Monthly Archives: April 2014

Arts & Entertainment, Music

An Eclectic Easter With the Portland Cello Project

Portland Cello Project (Photo: Jason Quigley)
Portland Cello Project (Photo: Jason Quigley)

Portland Cello Project knows how to rock. They also know how to jazz, to funk, to rap, and to classical. It seems like there isn’t a musical genre that hasn’t been lovingly remixed by this roving band of cellists. Since 2007, the dozen-or-so musicians of PCP (as they’re lovingly called by members and fans) have pursued their mission to to boldly go where no cello has gone before, from rock clubs and art galleries to sports arenas and dive bars.

The ensemble’s adventurous arrangements and cello-playing chops have won them legions of fans in the Portland area and beyond. After wowing Seattle audiences in 2013 with an eclectic mix of Beck, Bach, and Brubeck, the band returned to the Triple Door on April 20 for an Easter Sunday concert. They were joined by the Alialujah Choir, a band of fellow Portlanders who blend folk-inspired tunes with layered vocal harmonies.

Alialujah Choir (Photo: Tarina Westlund)

In true PCP spirit, Sunday’s program had something for everyone. Hits by Radiohead, Kanye West, Beck, and Fleet Foxes figured prominently, along with fallen hometown hero Elliott Smith. A nod to the cello’s classical roots came in the form of Rossini’s William Tell Overture and a tribute to British choral composer John Tavener. The ensemble’s take on Dave Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo à la Turk” was one of the most interesting arrangements of the evening, the ensemble tossing Brubeck’s energetic piano theme from cellist to cellist.

Sunday’s concert was performed by six of the ensemble’s rotating group of cellists, all fine players at the top of their game. I was impressed by the quality of PCP’s arrangements, which utilize the full range of the cello and often play with timbre in clever ways. Their arrangement of Tavener’s “The Lamb” brought a buoyant quality to the solemn choral piece, shedding a new light on the Easter-appropriate work. In contrast, the arrangement of the theme from Princess Mononoke echoed the film score to a tee, evoking the soaring string melody of the original.

The six cellists received support on some songs from a backup band of drums, bass, trumpet, and keyboard. Though the rhythm section added a lot of energy to the ensemble, the songs with drums and bass guitar sounded muddled and too busy. The reverb on the bass guitar drowned out the nuanced cello arrangements in some of the more rocking tunes like Radiohead’s “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” and Beck’s “Paper Tiger”. A jazzy cello solo in Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo à la Turk” was barely audible amidst accompaniment from the other cellists as well as the backup band.

Vocalist Patti King also joined the cellists for a few numbers. She quickly became a crowd favorite, drawing cheers for her performances of Radiohead, Beck, and her own original song, “My Arrow”. PCP and King joined forces for a couple of numbers from Beck’s Song Reader, the artist’s 2012 album that was released only in sheet music format. The wry “Last Night You Were a Dream” was full of charm, with King’s sunny vocals floating over cello harmonies.

Not surprisingly, PCP sounds best when focusing on what its members know best: The cello and its vast musical capabilities. My favorite piece of the evening was “Denmark”, an original work written for the ensemble by composer and founding member Gideon Freudmann. A tentative pizzicato phrase kicks off the tune, transforming into a countermelody as the layers of the piece slowly unfold, revealing an elegant theme that’s passed around the group. It’s a short, relatively simple little piece, but “Denmark” goes far in showcasing the range and versatility of the cello ensemble.

In the spirit of Portland-flavored DIY, Sunday’s program was a true community effort, bringing together arrangements by different members of the band. With a repertoire of over 800 songs, it’s easy to believe that no two PCP shows are alike. I appreciated the opportunity to hear from each of the six cellists during their Triple Door performance, whether it be in the form of a solo passage or through a piece they arranged.

Alialujah Choir opened the evening with a brief set. With one band member missing due to illness, guitarist Adam Shearer and pianist Meredith Adelaide struggled to impart fullness to the group’s brand of wistful folk tunes. Their efforts were valiant indeed, with the pair’s lovely vocal harmonies floating in perfect balance with intertwining instrumentals. However, without the harmonizing power of the full band, the typically-rich songs felt a little hollow and repetitive after the first few numbers.

