Barbara Yost
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 6, 2007 10:25 AM
SCOTTSDALE – Maybe a vacation is not in your stars this summer.
But you can still get away and celebrate the longest daylight of the year and the first day of summer at the Boulders Resort and Golden Door Spa’s Summer Solstice dinner.
A chef and an astrologer have teamed to create celestial magic for the mind and the appetite.
Wendy Little, chef de cuisine in the Latilla dining room, and Tom McMullan, a longtime professional astrologer, are hosting the event June 21 in the resort’s Organic Garden.
Tables, set up alongside the garden’s raised beds of vegetables, fruits and herbs, provide a view of 12-million-year-old boulders dotting this expanse of the Sonoran Desert.
“It’s a fun idea,” said McMullen, who also is the astrologer-in-residence at the Phoenician Resort & Spa and the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain.
With suggestions from McMullen, Little prepared a menu appropriate for the Summer Solstice that includes freshly harvested summer fruits and vegetables.
The first course: chilled cucumber and honeydew melon gazpacho, with melon from the garden. Dessert is a fresh blueberry cake called a financier.
Astrologically, the evening falls under the sign of Cancer, represented by a crab. Little will serve crab-stuffed zucchini squash blossoms filled with goat cheese, corn and lobster.
“They’re so special,” she said of the delicate squash blossoms that she dips in a lemon tempura batter.
The menu also includes appetizers, an organic beet salad, buffalo rib eye, artisan cheeses and wine with each course. The price per person is $150.
While guests dine, McMullen, who has practiced chart reading for 20 years, will talk about what he calls the “esoteric science” of astrology, one that is based on intuition rather than hard evidence. He will explain the language of astrology and the Gemini phase as it transitions into Cancer on the zodiac chart.
McMullen is not a psychic but uses astrological charts to predict patterns and impending changes, much as a meteorologist predicts weather patterns, he said. “It’s a story-telling device,” he said. “Astrologers can tell what the changes mean.”
McMullan will even advise Little on how to set the tables to make a Cancerian happy, such as using deep, rich shades of red, green and gold.
“I love doing events like this,” said McMullan, who is also a stand-up comic. “It’ll be a wonderful evening.”
If you are looking for real estate in The Boulders area give The Holm Group a call at 480-206-4265.
www.theholmgroupaz.com
