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Phoenix in February
February 23, 2016
Good flights, free wild turkey and ginger ale on the way out for V-Day, lots of empty seats both ways so it was very comfortable.
Stunningly nice weather, and beautiful scenery, as usual. I took tons of photos.
Sunday, Dad and I did some grocery shopping, and then met Dr. cousin & family for seafood at Bluewater Grille. Fabulous halibut, with lemon couscous salad. YUM.
Received flowers, Teavana tea, See's chocolates, and cards for Valentine's Day. :)
Funny Auntie story--I didn't get to see her till late Monday, as she was pet-sitting for rich folks and ended up locked in & unable to leave. Seems the garage door opener quit working, and the key they gave her was not actually for any of the doors! That is so totally the kind of thing that happens to Auntie.
Dad's place is just absolutely lovely, doesn't feel like a trailer at all. Very airy and roomy, beautiful covered porch and patio, in a very well-appointed and maintained, secure, gated community. The bed he put into the guest room is small and inexpensive but very comfortable. I slept well in it. And he has everything very much the way he wants it, so he's pretty happy. But the problem with the people in my family is we don't do happy very well, so he's always looking for something to complain about. But he has a terribly hard time finding anything--so I know he really is pretty satisfied with his home.
Something else I noticed--Customer service in his area will blow you away; everyone is just astonishingly helpful and friendly, super-nice and caring of older people, especially. I'm glad he doesn't have to deal with the kind of city-dwellers we have in these parts!
Monday, Dad and I took a trip up to Cave Creek, poked around in a few shops, and had a marvelous lunch at The Grotto Cafe. I had their Monterey Salad with a scoop of their chicken salad, and an Arnie Palmer made with fantastic tea and fresh-squeezed lemon-limeade. Just superb.
For dinner, I made little red potatoes and roasted cabbage, and Dad cooked salmon fillets on the grill. Having been sprung from her captivity, Auntie picked up young cousin and brought him over for a visit, and they ended up staying for supper. we had a nice visit, and the food came out quite delicious.
Tuesday, we took a trip up north to the little old town of Jerome--a mile-high mining town, that has become an artsy tourist mecca. Dad had a bunch of mom's southwest jewelry stuff he wanted to see about, and there was a jeweler there wwho was recommended to Dad by a guy he knows. It was a pretty long drive, but totally worth it. Dad is getting the jewelry handled just the way he wants it, by a top-notch artist, for an amazingly cheap price, and we got to check out the mind-blowing views from the mountain, so entirely, totally worth it. By the time we got back down to Phoenix, we were too tired to fuss about dinner, so we went out for some good Mexican food at Valle Luna, then headed home to crash.
Wednesday was "girls day out", and Dad was worried that they would forget to feed me, so he made me a huge--and rather amusing--breakfast. Two huge sausage patties, some rather leathery fried eggs, and incinerated whole-wheat toast with blackberry preserves. I ate it all up like a good girl, though. My daddy doesn't make me breakfast very often!
Girl's Day Out started with pedicures (cheap, perfect, and all the way to my knees!) followed by...breakfast! At "Vovomeena"--a Portugese breakfast place with savory crepes (stuffed with scrambled eggs, chicken, fontina cheese, topped with romanesco sauce and swiss chard) and Japanese-brew iced coffee (both of which were out of this world!)
Then it was shopping at Dillards. Both cousin and I hate shopping, but love to please her mom! Stylish new Teva sandals at 65% off ($24.00) for me, and my hippie cousin bought a pair of sandals made out of yoga mats and tie-dye teeshirt material that actually looked really comfy. Auntie bought a lovely red and black sweater. No pen store, due to cousin shorting me on time, but no complaints. I could have pushed Auntie for it, but I could see she'd hit a wall and was ready to go home.
re: cousin shorting me. At first it was "I'm taking the week off". Then "a couple of days", then "Wednesday". I got her for about four hours...she bailed because her kid needed a haircut and dress pants for the science fair.