Keep an eye on Alialujah Choir for a chance to catch them in full force and health. They’ll be touring Oregon, Idaho, and the Southwest with Blitzen Trapper this fall.

Food, Restaurant

Brunch Brings Big Flavors at Miller’s Guild

Having already sampled much of the dinner menu one evening at the new Miller’s Guild in downtown Seattle, I was curious what brunch would bring, particularly from the massive Infierno, with its special menu that lists items by animal and sourcing.

What I especially like about Miller’s Guild is that brunch is served daily. Note, though, that while you can have brunch as early as 8am, the Infierno menu doesn’t fire up until 11am, which is when you can get into meatier dishes like the Wagyu burger, bavette steak, a half-chicken, and a pork bratwurst. Before 11am, the “regular” brunch menu (which, like the Infierno menu, is always subject to change) might include items like the daily quiche, “eggs as you want them,” a few salads, and salmon tartare.

Like last time, I was in a “hot seat” at the counter in front of the Infierno, which is the perfect place to catch a culinary show. Fonte coffee was my first request. Coffee in hand, I had to have a house-made jelly doughnut to with it while mulling over the rest of the menu. The servers had talked up the doughnut, and its massive size and startling magenta color (from the lemon-hibiscus glaze) immediately impressed me. Fun flavors, and I loved the big burst of jam inside, but the doughnut was a little bready and dry. This type will appeal to those who prefer cake doughnuts over yeast doughnuts.

Next would be a Nicoise-like grilled tuna salad, with generous slices of gorgeously red tuna atop the pile. Beneath the tuna were greens, sliced olives, roasted potatoes, cucumbers, pearl onions, cauliflower, kale, and tomatoes—many of the vegetables pickled. Aside from some tomatoes being like vinegar bombs and the potatoes being over-salted, this was a delicious dish, with harissa dressing perfect to pull it all together.

Ready to sample the magic of the Infierno, I ordered the shredded brisket sandwich. Between slices of grilled bread: cilantro slaw offering crunch and a refreshing herbal counterpoint against the big flavor of beef, and harissa aioli adding its complexity. But again the dish tasted just a little too salty for me, the source being the brisket. Accompanying the sandwich was a big pile of hand-cut French fries. They come with ketchup, but you can also order a side of motoraioli (see my previous piece on Miller’s Guild) for boost the extravagance with deliciously fatty flavor.

The saltiness of the savory dishes may have driven my quest for more bitter coffee and something sweet for dessert. With the doughnut as one sweet bookend, my brunch story ends with whiskey date cake with black walnuts, vanilla bean poached rhubarb, and soft whipped Chantilly cream. I’ve described this in more detail elsewhere, though note that this is the non-brunch version of whiskey cake. In the starter section of the brunch menu, you might find whiskey cake with apple, bacon, yam, maple syrup, and chili—which sounds like a wonderful way to either start or end a meal at Miller’s Guild.

Theatre

“Ernest Shackleton Loves Me” Kicks Out Your No Good Baby-Daddy

A century ago a self-assured adventurer named Ernest Shackleton embarked on the last expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The story of Shackleton’s rescue of his crew from their ill-fated attempt to cross the diameter of Antarctica provides the spine of the musical Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (through May 3rd by Balagan at Seattle Rep.).


Shackleton’s journey is fascinating for reasons ranging from the personal to the socio-political. This Balagan production focuses on the personal, but not the personal experiences of that adventure. Rather the show is interested in the personal challenges faced by Kat (Valerie Vigoda), the sleep-deprived mother of a newborn in present day Brooklyn. At best, equating her feats of endurance with those of the expedition does nothing for either story. At worst, it suggests a regressive attitude toward women.

