Candelaria
Design Blog
October
2011
Welcome to October!!! I think we all breathe a sign of
relief from the long summer when the calendar flips to October. It’s my
favorite month of the year – cooler weather for sure, fall, football, World
Series, and winter visitors falling in love with Arizona!
Thank you for your readership of our Candelaria Design
Lifestyle blog. Over 12,000 readers thus far with over 1050 viewers last
month. So thank you for checking
in and we will do our best to add some great material in the months ahead.
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| MRA Morning Glory Estate Lot 2 |
This month we have two wonderful events coming up – both
having to do with our client MRA Custom Homes http://www.mrahomes.com/
. Construction is nearing completion on these two $10 million homes we have
recently designed for MRA on their beautiful subdivision located on Morning
Glory just north of Mockingbird in Paradise Valley. On October 16th
we are proud to have these two homes included on the AIA Phoenix Metro Home
Tour http://aia-phoenixmetro.org/architecture-month/home-tour-2011/.
The tour is a self guided tour and will feature several homes of all different
styles throughout the Valley and runs from 10am – 5pm and costs only $25.00 and
benefits the American Institute of Architects.
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| MRA Morning Glory Estate Lot 3 |
The second event includes an exclusive invite only party at
the homes on the evening of October 21st followed by an
open-to-the-public Open House weekend on October 22nd and 23rd
from 12 noon to 5 pm.
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| MRA Morning Glory Lot 2 Kitchen |
My relationship with MRA started in 1999 when they
approached me while I was still at CCBG Architects to design their new spec
home on Desert Fairways Drive in Paradise Valley. When I decided to start
Candelaria Design later that year, they chose to follow me and were one of my
first clients. We both fondly reminisce many times of our first meetings at my
dining table in my condo and working out the design details all by hand on my
drafting table. The home we designed with them drew wonderful attention for
both of our companies and profitably sold allowing them to have Candelaria
Design create two more homes followed by three more homes, and now these two
homes all over a course of the last 12 years. Both of our companies have a
great respect for each other and a commitment to quality and creativity in
design and construction that clearly shows in these homes.
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| Aerial View of MRA Morning Glory Estates |
The two homes on Morning Glory represent a culmination of
the 12 years of our collaboration and both homes are on the one hand very
similar in execution and quality but very different in style. One home is a
formal Mediterranean Estate the other a French Country Chateau. Beautiful
materials adorn both homes, from carved limestone to custom roof tiles, and
both are landscaped impeccably by Berghoff Design Group http://www.berghoffdesign.com/ who
has also been a key component in the execution of these homes over the last 12
years. The homes are also green in that they are constructed with insulated
concrete block, foam spray insulation at the roofs, double insulated windows,
and solar panels discreetly positioned on the homes to reduce the overall
energy consumption.
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| MRA Morning Glory Estate Lot 2 |
The MRA quality is clearly shown in these homes and I
encourage you to attend these events. You will be rewarded with a visual
experience that I hope will inspire you and give you a fabulous sneak peek of these homes that will
surely be marquis homes in
Paradise Valley.
PR & Press
October is turning out to be another great month for PR and
Press. Check out the newly released issue of LUXE Magazine and the beautiful
home featured that was designed by my associate, Vivian Ayala. This is a
beautiful project she spearheaded and we appreciate the attention this home is
receiving. More to follow on this feature!
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| Mountain Residence - Flagstaff, Arizona |
We just received word that we have been included on the 2011
list of Top Mountain Architects and Designers in Mountain Living Magazine http://www.mountainliving.com/article/top-mountain-architects-designers-0
. This is our sixth consecutive year to receive this honor.
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| Dream Home to be featured on Phx Home and Garden Tour - Nov 6th |
As noted last month stay tuned also for the November issue
of Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine, as
one of our homes will be featured in the Dream Homes Extreme Tour to be held on
November 6th. Tickets are limited and can be purchased on line at http://www.facebook.com/PhoenixHomeGarden?sk=app_203351739677351.
Tapas at Twilight - Earth & Images
I want to thank all of you who attended the Tapas at Twilight event at Isabel's store, Earth and Images http://www.earthandimages.com/ , last month and the launch of her new website. With the Holidays coming check out her site for unique gifts for clients, friends, and family.
Italy Trip 2012
The Candelaria Design Italy Trip is a go for 2012! We have
had great interest thanks to our Candelaria Design Italy Trip 2010 Facebook
Page (800 fans and counting) and we are excited for our 9th trip
which will depart Phoenix on May 30, 2012 and return on June 12th. See our
Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Candelaria-Design-Italy-Trip-2010/415280225531?ref=mf
for more details on the cost and itinerary. Prior blog postings also go into
more detail from our 2010 Trip. I’m taking 12-14 travelers and I know this will
fill up fast – so call Meara and book your reservation. We will have a great
group going, and in addition to Florence, Tuscany and Umbria, we will be
hitting the coast and Portofino. I
am looking forward to the adventure once again.
October Recipe of the Month
Many of you have asked that I provide the recipes to some of
our Facebook cooking postings so here we go…..
Cioppino Pasta
We had a great time putting this little dish together last
month. My girls were watching Anthony Bourdain – yes the acorn does not fall
far from the tree - and were inspired by his visit of the seafood market
in Seoul, Korea whereat Anthony and his host were eating fresh squid and baby octopus. They
asked if there was a market like that here in Phoenix. Well we don’t quite have
the venue they saw on his show, but I did tell them there was a pretty good
fresh fish market at the Ranch Market at the Chinese Cultural Center
http://www.phxchinatown.com/99ranch_market.html . Well they got very excited
and we were off to find some baby octopus and squid. I was curious to see how
this one was going to play out. My two youngest are age 9 and 6 so tentacles
and fish heads although interesting may not be appealing once sitting on the
dinner plate.
We made our purchases and headed home to clean the squid and
octopus and de-vein the shrimp. That was fun and was like science class. With a
little garlic, butter and pasta we whipped together a dinner that not only was
fun to shop for, but was inexpensive to make and was a lot of fun to prepare
and was only outdone with how great it tasted. My girls loved it and you will
too.
Ingredients:
1 lb of Baby Squid
1 lb of Baby Octopus
1 lb of Shrimp
4 tablespoons of butter and 1/4 cup of olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper – don’t add if serving the
kids!
The squeeze of two lemons
1/4 to 1/3 cup of white wine
2 cans of diced tomatoes with the juice
3 scallions diced
2 teaspoons of thyme or Italian seasonings to taste
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
1 box of pasta – fettucine, angel hair, spaghetti –
whatever!
Clean the seafood – go to google to find very simple directions!
Chop up the cleaned seafood as you like. Get your pasta cooking and cook el
dente. Melt your butter and olive oil in a large pan – I love using my paella
pan. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper – sauté and add the lemon juice and
white wine. Add the seafood and cook until the shrimp change color and appear
cooked through. Add the diced tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper. Drain the pasta
adding two ladles of pasta water to the seafood. Add the pasta to the seafood
and toss everything together. Let this concoction cook for 3 minutes or so so
all of the flavors combine. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Add the diced
scallions for color and flavor and serve it up! You can always add clams or
mussles also – we didn’t see any fresh supply the day we went to the market but
they are great in this dish!