Gather Together 🧡

So…there we were in Grocery Outlet buying a bag of popcorn for the road when I saw the “home decor” item in the photograph above.  I had to have it.  It seemed like a perfect reminder of what made our recent week in Tucson and Palm Springs so special—people gathering together for fun!

Our main objective was to attend a wedding in Tucson of two wonderful people (and to see their dog as ring bearer!). Love, joy, inspiration were everywhere.  We loved meeting so many new people and seeing the expansive desert scenes complete with every size and shape of Saguaro cactus imaginable and even one road runner!

Food and beverage played a role in all of the fun, of course.  There were so many new tastes and new takes on familiar dishes.  In Tucson at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort there was the spectacular Sunday Blues, Brews and BBQ Brunch Buffet—a visual, culinary, social, and musical hit!

There were at least five stations with different types of food—a seafood bar, barbecued meats of all kinds, traditional breakfast fare, southwestern dishes with my favorite being a dynamite cast-iron skillet cornbread— and a dessert table with at least eight enticing sweets, plus Mimosas, beer and non-alcoholic beverages to accompany “it all.”  Our waiter and waitress were gracious and friendly as were the musicians and chefs.    

We later walked around the Tucson Botanical Gardens which has 20 curated gardens, a butterfly pavilion, and a special tribute to Frida Kahlo.  We took many photos and were inspired!

In Palm Springs, two “sister” restaurants —Tac-quila (love the name!) and Clandestino—offered some of the best small plates— like fried squash blossoms stuffed with Oaxacan cheese, shrimp/crab cakes, and tempura avocado bites. And one of their desserts is now on my “gotta try to make” list:  Churro Ice Cream Sandwich.  Oh, my.  Good luck! And did I mention all the unique hand-crafted Margaritas and other cocktails?  

To add to the general “up” feeling of our desert time was our little hotel in Palm Springs—the Orbit In.  The 1955 enclave of nine Modernist rooms (each with a Victrola record player and vinyls of music from the 40’s, 50’s and beyond), has a swimming pool, hot tub, bikes, bright desert flowers, palm trees and a stunning backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountain.  At happy hour, at the hotel’s little outdoor bar/kitchen, “Orbitinis” (and popcorn!) are served by the friendly host.  All the guests “gather together” to meet and enjoy their fellow Orbit In residents.  We met folks from Sydne, New York City, and Wisconsin (!)  Smiles all the way around!  As Alice Waters says,   

     🧡  This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, move alive.”  

                                                                   Ah, yes!