rainahhh

7:15 PM

FLAGSTAFF FEATURE: Smashburger

So. Apparently there is this place in Arizona, and all over the United States—and even in other countries!—called SmashBurger, that I've never known about. Up until a few months earlier, into last year even, when SmashBurger filled the empty store space between Jimmy John's and Dunkin Donuts here in Flagstaff...which I'm pretty sure was occupied by another restaurant prior? And I'm not quite sure what happened to that restaurant. But! Whatever happened to the old restaurant, there's a SmashBurger here now—and I am absolutely loving it.

So for one, the interior of SmashBurger is much, much larger than the exterior. With the way the entire mini shopping plaza is set up, each of the three restaurants in this place are long, and seem to be squished. But Smash was very open and very well-lighted. It had this industrial, warehouse-like feel to it with brick walls, an open ceiling, and flooring that's all marked up. It helps that there's actually a decent amount of windows, too, to help natural light flow in. I love places to eat that have natural light. There's also plenty of seating space and seats to choose from—whether you like booth sitting or table seats.

Overall Rating: 10/10

Overall Pricing: Under $10

I think what I like the most about Smash is it reminds me of my favorite burger joint in Phoenix, that my parents promised to take me to the day of getting my braces off (because eating a giant burger that likes to fall apart with braces and having the food get in your teeth is never fun for a twelve to fourteen year old)—in case you hadn't guessed by now, it's Fudruckers! SmashBurger reminds me a lot of a mini Fudruckers in the way that their menu is set up. They have two sizes of burgers, each with an individual pricing. Then they have a pre-made menu you can choose from. There's an original burger, and then there are the specialty burgers. There's also a chicken menu, too, so a lot of these burgers can be (from what I gathered yesterday, anyway) made into chicken sandwiches. The prices go up a bit with the specialty burgers, and then depending on the size you order. But it's all, amazingly, super affordable! Which my college budget loves. Ignoring the fact that I went with my mom and sister, of course, and that she treated us. Just...just ignore that. I'm thinking of the future here. With the affordable prices of SmashBurger, I definitely intend to go back. Of course, I have to admit, even though my college budget appreciates this—the order between my sister, mother, and myself totaled to around $23. Which isn't all that terrible.

Anyway, I went on a tangent. They also have a create your own menu. You pick the bun you want, the meat you want, and toppings. There are specialty toppings that, with every topping you add, adds some money to your order. That can get a bit expensive. But there's a section of fifteen free toppings to choose from that's pretty nice. They also have a beverage menu that I saw featured a lot of malts...which I'd love to get my hands on the next time I go back.

That being said (about the malts) I'm pretty sure fries and a drink are extra...which is possibly why my family order totaled to be so much? Because my sister and mother both got a drink, and I got fries and a drink. Let me tell you something about their fries—they're insanely delicious. They're kind of crispy, which I don't usually like crunchy/crispy fries, but this was an exception because they were so good! I think SmashBurger has a special house seasoning or recipe for their fries...I think I glimpsed something of that sorts on the menu yesterday, but I can't be certain because I didn't really read the fries section of the menu. But I know they serve fried pickles!

Anyway, I ordered the avocado club, regular size, with a size of regular fries (that felt like a side of extra large...man, I was so full, even after sharing them!). The burger was so damn amazingly delicious, I couldn't believe it! Best burger with avocado I have ever had. On my burger, there was fresh avocado, tomato, lettuce, mayo, Applewood smoked bacon, and ranch dressing. As soon as I bit into the burger, it was so well made and so delicious it started to fall apart in my hands and even leaked from the juiciness of the burger! I cannot put into words how amazing this burger was...no lie!

So I realize my "Flagstaff Feature" is supposed to be featuring hole-in-the-wall places in Flagstaff, or small chains...but sometimes, exceptions need to be made. Everyone needs to get their butts over to SmashBurger, immediately!

I slept so well last night. I was beyond content when I went home after eating here. I can't wait to take my boyfriend here.

7:56 PM

FLAGSTAFF FEATURE: Wildflower Bread Company

So I realize that Wildflower Bread Company isn't a specific Flagstaff Feature, like some if not all of the restaurants I've eaten at and intend to eat at and want to write about. You can find Wildflowers throughout different places in Arizona, and I'm sure in other states, as well. But I still wanted to write a feature on them for a couple of reasons: Their food is exceptionally delicious and it's all-natural.

