Chef Ryan Swanson of Kai Restaurant at Wild Horse Pass

So happy to be working with Chef Ryan Swanson of Kai Restaurant on our new cookbook, Tastes & Treasures Volume II. He is passionate about the history of food in Arizona.
Below is an article from the East Valley Star Tribune. Wednesday, June 1, 2016: 
The chef of Arizona’s lone five-star restaurant is learning more about using indigenous foods on his menu.
Ryan Swanson is the chef at the Kai Restaurant, inside the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass resort.
Swanson found Mark Lewis, a Tempe resident pushing awareness of food foraged from the desert, when searching for information about cooking with native plants.
“As chefs, we first want knowledge,” Swanson said. It’s important that knowledge focus on food grown nearby, hence the Sonoran Desert in his case. “It can be fun to learn what’s out there.”
Swanson wants his menu to reflect the local culture and offerings.
“We try to represent who we are every day,” he said. It’s always best to find local food rather than cooking with food trucked in to Chandler.
“We care about the food that we serve,” Swanson said.
It’s important for chefs to evolve every day, he said. Finding indigenous ingredients is one way for him to do so.
“We try to learn more and more about food,” Swanson said.
Kai Restaurant is the only Arizona property to receive AAA’s Five Diamond award and a spot on the Forbes Five Star restaurant list.
Swanson incorporates the essence of the Pima and Maricopa tribes and locally farmed ingredients from the Gila River Indian Community, according to Kai’s website.
Swanson describes the fusion restaurant as “very rare, genuine and original.”
Serving high-quality food, some with an indigenous ingredient twist, results in customers finding it hard to believe they are eating “such a rare dinner,” Swanson said.
It also allows the restaurant and its employees to maintain a close relationship with the Gila River Indian Community, where the restaurant is located. The community is the ultimate owner of the resort and restaurant.
“We’re just tapping into some very interesting things in Native American cuisine,” Swanson said. “We’re tapping in to the history and learning more about these indigenous foods.
Swanson promises diners that his menu will continue to grow, evolve and move forward and the volume of local food on the menu will grow as much as possible.
“It’s a challenge we face, but we’re always up for it,” he said.
By Shelley Ridenour, Tribune staff writer

Chef Robert Nixon at Wrigley Mansion

Cathy Shumard and Wrigley Mansion Chef Robert Nixon

Lunch today at the Wrigley Mansion included the most delicious mushroom soup. It also included meeting Chef Robert Nixon, a man who knows his way around a kitchen. Cathy Shumard saw him in the dining room and recognized him.  As Cathy explained, "We are old friends from a past restaurant life".
Did I mention the Wrigley Mansion wants to participate in Tastes and Treasures cookbook Volume II?

Rock Springs Cafe history

Before written history of the area, Rock Springs was a periodic encampment for the Yavapai Indians. Beginning in the 1800’s “The Rock” as it later became known, served as a military bivouac and a water stop for miners, cattle drivers, sheepherders and travelers on the Black Canyon trail. About 1917 the last Black Canyon stagecoach was retired and motor vehicles took over the trail. Shortly thereafter, Rock Springs Cafe founder, Ben Warner, then an aspiring 19-year old entrepreneur, built a canvas-covered store to supply merchandise for travelers, miners and local ranchers. As business prospered, he started a hotel and general store in 1918.
We are pleased to tell more of the story and pie recipes in Tastes & Treasures A Storytelling Cookbook of Historic Arizona Volume II.

National History Day Awards

Arizona students received awards at the June 16, 2016 National History Day National Competition Awards Ceremony. National History Day in Arizona (NHDAZ) is coordinated by the Arizona Historical Society and is supported in part by a grant from the Historical League, Inc.  This year nearly 500 students from around Arizona participated in NHDAZ. Fifty of these Arizona students earned the chance to compete in the National History Day Contest in College Park, Maryland.
Aman Agarwal and Daksh Gopalani from Basis Peoria in Peoria won 3rd Place out of 97 entries in the Junior Group Websites division/category. Their project was titled “Unit 731: Perpetrators of the Asian Holocaust.”
Sharon Vaz from Basis Tucson in Tucson received the Senior Division Outstanding State Entry Award for her Senior Historical Paper titled “The Unanticipated Impact of Father Kino’s Mission on the O’odham People.”
This year’s Junior Division Outstanding State Entry Award went to Ayla Young for her Junior Individual Website project titled “The Wire that Connected the World.”  Ayla is from New Vistas Center for Education in Chandler.
For more information on how you can get involved with NHDAZ visit www.nhdaz.org or contact the Arizona State Coordinator, Nancy York Greenwood, at nyork@azhs.gov.

Escarole and Beans with the Espositos

Dennis Esposito is ready for this tasty dinner

Italian cooks have such talent in the kitchen. Donna Esposito wrote, "This recipe came from Old Time Italian Recipes. Their (Carol and Julius Marcarelli) son was in my 5th Grade Classroom about 32 years ago!"

Escarole and Beans
 Ingredients:
3 pounds of escarole
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 tsp of pepper
Several shakes of Tuscan Style Italian Seasoning
1 --20 ounce can of cannelloni beans and moisture
1 can of water

Directions:

Carefully wash escarole to remove any sand. Cut leaves into smaller pieces.
Cook escarole in rapidly boiling water for approx. 10 minutes and then drain.
In large sauce pan with high sides, sauté garlic in oil.
Add seasonings, beans, and water.
Simmer 10 minutes.
Add cooked escarole and continue to simmering for 1/2 hour more.
Serve in soup bowls with freshly grated cheese.
Serve with warm crusty Italian bread. Serves 4-5. Delicious! Thanks to Donna Esposito who shared this recipe from Old Time Italian Recipes by Carol and Julius Marcarelli, parents of the Verizon man " Can you hear me now?"

Rock Springs Cafe to be in new second edition of Tastes & Treasures

Ruth McLeod and Cathy Shumard

Talking about our new cookbook with Richard Shaw, owner of historic Rock Springs Cafe was most enjoyable. We learned much about the history of the place, with its own natural spring water. Then we met pie maker Angel Bruck who has a passion for creating the best pies in Arizona. They are both ready to be involved in the second edition of Tastes & Treasures. Cookbook committee members Cathy Shumard and Ruth McLeod were happy to visit Rock Springs, even bringing home a Chocolate Pie and Jack Daniels Pecan Pie. Yummmmmmm.

Pie baker Angel Bruck and co-owner of Rock Springs Cafe Richard Shaw

Historic Prescott bank

Strolling through Prescott's town square, Karen Swanson and friends stopped at the 1st National Bank building, now a charming gift shop. Large framed photos on the walls give an insight into the days of early Prescott.