Thursday was supposed to be pool day, but I really got no chance to swim. I really enjoyed just hanging with Dad, bought him a 1-person rice cooker as a thank you gift which came early--I was expecting it to come after I left! but he thought it was nifty and seemed to like it. We had a fantastic authentic Mexican lunch at El Bravo, we ran a few errands and I helped him edit and print his photos at Walgreens, to his delight. In the afternoon, we took a trip up to Dobbins Lookout on South Mountain, to check out the lovely park and the gorgeous views of Phoenix. It was the first time I'd been there in daylight, so I really enjoyed it. In the evening, we had a pressure cooker pot roast party at Auntie's, because they are all terrified of the darn thing, and I wanted to show them how easy and good it is. They enjoyed it.
Friday, Dad and I got up and had breakfast, then set to work on food prep for Dad's patio party cookout he had planned for Friday night. I helped him put together a crockpot full of calico baked beans like my mom used to make, and I made his favorite broccoli & cauliflower salad and stuck it in the fridge to chill and meld. He also remembered to get the artisanal bratwurst and hot dogs out of the freezer to thaw. We got the kitchen, and ourselves, cleaned up and we ran an errand or two, but mostly we just chilled out. I didn't even feel like going swimming. We were both kind of tired from a busy week, to tell the truth.
Dad's little gathering was quite the success--his baked beans came out beautifully, and tasted very much like Mom's. When my cousin, who can't cook to save her life, asked what she could bring, I told her "beer". But she insisted on making a pineapple upside-down cake...which, quite shockingly, was actually edible. Tasty, even! It was just family; the six of us, enjoying good food and each other's company.
Saturday we were up early to pick up Auntie and Cousin, and head to the airport. Cousin stuffed my luggage full of lemons at the last minute, since they are having a bumper crop and she's got more than she knows what to do with. Lots of hugs and kisses and teary goodbyes at the curb, then it was going-home time.
I picked up all necessary souvenirs at the airport on my way out of town--magnets, a keychain, a beautiful pair of sterling and opal earrings for myself (only $25), and See's Toffee-Ettes & chocolate bars for Spouse--which cost more than my earrings and all the other souvenirs combined. Them choccies is 'spensive! This strategy worked out well, though, because I had early bird check in, and my boarding pass on my phone, so I had plenty of time to putter once I was through security, and the shops there were full of exactly the stuff I was looking for, anyway.
I had a good nap on the plane, and came home to temps in the mid-fifties, and a brand new roof on my house. The roofers came on Tuesday, and did a wonderful job. Not the shingles I wanted, but Spouse is happy, and as long as I have a new roof, I'm happy too. Spouse made bbq ribs, little red potatoes, and salad for Saturday dinner, and baked ham, mashed potatoes, and roasted carrots for Sunday dinner.
I was still on vacation Monday; took B to the vet for a T4 test, and then to McD's for a treat of french fries. Caught up on laundry, tidied up the house a bit, relaxed, hung out with the B.
Even did some experimental baking:
A peach cake, made with peach pie filling and a simple "busy day cake" 8-inch pan recipe. It came out delicious! You put the batter in the pan, spoon the peaches onto the top, and bake it, and in the process of baking, the peaches get swallowed up by the batter and end up in the middle of the cake. Moist, flavorful, and very enjoyable. Would have been even better, I think, with plain canned peaches, drained. Fresh blackberries would be awesome in it, too. We had leftover ham and carrots, with baked sweet potatoes, for dinner.
Since I hadn't made it to Scottsdale Pen--and had even denied myself a gorgeous piece of opal jewelry in Jerome because I thought I was saving my money for the pen store--I felt fully justified in buying myself a Levenger Splendor Encore when they popped up on sale at the Levenger Website Monday. The list price is $95 with shipping, but I picked it up for a mere $35.00. Gunmetal grey, fine nib, and very handsome. Comes with the converter, too. Can't wait till it arrives!
Back to work today, and believe me, it was much against my will. I had to stop on the way home and pick up some lunches for work, and we had BBQ chicken legs, fries, and salad for dinner.
Reading: Bit of a hiatus during vacation, but now I'm back into "A Tar-Heel Baron" (1903), by Mabell Shippie Clarke Pelton.
Listening: Smashing Pumpkins, Burning Sensations, Kurt Vile, Johnny Winter.
Inked Up: No changes to the load-out, and I today was the first time I've even touched them in nearly two weeks. I desperately need to clean out and change out my daily carry, including a refill on the Conklin.
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