San Diego

Arun is in San Diego just about every week.

When we talk in the evening, I ask him how his business trips are going.

Arun will always tell me, "Oh.. I'm just grabbing some dinner downstairs." or "I'm not doing much... just hanging out in the hotel."

What a liar! I finally had the opportunity to tag along with him on one of his adventures and realized what a FABULOUS time he has there!

He's tried all the great restaurants in the Gaslamp district, grabs appetizers and lounges at the hotel with a view over-looking the Pacific, and has managed to take in ALL the sights!

I can see why he downplays the fun, because in contrast- I'm usually eating leftovers and watching whatever is left on my dvr.

On our first night in San Diego- we headed out to Old Town to eat at the Cafe Coyote- ohhh my lord the Mexican food there is amazing!

There are women making fresh tortillas constantly- and they are consumed as rapidly as they are produced. YUM!

Fish Tacos there are just amazing and I am reminded of the fact that THIS is the type of food I always categorized as 'Mexican' and never quite enjoyed Tex-Mex in the same way.

We headed out to La Jolla and walked along the beach to the famous coves and enjoyed all the funny critters. This squirrel reminds me of the 'evil hamster' in those commercials. And of course who can miss the yelps of the seals?

We spent another evening with our friends Tania and Sergio at an amazing restaurant: The Prado in Balboa Park.

http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/restaurants/theprado/

The architecture and beauty of the area truly made us feel like we were on one of our European

trips.

Late night ice cream at Ghiradelli's, amazing seafood restaurants on Coronado Island... and I'm thinking that Arun's little secret is out.

I'm going to have to find a way to join him on more trips out to San Diego.

What a TREAT!

As an aside- this is my 100th post on this blog.

I'm thinking about winding it up unless I hear some overwhelming response otherwise.

I'll post again when life gets interesting.

It's not Unpacking... it's Organizing!

The hardest part of the unpacking process hasn't been getting us out of the boxes- nope, it's been getting stuff organized.

And I've been on an organizing frenzy!

It's also a multi-step process: line the shelf- sanitize all the dishes and then- yes, color-code them into coordinated cabinets. (see below)

Steam-clean, wash, sanitize, arrange, organize.

Even my towels are now color-coordinated into my linen closet.

And I purchased and assembled a shoe rack and then put all my shoes into color coordinated bins in the garage.

My closet? Yup- that's color coordinated too.

Moving has also been such a great excuse to get RID of stuff. We have donated enough to clothing to Goodwill to keep them going for a month!

Now, while I've been compulsively and meticulously organizing our stuff, Arun's been doing his share. He has used his skills with google and the phonebook to coordinate all the people we need for our move.

For example, our plasma tv can't have a tail to the outlet- so he hired an electrician to get the outlet moved.

Our third garage door didn't have an automatic garage door opener, so he hired someone for installation.

Last Saturday, we had 9 'visitors' (as Arun likes to call them) in our home doing all kinds of things:

a guy to take away our 180 empty boxes, someone to assemble our formal dining room table, a guy to fix our Comcast (since the Dish guys manage to cut our internet when they installed our satellite), a plumber, carpet cleaners, landscaper etc. etc. etc.

So here's the tally of the workload:

Me: unpack 180 boxes, arrange and organize entire household contents

Arun: call service-people

Yeah- next time, I think we're going to switch roles!

But all's well that ends well- and ladies and gentlemen- we are now MOVED IN!

Our House

Well, folks- we have finally moved into our new Tucson home.

We had 184 boxes and so much furniture, it makes your brain hurt.

Arun, of course, immediately freaked out- "Just throw everything out! How are we going to unpack all this stuff??"

The "we" in that sentence, is a royal 'we' because what ensued was that Arun left for San Diego for work, and I spent 72 hours in a frenzy of unpacking. But guess what? I did it.

Even though the movers told us that people "live out of boxes for months," I had us completely unpacked in three days.

The problem with unpacking by yourself is that the other person has no IDEA how much work this stuff takes.

Arun returned home from San Diego and commented, "This place looks a LOT better."

Thanks...hon!

Anyway, so the neighborhood we chose is in Sabino Mountain.

