"Pit" Stop in Memphis

What is a layover in Memphis without some BBQ?  Fortunately Interstate BBQ has several locations at the airport so I enjoyed a breakfast of pulled pork topped with slaw!  Next stop, Phoenix.

Headed Back to Phoenix

It's nearly 5:30 a.m. and I'm waiting for my flight back to Phoenix via Memphis.  I Got up at 2:30 to make the 80 mile drive from Farmington to Lambert Field and am now awaiting my 12th flight in 4 months.  It was really good to be able to spend another week visiting with mom in the hospital and spending the evenings with dad at their house in Farmington.  Aimee will be arriving around noon tomorrow to spend a week with mom as well.  I know mom really appreciates the company, can't imagine laying in the hospital for a month (3 separate times in a 4 1/2 month  period) at a time all alone.Tomorrow Christine and I celebrate 22 years of marriage but the pastry chef has to work Friday and Saturday and on Sunday we are headed up the mountain to spend the 4th of July with friends in Prescott.  So I've made reservations at Tarbell's for Monday evening. Mark Tarbell is a local chef phenomenon and won the Iron Chef competition on the Food Network when he appeared against Cat Cora.  He also writes the weekly wine column in the Phoenix paper.  Christine has wanted to dine at his restaurant for years and we shall soon experience Tarbell's.

A Century and a Half of Farmington History

Talking with mom over the past week we have done our best at piecing together our ancestry in Farmington, Mo. and Decatur, IL. As far back as she can remember are the stories of her grandmother and grandfather arriving in Farmington in a covered wagon shortly after their daughter (Maud) was born in 1890.  That was on her father's side of the family (Biggs).  Her mother's family (Koen/Cleve) was already established in Farmington by the time the Bigg's arrived from Illinois in the wagon.  Fascinating history and a tribute to small town values with close knit families.  Aunt Maud (my great aunt) is one of the families most endearing figures.  She and her husband Hoppy (Blair) built their third restaurant on their own land themselves.  The Hopkins Family Cafe was the brown and white log cabin on the edge of town that people came from near and far to eat the food that was grown on-site in their fields, hen houses and pastures.

Mom has really enjoyed talking about the good old days and all of the restaurants that have been in the family over the past 150, or so, years.  She has been out of the bed all morning sitting in a comfy blue chair and we just got back from walking 10 laps before lunch.  I'm sure we'll do 10 more before I leave this afternoon.
There is still a lot of history to discuss and now I've got to find some of those recepies from all of those family restaurants!

Happy Birthday Jenn

Grandma says "Happy Birthday Jenn" and hopes you have received the card she mailed you from the hospital.

A thunder storm rolled through the St. Louis area last night and was lighting up the sky above the house across the street from mom and dad's in Farmington.  It was quite a show, maybe the precursor for the Fourth of July.
Mom continues to grow stronger everyday.  We did our daily walk in the hall while I was picking her brain on the Biggs and Bering family histories.  I counted the laps silently and before she realized it we had walked half a mile (13 laps).  She felt really good to accomplish that distance.  Earlier this morning Dr. Pertruska visited and thought she was doing well but cautioned her not to expect a rapid recovery as he anticipates her blood count not to rise until the 23rd day and today marks the 14th day of her third month long stay in the hospital since Feburary.  The 23rd day will be the 6th of July so she has another 10 days or so until her body builds itself up from the ravages of the second round of consolidation chemotherapy.  She is eating well, drinking plenty of water and ready to go home.

Happy Birthday Mom

We celebrated mom's birthday with a white chocolate and fudge caked topped with 66 candles.  The nurses were quite happy to get the leftovers.  After opening gifts and snacking on Oberly we went for a walk and her stamina is steadily improving.  Friday we walked two laps in the hall, Saturday four and six laps today.  She is sitting up in a chair during the day and hoping that the white count rises soon so she can get back to her normal life in Farmington soon.  Happy Birthday!!!

Soulard Farmer's Market, Since 1779

Reminiscent of Pike Place Market in Seattle and European markets in major cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and Munich the market near the banks of the Mississippi and in the shadow of the Arch is a wonderful place to spend a Saturday morning! 

Soulard's is host to dozens of produce, flower, meat, fish, bakery and cheese vendors with several specialty stores like the one that sells fresh ground herbs, coffee beans and tea leaves.  I picked up a loaf of sun-dried tomato bread, Herb de Provence goat cheese, a pint of blackberries, half a dozen peaches, a bag of BBQ pork rinds (for dad) and some fresh cherry and apple tarts.