Effectively a two-person show (Wade McCollum plays the other roles) the musical is light on details. We get enough background on Kat to know that she’s at the end of her rope. She has obstacles (she’s poor, the baby won’t sleep, and she’s so tired she’s hallucinating) but she has almost no conflict. We hear the sound of a crying baby whenever Joe Dipietro (a Tony winner who wrote the book) wants a shot of dramatic tension to remind us why this isn’t a one man show about Shackleton.

Here is where one might warn of spoilers were there much plot outside the Wikipedia entry. Shackleton’s improbable revelation is his love for this 21st Century Brooklyn single mom. He discovers Kat’s music through a nebulous cosmic time/space interface and depends on it to get his crew through their ship-bound over-wintering (strategic use of music, and even plays, to keep crews sane in polar exploration dates to a century before Shackleton).

Kat’s revelation is that she really can throw out her clichéd loser musician of a boyfriend, who has abandoned her and their newborn. The entirety of her conflict rests on the fact that she melts when he writes songs for her. This and sleep deprivation keep her from changing the locks on the apartment or immediately kicking him out when he returns from his failed tour.

Most disturbing is the fact that, were it only Shackleton’s chronicle standing between her and this parasitic man-child, she might succumb to the boyfriend’s musical travelogue metaphors of love. Kat is all ready to give in again when she stumbles on tangible evidence that her journey with Shackleton was more than just a hallucinatory trip through a Wikipedia entry. The implication: a woman without a man—even a polyamorous, man-child, prone to disappearing acts—has no will of her own and needs a romantic interest in her life to provide the will to get rid of the bum.

Plot be damned there are some engaging performances in this show and at least one good song. Unfortunately most of those performances belong to the male half of the cast.

Vigoda does have a lovely voice and plays a variety of instruments well but her acting never connects emotionally. She is most interesting when she is most focused on playing music rather than a character. Lyrics and music are credited to Vigoda and her husband and musical partner, Brendan Milburn, of the band Groovelily.

That male half of the cast, McCollum, is winningly charismatic in nearly all his roles. Whether performing the fatuous, moustache twirling Ponce De Leon or the heroic machismo of Shackleton in braggadocio overdrive, McCollum takes the show over the top in flights of abject silliness.

The show is at its best when it’s least realistic and least serious. DiPietro scores some points in comic bits of plot that establish a theme and deliver a punch line with glorious craftsmanship. The more serious moments and real world context do more harm than good, especially in terms of the show’s relationship with the audience.

That relationship is confused early on as Kat, faced with abandonment and sleeplessness, begins a video blog and the updates it with manic frequency. This allows her to speak to the audience and provide lots of exposition, but the device feels strained.

Kat is presented as an avant-garde opera composer. This justifies her playing instruments on stage (though most of the music is played offstage by Ryan O’Connell) and provides her connection to Shackleton. The trick of a musical played by an experimental composer character, whose works are seen by half a dozen and enjoyed by none, is that there is a disconnect between what she says and what she plays. The edgiest this music gets is an annoying reliance on excessive reverb meant as a comic bit.

Most of the songs sound like most songs in pop musicals (i.e. neither Sondheim nor Webber but somewhere in between, near Jonathon Larson). Most of the lyrics retread the theme of endurance and few songs move the plot forward. The standout number, Stop Rewind Play Record doesn’t do anything for the plot but it is musically interesting. Unfortunately, as with many songs in the show, the balance on this song’s amplification was such on opening night that we often lost Vigoda’s vocal.

The projections (possibly one of the aspects that make this show “unlike any other” according to press materials) are excellent and include much footage from the expedition. However these images draw focus from the onstage performers. The A/V team does nice work integrating McCollum’s projected performances.

Ernest Shackleton Loves Me has overt Broadway ambitions. This Balagan production is the latest in a long series of pre-Broadway development of this material and features a team of industry insiders with serious NYC credentials. One hopes they’ll develop it further and take some lessons from other shows that combine music, projections, and romantic stories of long journeys with greater success.

