By Cassaundra Brooks

Carbon Concept. With contemporary designs for men, this line combines sterling silver, black diamonds, and carbon fiber to create pieces inspired by Mr. Hollander’s hobby—racing motorcycles and high-performance cars. Prices vary by piece. (480) 423-5000 or CornelisHollander.com

Dine at Lon’s. Lon’s at the historic Hermosa Inn offers Father’s Day brunch and dinner, serving up a variety of delicious dishes in a ruggedly elegant atmosphere filled with vintage Western artifacts and artwork by original owner Lee Megargee. $65 per person and $15 for children three to twelve. (602) 955-7878 or lons.com

Interactive Cooking Class and Golf. Celebrate a little late with JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa’s Golf, Brew and Grilling package. Enjoy a lesson with a golf pro, a round of golf at Wildfire Golf Club, and a savory dinner with wine at the Meritage Steakhouse on the first day. Then, after breakfast on Day Two, join an interactive barbecue and grilling class with Chef de Cuisine Marc Hennessy, who will demonstrate the use of marinades and spice rubs as well as how to make sausages and smoking meats. Participants will then experience an all-American barbecue paired with local beers. Package starts at $639, including two night’s accommodations. (480) 293-5000 or jwdesertridgeresort.com

Tandem Paragliding. The Basic tandem flight consists of a short briefing followed by a five-to ten-minute flight, depending on weather and wind conditions. During the flight, the pilot will explain what he is doing, and allow you some hands-on control of the glider. A paragliding tandem flight is best for the person seeking an exciting one-time experience. No experience needed. Just a couple of steps and you will be flying. $215. (877) 839-2483 or excitations.com

Formula Race Car Driving. No more sitting on the sidelines! Experience the adrenaline rush of racing with an intense driving adventure. Here’s your chance to suit up, strap in, and see if you have what it takes to drive a Formula 2000 race car. This half-day, pulse-pounding course features instruction, demonstrations, and practice. Then, it’s off to the races! Half day $545. (877) 839-2483 or excitations.com

Strategy and Play Golf with a Pro. Improve your game while playing one of the top private courses in Phoenix with mental game coach and professional golfer Jared Tendler. Most golfers agree that golf is a mental game, but few know how to improve that area of the game. This 9-hole or 18-hole playing lesson can change your game forever. Save strokes with a playing strategy that maximizes your ability. Learn ten ways to think like a pro and make the game easy. $485. (877) 839-2483 or excitations.com

By Caroline Gutierrez

The Valley may not be home to Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive, but our residents step out in style every day wearing creations from both local and international designers. Turn back any collar and you’ll see a label that you may have hanging in your own closet, or one you’ve never heard of. Regardless, Valley women know how to dress and stay fashionably cool in the rising heat.

Misty Lee
Dress: Croll Blue
Jewelry: Local designer Carol Lee

Jerin Harvey
Dress: Wet Seal
Shoes: Bandolino

Melayna Lokosky
Dress: James Perse for Heidi Boutique
Shoes: Christian Louboutin
Jewelry: Ethan Arpell
Bag: Chanel
Sunglasses: Chrome Hearts

Vicky Namihas
Pants: Nordstrom
Top: Old Navy
Shoes: Banana Republic
Bag: Nordstrom

By Gerald Calamia
Photography by Eric Fairchild

North Scottsdale’s Barcelona Steakhouse and Night Club is noted for its standard of excellence throughout its entertainment and restaurant complex. This quality is equally evident in Sutra Sushi at Barcelona, the complex’s newest addition to its already iconic destination.

Sutra Sushi’s sophisticated climate invites you to relax and unwind. The seating area sports rich colors of red with oversized freeform leather benches and stylish tables and chairs. The bar is stocked with premium-level spirits, with color-changing lights against mirrored glass to spotlight the best vodkas, whiskeys, and gins available. The sushi chefs’ open-view kitchen is the restaurant’s center, where diners at the bar can see the masters assembling all manner sashimi, nigiri, and rolls. All this was in sync with the remarkable attention to detail and the high-level service we experienced as we dined.

Sutra Sushi at Barcelona has an extensive list of sake, served cold or hot. We decided on two cold versions of Nebuta Honjozo and Murai Nigori Genshu. Both sakes were fresh, crisp, full-bodied drinks, with melon, spice, and vanilla in the Nebuta, and pineapple and coconut flavors in the Murai. We also ordered two glasses of their Kobai Plum, a plum wine whose sweetness went well with the sushi and rolls we ordered for dinner.

