaheim Marriott on southwest side of Convention Center has a bar/restaurant called nFuse that serves local craft beers and seasonal microbrews. There is also a nice lobby with lots of seating. I believe there is also wifi and outlets. (Otherwise, there’s also a large Starbucks off the lobby. They handled the extra long line like it was child’s play.)
Hilton Anaheim on west side of Convention Center. In the food court…
- Just Grillin’ Express – Burgers, salads, and fries (spicy or not) made from ingredients delivered daily. Based in Alhambra, California.
- Submarina – a Southern California based sub sandwich chain.

– More info –

Disneyland Restaurants Guide (Disney Food Blog) – information on restaurants throughout the Disneyland Resort, including inside the Parks.
Disneyland Resort Beer List (Beers and Ears)

—

A big thanks to Sarah Woloski of the Skywalking through Neverland podcast, Genevieve Eldred, Paul Barrie of the Window to the Magic podcast, and Whitney Drake for sharing their favorite spots!

The map is a screenshot from Apple Maps I modified in Skitch. Other photos by Phillip and me.

June 30, 2016

California Citrus Historic State Park

On the way home from Anaheim last year, we discovered the loveliest park, made a friend, tried some amazing citrus, and learned a little history.

And it all started with a craving for donuts.

Corona

The donut shops around our hotel were partly to blame, but what really did it is stopping for gas late Sunday afternoon on our way back to Phoenix and noticing a vintage sign across the street that said “Donut Pantry”.

Sadly, it was closed, as were the other 3 donut shops we found driving around the town of Corona. But by then, we had decided donuts and a cup of coffee would be essential for our drive home.

Riverside

So Phillip got back on the freeway, and I got on Yelp. There was a listing for a place in Riverside, just past an intriguing big green rhombus on the map called Citrus Historic State Park.

Before we even got there, however, Phillip saw Mister Blue’s Donut Shop (open 24 hours) and we pulled in. We got an apple fritter, chocolate cream donut, and a large coffee to go and went to check out the Citrus Park.

California Citrus Historic State Park

The gate was open but there was no one around. We drove in past orchards of citrus trees, parked near some rustic wooden picnic tables and enjoyed our donuts and coffee. The donuts were great. The coffee was drinkable.

Just past the picnic tables, behind some hedges, Phillip discovered a rose garden with a dry fountain in the middle.

Across the parking lot was a visitors’ center that had closed at 4pm. We wandered around the back and saw more picnic tables, (locked) restrooms, and a pair of rotund black and white guinea fowl that seemed quite at home. There was a trail that wound up a hill between young avocado trees, but we didn’t want to stay too long.

Ranger Samuel

We were headed for our car when an official-looking truck pulled up. I assumed we were about to get yelled at for being there after hours or not having a parking permit or something.

Instead, Ranger Raphael Samuel handed us a park brochure, assured us it didn’t close until 7, and asked if we had questions.

He seemed truly disappointed we weren’t able to enjoy the park to the full extent. “I just wish you had been here earlier when the visitors’ center was open.” He explained how volunteers not only run the visitors’ center but lead weekend tasting tours where visitors learn about the citrus trees and sample fruit. If you like it, you pick some to take home.

We chatted about California/citrus history, traffic, and the Star Wars convention we had just attended. When he realized we were from out of town and wouldn’t be able to come back for the next weekend’s tour, he couldn’t let us leave without showing us around and picking some fruit for us to taste. His favorite tree had a variety of oranges that were sweet and complex and unlike anything I’ve tasted.

We’re hoping to stop back by for the full tour next time we’re in California!

– More Info –

Citrus Historic State Park

Parking is $5 per vehicle.
Park is open 7 days a week, 8am to at least 5pm, depending on the season.
Visitor Center, Museum & Gift Shop hours are Friday through Sunday, 10am to 4pm.
“Tour and Tastes” are most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30am, 12:00pm, and 2:00pm.

Riverside, California is about 45 minutes east of Anaheim. In addition to being the site of Citrus Historic State Park and at least two 24-hour donut shops, it’s known for the historic Mission Inn. The hotel is the size of a city block, and you can see its mission bell logo stamped into the concrete freeway walls as you pass the city.