It’s hard to believe I have been married a year. Time is fleeting and the holidays are upon us. But we weren’t going to let work issues and holidays and life stand in the way of celebrating, so J. came to town and we did indeed celebrate. However, we did take a chance on our [...]

[Note from Seth: I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos on this review. We tried one photo with the flash and due to the mirrored walls at Noca, it was like a brilliant lightning strike, so we took the photos sans the flash and hoped for the best.] J. and I are [...]

One of the pitfalls of any long distance relationship is that you don’t get to spend important days together throughout the year. Outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas, J. and I have only been able to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and other important days together only a handful of times. So, it was no surprise that we [...]

I freely admit that I am not a fan of the reality shows on the Food Network. I miss the recipe-based shows and early Food TV celebrities like Sarah Molton and David Rosengarten. However, I still had a burst of pride when I saw that Mark Tarbell had beat Cat Cora during the Iron Chef [...]

After our distressing trip to Jerome, J. and I were ready to have a stellar experience somewhere. One of the places that had been on my radar for some time was La Hacienda at the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale. However, I had kept this place at an arm’s length because it is a rather pricey [...]

J. and I were on a mission to get as many photos as we could of the beautiful Montreal architecture, holiday decorations and views of snowcapped items. Doing this really worked up our appetite and also made our digital cameras get a bit cranky (so I apologize in advance for the less-than-stellar photos for this [...]

(Note: J. has asked to help with this review and I was, of course, more than happy to oblige that request. J,’s comments will be in italics and set off parenthetically.) The night was at hand for my anniversary dinner with J. I was sweating bullets. It didn’t help that all the talk in the [...]

The last time J. was in town, we were celebrating the anniversary of our engagement. The weekend turned out to be just this side of a disaster all the way around due to fate or kismet or the stars above and capped by a disappointing anniversary dinner at one of Phoenix’s most respected fine dining [...]

In January, I placed a call to Vincent’s on Camelback to secure a reservation in February. The person who answered my call said that the time and date I was looking at was available and I thanked her and asked for a romantic table as J. and I would be celebrating our fourth anniversary of [...]

[NOTE: Since my visit to Zest, the original owners have sold the business. It is unclear if this will change the quality of the food and service. -- Seth Chadwick] From the outside, Zest Spirited Dining is nothing to look at. In fact, many moons ago, it used to be a Mexican restaurant called “Tang’s,” [...]