Podcast Content


The Inspiring Life and Career of Our 2024 MVP: Pablo Moncayo

Our guest today is Pablo Moncayo, Project Manager here at Candelaria Design since 2018 and our current year’s MVP as voted by the entire Candelaria Design staff. Each year our team nominates and votes for our Most Valuable Player – someone who embodies teamwork, leadership, a willingness to learn and go the extra mile. We talk about what this means to Pablo, how his childhood lead him to architecture, his projects past and present, how he has seen the architectural landscape change here in Phoenix and his goals for the future. 
Pablo moved here from Chihuahua, Mexico in 2001 to live with his Aunt. Later in 2008 he went to undergrad at Taliesin-The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, now known as The School of Architecture and later earned his master’s degree in Architecture there. He has since remained a board member at the School of Architecture. He shares with us his passions, his sources of design inspiration, favorite travel destinations, and his inspiring personal story!

The School of Architecture formerly known as Taliesin-The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture: https://www.tsoa.edu/  

Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona: https://franklloydwright.org/taliesin-west/

Elrod House in Palm Springs, California: https://architectuul.com/architecture/the-elrod-house

Arango Mabrisa House in Acapulco, Mexico: https://archeyes.com/arango-marbrisa-house-john-lautner/

 Las Setas in Sevilla, Spain: https://www.setasdesevilla.com/en/

 La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain: https://sagradafamilia.org/en/

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia, Spain: https://cac.es/en/

Catching Fire with Nick Hogan of Pyro Restaurant

Our guest today is Nick Hogan, Co-Owner and CEO of Flagship Restaurant Group, the team behind the popular new, award-winning restaurant Pyro in Arcadia, next to the Global Ambassador. In addition to Pyro, they have 16 other restaurant concepts spanning across Arizona to Chicago to Nashville! This team has defied the odds of successfully creating and managing multiple restaurant concepts simultaneously and talks about all the risks and luck in this journey.

In this episode we’ll hear about how this restaurant group founded over 20 years ago in Omaha, NE got started with a team of four friends who are still the same group of owners. Since, they have grown to multiple cities and states and over 40 locations and become a success here in Arizona. Just like architecture, this career is a mix of creativity and mathematics and takes a great team and leadership.

Nick will tell us about how Pyro came about and the design and menu creation. Also here in town, be sure to check out the beautifully designed Palma, Cham Pang Lanes and Ghost Donkey in downtown Phoenix and later this year two Blue Sushi Sake Grill locations are coming to Surprise and Tempe and a couple more in the works for 2026!

To learn more about Flagship Restaurant Group visit:

 www.flagshiprestaurantgroup.com 

Kicking off 2024 with Chef Brent Menke of Mick's Brasserie

Mark & Isabel kick-off the episode by sharing highlights from their holiday trip to Lisbon & Fatima Portugal, Lourdes, and San Sebastián, Spain - see and hear more about their trip on our Blog: https://www.candelariadesign.com/lifestyle-blog

Next they share the exciting news that SIX of our Candelaria Design homes are featured in a brand new series on The Design Network called Extravagant Spaces!! The series debuts January 20th and will continue every Saturday for 6 weeks, catch it streaming for free on The Design Network  or on their YouTube page!

Our guest on this episode is Brent Menke, head chef & owner of the Mick Brasserie, an award-winning  French Colonial Brasserie in North Scottsdale that I’ve now had the pleasure of dining at twice. Together we talk about his journey from a yacht deckhand to meeting his French wife, to becoming a chef, and then opening his restaurant during 2020 We talk about his curated food and wine tours to France, monthly themed wine pairing dinners, his favorite chefs and restaurants in town and much more!

Dreaming of Italy with Best Selling Author Corrina Cooke

Our guest on this episode is Corinna Cooke, she is the founder of Glam Italia Tours and a best-selling author who is currently working on her 5th book! Originally from New Zealand, Corinna has lived in a variety of places around the world and currently resides in Phoenix AZ. We talk all about her early years as a makeup artist in London and Los Angeles and how everything fell together in that difficult industry.

We cover lots of topics as we chat about all the reasons we both love Italy so much and the best ways to tour/explore Italy on your own.  We cover some recent travel topics Corinna discussed in her monthly e-newsletter, how she gradually learned to speak Italian and how you can join one of her women-only Glam Italia Tours! We also talk about her guide book series, “Glam Italia!” which covers all sorts of helpful topics, tips, scenario situations & stress points, cultural points, and some of her top travel tips! She has so many wonderful stories, insights and lessons she shares, this is a must listen for anyone planning or considering a trip to Italy!

https://corinnacooke.com/

https://www.instagram.com/corinnatravels/

Inspired Cooking with Chef & Blogger Giangi Townsend

Our guest today is Giangi Townsend, creator of Giangi’s Kitchen, a top-rated food and recipe blog. Back in the 1980s, Giangi’s desire as a working mom to provide healthy and delicious food for her family has since grown into a full-blown business featuring tons of recipes, an online shop, virtual cooking classes and her favorite cookbooks, including one of her own, Back to Basics – Cooking 101.

Giangi's childhood was spent between Southern Italy in the Summer and Paris in the Winter with her French father and Italian mother, it's no wonder she ended up as a fabulous chef! We talk about the importance of food and gathering for dinner, what led her to become interested in cooking and blogging, her favorite recipes and cookbooks, and tips and tricks in the kitchen and in life!

Checking in with Elizabeth Wholey in Umbria, Italy

This episode of Inspiring Living features one of our dear friends from Umbria, Italy, Elizabeth Wholey. We met Elizabeth many years ago during our Candelaria Design Tour Italy adventures and she has been our on-site chef and host for over ten years now when we stay at her Farmhouses while in Umbria.

This is Elizabeth's third appearance on our podcast and she gives us an update on how things are going there in Italy with the whole Covid-19 Pandemic. It is very interesting to get her perspective on how Italy has been dealing with the pandemic, especially over the course of the recent holidays, and shares her thoughts on how this might play out over the course of 2021.

We have scheduled our 2021 Candelaria Design Tour Italy thinking and hoping we might be able to pull it off this year. This will be our 16th Tour Italy over the last 20 years, so you do not want to miss being a part of this experience and get to meet Elizabeth for yourself. Our dates are set for September 15th - 29th starting in Florence, a week in Umbria and Tuscany, and finishing with a stay at the Villa d'Este on Lake Como. Click on the link for more info on our tours: https://www.candelariadesign.com/sign-upitaly2020

Follow Elizabeth on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/elizabethwholey/
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.wholey
Elizabeth is also an amazing chef and has written a wonderful book about the cuisine and culture of Umbria: https://www.altabella.com/sustenance__an_italian_culinary_guidebook