We started with a sample of nigiri. Our server, Jaime Atkins, suggested we try the king crab and fresh water eel selections, to which we added tuna, yellowtail, and scallop. Their freshly handmade nigiri was served a la carte, and as each order came to the table, it was evident how important presentation and quality are to Sutra Sushi.

For our main entrees, we decided on a selection of rolls from their Sutra Specials and Classic Rolls. We chose a California roll and a rainbow roll from the Classics. The rainbow roll delights the eye, with the variegated colors of shrimp, yellowtail, tuna, whitefish, and salmon adorning ample amounts of rice as the foundation.

Our Sutra Specials rolls included the Sutra, Buddha, Bindi and what turned out to be our favorite roll, the Lotus. The Sutra and Bindi rolls offered tempura tuna and lobster, respectively, and the two sauces that the Sutra was served with combined a little bit of heat with a handful of flavor. The Lotus Roll, another very colorful, engaging dish, offered shrimp tempura with a spicy crab mix wrapped inside cucumber and soy paper, topped off with mango and avocado.

We finished with an order from their New Style menu. We selected the blackened albacore, which came sashimi style (albacore only, with no rice). It was Cajun-seared and served with a dollop of blackberry chutney to sweeten up the albacore.

Sutra Sushi also has a lunch menu that offers the same choices as dinner, with the addition of bentos (Japanese style box lunches). Bentos include halibut, beef tenderloin, and teriyaki chicken, as well as a vegetable tempura selection. On Fridays and Saturdays, the restaurant offers a late-night menu from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. for those late-night snacks.

General Manager Charles F. Smith III told us that all aspects of the dining experience must be at their highest level, from the food to the lighting to the service, so that each guest’s experience is a memorable one, and service and presentation were indeed true to the concept. The sushi and rolls were inviting, fresh, and creative. For a place to sample sushi, eat light, have that special dinner, or meet a group of friends, look no farther than Sutra Sushi at Barcelona. It will be an evening to remember, and you will surely be reminded to return.

Sutra Sushi at Barcelona is located at 15440 N. Greenway-Hayden Loop, Scottsdale. For reservations, call (480) 355-2626.

A new retail store with a unique concept has recently opened in The Shops at Norterra, a shopping center on the NW corner of I-17 and Happy Valley Road. Fans & Fashionistas is a “his and hers” store where guys can shop for team sports apparel and paraphernalia while gals shop for designer handbags and fashion accessories. The notion of joining sports with handbags may raise an eyebrow initially, but with one visit to the store, it is instantly clear that the combination makes perfect sense. Couples love the concept and are having fun shopping together for products they both love!

For the sports fanatic, Fans & Fashionistas carries a large selection of licensed jerseys, tees, hats, polos, and unique products for NFL, NCAA, NBA, and MLB teams—even hard-to-find out-of-the-area teams. Fashionistas love not having to make distant drives to acquire stylish handbags from favorite designers such as Michael Kors, Betsey Johnson, and Kathy Van Zeeland; belts by Nicole Miller and Via Spiga; and stunning Elle jewelry right out of the pages of top fashion magazines.

Stop in and enjoy the unique and fun shopping experience of Fans & Fashionistas.

Fans & Fashionistas is located at 2470 W. Happy Valley Rd., Suite 1191. For more information, call (623) 587-1400.

New Flooring Is the Bottom Line for Home Value

By Tara Knudson

Few things affect the aesthetics and market value of your home like the quality and choice of flooring. Making smart choices is so important, whether you have kids, pets, or neither; whether you plan to live in your home or flip it; or whether you’ve got a little condo or a sprawling rancher.

Stone, tile, and hardwood are three popular choices for savvy homeowners, and for good reason. If you’re picking flooring for a new building, you want durability and lasting value, and you want a beautiful backdrop for your furnishings and your life. Stone and tile are excellent choices for areas that get dirty feet traipsing over them all the time, or that may be subject to spills and leaks—bathrooms, entryways, basements, and kitchens. Wood is a great choice for almost any room in the house, and especially adds richness to living rooms, bedrooms, and dining areas.

All three are beneficially hypoallergenic, easy to clean, and available in a broad range of stylish options. They’re also durable, sometimes lasting four or five times as long as their counterparts in carpet, vinyl, and laminate. In addition to being healthy, beautiful, and long-lasting, natural stone, wood, or tile floors come in numerous planet-friendly offerings. You can choose sustainable-harvested hardwood and stone, handmade natural tiles, and tiles made from 100 percent recycled materials. You might pay a little more up front for the quality, but the pleasure of living on such stylish, valuable surfaces and the higher price your house will most likely get at resale time will numb your checkbook pain.

