Weekend Love...

...And in the blink of an eye it was over, with the smell of slightly cooked onions as the only proof I was away

(yes.  Onions.  More on that later...first things first)

I spent the romantic Valentine's Day weekend away from home...and not necessarily romantic.  But, surrounding yourself with good friends is about the next best thing.  After hitching a ride with my friend Sean in his two seater red sports car...I zipped down the mountain accompanied by very good jazz and the excitement of being in a convertible...which always makes me want to dawn some large sunglasses and tie my hair up in a scarf, flip it over my shoulder in a rather dramatic way, and hang on.  He safely delivered me to Claudine's house and we got ready and spirited ourselves away to meet Carol for dinner and margarita's at Nandos.

Only.

Claudine sweetly acknowledges my slight obsession with Anthropologie, and since we were happening down to Nandos...and since Anthropologie has also recently opened a new store on that side of town...we ran in.  For 15 minutes.  Which was the perfect amount of time for me to fall totally in love with a navy knit dress.  The one in red was also just about perfect for me.  They are still hanging there however...which is fine.

(for now)

 After catching up with Carol...whom when we were both consulted, realized that it's been at least a year (and possibly more) since we've seen each other face to face.  Which is too hard for me to believe, so we just gushed all over each other instead and made future plans to see each other sooner rather than later.

I also brought my camera, but we didn't even pause long enough to take pictures.

Claudine and I then went back to her home, put on a fire, watched the Olympics and geared up for some Guitar Hero.

The next morning dawned bright and early and Sean met us at the door of her home with a box of chocolate in each hand in honor of Valentine's Day.  He made both of us very happy and ensured we'd be his Valentine's...as there's nothing like receiving some chocolatey goodness for the holiday.

We then went over to Z-Tejas for what I dubbed My Bloody Valentine and partook in their build your own Bloody Mary bar...and it was off to The Willo District in historic downtown Phoenix for a Valentine's Day home tour.

The home tour included eleven houses and the three of us scoffed at the thought of only eleven houses to visit...

Until we took a closer look at the map, and what seems like short distances in a square of paper, is usually longer distances when you're walking blocks of neighborhoods.  But, the day was simply fantastic weather wise...sunny and 76, so it was no skin off our backs to walk the distances to see each home.

Which we did in a mere few hours, but to be entirely fair, we missed only one home.

Each of these houses is in the historic district and are dearly loved by their inhabitants.  We each picked out the house we'd want to live in (because you just have to do that when you're faced with such things) although, to be entirely fair, I live in a home that was built a few years before any of the houses we visited...and I'm just in love with it, so it would be a lateral move for me to sell and relocate.

(even if it's in my own mind)

I have to say though, the inspiration and excitement I gained from the tour was well worth my sore back and feet.  I am home and ready with pen and paper to make lists of things to do to Foolsewoode this summer.

The one thing about being in Phoenix is the beautiful landscaping.  Or, it's the total different varieties of plants you can grow down there...including but not limited to palm trees and bougainvillea...which you can't do in our colder region 7 up here in the mountains...but it made me scratch my chin and think about finally doing something to my yard.

Which may be improved by a rake.

And a plan.

After totally exhausting ourselves wandering around in other people's neighborhoods and peeking into their lives, we went back to Claudine's house to unwind, rehydrate and cook some Cincinnati Chili.

Although, to be entirely fair...it was Claudine that was cooking the chili...it was at my request, because I'd always wanted to try it.  Claudine has made this dish and mentioned it so many times that it was high time for a bit of a taste test...while the chili was simmering, we ran to the store for the toppings of cheese and onions...and I was jonesing for some vanilla cookies with icing...which were completely sold out due to the holiday of love.  The bakery hostess pointed out that they had all these sweet little heart shaped cakes instead...and wrapped up two to go!

 

 I'm here to say that waiting for the chili was well worth it, and was such an easy recipe (from my vantage point on my tush on the kitchen chair) that I think it will be a staple in the future of Foolsewoode.  I mean, chili with totally unusual spices served over spaghetti noodles?

Wrap it up and I'm good to go!

Topped off with a few bites of vanilla and chocolate heart cakes.

As a matter of fact, there was so much left over chili that Claudine sweetly wrapped it up for me to take home...including a little baggie of cheese and a little baggie of fresh cut onions...which is where the onion in the car smell originated from.  After putting these things in their rightful containers, I placed them in a bag and Sean and I got ready to go back up the hill.  Well, the problem was that the container of chili was full of very hot chili..and I not so smartly placed the baggies of cheese and onion on top of this...

Needless to say, we rode most of the way home with one window cracked due to the overwhelming smell of onions that were permeating the Sean's small sports car.

It did not occur to either of us once that because of the heat from the chili...we were effectively slowly sauteing the onions, and this I only realized when the minute we pulled up in Prescott, I lifted the bag out of the car and noticed that my shredded cheese was melted into a greasy lump...and my onions were mostly now sauteed.

Lesson learned.

Sauteing onions in a baggie makes a car smell like onions.

For days afterward.

Also?  Throwing your leather jacket on top of the offending bag to try to staunch the smell of onions also makes your jacket smell like onions.

Oh well.

I had a fantastic weekend...and I'm now off to enjoy my Cincinnati Chili left overs...which is in my refrigerator.

Which also now smells like onions.