In early January, I went to Phoenix to visit Tony. While I visited cousin Sue in Albuquerque a couple of times, I had never been to Arizona before. I was excited to see Tony as well as leave snowy New York City.
With a blizzard speeding towards the east coast, I happily boarded the plane looking forward to to sunny, warm weather. I wasn't disappointed. Almost each day was perfect, some days cooler than others, but walking or eating or sitting outside was always an option even on the chillier days.
Arizona looked somewhat like what I expected only there were palm trees there. The palms gave it a hint of the tropics although it was clearly the desert. I got a closer look at the desert during a couple of our hikes. Varieties of cacti cover the ground; some tall, some bushlike, and some close to the ground. At the top of one of the mountains, the view was amazing. You could see for miles -- the mountains, houses nestled in them and resorts and golf clubs.
On the weekend, we had brunch outside at the Farm. The setting, the food and the coffee were excellent. I had a fantastic egg dish with fresh veggies from the farm. The sprawling farm has a long history. We meandered around the grounds for a bit.
After brunch, we headed to the Japanese Friendship Garden. Walking through this peaceful place feels exactly what I imagine Japan to be
like. The focal point is a huge pond with giant gold fish that beg for food and waterfalls of various sizes. Incredibly quiet, the sounds of the waterfall and murmurs of other visitors are all that you hear. It was incredibly peaceful and a stark contrast to what I'm used to --- the sounds of buses, traffic, drunk people and, most recently, many garbage trucks scratching the pavement with their snow plows.
As a big fan of tasty beers, I like to try local beers and also exotic ones from other countries. Tony also likes craft beers and also loves to brew them. My only experience with home brewed beer was in college and it was quite disgusting, so I never pursued any further information about this. However, I tasted some of the beer he made and wanted to see how it was done.
On Sunday, we had a brew day where we made a honey brown beer. It took a couple of hours and was interesting (and kind of smelly). I learned about the equipment -- a giant pot for the boil, some jugs called carboys, I think. I like the sound of the word "carboy." Anyhow, my big role was to add the hops and honey at the end of the boil. After all the smelly stuff is boiled and all the appropriate ingredients are in there, it goes into one of the jugs where the magic happens. Fairly quickly, you can see it start to bubble and ferment.
After about a week passes, it's moved to the secondary fermenter and after another week it's bottled. I thought it was done after it was bottled, but I think it needs to sit there for a while. Tony is going to send me some of the honey brown in a week or two. I plan to have a dinner party so everyone can try it. I hope it's good!!
We went for a second walk around the desert before I left. It was another beautiful day and a bit warmer. We saw huge rocks and cacti and people mountain biking. We were warned about snakes.
The last night we had dinner at The Hillside Spot, which is a very cute cafe with fresh, local food and beer. We sat outside next to a roaring fire in a fireplace that was covered with brightly colored tiles. The food was really excellent and it was so pleasant to sit by the fire.
The day I was supposed to leave, the airports were shut down due to the blizzard. While my job wasn't happy about this, I got to stay for a few more days. I worked from Tony's apartment one day and then flew back to a snowy NYC the next.
The storm wasn't as bad as they thought so I was able to get home fairly easily. It took a while, with a connection in North Carolina, but it was pretty smooth. It was hard to leave and I hope to go back soon.
