New in Town: Pearl Sushi in Scottsdale

I have been relying on the the Phoenix New Times publication to aid me in my quest for new experiences here and boy, am I glad I did on this one.  Pearl Sushi had a very lovely ad featuring an extensive happy hour including cheap yet creative drinks.  I took the liberty of pulling up their website to check out the menu and discovered this is not a run-of-the-mill sushi place.  The drinks and sushi dishes are action packed with creative names such as "Pearl Necklace" (sushi) and "Porn Star" (martini).  Any place naming their dishes with sexual references has got to be the place for me considering my super tacky sense of humor revolving around innuendoes and inappropriateness.  

Sure enough, the Pearl did not disappoint.  The atmosphere was very Scottsdalian in nature.  The menu offered laughter and many options.  I opted for a roll called "rice crispy", a salmon, avocado, cucumber, crab, and cream cheese creation wrapped in tempura awesomeness.  Also tried a southwestern spin on yellowtail that was surprisingly delish.  My martini didn't even taste like alcohol, which is what I prefer.  It pretty much tasted like adult kool-aid.  The staff was also fantastic and very attentive.  Sitting outside, eating good food and drinking good drinks. . . it doesn't get much better than this.  I would highly recommend any sushi lovers out there in the Phoenix metro head on over to trendy Old Town to the Pearl for a rawfully delightful experience.  

A word of caution though: parking is tricky since it's downtown Scottsdale so don't be in a hurry.

New in Town: Coffee Plantation

 This past Sunday I was in need of some caffeine and free wi-fi that didn't belong to my neighbor so I decided to venture on over to the Coffee Plantation I had seen in passing.  Apparently this is some sort of chain, but it is not one that we had in Boise or any other place I have previously lived for that matter since it is apparently an Arizona exclusive chain, so it met the criteria established in my prior blog.  

The coffee drink was okay, definitely not anything that would have set this particular place apart from anywhere else that sells pretentious coffee drinks, but it did suffice for the craving.  The dessert I got was yummy, but again pretty typical coffee house fare.  They do offer food items that did in fact look tasty so had I been hungry, that might have been the thing that gave this place more points above another.  What was charming was the decor, as the place lives up to its name.  I felt like I was in Louisiana sitting in someone's house that happens to have a full scale coffee bar in it, which would seem strange if that were really the case because why would someone have a coffee shop in their living room anyway. That's just showing off at that point. 

At any rate, I will likely return to this place solely for the convenience factor, but will keep looking for my own personal "Cheers" of the caffeinated world.  

New in Town: Phoenix Metro

Just did two things I pretty much swore I would never do.  The first thing being factoring a guy into my location decisions.  I was the last person who ever thought they would uproot and relocate for a relationship, yet here I am sitting in my awesome apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona. . . alone because things didn't work out and that is fine because Scottsdale, Arizona could just as easily be Scottsdale, California and I LOVE me some Cali. Which leads me to the next thing I swore I would never do and that is live in the blazing heat of Arizona.  For years my friend in northern Arizona has been trying to talk me into moving here and I told here absolutely insert expletive here not.  No expletive here way are you ever going to see my expletive here living in expletive here Arizona.  It's too expletive here hot!  That being said, so far I effing love it here.

Lesson learned: never say never.  Every time I have I end up doing whatever it is I said I would never do (for example: get drunk).  Whereas, the things I set out to do (for example: try marijuana at least once) I have never done.  So there you go.  Oy.

As a result, I thought it would be fun/entertaining/informative/whatever for me to write about some of the things I try out here as someone new to town. Something I have discovered upon moving here is that 95% of the people living in the Phoenix metro area aren't actually from this here, which could explain the odd midwestern accent that seems to be prominent.  That could also explain why that same 95% of the population is freakishly polite, which I appreciate going back to the whole being new to this area thing.  

My goal is to try out non-chain places that are not readily available everywhere else and review them so as to keep a record of places I like, love, or would never go back to along the way.  I don't believe people are really considered a local somewhere until they've been in that area at least a year and can navigate the street system without relying on a map (I have two in my car just in case).  Part of my quest in all this is to find a non-Starbucks coffee shop to become a regular at. Nothing against Starbucks, I heart them as much as the next java junkie, but I like to support local businesses whenever possible in order to make a small difference in the world, especially since the economy bottomed out and I saw first hand in the city I moved here from how quickly a small business owner's dreams can shatter (literally overnight, in case anyone was wondering).  Other things I am looking to discover: local musicians to become a groupie to, artsy stuff, outdoorsy naturey type stuff that I normally wouldn't consider due to weather restrictions but here that's only an issue like 2 months out of the year, shopping, dining, etc.  

We'll see how this goes considering my last post was forever ago so I can say that I am consistently inconsistent in my blogging efforts.   

John and Kate Plus Who the Hell Cares

Seriously, Gosselins, get over yourselves and stop exploiting your children. I am beyond tired of hearing about these people every time I try to view "news". Is the Jon and Kate divorce the most important thing we have going on in this country? No! So why is the media devoting so much time to it? I just don't get it. I hope their divorced gets settled and finalized soon so that everyone can just move on to more relevant things. . . like the Khloe Kardashian wedding. Wtf? Surely there has to be a news source somewhere that doesn't consider pseudo celebrities newsworthy.

Envy: One of the Seven Deadly Sins

Do you ever look at someone else's life and envy it because you feel that person is living the life you were meant to live but have yet to experience as the seconds tick by slowly on the clock of life? Just wondering if I am the only one who ever has this issue. This is just one of the many reasons why sometimes it can be tricky to have same gender friendships-that inadvertent need to compete with one another whether you want to openly admit it or not and the subconscious desire to want what the other person has. Or perhaps this instills in you the fire you need to pursue your dreams. . .

The Music I Can't Stop Listening To

This past weekend one of my friends insisted that we all watch the movie Once since it is her favorite. I was skeptical at first till I heard the first song integrated into the story line. A-freaking-mazing. The story itself is interesting and engaging, but it's the third character in this love story that makes the movie worth watching and that third character is in fact the music. If you don't believe me check out some of the songs of the soundtrack at http://www.theswellseason.com/. I am particularly fond of the song "Falling Slowly" and have vowed to teach myself the melody on my keyboard or perish. Watch it, love it, buy it. Seriously, folks.

That Seems About Right

Last week, I was driving along on one of the busiest streets in lovely Boise when I saw something that both irritated me and made me laugh at the same time. An older, very used truck (typically referred to as a rig in these here parts) went from being in the far right hand lane of the five lane road to the center turning lane in a mere matter of seconds, cutting off two other vehicles in the process and nearly dumping a large dog out of the back of the pick-up. The male driver was appropriately dressed in a flannel shirt, a trucker hat, and smoking a cigarette. Where was he trying to get to in such a big hurry? Apparently the pawn shop since that's the parking lot he swerved into. Yep, that seems about right. I wonder how much he got for the dog. . .