Jane Loves Local

Those Pinterest farm lives we all covet? Shazieh Gorji actually lived that life in Pakistan! Growing goodies in the garden before wielding them into delicious dinners for friends. Baking the days away. Throwing pots (ceramics) during the moments in between. Culinary school marked her move to Tucson, AZ. A fondness for experimenting with flavors led her to to pursue a cottage license from which to operate a bakery (from home) here in Tucson. Aren't we just the luckiest neighb

There IS a way to embrace your inner "Basic-PSL-Loving-Plaid-Wearing" side AND shop local. Begin your love-affair with Fall while shopping small! Simply click the yellow links. 1- DIY HARVEST BOARD Move over over-processed (but adorable) fall treats, Harvest Boards are getting a glow-up with Tucson Toffee. Choose the Churro flavor. Get addicted. Gift some. Repeat! You might think you "like toffee." Like I once believed. Then it happened: my texture crush on THIS toffee! Textu

As Covid-19 reached Tucson, local chefs were forced to close their kitchens. Servers and suppliers followed. Small food businesses began tanking. Fighting back with heart, they teamed up to create a video message. During which, award-winning chefs earnestly asked Tucsonans to order take out once a week, and help these food businesses survive. Tucson foodies are already echoing the motto: "It doesn't matter where you spend it, as long as you spend it locally.” [-Chef Travis Pe

3 Quarantreats made from Tucson's desert landscape. What began as a personal challenge to make flour from the mesquite tree in his front yard, Alan Kohler crafted into a beautifully local business plan. Cookie Inventor (and previously chef), Kohler seeks to support Tucson's **LOCAL community by sourcing *LOCAL* ingredients. Two main ingredients send this cookie lightyears ahead of Nestlé's. The mequite flour is thanks to the local Tohono O'odham tribe. Having harvested mesqui

As Tucsonans, how many times have we driven on *ORANGE GROVE ROAD* without giving the name a second thought? It is the in-your-face treasure map to Tucson's Secret Citrus Grove! 450 acres of citrus one grew here. With saplings planted in the 1920s. Fast forward to today: foodies will gawk at the varieties of mandarins, navel oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and dates. Next season, figs and pomegranates will be the stars of the show . I'm a citrus-a-holic and yet I left most fasc

CLOSING TOMORROW! **Help me get their Cinnamon-Rolls sold-out!** Show yourself and your family some self-love, and order a sheet of these sweeties. All-American buns that taste like heaven. If heaven tastes like butter? (520) 326-2835 **15% OFF PICKUP ORDERS (Open 7am-2pm.) Why The Hungry Fox? I promise you won't miss your triple-milled-lavender-kombucha-syrups. Nor your minion-foraged-rainbow-pepper hot sauces. Leave those crazy requests for someplace else. The easiest foo

Blessed to carry babies, but miserably sick, five local Tucson businesses carried me through. Sick or not, this is the dream team Mamas! (Click the highlighted names to learn more about you next favorite small biz.) 1. The Clean Culture Co Sick in bed for months, equated to one very gross home. Heck! Even before a nightmare pregnancy, my home was a WRECK! While many women would admit defeat and either A) kill themselves to clean despite severe nausea, or B) self-loathe and le

Tucson's Westside is continuing to surprise me in the best ways. Squeezed in between chain restaurants at big shopping centers, are local eateries worth your time! It has taken months to find them, so treat them well. Within Tucson Spectrum Center, is Pho Saigon waiting to serve up the freshest egg rolls, tastiest Thai Tea, and classic Vietnamese Pho, to earn your love. Egg rolls are tricky business. A crisp fry on the roll without damaging the veggies, is not easy to do. Add

Comfort-food made fresh in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona. WHO: A love of food runs in the family! From the moment he could reach the counter, Vince learned to cook from his chef father. Traveling from Vegas to now Arizona, Chef Vince’s dreams grew as his skills did. 6-year local Chef Vince fell in love with the White Mountains. With a lifetime career in food as a kitchen specialist for Kroger, and then chef himself (at local Eddie’s Country Store Cafe and Lion’s Den), 2019 embol

Fabulous seafood but wack-a-doo service. Let me explain... My dining possé consisted of me, my husband, my baby, and his great grandmother. A reservation was made online days ahead. When we arrived ten minutes late, we were "greeted" with heavy sighs and a scowl by the man at the host booth. It was Mother's Day. It was AWESOME. Then we sat for ten minutes without so much as water. Our first waitress walked by, looked at us sort of scared. I swear we weren't snarling. Thank g