Go west, young (wo)man!

After a little bit of finagling and jogging, I made my connection in Detroit and landed in Phoenix in the afternoon, as planned. We relaxed a bit and then headed to Crudo for dinner with a few friends. Matt had been before, but for the rest of us, this was our maiden voyage.

Crudo means "raw" in Italian, although only one of us opted for something from the raw portion of the menu. (I figured we'd probably hit up one of Phoenix' marvelous sushi spots at some point in the trip.)

We started with the yummy smoked olives.

Smoked olives

Sona + Aaron over for din-din

Making peanut sauce in mini processor

I couldn't find the original recipe I used for this spicy Thai stir-fry, but here are a few similar ones from Bon Appetit and Food and Wine:

• http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/panang-tofu-curry

• http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/thai-style-tofu-and-vegetables

Broccoli + garlic

As usual, I omitted any sugars (e.g., brown sugar, honey, agave). I also used broccoli and carrots instead of the veggies outlined in the above recipes. I wish I could find the recipe for the peanut sauce. The one I used was made with roasted, salted peanuts instead of peanut butter like the one from Cookie and Kate below. (And if I had used the latter, I would've opted for crunchy.) I also used Sriracha sauce, but I could've thrown in some red pepper flakes.

Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

• ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• ¼ cup reduced sodium tamari
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey (or agave nectar, to taste)
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons water

The finished product