Hello all!

I hope I’m finding you well this lovely Tuesday.

Despite the title of today’s blog, I’ve actually just gotten back at home to the state of California. But I sure was in Arizona five minutes ago…

I was visiting this lady, Emily; one of my college roommates and good friend who always lets me crash on her couch/air bed/army cot…?

It was a trip of many firsts:  the first awkward bathroom-selfie, the first time I tasted a Bloody Mary, the first time I ate a habañero pepper, and the first time I played cornhole. Luckily, I have photographic evidence to verify that I did, indeed, do all these things!

See! Cornhole! Considering my hand-eye coordination is horrible, I didn’t play too badly. Don’t worry, you’ll get to see my reaction to the habañero pepper I ate later…

I flew in to the Phoenix area for a whirlwind trip over the weekend. It’s been many years since I’ve been back, and it was lovely to see it through new eyes.

We hit the ground running with plans to have dinner and drinks at the new Yard Tempe. The brainchild of Culinary Dropout, it already had a stellar reputation, despite the fact that it had yet to officially open. Of course, our group didn’t know this as we clambered out of our Uber SUV, walked into the restaurant, and casually asked to be seated. We were informed that it was, in fact, the soft opening, and that they were only accepting reservations. Not at all dismayed, we started to make our way to the bar, only to be intercepted by the hostess, who indeed turned out to have a table for six.

Then…things got interesting.

We were handed the menus and informed that we could choose a number of cocktails and antipasti, an entrée apiece, and multiple desserts to share- all on the house. The blurry photo you see above is the result of our damage done over a few hours of dining: $0.00. We had an amazing time, and a very sweet waitress (whom we tipped heftily). We couldn’t figure out what was more astonishing: the fact that our bill was entirely comped, or the fact that we inadvertently crashed an invite-only opening night party. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

Has anything like this happened to you, dear readers? It was certainly a first for me!

As always, more adventures later.

EVA♥