If you already have hardwood, stone, or tile floors but they’ve become cracked, broken, and worn, replacing them is strongly advised. Loose, broken tiles can cause trips and falls, and only tile and stone in good condition can keep moisture from getting at the subfloor. Moisture can potentially cause rotting, molding, and structural damage (and bigger repair bills down the road). If hardwood hasn’t been well cared for and must be replaced, you’ll have an opportunity to find extremely durable and planet-friendly planks to install. Replacing old floors also gives you the chance to add underfloor heating, another big selling plus and a pure delight underfoot. If you decide to put your home on the market, you’ll have difficulty getting your home’s worth if potential buyers realize they must spend thousands of dollars to update or redo the floors. As a seller, you would be more justified in asking for a higher price than you would have been if you hadn’t upgraded the flooring, and many real estate agents would agree that you could possibly get upwards of twice the cost of the flooring in your return.

If your flooring is in good condition but shows some wear or minor damage, you might be able to refinish the surface or repair just a small section, and thus gain all the benefits of a new look. Hardwood can be sanded, stained, and finished as long as it isn’t deeply decayed. Tile may be repaired if you can find appropriately matching replacement tiles, and removing and replacing the grout can make tile-work look completely fresh. Stone is very durable, and rarely needs to be repaired, but if necessary, even a small section of stone can be replaced by a skilled craftsperson.

Whether you’re building a new home, or repairing or replacing flooring you already own, tile, hardwood, or stone finishes will elevate the beauty, livability, and market value of your home and will always be safe, smart choices.

By Kendra Songer

With the word recession hanging in the air, small-business owners are a little nervous. They start poring over financials and questioning every decision and every purchase. But what exactly is the right response for a small business during uncertain economic times?

1. Relax. First, all recessions are temporary. Not only does the economy always recover, consumers continue spending even during down times. Many small businesses continue doing business, and some even grow during tough times.

2. Ask employees for help. Employees notice employers’ attitudes and actions even if nothing has been said. Having a frank discussion with employees will not only put a stop to any rumors, but it may generate helpful ideas as well. If the company is experiencing higher costs, then tell the employees and offer alternatives. To avoid layoffs, are they willing to cut back on hours? Are they willing to work in a tighter space so that the company can move to a smaller office? Employees may also be able to offer ideas on how to run their department more efficiently.

3. Make sure there’s enough cash flow. Everyone has heard this mantra, but it’s important enough to bear repeating. Cash flow can make or break a business. Make sure there is enough cash to pay expenses if revenue drops.

4. Increase the cash flow. This is easier for companies still in the black. The time to apply for loans or lines of credit is before a cash crunch. With interest rates dropping, try refinancing existing loans. A downturn in the economy can be a good time to try renegotiating with vendors. For those already suffering, it can be tempting to cut prices to keep money coming in; but be sure it won’t harm the business in the long term. Prices can always be lowered, but they are harder to raise.

5. Trim spending. Increase cash flow by cutting costs. Some solutions seem obvious—laying off employees, switching to subcontractors, outsourcing—but there are other options to consider. Cutting costs should be a temporary solution, so be sure that doing so won’t affect business in the long term (e.g., don’t cut costs on preventative maintenance of necessary equipment). If cutting costs is necessary, consider consolidating offices, dismissing underperforming workers, and so on.

6. Keep marketing. Many businesses cut advertising costs first, but advertising is needed to generate new clients. Reevaluate where the money is being spent. Cut where the results are few, and don’t forget to network. Networking is a great way to get the word out—just don’t be obnoxious.

7. Look for opportunities. This is a good time to find employees. Some great people are out of work or nervous about their companies’ futures. Look into sharing rent or equipment with other companies. Join a group advisory board to see how other small-business owners are handling the crunch.

8. Get tough with Accounts Receivable. Don’t let invoices go unpaid, and get tougher with nonpaying clients. Consider switching to online billing services. Know your customers—don’t extend credit to a company on the edge.

9. Beef up customer service. It’s easier to keep existing clients than it is to generate new ones. Practice customer loyalty: offer discounts, keep communication open, and don’t forget follow-up. When times are tough, customers may want to purchase in smaller quantities. Find ways to handle shorter runs or lead times. Can the product be broken up into smaller, more affordable pieces?

10. Be patient (and don’t panic). Making changes will improve the company, but it can take three to six months to see the effects. Running a successful business is as much about positive attitude and daily decisions as it is about the economy. Determination and hard work can help find creative solutions during tough times.

