The Grape Garden
Once again, perusing UrbanSpoon Pensacola, I found a Chinese restaurant that people say is pretty good. God bless him, my husband was up to give it a try, so off we went, without a lot of hope, but me in need of a good Chinese fix.
Not very promising looking, hmmmm? It’s non-descript, in a non-descript strip mall full of non-descript stores. But on the other hand, it seems to be full of customers . . .
So we go inside, and there is a surly guy behind the take-out counter, and every booth is taken, but one opens up soon and we decide to give it a try. A cheerful waitress brings us menus, and we order, surprised at the prices, which are low, even for Pensacola. Actually, the menu is not bad, some interesting dishes, AdventureMan orders Sezchuan Shrimp and I order General Tsao’s Chicken. I know, I know, I DO try to avoid fried foods, but today I just want something tasty.
The waitress is handling all the booths and tables, and she is doing a great job. The food comes quickly, and is hot, and fresh. The Sezchuan shrimp has lots of crispy green broccoli with it, and the General Tsao’s chicken has taste.
The food is good, the portions are large, enough for two meals, service is excellent, and the food tastes good later, too, when we have it for dinner. It’s not Seattle Chinese food, but you know, it’s not bad, and when I need a fix, Grape Garden will do.
Want a Long Life? Cook and Eat at Home
Home Cooking Increases Longevity, Cambridge Study Shows
(from AOL News/ Huffpost Healthy Living)
For those of you who use your stove for shoe storage, nota bene: all that wasted time with an inactive kitchen could be shortening your lifespan. In fact, a new study found that people who cook up to five times a week were 47 percent more likely to still be alive after 10 years.
“It has become clear that cooking is a healthy behavior,” said lead author Professor Mark Wahlqvist in a statement. “It deserves a place in life-long education, public health policy, urban planning and household economics.”
The research team, made up of Taiwanese and Australian researchers, published their work in Public Health Nutrition, a Cambridge University journal after looking at a group of 1,888 men and women over age 65 who lived in Taiwan. At the start of the study, they interviewed each participant about several lifestyle factors, including cooking habits, household circumstances, shopping habits, diet, education, transportation and smoking.
During the initial survey, researchers found that 43 percent of participants never cooked, while 17 percent cooked one to two times per week, 9 percent cooked three to five times in a week and 31 percent cooked five or more times a week.
After 10 years, they followed up to see how many of the participants had died. They then matched lifestyle answers to the 1,193 participants who remained alive. The researchers discovered that frequent cooking was associated with survival. Also associated? Grocery shopping, taking public transportation, not smoking, and being a woman. Frequent cooking — and survival — was more common among women and most profoundly among unmarried women, though also among women with families.
There were limitations to the study: women generally live longer than men and, for cultural reasons, women were more practiced at cooking than men. Additionally, those who remained healthy were more able to perform errands related to cooking, like shopping for food, walking and taking public transportation. The truly ailing wouldn’t be able to cook because of their health — not the other way around.
But even after researchers controlled for these other factors, they found an association between frequent home cooking and longevity. “The pathways to health that food provides are not limited to its nutrients or components, but extend to each step in the food chain, from its production, to purchase, preparation and eating, especially with others,” added Wahlqvist.
Don Jose’s, A Bright Spot in Decatur, TX
The morning drive is interesting, as we leave Interstate 40 and cut across Texas headed toward Dallas-Fort Worth. The road is fast, and cuts through cattle ranches, farms, ranches and some deserted towns. By noon, we are more than ready for a stop, and decide to try to find something in Decatur. We don’t want same-old, we want local, and AdventureMan spots Don Jose’s.
Lunch was good, and you are just going to have to take my word for it because I forgot to take any photos. Don Jose’s was full of local people, the chips and salsa were home made, and they had things on the menu I had never heard of. It was all good, and a great stop in the middle of a long driving day.
I admit it, mid-afternoon we were headed through Canton, TX and we remembered Baker’s Ribs and Fried Pies, and we made a stop.
Absolute Favorite, in Mancos, Colorado
Every now and then pure unexpected magic happens, a blessing, pure grace. Every now and then you make a stop and all the right things happen.