Literature

Gillian Flynn talks about Gone Girl, Cool Girls, and more at SAL

It seems wrong on the surface to talk about the timing of one of the season’s most anticipated literary events of the season with the online release of a movie trailer, but the subject of the forthcoming movie Gone Girl was what was everyone’s mind Thursday night when author Gillian Flynn came to Seattle for a sold out event at Town Hall. Flynn is adapting the screenplay to her novel and we got the first glimpse of it this on Monday. Hell, it’s one of the things I mentioned when I had a few moments to chat with her at the pre-event reception.

Part of Seattle Arts and Lectures series, Flynn’s talk summarized a lot of her writing career and the evolution from her novels Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and the breakout hit Gone Girl. It was full of great one-liners that I had to write down to tweet later:

 

 

But the first thing she said was that she wanted to answer the question she most frequently gets, which is “What is wrong with you?” That seems like an even more dismissive and sexist way of the question Joyce Carol Oates so eloquently addressed in 1981 when she addressed the question “Why is Your Writing So Violent?” head-on in the New York Times. (Spoiler: it was about gender then and it’s about gender now.)

On a related tangent, when I saw Alissa Nutting speak on a panel at AWP earlier this year, she told a story of how she, who teaches creative writing and English at John Carroll University (outside of Cleveland), had the father of a high school student ask another professor why she was allowed near students because he read about the plot of her (quite good) novel Tampa. I know of no examples where male authors are asked to justify their imaginations to strangers in such a point-blank and condescending manner.

But to get back on track, if you get the chance to meet Gillian Flynn and ask her, even in that pretend-joking way, “What is wrong with you?” you are a bad human being who should be ashamed of yourself.

Flynn talked about her father showing her Hitchcock’s Psycho when she was six, saying, “It’s about time you learned about Hitchcock” and how she had gotten a copy of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood at twelve. “I was almost a woman now, it’s time,” she said (in case my tweets aren’t embedding above). It was comforting knowing that we found the same movies and books transformative, though I was a teenager when I discovered them both.

Flynn spoke at length about how she made the character of Nick Flynn resemble her own life as a writer who had gotten laid off at Entertainment Weekly. She said that the (Amazing) Amy character was meant to be someone who came into enormous privilege without really earning it. She also said that when she was let go at EW, she felt a lot of pressure to finish Gone Girl because she became, by default, a full-time novelist.

The ending of Gone Girl was sort of the elephant in the room, and mentioned several times without giving away the plot. A surprisingly large number of hands (maybe a dozen?) went up when interviewer (and author of the hilarious novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette?) Maria Semple asked the audience who hadn’t yet read the book. I would have assumed people who have read the book was a unanimous number because the book was a runaway bestseller and tickets to see its author were somewhat pricy, compared to most author events, which are usually free in bookstores or $5 at Town Hall – but worth it!. (I went as a patron ticket-buyer and not as a comped member of the press.)

When Flynn and Semple jokingly suggested that people who hadn’t read the book get up and leave the room for five minutes, one person actually obliged.

Gone Girl is a fast-paced, psychological thriller that alternates between Nick’s and Amy’s points of view, and its ending is polarizing to a lot of people because it doesn’t wrap itself up nicely in a way that satisfies everyone. Flynn said that people will wait twenty minutes, or more, to talk to her after a reading to just plop their book down in front of her and say, “I hated the ending.” She said she writes, “I’m sorry you hate the ending” in their books. (She signed, “To Chris, Who liked the ending! Thanks!” in my hardcover copy.)

But life very rarely wraps up nicely, and neither does great art, so I always found it revealing when people would talk about how openly hostile they were to the ending, and not in a flattering way. I told her I thought as much when I had the chance to talk with her. But the ending is consistent with the book, and another one, where it wraps up nicely and justice is served, would have taken the book in a direction that was unnatural to its tone and pace. Apparently even Bob Woodward agrees with me:

I also love the ending of the book because I suspect it might give Nancy Grace an aneurysm, were she to read it.

The first thing Semple said to Flynn was that despite Flynn being successful, famous, beautiful (and a few other superlatives I didn’t capture), she was glad to see Flynn was fat (she was visibly pregnant).