We enjoyed a picnic breakfast in room 824 of the chemo ward and it was spectacular; mom particularly enjoyed the fresh, still warm, cherry tart.  We are looking forward to a visit from mom's brother Dale and his wife Trish this afternoon and we'll probably be grazing on the leftovers from the Soulard picnic throughout the day as mom is feeling quite well under the circumstances

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St. Louis University Hospital

I landed in St. Louis at midnight and finally got to Farmington at 2:30 this morning.  When dad left for work the dogs decided they were not about to let me sleep any longer so at 7:00 I got up, let them outside, showered and headed back to St. Louis to see mom in the hospital.  I stopped briefly downtown to snap a pic of the Arch and then was at the SLU hospital 5 minutes later.  Mom is doing surprisingly well and was happy when I walked into her private room.

We will spend the day talking and enjoying one another's company until dad arrives later this afternoon then I'll head back to Farmington for the evening.

Enroute to St. Louis

Here I sit at the airport in Phoenix (Sky Harbor) waiting on yet another flight.  This time it's back to St. Louis via Salt Lake City.  Mom is in the chemo isolation ward at Saint Louis University Hospital for her third, and final, month long stay.  I'll be landing in St. Louis around midnight and then drive an hour south to Farmington.  In the morning I'll drive back up to the hospital at SLU and sit with mom until dad arrives after work later in the afternoon then I'll head back to their house and repeat daily
This has been a travel intensive year so far: Today is the third trip to St. Louis/Farmington, the wedding trip to Baltimore/Poconos/NYC/Philly, to El Paso and Albuquerque for work and Memorial Day in Malibu.all since February.  I need to spend more time in the woods camping and less time in airports and on airplanes!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the birth, step, foster and Grand Fathers out there, Happy Father's Day!

Christine took me out to our favorite sushi restaurant, Tomo, for a fantastic lunch.  We had Miso soup, Ocean Salad (with octopus, scallops and  squid) and each had a bento box.  Her's was with fried tofu, tempura vegetables, salad, crunch roll and BBQ beef.  Mine had sashimi (salmon, tuna & yellowtail), gyoza, spicy tuna roll, BBQ beef and salad.  The service was stellar as usual and the meal was absolutely divine!

JennAwiza (bless you) called this morning wishing me a Happy Day and Corey called this evening.  Thank you Jenn, Corey & Christine for making it a special day in June!

Congratulations Melissa!

Yesterday was the big day, High School Graduation!  Congratulations on a job well done.

Another Pulmonoligist with Another Diagnosis

A second pulmonoligist saw Christine today with a slightly different idea of what the diagnosis is.  Although both specialists agree that without a biopsy a diagnosis is purely an educated guess, the doctor today believes Christine does indeed have valley fever.  Airborne fungus from the soil gets caught in and begins to grow in the lungs.  The biopsy will be performed tomorrow and within a day or two we will hopefully know what the issue is.  Banner Estrella Hospital is a wonderful medical facility with a friendly staff and spectacular private rooms, at least Christine's room is.  But she is quite ready to checkout and go home.

Good News After a Long Fast

Christine was told Friday evening that the Pulmonologist may elect to perform a test Saturday that would require her to fast (no food or liquids) from dinner Friday until the test Saturday morning.  Unfortunately the doctor was delayed with a few urgent cases in ICU and did not get to Christine's room until around 1:30 P.M. and by that time she was quite hungry and thirsty.  The good news is that he does not believe she has Valley Fever or tuberculosis.  He told her that she has a bronchial infection but that due to the original suspicion of tuberculosis she had to remain in isolation for 3 days while they analyzed her saliva samples and she would be released Monday.  The nodules in her lungs are still of concern though and prior to discharging her they are going to perform a biopsy and those results will be back in three days.  After the news she was cleared to eat and she ordered up quite a spread and finished it all.  Hopefully she will finally get a peaceful nights sleep tonight!

Overnight in the Hospital

Christine has been feeling poorly all week.  She went to the ER on Monday with chest pains, had a follow-up with her primary doctor Tuesday, was scheduled to see a Pulmonologist next Wednesday and then woke up with a fever today.  She went back to the ER and this time they admitted her to do some tests.  The Pumonologist will see her in the morning and overnight they are giving her plenty of intravenous fluids, antibiotics, antifungals, blood thinners and anti-clotting meds.  The first two conditions they will be checking for are Valley Fever and tuberculosis.  Sleep well Christine.  See you in the morning.