Unfortunately, while the food is exceptionally delicious, the price wasn't much worth it, in my opinion. But this is coming from a poor college student's perspective. A poor college student who needs to pay tuition, rent, has to buy groceries every month, and is saving up money to buy and tend to a kitten. Put simple: I like things cheap, which is why I enjoy eating in Flagstaff. Most things are cheap. Especially the special hole-in-the-wall restaurants you can find around here that also serve as a great cultural experience.

Of course, that being said, you get what you pay for at Wildflower. You pay the price for well prepared, delicious food of all sorts. You also pay the price for it being all-natural—which ensures that the ingredients are all locally grown, fresh, and also that any animals involved in the process of the making of the food are cared for properly and fairly. So, in the end, I suppose my fourteen dollars for lunch was worth it.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Pricing: $5-30

The price rating as listed on actual food review sites is at a range from $11-30, but I decided to lower it to the $5 I made it because after looking over the menu again, there are certain things that are around $3-5. Mainly the pastries are that cheap, and the foods on the breakfast menu. But if you still want to go in for a snack, you won't need to spend too much money, if you're frugal.

Food wise, it was all very delicious, as I've stated before. There are fewer pictures this time because, ironically enough, although my boyfriend Jeremy and myself treated this as a sort of mini-date, we paid separately for our own food. We didn't even discuss what we were going to order—and yet we ordered the same exact thing. We both ordered a sandwich off of the hot menu, that being the chicken parmesan sandwich (which sadly, for me, meant no sharing of the food). Where he got water, I ordered a medium-sized cup of black raspberry lemonade, and added chips onto my order.

The food came out freshly made, and warm to the point it was steaming. My first reaction when seeing this sandwich was, "What the heck, how do you eat this?!" because I'd never before seen a sandwich that...well, you couldn't pick up. I mean, it was pretty obvious from the fork and knife they brought out with my order that I was meant to cut into the sandwich and eat it that way. But still, it was a concept I was unfamiliar with. I also failed to miss the part on the menu that said it was served "open face." Oops. Anyway, it was a delicious sandwich composed of chicken breast on grilled herb Focaccia bread, marinated mushrooms, arugula and Swiss, all covered in marinara with some spinach. Jeremy thought there was too much spinach on the sandwich, but I personally thought it was a nice amount of green to top everything off.

To my order was an added side of chips I paid for, and were they delicious. Crunchier than most potato chips, you could easily tell these were freshly made. There were some sweet potatoes mixed in the batch of chips, as well, in chip form. I don't really like sweet potatoes, so I wasn't fond of the orange chips (which I ended up trying because I thought it was like those Veggie Straws where the orange is carrot-flavored).

The lemonade was deliciously sweet, with just enough tang from the actual lemons. The cashier who helped us was nice enough to talk to Jeremy about what to order, because he'd never eaten there before. She took a lot of time out to actually point things that she personally liked out of each part of the menu. When I ordered, she offered me the same service. She also asked me how much ice I specifically wanted in my cup for my lemonade, which I thought was strange—until she mentioned that there were no free refills. Then I thought it was a seriously kind thing of her to do.

Overall, Wildflower Bread Company really is worth the money you pay for it. But for a broke college kid, I don't plan to go back too often. At the end of our visit, Jeremy and I bought a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread...which was cheaper than actually dining-in. The loaf is huge, freshly baked every day—and it only cost us six dollars. That felt more worth my money than the food did today.

From past experience, though, Wildflower has some amazing soups and salads as well...so I still recommend eating here if you ever get the chance. The natural flavors used in all of their food will leave a popping flavor in your mouth you've probably never experienced before.

2:16 PM

Spring Break 2015 Goals

10:39 PM

Arizona Renaissance Festival 2015

Every year, my family makes an annual trip to the Arizona Renaissance Festival just outside of Apache Junction. This place, in my opinion and the opinion of many friends, is known as one of my favorite places in this world. I really love the Renaissance Festival and the activities that take place there. I think, though, what makes the Ren Faire is the actors out there. There's something about the AZRF actors that makes the entire experience something that needs to be included in a person's bucketlist. They really are the heart of the festival—and if you go out there and interact with them, you come back with the most from the festival.

