Well we are only about halfway through August and it’s been an exciting month!

First, thank you to Sources for Design for naming me a Design Icon! What an honor and what a great turn out at fellow Icon of Design David Neishabori’s, Azadi Fine Rugs this past Thursday night. I cannot think of a better group to be inducted with:

Fred Unger – developer of the Royal Palms Resort and the Hermosa Inn http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/walking-on-water-6429723

Anne Gale of Wiseman & Gale Interior Design. http://wisemanandgale.com/about-wg/

John Schultz of Schultz Development Corp. http://www.schultzdevelopment.org

Craig Pearson of Pearson & Company http://www.pearsonandcompany.com

David Neishabori of Azadi Fine Rugs http://azadifinerugs.com

Mark Boisclair of Mark Boisclair Photography  http://www.markboisclair.com

I thank all who attended including several of my friends, who came from beyond Arizona to celebrate with me, my team at Candelaria Design, and my wife and her crew from Earth and Images.

We also were happy to see three of our homes featured in the national publication, Elegant Homes Magazine. Our Zona Verde residence built by Desert Star Construction http://desertstarconstruction.com     was featured along with a home built by Schultz Development – our Santa Barbara Modern in Paradise Valley, and our Ranch Hacienda with a transitional twist built by Ron Barney. Three fantastic homes – all different styles.

To add to this, we had two of our homes win First Place ASID Awards at the gala last night at the Arizona Biltmore. Both homes are contemporary in style so yes we do design contemporary and these awards clearly demonstrate we are here to stay and proudly add this style to our repetoire. First, Interior Designer, Claire Ownby, ASID, http://ownbydesign.com received a first place award for a residence between 3500-6000 sf for this Candelaria Design contemporary home in Paradise Valley. We then also congratulate Interior Designer, Anita Lang, ASID, of IMI Design http://www.imidesignstudio.com for receiving a first place award for the best Kitchen for our Village at Mountain Shadows project featuring a Bulthaup Kitchen https://bulthaup.com/en-us/ . Two fantastic designers and two over the top projects.

First Place Best Residence between 3500-6000 sf, Claire Ownby Design, Candelaria Design. Architect, Schultz Development, Builder

First Place - Best Kitchen Design , Village at Mountain Shadows, Anita Lange, ASID, IMI Design, Candelaria Design, Architect, Cullum Homes Builder and Developer

We also see out HGTV Smart Home was featured in Scottsdale Modern Luxury Magazine and the home has now been given away! https://modernluxury.com/modern-luxury-scottsdale/digital-edition

Plenty of amazing projects on the boards and the remodeling work is booming. Yes, we do a ton of remodels and they actually make up about 70% of our workload. We love them. We have remodels as far away as Long Island so they don’t just have to be here.

And of course there is always some time to get some cooking in. As you know I love to cook – the gratification is a lot faster than architecture and I enjoy eating the creations…..not sure I would enjoy eating a set of plans. With this week’s posts on our social media its seems the smoked peaches got the most attention and requests for the recipe so here it goes:

Smoked Peaches over Cinnamon Swirl Ice Cream

Purchase some nice fresh peaches – not too firm and definitely not too ripe. Split the peaches in half and remove the pit. Brush the peaches with canola oil and sprinkle with cinnamon, brown sugar and some ground clove. Go easy – just a nice dusting.

You can then grill these on your weber or gas grille or even on a grill pan on the stove or a panni press. Or you can set them on your smoker and smoke them for about an hour and soak up that smoky flavor.

Serve a scoop (or two) of cinnamon swirl ice cream, and dice the smoked/grilled peaches and top the ice cream. Add a sprig of mint and fresh whip cream and you can always add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Delicious!

Update on Isabel

Again thank you for all the calls, posts, cards, flowers, dinners, and most importantly, prayers!!! We appreciate them so much and they definitely make a difference to both of us. Isabel continues to do great. Her hairline is in fact catching up with mine and she wore some of her fun wigs this weekend. Her attitude constantly inspires me and lifts me up. The side effects are still, thank God, minimal so that is good. Five treatments completed so we are done with the first quarter. Thanks everyone for your energy.