Highlights from the Island of Manhattan

By Alison Malone

Although it covers an area of only about 23 square miles, Manhattan is the most densely populated area in the United States. Nestled within the tiny island are countless neighborhoods, each with its own collection of hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés, shops, theaters, museums, and landmarks. Here’s a peek at a handful of my favorite places that you may just fall in love with, too.

BED Located in Midtown Manhattan on 57th Avenue just south of Central Park, Le Parker Meridien is a hip hotel known for its modern interiors, popularity among celebs, and proximity to Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center. There’s a commanding marble lobby, a state-of-the art gym, three notable eateries, and an indoor pool with stunning views of Central Park.

RISE AND SHINE For breakfast, Norma’s is downstairs in Le Parker Meridien. Voted “Best Breakfast in New York” by the Zagat Survey, the restaurant’s menu features dishes like banana-macadamia nut flapjacks and the Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata. What’s in the name? It’s topped with ten ounces of Sevruga caviar, and will set you back a cool $1,000. On the upside, the portions are so large you won’t be hungry again until dinner.

LEARN Stroll along Central Park and the Upper East Side to the Metropolitan Museum of Art—the Met—and peruse paintings and sculptures by European masters and preserved pieces from ancient Egypt. Across the park at the American Museum of Natural History, explore the Rose Center for Earth and Space, the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, the Hall of Human Origins, and the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs, with a towering fossil of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

TREAT While strolling through Greenwich Village, pop into Magnolia Bakery, where the cupcakes are so popular that there is a limit of twelve per customer. In Little Italy, visit Ferrara Bakery & Café, which claims to be “America’s First Espresso Bar” and sells authentic cannoli, biscotti, and tiramisu. The Upper East Side’s charming Serendipity 3 is famous for decadent desserts, including the signature Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, a milkshake and pudding hybrid that made it onto Oprah’s list of favorite things.

SHOP Deck yourself out at Anthropologie, a whimsical, shabby-chic-style oasis that sells feminine frocks, jewelry, and housewares. Beauty emporium Sephora is like a candy store for makeup mavens and stocks brands such as Stila, Benefit, Philosophy, and Frederic Fekkai. (Lucky for you, there are twelve locations in Manhattan.) If your pockets are deeper than Donald Trump’s, stop in at Bergdorf Goodman, a historic luxury Fifth Avenue department store.

DINE At the European brasserie-style Bar Americain, Chef Bobby Flay showcases his flair for regional American cuisine in dishes like crawfish and crab cake, country-style ribs with bourbon BBQ sauce, and a shellfish cocktail trio of shrimp-tomatillo, crab-coconut, and lobster-avocado combinations. Savor the flavors of the Far East at Tao, a palatial temple-style room housing a sixteen-foot-tall Buddha statue. The pan-Asian menu runs the gamut from Peking duck to yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño and ponzu sauce.

MINGLE Soak up the scene at Whisky Blue in the W New York Hotel, a cocktail bar owned by nightclub mastermind (and Mr. Cindy Crawford) Rande Gerber. For the big-city vibe, visit Marquee, an ultraluxe lounge and club that is a favorite among the celebrities who order bottle service and check out the dance floor from the upstairs VIP section. Back in the East Village, Le Souk is a labyrinthine Moroccan-style restaurant and nightclub famous for its authentic fare and Sunday-night house parties.

LATE NIGHT Curb late-night cravings back at Le Parker Meridien in the Burger Joint, a popular no-frills haunt known for the best burgers in town. Walk behind the nondescript curtain in the lobby, bring your cash and be ready—customers who aren’t set to order are sent to the back of the line.

By Jon Kenton

There are over a billion PCs out there, and a large majority of them has one version or another of Mr. Gates’s productivity suite, Microsoft Office.

Although the premium versions have lots of extras (e.g., database software or Web development/publishing tools), the three foundational legs of the Office suite are Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Millions of people use these now de facto tools every day for word processing, number crunching, and creating presentations. Most, however, probably use less than ten percent of the capability of the software, typing simple documents or using Excel essentially as a calculator.

I am frequently asked about a variety of issues, to which the answer is: “Office can do that.” “Really? I never knew!” is the usual response.

Here are a few suggestions that will help you get more productive with your productivity software. First and foremost, treat yourself to a book. There are numerous types; for example, the For Dummies series that will walk you through all the clever things the software can do. I guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised and find many easy ways to achieve results you have been ignoring or doing by hand. You have spent hundreds of dollars on a PC and the software—another few bucks on a book is money well spent.

I obviously don’t have room to cover a book’s worth of tips and instructions, but here are some of my favorites that I use all the time. Many are implemented across the entire MS Office suite. Others are specific only to certain tools.