When it came to talk about adapting Gone Girl as a film, Flynn said the first draft of her script was 380 pages, and 150 is considered “too long” by Hollywood standards. “Can we make it a mini-series?” she joked. But the film is directed by David Fincher, who had (spoiler, sorry!) Kevin Spacey deliver Brad Pitt a box with Gwyneth Paltrow’s head in Se7en and refused to make Mark Zuckerberg patch things up with the Winkelvoss brothers in The Social Network, so it was perplexing to me that Flynn was reportedly changing the ending in the film to be more satisfying for filmgoers. Though she said that there is often a problem with films being too faithful to their source novel, she denied that she was doing that with Gone Girl. “There’s this internet rumor that I wildly changed things,” she said, “that it’s now a musical.” For her part, Flynn singled out The Talented Mr. Ripley and Fight Club (a David Fincher film) as successful film adaptations that didn’t feel beholden to their books.

There are reports and quotes elsewhere from Flynn that says there are significant changes in the ending, it just doesn’t appear that they are there to appease some focus group or people who expect their films to always wrap up perfectly. I find that very exciting. Way more excited than I would normally feel about a movie that stars Ben Affleck (Rosamund Pike plays Amazing Amy).

At one point in the talk, Maria Semple asked Flynn to read the “Cool Girl” part of Gone Girl. That is (she reads further than I quote, but you can read the whole quote here, or better yet, read the book):

Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.

Semple asked Flynn if she included a way to include the “Cool Girl” part in the film because it was an internal monologue and not spoken dialogue. Flynn said of course she did. It’s something we could all agree on, and be optimistic for.

Arts & Entertainment, Literature, Theatre, Visual Arts

Bumbershoot unveils its non-music, non-comedy lineup…and we have it

Wednesday night, Bumbershoot put on a show at Town Hall to reveal part of their lineup this year. The Labor Day weekend festival brought their “Why This? Why That? Why Now?” series to Town Hall, and hosted by gadfly-about-town John Roderick. This was “Why Selfies? Why Introverts? Why Now?” and while we can’t report on why exactly, because we weren’t there, Bumbershoot did send us a copy of the lineup they would be unveiling. Below is a preview of what you can expect Labor Day weekend.

The music lineup will be revealed at Neumos on May 8 with a show that features Pickwick and Naomi Wachira (ooh, I wonder if they’ll be at Bumbershoot?) and is hosted by Ken Jennings.

It should also be noted that the writers for “The Simpsons” and/or The Onion are invited to my apartment to watch whatever they want on TV.

Words and Ideas:

  • Black Weirdo with THEESatisfaction [Feat. Jusmoni, DJ Riz Rollins, Storme Webber, Erik Blood, DJ Mursi Layne, Larry Mizell Jr.]
  • Why Beards? Why Twerking? Why Now? with John Roderick
  • Town Hall Presents…Science
  • Needle Party!!! with Ken Jennings and George Meyer
  • Smrt Talk with the writers of “The Simpsons”
  • Failure Variety Show presented by the Project Room
  • Why Bronies? Why Juggalos? Why Now with John Roderick
  • Town Hall Presents… Civics
  • Wreck of the Omnibus with Tom Robbins
  • The Moth
  • Battle of the Word (“A spoken word competition between four of Seattle’s nationally recognized spoken word organizations.”)
  • Why Cats? Why Bullying? Why Now? with John Roderick
  • Town Hall Presents… Arts & Culture
  • Literary Death Match
  • Tu Stultus Es: The Onion Explains Why You Are Stupid

Visual Art:

  • Interstitial Theatre (Curated by Julia Greenway) (Fisher Pavilion)
  • Food for Thought (Curated by Shane Montgomery) (Fisher Pavilion)
  • Wendy Red Star’s Wild West & Congress of Rough Riders of the World (Fisher Pavilion)
  • Finger Power (Artwork by Peter Lynch, Andy Arkley, and Courtney Barnebey) (Fisher Pavilion)
  • Black Poem (Artwork by Seth Friedman) (Fisher Pavilion)
  • Boating with Clyde (Artwork by Clyde Peterson) (Fisher Courtyard)
  • Seattle Rock Photography (Curated by Lance Mercer) (Fountain Pavilion)
  • Bumbercade (Curated by Sam Machkovech) (Fountain Pavilion)
  • Fine Arts Poster (Artwork by Robert McCauley) (Fountain Pavilion)

