Behind every good cheesecake is a good woman...

"Who made all these cheesecakes?" I said while crushing a blueberry offering, forgetting the progress we've made in the weight-loss department, willing to descent into the depths of decadence. "Well, I did, silly."
That was the voice - proud, with a lilac drawl - of Suzy Watson, who was surprisingly reluctant to pose with her handiwork. Ms. Watson caters for Mesa's own Cucina di Vita (www.cucinadivita.com), and the world is better for it...how can a name that translates into "Kitchen of Life" be anything but positive?
Thank you, Suzy!
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A positive start...

Friday night, the bottomless book tour made a stop to the Arizona Historical Society Museum where the Play Ball exhibit was on display. I spoke and signed books, but the real winner came after the signing, with a perusal of the dessert table.

A platter of mini-cheesecakes of such delightful variety...rum, plain, blueberry, peach-berry, four-fruit, and my favorite name (though I dislike chocolate) "chocolate rhapsody."

Sometimes you have to make your own luck, which is why I decided right then and there, to be bold:
"I can't decide which of these to pick," I said of my mini-options. "I'd like to take them all."

And that is how I left the Arizona Historical Society Museum with a full platter of cheesecakes. Since it's spring training, it was like hitting a home run in your first at-bat...

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The Cactus League - On a Platter

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Two full days remaining in Arizona, which means two full days to salvage what has been a surprisingly disappointing adventure in gastronomy.

Scottsdale has always been the tony alternative to the more rugged Phoenix. Few places in the United States flaunt and encourage the audacity of wealth like it. For the food lover, such an uncomfortable characteristic can be a hidden boon. On this trip, it remains so...
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And finally....

The coconut and passion fruit creme brulee!
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Correction!

It's the Gramercy Bistro, not Grammercy! Mi culpa...
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Blue cheese and date stuffed filet mignon

With bacon! -- Grammercy Bistro
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French Onion soup, Grammercy Bistro

An appropriate choice on a nine-degree night...
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