My boyfriend Jeremy ended up joining us for this annual trip to the AZRF this year. Being from California, and just 1-2 hours away from Buena Park, Jeremy's favorite place to go growing up was to Medieval Times for his birthday. So I thought he'd love the Renaissance Festival, being similar. But the thing about the Renaissance Festival is that it's a lot of interaction. You're in the middle of everything, compared to a spectator just being included like at Medieval Times. Although when I went to Medieval Times over winter break it was still freaking awesome! But anyway, I was right—Jeremy did, in fact, love the Ren Faire. He had a ton of fun, thought the costumes were awesome, and got teased a lot by some of the actors for having a "tiny man beard."

We were also able to enjoy some of the shows going on. We actually sat down for the full Ancient Art of Falconry, Adam "Crack" Winrich, and Cast in Bronze—which is a cool musical show that features an instrument called a Carillon. The puns were real in all these shows, and Jeremy doesn't exactly love puns too much so h was dying inside. He still found many of the shows hilarious and fun, though. We were also able to see some of Knotty Nauticals, Clan Tynker, and Ghazaal Bledi. We also saw the royals at court for a while and saw this new street act called Fireflicker the Dragon and Lady Prudence. Fireflicker's costume was freaking awesome—unfortunately I didn't get to take a picture because I never saw Fireflicker a second time during the day. The first time I saw him, Jeremy and I were so entranced we never thought to take a picture. Silly me was positive we'd at least see the new street act two more times that day.

Jeremy also got a taste of Ren Faire food. He tried the good 'ole turkey leg that is so well known out at the AZRF. We also ate bread bowls—me a bread bowl with stew and him with chili. My mom and brother had their favorite chicken and chips (which are french fries) during lunch. We also snacked on chocolate, sorbet frozen on top of an orange, and Italian ice cream (pictured to the right). Jeremy got a cookies and cream flavor for that and I got mango. I love everything and anything mango flavored...so I was in heaven.

As I mentioned before, the actors are what really make the experience out at the Renaissance Festival the most enjoyable. They give you a taste of the time period not just through their costume, but their way of speech and jokes, too. So I was saddened to learn that some of my favorite actors who I always interact with just weren't around. Prince Gregory wasn't working this year, and I couldn't find Prince Nicholas or Prince Philip anywhere on the grounds no matter where I looked. So there was, sadly, no pictures with them this year. Which is extremely disheartening since I have never once gotten a picture with Prince Nicholas—I have trouble every year finding him on the grounds, and when I do find him, my mom is conveniently never around to take a picture. Princess Constance is pregnant, so she wasn't around, either....nor was Marek. So many of the actors who recognize me just weren't there this year. Some of them were, though, and did recognize me, but didn't really talk all that much. I think it helps when you see a person every year a few times a year to talk to you more. That part of the festival this year was a bummer, because Jeremy missed out on actor interaction. But a lot of the actors got new costumes, and the colors were beautiful! So that was a plus.

Jeremy was also dragged to every jouse and he now knows why my family and I love Sir Maxmillian so much. He also knows why you have to go to every joust of the day—strange, hilarious things did happen there that Jeremy was cracking up at. Especially the last joust...the jokes there got pretty dirty, and poor Petite Sarah our Joust Bunny was becoming overwhelmed! She also threatened to throw some children into the rink, which Jeremy got a kick out of. Also I got a picture with Maxx, as well as a candid photo my mom took that I absolutely adore.

Also, my mom is one of Maxx's biggest fans and absolutely loves him—so I asked him to sign her shirt because she really wanted something signed but didn't have anything, and all she could think of was to ask for her shirt to be signed. On top of it though, she was too shy to ask on her own. But he did it for her and it was amazing!

So, all in all, even if my favorite actors weren't around, it was still an amazing time out at the 2015 Arizona Renaissance Festival. And Jeremy, who is new to the entire scene, had an amazing time. If any of you ever have a chance to head out to the Arizona Renaissance Festival, I definitely suggest it. Unfortunately there's only two weekends left, so readers may have to consider going next year. It normally starts in February and runs until the end of March. My family, when I lived in Phoenix and not Flagstaff, normally made 2-3 trips out per year. This is the latest trip we've ever taken. The weather ended up being perfect—there was a slight breeze to even out the eighty-eight degrees.

FLAGSTAFF FEATURE: Smashburger

FLAGSTAFF FEATURE: Wildflower Bread Company

Spring Break 2015 Goals

Arizona Renaissance Festival 2015

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