Earlier this year in april I visited tucson again for the yearly conference form the mining software we use. last years blog post. its a week at a resort in tucson, and its usually really nice weather, and sunny, and the cacti are just starting to bloom! well, this year we had a really wet start to the year, so the flowers were just starting to come out towards the end of my stay.

ocatillio’s blooming are probably one of my favorites.

Ground Hog!

Cacti flowers!

A yucca in bloom!

more cacti blooming

a cute little succulent in bloom

ohh, and then i went to phoenix for a day, where i spent the day buuilding a compost for my parents.

my parents grape vines sprouting

ohh, and now my dad is in the part time boat business. the wooden boat is the boat that erik and i grew up with in arizona last time we lived in arizona. it used to have its own swamp cooler out in the back yard. the boat on the left is one my dad is fixing up to sell. as you can see, all boats in the garage mean no cars can fit in…..

anyways, that was my quick trip to tuscon this year. I also ate a lot of tasty BBQ, and some mexican, and hit up a tea shop! i had a great time, tucson is a pretty fun town.

cobwebs, they are everywhere on this blog!

whell, im back in nevada for another week. and just uploaded a whole bunch of pictures to my computer, so i suppose i better start posting again!

Noa and i just celebrated our 3rd anniversary! to celebrate we held a dessert party again, like last year! i think it was pretty successful!

lets see, my contribution was a tarte o’ pomme

noa made all the rest, such as these rhubarb muffins…

and chocolate with a little salt brownies

and a strawberry cake

and lemon squares!

i forgot to take the pictures of the pears, but they were a big hit too!
im sure i got the names wrong on these, you will just have to ask noa what we made! this is just photo documentation, really!

heres to many more!

So i am spending the day in Salt Lake city on my way from ely to tucson for the week.

Since I was spending the day in a real city for once, i decided i would see if theres any good breweries in town. i looked up breweries on google maps, and it led me to this. A double IPA.

that pretty much dictated i had to go try it, if i wanted to keep up my reputation as a hophead.

So I mozied on over there for dinner. the place was hopping, but luckily there was room at the bar for a single and i grabbed it.

First order of business was to order the Elephino Double IPA.

wow, what a good IPA. not too bitter, with a very hoppy finish. nothing over the top, just very smooth and refined, with just a hint of citrus.

Then i looked at the menu. then the daily specials.
I noticed there was a panko seared ahi on the specials, so i ordered that and a french onion soup.

Well, i took a first bite of the ahi tuna, it was amazing! im not a big fan of tuna, but the chef made an amazing dish! It was spicy, half cooked and some raw, and with a mango salsa on top. just delicious. and it paired well with the IPA. the soup was decent, noa and i have had better before.

Overall a pleasant evening. could of only been better if i had shared it with someone.

Ohh, I bought 2 IPA’s to bring back with me. so local Hopanauts, assemble in 1 week for a taste testing!