Keyboard Shortcuts Many if not all of the most commonly used commands can be accessed via a keyboard shortcut. This means that you are not continually removing your hands from the keyboard and reaching for the mouse. To use them, it requires hitting a couple of keys at the same time, usually the Ctrl (Control) key. Examples might be Cut and Paste—Ctrl C and Ctrl V—or Undo, which is Ctrl Z.

Format Painter This is one of my favorites. Once you have set up the style of a particular portion of text, the painter allows you to literally paint that style onto other areas. You use it by selecting the original format and then clicking on the paintbrush icon on the main toolbar. If you double click, it will stay active until you click it again. Try it out.

Images Management With digital cameras now so prevalent, everybody is adding his or her own pictures into documents. If you need to do some simple editing, rather than going back to your photo program, right-click on the image and select the picture toolbar. This gives you access to simple adjustments, brightness, contrast, and even cropping tools. It also has a compression button. This resizes the data in the images to match the usage of the document. The worst culprits are PowerPoint presentations in which the addition of numerous full-size images will quickly make for a 10+Mb file—not very e-mail friendly.

AutoCorrect You may not realize it but these applications actually take care of your mistakes for you. Try typing t-e-h instead of the—miraculously, it changes automatically. This is the AutoCorrect feature. You can make this work even further for you. If you type a phrase or long name frequently, you can set this feature to help you. For example, you can make it automatically change nvm to North Valley Magazine. Look under Tools for the AutoCorrect options menu.

Drawing tables Many people have a hard time with adding tables and figuring out beforehand how many rows or columns they need for the dialogue box. A much easier way to create a table is using the Tables and Borders toolbar. You will see a pencil and eraser icon in the top-left of this toolbar. Simply use these to draw and/or erase lines, and voila—there is your table.

You can find out more about these features by looking at the included help in each application, and of course, in the shiny new book you have just bought.

By Lea Friese-Haben

A Weighty Clause

Dear Coach Lea,

I love my fiancé and was shocked with the prenuptial agreement he just presented to me. The bulk of the prenup is standard; however, one clause in particular really caught me by surprise. I am not allowed to weigh more than our premarriage weight of 110 pounds. (I even have three months after all pregnancies to get back to my pre-baby weight.) If I break either of these, I will be fined and it can also mean that I forfeit everything. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous? I love “Jack” and want to marry him, but I am not sure if I should sign this agreement.

Signed,
110 and Holding

Dear 110,

I would love to tell you that this surprises me, but unfortunately, it does not. Today’s society is filled with frivolous lawsuits, unrealistic expectations, and people looking for an exit to marriage before they even have a ceremony. My question to you is, Why would you even consider something like this? I am not against prenuptial agreements; however, I find this one to be horrible. Ask your fiancé to take this clause out of the agreement. If he refuses, you may want to reconsider your future with this man. I can tell you from personal experience and as a mother of three children that this is not a realistic expectation. It took me three months after my last child to get back to my normal weight, but even then, the weight was distributed differently. Expectations such as these could not only cause undue stress but may even promote eating disorders. Make him take out the clause. If he refuses, than you know that he merely wants a trophy and not a wife.

Meeting in Smoky Chatrooms

Dear Coach Lea,

I have a terrible feeling that my boyfriend is cheating on me. I have been with “Alan” for almost four years, and we have lived together for almost two of them. Lately, he has been spending more time online and has even added a password to the computer that we share. In addition to spending a lot of time online, he shuts down the computer whenever I walk into the room. He has begun wearing clothes that I have been begging him to wear, he’s working out for the first time in years, and is making an effort on his appearance as well as wearing cologne. I asked him if there was someone else but he denies it. I still can’t help but feel that he is lying to me. What should I do? I feel so betrayed.

Dear Betrayed,

I know exactly how you feel. I have been in your shoes before—the Internet makes it easy for cheaters to cheat. Trust your instincts, as they are always right. If he tells you he needs space, it is because he has already found someone else to put in your space. Your next move should be to move out and surround yourself with friends and family who love you. Be warned, however—when the dew is off the latest rose, he may try to come back. If you decide to take him back, he will most likely stray again, as he knows that you will always be there. Look for the good guys instead of the bad boys, and you’ll save yourself a lot of heartache in the long run. Good luck, and let me know how things go.

Photography by Mark Susan

April 9 >> West Valley Child Crisis Center Kids at Heart Luncheon, Renaissance Resort and Spa, 9495 W. Coyotes Blvd.

The 22-year-old nonprofit organization hosted the luncheon, presented by The Golden Wheel Organization, to raise money, support, and awareness for abused children across the community. wvccc.org