It's right next to Sabino Canyon which is one of the most highly visited tourist attractions in Tucson- tons of great hiking and outdoorsy activities.

To get atop our neighborhood, you go down this GREAT road that just elevates you to views of the mountains surrounding us, and the city lights below us.

The gates open to a gorgeous clubhouse and pool, where people watch the sunset against views of the entire city.

You then pass by the two-million dollar properties perched atop the cliffs and down to our more modest street.

We have a three-car garage, two-story home with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living and formal dining, and loft.

Those are the specs.

THESE are the pictures :)

So first up are the Formal Living/Formal Dining area (top)

Then the kitchen (I LOVE the cherry cabinets!) (bottom)

We turned one of the upstairs rooms into Arun's office (top)

I have an office as well (not pictured)

And then a guest bedroom awaiting visitors!! (bottom)

Our patio is so amazing- facing right into the desert. We have an orange tree in the back, and there's a little family of quail that live right beyond our fence!

More pictures to come, but that's it for now! :)

Day Trip from Tucson

One of the enormous benefits of living in Tucson are all the wonderful things to do here. There are beautiful Spanish missions from the 1700's, gorgeous hiking trails and desert museums... and there's Mexico just a quick hour and half drive away!

This weekend, Arun and I began our usual evening repartee of choosing where to dine.

"I'm craving Mexican food," I announced and just knew Arun would try to lobby for Asian fare.

To my surprise he said, "Mexican sounds good."

"Great! We haven't tried Mi Nidito... what do you think?"

"Nah, something more authentic... let's drive down to Mexico for dinner!"

So off we went! It's about an hour and half to the border- Nogales. A very leisurely drive with speed limits of 75 most of the way. There was absolutely nothing at the border to get into Mexico. We called La Roca to try to figure out how to get to teh restaurant, and they insisted that we stay where we were and that they come meet us and escort us to the restaurant. WOW! http://www.larocarestaurant.com/

While there, we learned some interesting tidbits from some friendly fellow diners.

• Apparently- they pipe in water from AZ, so the water was completely safe to drink. Well, as safe as any other American tap water!


• Sonoran food is known for its lighter tomato sauces, chunkier salsa, fresh veggies, and (my favorite) lightly grilled, small corn tortillas. YUM!!

Arun and I spent a long time deciding what to get from their little 'blackboard menu.'

He decided on a traditional chicken burrito, enchilada with roja sauce and a chili relleno combination platter. I went with shrimp enchilados.

Guess what I learned? EnchiladOs... is NOT a funny way of saying enchiladAs! So when my my plate arrived, I looked in bewilderment at this shrimp-green pepper- onion concoction smothered in red 'curry-type' sauce. Arun was the one who ultimately figured out that the vowel.... made all the difference! It tasted amazing, and I got corn tortillas and rice to go with the dish and was stuffed to the brim in no time! The shrimp... were the size of mini lobsters. SO good! We didn't save any room for dessert, even though we had picked it out when we o

rdered our entrees. Next time, we'll have to save room for it!

So with that, we ended our night. There was a huge wedding party going on at the restaurant, so we had fun enjoying the music streaming through!

We are DEFINITELY going to be doing this again!

In fact, we're told a nice weekend trip from Tucson is a place called Rocky Point. It's a lovely seaside resort town: http://www.cometorockypoint.com/gallery.html

Until next time amigos!

Less is More

I am a packing... and unpacking machine. I can sort and place all of our earthly possessions into four samsonite suitcases in an hour and half. I can then unpack and shelve/hang these same possessions in two and a half hours. So count em'- 4 hours is all it takes for us to move.

For those of you who have never had to move, trust me- that is pretty remarkable.

I know this process takes four hours because I have had to do it 3 times in the past two months... as we have moved from apartment to hotel to hotel to hotel.

It's not so much the process that astounds me anymore.

It's the fact that we are able to live our lives on SO little!

Admittedly, most of our posessions: furniture, kitchenware, rugs, window treatments, clothing etc. are in storage in Plano.

But for the last 10 months, we have been able to live out of four medium-sized suitcases. And we are fine!