We had not enjoyed our breakfast the previous morning at the Far View Lodge, so we decided to get on the road early, and find a place to eat on the road. We were up and out by seven, and it took about half an hour just to get off the mesa and down to the main road. Once we hit the main road, we start looking for a good place to stop.
We see a sign: The Absolute Bakery in Mancos, Colorado, just turn right at the next stop light.
We turn right. We find the bakery, which looks cute from the outside:
And then we found a place to park, in front of a Hat-Maker’s Shop guarded by a beautiful long-haired cat. For me, the magic has already started. Did you even know of a hat maker anymore? I thought they had all disappeared:
As we walked into the Absolute Bakery, we were enticed with smells, the odor of break baking with cinnamon, the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee, bacon frying . . . and inside, it is homey, and welcoming, and you are warmly welcomed, and we just feel so glad to be there on this sunny morning when we have so far to drive . . .
The breakfast menu has so many good things, you don’t know what to order.
AdventureMan chose the VegHead Stack, which was totally wonderful:
And I chose the Absolute Breakfast special with Chorizo – total YUMMMMM:
The breakfasts are delicious, and as we eat, the bakery fills up, travelers, locals, families . . . it has the feel of a place we would like to live, a community, people who know each other.
You know how it is sometimes when you have so much to do, and you really need to get started? As we paid for our breakfast, instead of getting on the road, we dawdled. We picked out cookies for the road – I had the most huge delicious macaroon I have ever had, just a bite now and then, and it lasted all the way to Amarillo. We got to talking with travelers headed the direction we had come from, just strangers crossing paths, but it was a great conversation, and we hated to pull ourselves away, to get back to the serious business of driving.
Lunch was OK. It was BBQ, but someone forgot our order, so we lost some time:
To add insult to injury, not only is it a long day on the road, but we also loose an hour, so we get in even an hour later than we would have. As we near the border, I am watching my phone to see if I can see the change, but it happened about six miles before the border and I missed it. AdventureMan’s on the same system, but his phone changed a little later.
The morning drive was mostly through the Navajo nation and backroads, full of ranches and horses and some drama. The afternoon, on Interstate 40, was just boring, with an occasional moment of hilarity:
What can you imagine would use a tire that big?
We have reservations in Amarillo, and by the grace of God, our hotel is just off the highway, and my little iPhone tells us exactly how to get there. We hit the pool, and get some exercise. We split the last apple and some trail mix for dinner – we are still full from breakfast at the Absolute Bakery!
Navajo Tacos in Mesa Verde
Back when we left Grand Canyon, we stopped to take photos at a gorge, and there were some shops setting up nearby, so I stopped by to take a look. As I was looking, the man running the shop I was in asked where I was from. I said “Pensacola” and then realizing that not everyone knows where Pensacola is, I added “Florida.”
There was a silence. I looked up and asked “Have you been in Pensacola?” and he said “Yes.” He had been in the military, trained in Orlando and then had some additional training in Pensacola. Small world. 🙂
It was a nice chat. He knew we were driving through the Navajo Nation, and told us to be sure to stop somewhere for a Navajo Taco, that we’d like it. We tried to stop, but it was Sunday and everyplace was closed. We ended up eating in a Subway, we like Subway, but they’re everywhere and I’m not about to take a photo of a Subway to show you where we ate, LOL.
Anyway, after our 700 Year Cultural Tour, we drove down to Spruce Tree House restaurant, the only place open for lunch in Mesa Verde this early in the season, and there they have a Navajo Taco:
It really was good. The base was a lot like the sopapilla we had in Holbrook, Arizona, and the topping was like chili. Delicious chili.
We also ordered the home-made chips. I always like to see what real chips look and taste like:
These were also delicious, spicy. We didn’t eat them all, just tasted a few. They were good.
In the afternoon, we visited and revisited several of the sites from our morning tour, appreciating having the sites all – or mostly – to ourselves. In the late afternoon, we tried to capture the great light.
Last Dinner in El Tovar
Yes, it’s early, and we aren’t all that hungry, but it’s easy and close and it’s the last dinner we will have at El Tovar.
They gave us a beautiful table.
We order, AdventureMan ordering the signature soup and a Salad; I ordered the French Onion Soup and Crab Cakes. I know, I know, I can get great crab cakes in Pensacola, I guess I just wanted to see how they did them. (They did great.)
