Does it get any better than that?

On Thursday morning we got to have some quality time with Janos and his wife Rebecca. If you are ever in Tucson and want to have a true dining experience you should eat at Janos. A real sweetheart of a man and a truly talented chef. Janos was Michael's employer when we lived in Tucson. Rebecca is a gifted artist and a saint for living with someone that is a chef/owner. It is such a demanding profession even before you add in being the owner of a restaurant.
We had a delightful breakfast eating outside on the patio at Blue Willow. When I was pregant with Artie I craved the homefries from Blue Willow. The girls were all excited about eating there so that they could have the homefries. Artie was excited to see Janos because all of her memories of him are from when she was real young. Now she is so grown up and tall.
We ate, we caught up, the girls played in the gift shop. It was nice to hear that Rebecca is painting. She and Janos seem happy and content. Warm fuzzies were shared all around. What a young couple Michael and I were when we lived in Tucson. It was the beginning of our life together. It's been 14 yrs. since we lived there. Janos was a big part of our lives back then..how sweet to see him looking and being so well.
That afternoon we took Xan over to his restaraunt to spend dinner service with him in the kitchen. WOW, huh? There is a link to his website in my sidebar. Rebecca designed the logo. That's the Catalina Mountains...I love the logo. Xan was there from 3:30 to 10:30. And what a blast she had! She just loved it. Here are some pictures that were taken.
This is Xan helping out the pastry chef.
This is Janos.
This is the kitchen.
This is a desert that Xan helped with. This is what they give people on their birthdays. If it's your birthday at Janos you can get one too.
This is Xan with the kitchen staff.
Janos brought Xan back to our friend's house at the end of the day. He asked if he could keep her.Sorry Janos, she's still ours for while.
Xan wrote Janos a Thank You card the other day. In it she thanks him for loving every second of her time in the kitchen and that she now knows that she is very serious about wanting to be a chef.
Does it get any better than that?

That is if Beth will let me...

It's raining here. It's balmy and very Spring-like. I look out the window and say very, very softly so that Mother Nature won't here me..."I think Spring is on it's way." Of course I know that it is March and Spring is really not here but with the crazy weather we have these days anything can happen.
I'm back home. Been home for 1 full day now and I'm exhausted. Mothers will do that. I want to finish my vacation stories and pictures....
I called my friend Doe (Doreen really but for some reason I have gotten into the habit of nicknaming her Doe). We met when I was doing a lot of theater in Tucson. We were both members of a gay and lesbian theater company. She is a buyer for a natural foods warehouse. Doe and her wife Robin have (since I last saw them) bought an adobe that sits right up against the mountains that are west of Tucson. They are very close to Gates Pass. If you ever go to Tucson you must go over and drive through Gates Pass and then go and sit at the park right in the center of the Pass and watch the sunset. It's an awesome sight.
We decided that our household (the whole 9 lot of us) was going to go over to Doe and Robin's for dinner. We all wanted to see this house and it's view. Believe me, we were not disappointed! I have no great picture of the view but the Tucson lights were magical and D & R have this humungeous picture window with two lounging chairs set up in front of it. The kids took advantage.

We had such a fun time. D & R have just redone their kitchen and there is a huge island in the middle with bar chairs. It's a great place to sit and gather. It's a joy to hang out with "kitchen people". Doe, Beth, and I goofed around with my camera.And I got this funny picture of our friend Chris who joined us there. We get to see Chris up on Lopez every few years because he has family just on the mainland from us. It was fun to see him in Tucson for a change.We stayed late into the evening laughing our heads off and left with promises to stay at D & R's on future visits to our ol' homeland. That is if Beth will let me...