Visiting the Janks

Last weekend we headed south to to see the Janks at their new home in Mexico!

It was the first time since we have driven down there in over five years.  One hour to the border and then three hours south to Hermosillo.  The drive was uneventful and the roads have gotten much better since we last drove there.  The Janks met as at the Hermosillo toll and lead us thru the city to their hacienda.  

We were able to stay over two nights.  We had tons of fun catching up, eating authentic Mexico food (carne asada tacos and burros, Fancy steak, fresh piggy cookies from the local bakery, and Yunuen's homecooking), playing spades, shopping for and drinking Mexican wine, smoking cigars and hookah, checking out the beautiful Mexican casas in their neighborhood while walking the dogs, going to church with them (with crowing roosters) touring the city center and driving up a mountain to overlook the city.  It was a fantastic time and we can't wait to go back and see them again.  Thanks for having us AMIGOS!

Together Again

We are so happy to be back in Tucson however, it is quite sad for us that most of our friends have moved away in the last few years.  Recently we had an opportunity to be together again in Tucson do to a funeral for a great man of God from our church.  Here are a few pictures from the evening we spent together having a lamb dinner and enjoying some hookah afterwards.

Birthday Feast

So my birthday was a while ago but I forgot to blog the feast we had.  Such special occasions always call for my favorite wines.  To start with  Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne with cheese, crackers and fruit.  And then I cooked myself my all time favorite meal- Thanksgiving!  Sandi came over and joined us for birthday dinner.  The wine of choice was Souverain Cabernet Sauvingon, Winemakers Resevere, 2008.  This meal wasn't about pairing food and wine as much as it was about eating my favorite food and drinking my favorite wine.  YUM.  Forget going out to eat for my birthday, a day of cooking is much better!

Family Visitors

 

Michael, Bill, Annie and Matt

Last month Matt's older sister was in town for a visit.  We don't see her very often as she lives in Texas.  Also, visiting was Matt's grandma from Pennsylvania.  Good times!

Sandi and Villia

Pics from Tres Parejas de Patio, Mt. Lemmon 2013

Parking at bottom of cabin driveway

Hike up cabin driveway

Dinner first evening

Lunch in Summerhaven



After lunch hike



Ryan needs a beer at Summerhave general store for hike back



After lunch hike

Deep talks after lunch

Hookah time Saturday night

Tres Parejas de Patio 2013

Preparing for Tres Parejas 2013...

 
 

13 Years of Friendship

 

Sad Goodbyes

Last month we had to say goodbye to three different couples we know in one week!  How sad it is when friends move away! But how awesome it is to know that our friendships will continue into eternity!!

 

This picture is from the last night Cori and Derel spent in Tucson before they hit the road for their new home in Vancouver, Washington.  We have gotten to know Cori and Derel over the past several months in our small group and have enjoyed them so much.  We were very sad to see them go and hope to visit them in the future. 

 

The other couple in the picture with us is Betsy and Nick with their adorable son Silas.  The 5 of us LOVE Tucson and are holding down the fort  here as people come and go. 

 

Our other friends who moved away are the Jankowski's, who moved down to Mexico and the Evan's family who moved back to Texas.  We expect to see the Jank's often as they will come to Tucson regularly and we will go visit them in Mexico once it cools down.  The Evan's are planting a church in San Antonio and we wish them well.  The sheep of that flock will be extremely blessed to have Luke as their preacher as he is unusually gifted.  God Bless you guys!! 

Old World Visitors

Last month we had the pleasure of hosting friends from... IRELAND!  My good friend Catrin (who is originally from Wales) and her new husband Len came to the U.S. for a nice long holiday and made a stop in the Old Pueblo to see us for a few days.  It was great fun having them!  While they were here we showed them around Tucson, took them to our favorite stores and restaurants for real Mexican food, to San Xavier Mission, to Nogales, Mexico, to hear Mariachi,  Matt took Len shooting guns for a real American/wild west experience, and most importantly we introduced them to American wine and taught them how to play spades!  Here are a few pics from their stay, which also happened to fall over Matt's birthday.

At San Xavier Mission

Indian Fry Bread at the Mission

At La Roca restaurant in Nogales, Mexico

Ordering at La Roca

Len and Matt proud of their targets

Spades 101

Matt's birthday spoil

 What a good time!  Catrin and Len, we love you and are happy to have you anytime you're stateside!

Tucson Wildlife

Spring is here and so are the quail- yay!  I love to see the babies following their parents around.  Each morning droves of them march through our front yard.  They are so cute!

This rabbit was caught cooling off in the damp soil near my rosemary bush.  Lucky for that rabbit I didn't catch him eating my rosemary or I would have let Indi at him!

Shower Gone Mexican!

Sadly, I can't find any pics of what the shower looked like when we bought this house.  Suffice it to say the master bath in this house was designed in a really stupid way so that we had to remove a wall and door and raise the ceiling before we could re-tile this shower as it was a small dark cave.  We haven't been able to use the shower since we moved back to Tucson so it is awesome to finally have it in working order.  Tavo helped removing the wall, raising the ceiling, and installing some new lights and a decorative beam but the tiling was all Matt.  It took us quite a while to decide on the tile.  We ended up going with this beautiful Mexican talavera and cobalt arabesque tile for the accent and an Italian brick shaped ceramic for the main tile.  It turned out just as stunningly as I thought it would.  Good job, Honey!

Celebrating 1 Year Back in Tucson

This past weekend Matt and I had a special dinner to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of being back in our beloved city of Tucson! 

We prepared our favorite special occassion meal which consisted of gorgeous steaks that Matt grilled to perfection, the best potatoes ever and Bill's mushrooms.  We drank our best bottle of wine, Souverain Cabernet Sauvingnon (winemaker's reserve, 2005) from the Alexander Valley.  We finished the evening with chocolate molten cakes.

Praise be to God for bringing us back to the land that we love!

C.S.W.

Also while my Mom was here I finally received my exam results in the mail from the recent wine test I took up in Phoenix last month.  The test was through the Society of Wine Educators for their first level certification which is a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW).  I passed with a 99% score and can now attach C.S.W. to my business card. 

The day I got my results my Mom cooked us a very delicious dinner of melt in your mouth beef short ribs with horse radish mashed potatoes.  What a feast to celebrate my exam!  Ridge Three Valleys was the perfect pairing for this delectable meal.

Thanks be to my loving husband who helped me prepare for my exam with an obscene amount of flashcards!

Minnesota Visitors!

My Mom and my sister Jamie came down for a visit last week.  It was snowing in Minnesota on the day they flew out (May 1st... who lives there?!).  I was very excited to see them and for them to see our house since they hadn't been to it yet.  We had a very good time together shopping, going out to eat, cooking and just hanging out.  While my mom was here she knit about a dozen scarves and gave half of them to me.  She is a knitting maniac!