Theater:

  • Blood Squad: improv with Molly Arkin, Jon Axell, Brandon Felker and Elicia Wickstead
  • Jennifer Jasper’s Family Affair
  • The Death of Brian: A Zombie Odyssey
  • Fussy Cloud Puppet
  • Alligators and Debutantes with the Moon Shine Revival Tent
  • Present Your Present with a Present (the Gift of the Future) by LanceLife
  • I Can Hear You…But I’m Not Listening with Jennifer Jasper
Travel

Soaring to New Heights: An Arizona Side Trip to Sedona to Find Enchantment

Sedona sign
Enchantment Resort casitas
Enchantment Resort room
Mii amo Spa at Enchantment Resort
Enchantment Mii Amo crystal grotto
Enchantment resort tennis courts
Che-Ah-Chi restaurant at Enchantment
Enchantment resort setting
Che Ah Chi tartare
Che Ah Chi salad
Che Ah Chi foie
Che Ah Chi shrimp
Che Ah Chi beef
Balloon basket
Balloon flat
Balloon blow up
Balloon fire in
Balloon almost up
Balloon first shot in air
Balloon fire lift
Balloon 10000 feet
Balloon highest
Balloon shadow
Balloon down
Balloon food
LAuberge table
L'Auberge pasta
L'Auberge crepes
L'Auberge pavlova
Airport mesa
El Rincon chips and salsa
El Rincon burrito
El Rincon chile relleno
Enchantment morning hike
Boynton canyon hike
Enchantment breakfast
Enchantment breakfast
Cathedral Rock
Sedona last hike

The Phoenix to Sedona drive via detour leads to this view of Jerome.

Lunch stop in Jerome at The Haunted Hamburger. There's actually a "Ghostly Burger" (with mushrooms, bacon, and cheddar) on the menu, but I opted for the original with some green chiles added. Not bad. (Or should I say not ghastly?)

Welcome, indeed!

Here are the casitas at Enchantment Resort.

A look inside the comfortable casitas at Enchantment Resort. The fireplace is cozy on cool nights.

Included in the daily resort fee is complimentary access to Mii amo Spa. Guests get to use all Mii amo facilities including locker rooms, steam, sauna and whirlpool, fitness room, indoor pool with fireplace, outdoor lap pool and spa, as well as participation in all fitness classes, art lessons, cooking demonstrations, programs by visiting experts, and other activities.

Here's the crystal grotto at Mii amo Spa. There's daily guided meditation, though the grotto is open any time for personal meditation.

Stunning backdrop to the tennis courts at Enchantment Resort.

Enchantment's Che-Ah-Chi restaurant has stunning views.

Before dinner at Che-Ah-Chi, a quick hike from the resort revealed this view of the property.

Che-An-Chi dinner: beef tartare with quail egg, hemp oil, garlic aioli, and caraway lavash.

Local Little Gem lettuce with 65-degree egg, eggplant croutons, preserved lemon, and creamy Parmigiano. I especially enjoyed the unique croutons.

Foie gras with spiced sour papaya, cinnamon honey toast, and candied garlic. Papaya was a nice pairing with the foie.

Kauai sweet shrimp with sea beans, spinach, corn puree, crispy prosciutto, and smoked paprika. Generous portion of well-prepared shrimp.

New York strip steak with mashed potatoes, root vegetables, and chimichurri with pistachios and mint. Plus an additional of scallops. Solid dish, though I wanted better sear on the scallops. Pricing at Che-Ah-Chi is high (as it is throughout Sedona), but the food was enjoyable.

We set the alarm ridiculously early the next morning, but with great anticipation as Northern Light Balloon Expeditions invited us on an adventure. Here the workers prepare the balloon basket.

As the sun rises, the balloon is put in position to be "blown up."

Blowing air into the balloon.

Our group watches with wonder as the balloon gets "fired up."

