2009 Top 25 Most Liveable Cities (from Monocle)

2009 Top 25 Most Liveable Cities (from the July-August 09 issue of Monocle):
25. Lisbon
24. Geneva
23. Hamburg
22. Kyoto
21. Amsterdam
20. Auckland
19. Montreal
18. Singapore
17. Oslo
16. Fukuoka
15. Barcelona
14. Vancouver
13. Sydney
12. Madrid
11. Honolulu
10. Berlin
9. Melbourne
8. Paris
7. Vienna
6. Stockholm
5. Helsinki
4. Munich
3. Tokyo
2. Copenhagen
1. Zurich

Interesting. Honolulu is the only US city on the list...and London isn't even ranked (and Monocle is headquartered there).

Related:
slideshow

Dinner last night - sea bass

Made this for dinner last night:

Sea bass!

We bought the fish at Super L Market for $13.99/lb - this piece ended up being ~$20. Kind of pricey...but well worth it!

The preparation is really simple. It only takes around seventeen minutes (including cooking time) and requires only six ingredients.

Ingredients:

• sea bass
• ginger (julienned)
• green onion
• two tablespoons soy sauce
• two tablespoons chinese rice wine
• black pepper

Directions:

1. Put a first layer of ginger and green onion on a plate (we use an attachment that comes w/ our rice cooker).
   
2. Place the fish on top of the ginger and green onions.
   
3. Sprinkle a bit of black pepper over the fish.
   
4. Put more ginger and green onion on the fish.
   
5. Pour soy sauce and rice wine on fish.
   
6. Steam for approximately twelve minutes.

Random thoughts

I arrived back home on Thursday night.

We hit the mall today - one of the few things to do in Phoenix during the scorching summer.

Here are some random thoughts I had today:

• Do smokers that toss their used cigarette butts on the street do the same thing inside their homes? I'm assuming no...so why do they do it outside?!? (I think about this one a lot. It's one of my pet peeves.)
  
• We stopped in Gap today. After years of dull designs, the clothes seem to be improving! I wonder if this is a result of Patrick Robinson. I haven't bought anything from Gap for a very, very long time, but maybe sometime soon!
  
• Clinique desperately needs to redesign the packaging for the majority of its product line. The packaging for these products looks like it's straight from the '80s. I think about this every time I pass by the Clinique counter @ a department store...I do love their M Protect lotion though.

A peek inside the mind of Andy... ;-)

In DC

Wow - almost a month since my last posting!

I'm currently in Washington D.C. for GMAC's PDP (Professional Development Program). PDP is a conference for business school admissions professionals. The program begins later this afternoon, so I've got a bit of free time until then.

This morning I went to Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market. I had a nice mushroom empanada and white nectarine muffin for breakfast.

That's it for now - I'm off to Eastern Market!

Off to LA

We're headed to LA for the long weekend. We'll spend one night in Palm Springs, one night in Westwood, and the final night at my parent's house.

Here's our tentative "hit-list":
Father's Office
Happy Harbor
Simbala
Din Tai Fung
Josie Restaurant
xooro
Fosselman's

Have a fun and safe Fourth of July!

Top 10 pizza joints in Phoenix

Top 10 pizza joints in Phoenix (from AZCentral.com/Howard Seftel)

I've tried 8 out of the 10!

• Pizzeria Bianco
• Humble Pie
• Patsy Grimaldi's
• Cibo
• La Piazza al Forno
• Grazie
• La Grande Orange
• Pizza a Metro
• Vito's Pizza
  
• Classic Italian Pizza

Fantastic food last Friday

For lunch, I went to A Touch of European Cafe with a few of my co-workers. None of us had been there before. It's a small restaurant in downtown Glendale. I had a tomato, basil, mozzarella, and turkey sandwich on ciabatta bread (served w/ a bag of chips). The sandwich was excellent. We also split a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. Great find B!

Here are a few pictures:

For dinner that night, we went to Tuck Shop with a friend. We've been there twice previously, but I've never written about it before. With this visit, Tuck has solidified itself as one of our favorite places in the Valley.


On this visit, we ordered the following to share:

• Wild mushrooms on short pastry, goat cheese, sherry, thyme ($7)
• Medjool dates stuffed with Schreiners chorizo, melted gruyere ($9)
• Halibut filet, herb garden pesto, lentils, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes ($19)
  

Everything was excellent, as it has been on our previous visits. I think "big, bold flavors" is a good overall description of the food at Tuck Shop. The star of this meal was the halibut entree. The fish was perfectly cooked and the tomato was bursting with juice. It was a fantastic summer dish.


We were too stuffed for dessert, but they do give you complimentary cookie dough balls...

I'm a bit concerned that they weren't busier for a Friday evening. On our previous visits (back in late January and early February), the place was packed and we had to wait for a table.

Here are some pics of things we've had on our previous visits:

Panini bites: grilled pear, taleggio, arugula, honey w/ prosciutto ($7+$2)

Roasted baby beets, spicy mustard cream ($6)

Citrus-brined fried chicken, white cheddar waffles, braised greens ($17)

Pine AZ spiced skirt steak, parmesan lentil mashed yukons, mushrooms ($18)

Blueberry Buckle ($7)

Bananas foster ($7)

If you haven't tried Tuck, I strongly recommend that you give it a try!

After dinner, I suggested going to Lola Coffee - a recently opened coffeehouse. We had a "Matador" (mocha w/ cinnamon) and coconut cupcake (made by Sweet Pea Bakery). Both were excellent. Here are a few pics:

It was a very nice day...we tried two new places which ended up being great, and returned to one of our favorites.

Places mentioned:
A Touch of European Cafe
7146 N 57th Dr #C
Glendale, AZ 85301

Tuck Shop
2245 N 12th St
Phoenix, AZ 85006

Lola Coffee
4700 N Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85012