Great to be back to Arizona! Love all the rain and enjoyed a wonderful morning hike this morning. 

We had an amazing Candelaria Design Tour Italy – our 15th Italy Tour and our 17th Tour overall. Starting our trip in Florence we spent two amazing evenings in this Renaissance masterpiece. We then made our way to our farmhouse compound in Umbria where we spent the week exploring both Umbria and Tuscany! From there our base trip finished in Venice. Then a few of us went on to Lake Como and the Villa d’Este where we celebrated Isabel and my wedding with a small ceremony. Overall, one of our best tours ever and always nice to leave Phoenix when its 107º and come back to October and the 60’s!

Our Italy Tour next year will feature Florence, Umbria, Tuscany, and the northern Italian region around Treviso. That tour begins September 11ththrough the 25th http://www.candelariadesign.com/blog-content/2008/09/italy-trip-day-1.html?rq=trevino. Our Spain Tour will begin on May 29ththrough June 11thand will feature Barcelona, Granada, and finish in San Sebastian. Both tours are filling fast so get on board quickly! 

Tomorrow tune into ABC 15 and Sonoran Living at 9am as I will be speaking about the hot trends in Kitchen remodels. LIKE our Candelaria Design Facebook Page and post a picture of your kitchen and we will select one kitchen for a design consultation! This will be my second appearance and I’m excited to be featured once again.

Lot’s of great projects on the boards and under construction right now and my first week back from Italy was busy! A special thanks to my team while I was away! We are cranking on so many great projects and have a busy Fall coming our way. My partner, Meredith Thomson, AIA is off to Cincinnati, Ohio this evening for the American Institute of Architect Custom Residential Architects Network AIA CRANS https://www.aiacincinnati.org/cran/and Principal, Vivian Ayala will be off next weekend to the BOND Custom Forum for America’s Leading Custom Home Architects http://www.bondevents.com/en/2018/07/20/introducing-the-bond-custom-100/. We are proud to be ranked Number 14 in the entire country for 2018. Both will come back with a lot of info from these events on the trends in custom home design!

Of course, one of my favorite things to do besides designing and architecture is cooking. We got busy in the kitchen this week for sure. Sunday night, I whipped up a wonderful grilled swordfish – see the recipe below.  Then Monday I welcomed my project team from one of our Paradise Valley projects who had flown in from across the country come over for dinner at Casa Candelaria. Nothing like Hatch Red Chile shortribs over homemade pasta. No pressure cooking for likely the top cabinetmaker in the world and probably the person who has designed and installed some of the most beautiful kitchens anywhere, Christopher Peacock. Fun evening for sure! http://peacockhome.com/home

Then Friday night we fulfilled our silent auction donation for a Paella dinner for 8 for Gigi’s Playhouse https://gigisplayhouse.org/phoenix/. Tons of fun and so fulfilling to donate this dinner for one of our favorite charities. 

Then last night I got back to my Traegers and smoked some ribs and roasted a chicken over a cast iron skillet of golden potatoes for Mom and Dad and a few close friends. Add a grilled artichoke and some of our wine from Italy and you have the makings of a wonderful evening. 

I’d like to make a couple call outs of new books available written by two of my good friends. The first is Glam Italia! How to travel Italy: Secrets to Glamorous Travelby Corinna Cooke https://www.amazon.com/Glam-Italia-How-travel-Italy-ebook/dp/B07FN7R8K5/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1538956015&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=glam+italia&psc=1. Corrinna runs her own Glam Tour and I love her passion for Italy! Dinner is long overdue my friend. 

The second is Chopping Woodby my good friend, Jim Steg! Love your zest fir simply going for it – relentless!!! https://www.amazon.com/Chopping-Wood-School-Mentality-World/dp/1719888353/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538956122&sr=8-1&keywords=chopping+wood+jim+stegYou definitely want to pick up both of these books.

Then the book we are featured in by Patricia Hart McMillan, Christmas by Design – Private Homes decorated by leading designersis coming out soon in time for the Holidays! We have three Candelaria Design homes featured so get your copy now as the perfect gift for the Holidays. https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Design-Private-Decorated-Designers/dp/0764356542/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538956227&sr=8-1&keywords=christmas+by+design+private+homes+decorated+by+leading+designers

Finally, our Candelaria Family continues to grow, as our long-time associate, Tim Mathewson and his wife Amber gave birth to their new son Maverick Woods Mathewson! We wish them both endless happiness and love with their new family! 

Grilled Swordfish

This is a real easy way to enjoy a swordfish steak. I picked up a nice swordfish filet from AJ’s. Let it come to room temperature and then brush it with olive oil and I squeezed a little lemon over the top then sprinkle a little paprika on both sides and set it on a hot grill pan that you pre-brushed with olive oil. Just leave this on the pan for about 5 min and flip and get the grill marks on the other side – again about 5 min or just enough time to get the grill marks as the finsh will finish in the sauce. 

Then for the sauce, I get a non-stick skillet and add a couple tablespoons of butter and melt that over medium heat. I halve as many cherry tomatoes – I like the multicolored tomatoes – and add those to the melted butter along with a couple tablespoons of capers, three or four chopped cloves of garlic and one diced shallot. Then as that starts to cook I squeeze the juice of one lemon and about a cup of white wine. Let that all cook down and as it cooks and your swordfish gets its grill marks add the swordfish to the tomato sauce and bath the swordfish in the wine and tomato sauce until the tomatoes are softened and the swordfish is cooked through. Add chopped thyme, basil, salt and pepper along the way and serve with the tomato / caper sauce spooned over the swordfish and garnish with fresh cut Italian parsley. Pour a glass of Pinot Grigio and add a baked potato with butter, sour cream and chives and enjoy!