I feel as though I have enough clothing and shoes and accessories.

I haven't felt an overwhelming sense of loss.

And I suppose that's what's most shocking.

That you really don't need much to live!

It's a reminder of the excess in our American lifestyles.

Arun and I, in fact, speak with dread about getting all our stuff out of storage.

Afterall, more stuff means more stuff to take care of!

Drycleaning bills, laundry, maintenace only multiplies with stuff.

Our lives are infinitely simplified and mobile because we are without all that 'stuff.'

It's a life lesson; one of many we've had as expats.

Thakuma

I really can't believe I am having to write about yet another loss in my life. My paternal grandmother, 'Thakuma' passed away this weekend. My father had just returned from visiting with her; and I am grateful he was able to spend quality time with her.

Thakuma was a tiny lady in stature, but had an enormous personality. Her wit and willpower stand out the most in my memories. Even until her last days, she was fiercely independent- jokingly telling people who tried to help her, "Why are you helping me, do you think I'm old or something?"

Thakuma's wedding story is one for a novel. She and her sister married two brothers! My grandfather saw Thakuma when his brother was marrying Thakuma's sister. He knew the instant he saw her, that she would be his bride. This is during a time when arranged marriages were a standard in India; and so my thakuma would often joke that she had a 'love marriage.' (Though they never met again until their own marriage!) She married my grandfather under British India, when laws had recently changed to push back the age at which girls could marry. Indian tradition in the 1930's dictated that girls marry at the socially acceptable age of 16 or 17. Thakuma had already been betrothed to my grandfather, but they had to wait until she was 18; much to the anxiety of her parents.

Thakuma never had an easy life; in fact, it involved sacrifice and hard work. You would never hear stories of this from her- I have never heard a complaint from her in my life. Her family was her focus, and her pride and joy. Thakuma had four boys (my father was the youngest of the boys) and then two girls. My uncle Abu Jethu, my father, and my aunt Joli Pishi look just like her. And it's my father, my uncle Nodha Jethu and my Joli Pishi who have inherited her sense of humor.

Thakuma spent a year with us in California when my brother and I were growing up. I have memories of her knitting sweaters and crocheting (she was VERY talented). She taught me how to knit, and when I showed her my handiwork; she would examine it, undo it all- and tell me to start again! She was a perfectionist. I remember her braiding my hair and giving me a pat on the back to indicate when she was done. I remember our trip to Las Vegas with her, and Sea World.
With her passing, I know a part of my father is lost. He has supported her from the day he started working. I think my father is a testament to her because it is rare to have a child unfailingly support his parent in the way that my father has supported my grandmother. I do know, that my father has the peace in his heart that he has done as much for his mother as humanly possible.

Thakuma had always told us that she wanted to pass in Benaras; and indeed, it is in the land of the Ganges that she did rest.. She lived her entire life in a traditional four-story courtyard style house- where Ravi Shankar used to play as a teenager; and I am grateful she passed away in that home. She lived a full life- filled with children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. She will be remembered through all of us.

Food in Tucson

I should mention that there is some GREAT food in Tucson. And we have done a pretty good survey of what this city has to offer, so far. Most of it is pretty readily found on the internet. I'll give you a quick rundown of our favorites so far:

Rosati's for Chicago-style STUFFED Deep Dish pizza, Grimaldi's for New York style, Gee's for dim sum, El Charro's for Mexican, Ali Baba's for Lebanese, Ha Long Bay for Vietnamese, Korea House for... well Korean, and Zemam's for Ethiopian.

As you can see, the variety is superb! [The benefits of being in a college-town and a very open-minded culinary town.]

But there are some restaurants that tend to not make the Zagat Surveys or internet listings. One example is a little haunt called El Cuero Canelo. This little place is in the 'hood! It's located in the South side of the city- near the airport, in a predominantly Mexican part of town. And the food is AWESOME!

What's not to love?

It's cheap.

Everything is decorated in the colors of the Mexican flag.

And their centerpiece? The Mexican Hot Dog!

[see picture -right]

There's also a great little bakery across the way called Estrella. The churros are just fantastic, and I was going to take a picture of it, but ate it instead.

Sorry!