Positioning the balloon for us to enter.

My first photo once the balloon was above ground. Total exhilaration!

A look upward to the top of the balloon.

I looked up to notice we had crossed an altitude of 10,000 feet.

The view from the highest point of our journey.

That's us...in shadow.

After a smooth landing, the spotters broke down the balloon...

...and fed us breakfast. The food wasn't anything special, but the experience was. Amazing to see Sedona from this perspective, and all the workers with Northern Light Balloon Expeditions were wonderful in storytelling and taking care of us as riders. Highly recommended!

After ballooning, it was time to get our feet on the ground and enjoy lunch at L'Auberge De Sedona. Looks like a nice place to stay, and this is an amazing setting for a meal.

L'Auberge's lamb bolognese with roasted tomatoes, pearl onion, and shiitake mushrooms. A delicious pasta dish.

Spinach & leek chicken crepes with cherry tomato salad and Gruyere cheese fondue.

And for dessert, this chamomile pavlova with lemon crème, strawberries, pistachios, and honey foam was both beautiful and satisfying.

Here's the view from Airport Mesa. LOTS of people there for the sunset, but still a great place to see the changing colors of the sky, red rocks, and the city below.

Dinner at El Rincon at Tlaquepaque Village starts with chips and salsa.

Green chile with beef burrito enchilada-style.

The texture of this blue corn-crusted green chile relleno made this dish unique and fun to try.

Pre-breakfast hike out of the gate at Enchantment Resort.

View from the pre-breakfast hike on the Boynton Canyon Trail.

Back at Che-Ah-Chi for breakfast, here are eggs Benedict with prosciutto.

Green chili pork with poached eggs and warm corn tortillas. In the background: prickly pear juice. A tasty, hearty breakfast.

On the way out of town, we scrambled to a scenic viewpoint up against Cathedral Rock.

The last hike in Sedona before driving back to Phoenix was the Little Horse Trail. Gorgeous views, and a fine representation and remembrance of Sedona!

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A recent culinary-focused weekend in Phoenix set the stage for a side trip to Sedona. I knew this destination would be much less for food (especially with Elote Cafe closed during my stay) than for outdoor fun, but I’d actually find enjoyment in both. One word best describes the experience: Enchantment.

Two nights would be too little time to explore this red-rocked paradise, but leaving Phoenix early, there was time for a slight detour to Jerome. I have a vague recollection of visiting Jerome as a child, remembering it as the real ghost-town it’s billed to be, though then it was a quick drive-thru. Today it’s thriving with tourists who take in the little town of boutiques and other shops. A brief lunchtime stop would allow just enough time to fight for a parking space to eat a “ghostly” burger, and then to peer down a huge hole. (Jerome is where you’ll find the Audrey Headframe Park, where you can walk on glass above a 1,900 foot mine shaft.)

Soon, it was time to speed off to Sedona to make use of as much daylight as possible. The first stop was my host for the stay: Enchantment Resort. Seattleites who’ve been to Canlis know how the restaurant leaves you feeling special with its incredible valet service that has your car ready as you depart. Enchantment provides a similar experience upon arrival. Granted, the gate informs the greeters of your impending pull-up to the parking area, but regardless there’s a warm, welcoming feeling from the outset. That’s if you’re listening. After all, the setting is simply spectacular, and it’s easy to get distracted.

There’s really no need to leave Enchantment during your short stay. I dreamed of playing tennis with the red rocks as a backdrop. A pool and a croquet field provide a similar setting. There’s a spa that’s simply enchanting. And with accessible hiking trails, good dining options, and a calendar of events, there’s little need to leave the property.

But as this was my first-ever visit to Sedona, my traveling companion and I did want to get out and explore a bit. We peeked at the town, but preferred to spend our time hiking some trails. And then we got up in the sky, courtesy of a hot air balloon ride from Northern Light Balloon Expeditions. Of course, we hit a couple of restaurants. Check the slideshow above for some fantastic photos and a fuller report.

(Thanks to Enchantment Resort for the non-food photos of their property.)