A Really (Really!) Short Trip to Phoenix

These are glass Dale Chihuly "cacti"

Journeyed out on a brief trip to visit my friend who moved to Phoenix recently, and her dentist. I meet with and approve all my friends' service providers. No, I really was visiting her dentist because some expensive procedures cost about 1/3 less there than in the Bay Area--and that includes two round-trip flights! The main drawback is the Phoenix airport; due to runway rebuilding, three of my four flights were delayed between one and three hours. Flight personnel clued me to the best terminal to hang out in (if you HAVE to): Southwest Airlines (Terminal 4)--better restaurants, art etc. If you're going there, fly as early as possible in the morning.

We were able to do a little sight-seeing during my visit; unfortunately being outside for more than 10 minutes during the day is not something sane people do there (unless completely submerged in cold water), so the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument was saved for another day. We toured the tiny town of Florence--its few western-style streets looked like a cowboy movie set deserted in mid-day--and visited its well-stocked second-hand store that had some real treasures.

Outdoor dining at Gertrude's

Then it was up to the city of Phoenix, and the Desert Botanical Garden, which proved to be a fantastic find. Surrounded by hills resembling melted chocolate ice cream, the garden itself is beautifully lit and laid out (it was late in the afternoon by then, and the temperature had dropped to a reasonable 85 degrees). Our companion pooch melted the hearts of the attendants, but alas, no dogs allowed.
Since my flight continued to be delayed, we ended up spending a couple of hours at the restaurant in the garden. Gertrude's has an upscale seasonal menu and mixed drinks that are made from local ingredients and reflect the sunset in their beauty (my vote for best: Tombstone Tea, made with vodka, gin, triple sec, prickly pear nectar and lime syrup).

My favorite bite was the smoked and fried tofu appetizer with tomato kasaundi (a tomato-based dip) and curry salt--it was the chef's grandmother's recipe, modified by her Canadian upbringing and time in New Orleans. Our waiter, Kent, was a doll, especially given the amount of time we dawdled nursing our drinks and waiting for news from the airline. Jared, the bartender, was kind enough to let us taste his favorite (California) wine.

Next time--hopefully in winter, when the air temperature will drop down to the 70s, there's plenty I'd like to see in the Phoenix area beyond Casa Grande: Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, the Painted Rock Petroglyphs...

Chihuly cacti at night

I'm just getting started! I better need more dental work soon...

Tea for Two at San Francisco's Grande Dame

Antonio Benedetti sings his heart out in front of the Fairmont

Purview of Presidents (from William Howard Taft on), The Fairmont Hotel--the first hotel built on prestigious Nob Hill--began serving a full cream tea the year it opened in 1907. And what and where better to celebrate my daughter's birthday?

How cute is the birthday girl?

In the early 1890s, “Bonanza Jim” Fair used some of his gains from the world's largest silver strike--the Comstock Lode in Nevada--to purchase a plot of land atop Nob Hill for a family estate, His lucky life didn't extend to the building of his dream home; daughters Tessie and Virginia inherited  the property and began to construct a hotel as a monument to their father. As architect, they chose the first female graduate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, Miss Julia Morgan,

The Lobby

In what had to be the mother of all bad timing, the opening scheduled for April 18, 1906 was somewhat delayed due to a 7.8 magnitude earthquake.The Fairmont survived the temblor and hundreds of aftershocks, but fell victim to the insatiable fires that leveled much of the city in the next few days (herewith a plug for my novel Shaketown--featuring the Fairmont ballroom as a makeshift hospital on the day of the 'quake). The grand exterior of the building made it through, though the interior was gutted.

Exactly one year and $5 million later, the Fairmont Hotel celebrated the rebirth of San Francisco with
a feast consisting of 600 pounds of turtle for soup, 13,000 oysters and thousands of dollars of California and French wines.

The ever-so-soothing Laurel Court

Though our tea lacked turtle soup (permanently off the menu thanks to the endangered species act), it featured, in addition to a panoply of teas, an impressive variety of sweets and savories, such as two kinds of sorbets, Dungeness crab mango salad on sourdough, deviled egg salad, mixed berries, fresh fruit, two kinds of scones and an assortment of teeny pastry dainties and more. It took us a couple hours to work our way through--not an unpleasant task, as tea is held in the restored Laurel Court, a bastion of old-time ritzy San Francisco, right down to the softly lighted Italian murals on the walls.

The staff went out of their way to accommodate dietary needs--and who could resist "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate on a plate presented with a delicious bite of cake. Yes, we chipped off the chocolate and ate it--so much more dignified than trying to scrape it off with one's teeth. We are classy girls, after all.

http://www.fairmont.com/san-francisco/dining/afternoon-tea-at-the-fairmont/