Happy Birthday Christine

Forty seven years ago yesterday, in Key West, my bonita esposa Christine was brought into this world destined to become a pastry chef!  Christine, Corey and I celebrated last night with grilled grass fed rib eye steaks, grilled corn, steamed brown rice, cucumber salad, wine and cake.  Happy Birthday and congratulations on achieving your career goal so quickly!

Blooming Saguaros

I was driving to Flagstaff to conduct some work related training today and just had to pull over and take some photos of the saguaros that were blooming.

Red O

An amazing new LA restaurant opened Memorial Day weekend brought about by the incredible chef from Chicago, Rick Bayless.  On his PBS cooking show, Mexico: One Plate at a Time, Chef Rick demystifies the Mexican cuisine and makes it abundantly clear that there is a lot more depth to their culinary tradition than refried beans and Taco Bell.  The ambiance of Red O (O is short for Onion) is LA chic meets old world Mexico.  Every detail was superbly considered and the abundance of candlelight set against the whitewashed adobe walls and wrought iron fixtures set the mood for an intimate dining experience.  The wait staff was plentiful and paid attention to our table, as I’m sure they did all guests.  I’d take a sip of water and seconds later my glass was filled.  Fantastic!  We started with Sangria and the guacamole.  I asked our server about their habanero salsa as I didn’t see it on the menu but loved it at Rick’s La Frontera Grill in Chicago last year and was looking forward to it at Red O.  She said that they have it but that it is so spicy they don’t advertise it and it is available by request only.  Say no more, bring it on!  Out came a trio of fresh salsa; red, green and habanero. 

The food is so scrumptious I hate to go on about salsa but for those of us that love flavors that tip the scoville scale the habanero salsa is sublime.  It is packed with heat AND has a real depth of flavor with habanero pepper and fresh lime juice blended to capsaicin perfection.  After the guacamole came a Halibut ceviche with cilantro-serrano chimichurri with cucumber and alvacado.  Amazing!  Then the entries, Christine had the farm roasted vegetable enchiladas covered in a roasted tomato and cheese sauce while I had the Camarones al Mojo de Ajo (wood-grilled Mazatlan Blue shrimp with slow-roasted garlic and wood grilled knob onions) with Veracruz-style white rice with sweet plantains.  We ate slowly savoring every morsel.  It was a remarkable meal.  To top it all off we decided on the bunuelos covered in a cinnamon chocolate sauce with a scoop of caramel and salt ice cream, delicious.  The entire experience was a superb definition of how to celebrate food.  We’ll be back again and again; too bad it’s a 5 hour drive from Phoenix.

Memorial Day in Malibu

We went against one of the pillars of our vacation philosophy this weekend: Stay home on holiday weekends, the crowds are maddening.

There was, however, a method to our madness.  Rick Bayless, our favorite celebrity chef (see my blog from Chicago in January 2009) opened a new restaurant in Los Angeles this weekend and I was fortunate enough to score reservations for Sunday night.  Our secret motel on the beach just north of Malibu happened to have a vacancy on Memorial Day weekend so we were in luck and headed to the coast.  We left early in the morning and 5 hours later were 10 miles from the Santa Monica Pier and the traffic on I-10 came to an abrupt halt.  What could it be? What was that pillar of philosophy again?  Exactly! Everyone was headed to the beach for the unofficial start of summer.  Slowly we rolled towards the ocean and when we arrived at the western terminus of Interstate 10 and made the right turn to head north up the Pacific Coast Highway the situation didn’t improve. But the beach was to our left and the breeze and distinct scent of the saltwater made it much more bearable.  Rolling through Santa Monica and Malibu throngs of beach goers jammed the parking lots and restaurants but when we finally made it to our motel just on the other side of Point Mugu State Park we had a quarter mile of beach nearly to ourselves.   

The slow going up the PCH didn’t leave much time for the beach though as we had to get changed for our dinner at Red O.  Leaving the motel we headed inland on the Ventura Freeway through Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills then dropped down into West Hollywood via the beautiful Laurel Canyon and easily found the restaurant on Melrose Avenue.  The meal and service were both outstanding and well worth the traffic delay earlier that day.  After dinner we headed down Santa Monica Boulevard and drove through Beverly Hills on the way back to the coast.  The next morning we had our coffee on the beach and Christine found several sand dollars as she enjoyed getting her feet wet in the Pacific.  

 A couple seals bobbed up and down just yards from the shore in front of us then a few dolphins swam past and we reluctantly had to leave our secluded paradise and head back to Phoenix.  We’ll be back though; the salt air is a great tool for recharging the batteries. 

We'll probably stick to the pillars of vacation philosophy too.