I forgot to take a photo of dessert! I did take a last evening photo of the canyon.
We are up at six the next morning to get an early start on the next leg of our journey, today to Mesa Verde, Colorado, driving most of the day through the Navajo Nation.
On our way out, AdventureMan stops so I can take a photo of one of the signs – Mountain Lion – don’t you love it?
And one last photo of the Grand Canyon as we depart:
A last note – late April is a perfect time of year to visit the Grand Canyon.
Lunch at Bright Angel Lodge
Bright Angel Lodge is next door to El Tovar Lodge, and we figure we will give it a try. We are glad we did, we met some fine people there, and had a great lunch. I know I keep showing you photos of fabulous food, but we really try hard to eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, so while the foods are sumptuous, we are doing OK in the clothes-still-fitting department 🙂
This is the casual family dining restaurant at the Bright Angel Lodge:
The Menu cover:
The Salsa and the chips were really good:
We both had salads, which were more filling than we had thought; we couldn’t eat them all:
It was just what we needed. We headed back to our hotel, took a 4:45 reservation (I know, I know, last night we could have gotten a 5:15!) for dinner, and went back to the room to snooze and pack for the next leg of our trip.
Grand Canyon: Early East Rim, Breakfast at El Tovar and Shuttle along the West Rim
When your day starts at five in the morning, you have a lot of hours in your day!
We were back at the lodge by seven, where there is already a crowd lining up for breakfast. We had such a great dinner the night before, we decide to have breakfast and then take the shuttles along the western rim of the canyon.
The El Tovar Dining room is as beautiful by day as it is by night:
We are on the south west side of the dining room, near a large fireplace and far away from the view, but it hardly matters – the view is there, 24/7, for anyone who wants to visit. We see fabulous plates arriving at all the tables, and we watch a new wait-person being trained in the El Tovar way of doing things. It was great entertainment. Our breakfasts were divine.
AdventureMan’s breakfast:
I had Eggs Benedict, with smoked salmon instead of the traditional Canadian bacon:
We run upstairs to brush our teeth, and then head out to explore the western rim before the train arrives, at 1100, bringing in many more people, even in these early spring months.
The shuttle system is a marvel. Different colored lines have different routes, and there are maps that show what color the bus is that goes where you want to go. We walked to the red bus stops, hopped on, hopped off, hopped on, hopped off, hiked a little, hopped back on, hopped off, hiked a little more, met some great people and had a lot of fun taking photos.
The sun has burned off the clouds, it is still a little hazy but a great, sunny day.
We hit Hermit’s Rest, at the end of the shuttle line, around 11:30, and head back to Grand Canyon village.
La Posada Hotel: A Restored Gem and a Great Retreat in Winslow, AZ
AdventureMan was stunned. “Tell me again how you found this place?” he asked, incredulously. I’m embarrassed at how easy it was. When I was looking at places we wanted to go, AdventureMan had mentioned the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest, so I had Googled “really cool hotel near Petrified Forest” and LaPosada popped up in a TripAdvisor reference. I’m embarrassed at how easy it is to get information these days. 🙂
Do you see the camel at the entry? How could we not love this place?
Since we often wander, and don’t really know where we will be until a night or so in advance, I print out information and carry it in an old fashioned paper folder that has envelopes on both sides, so I can stick things in and they won’t fall out. In Albuquerque, I showed AdventureMan some photos from the La Posada website, and he was sold. We called, reserved a room for the next night, so we knew we could spend all the time we wanted in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest and that a room would be waiting for us.
Every room in our wing has a name, named after famous people who have visited La Posada in its rich and famous past, and we are in the Turrell Room:
We had no idea how lovely that room would be. I am a total sucker for shiny wooden floors, and for textiles, and for space to breathe, and our room had all this – and more. It had a painted ceramic sink in the washroom area, and a glorious tiled wall in the whirlpool bath room. The whirlpool bath worked flawlessly.
Although we were tired, we were eager to explore this fascinating hotel. We couldn’t stay in the room, it was too exciting, too much to see! We went down a hallway to the gift shop, which also serves as reception:
The spaces are fabulous, each one defined and delineated from one another by changes in surface textures, lighting fixtures, beamed ceilings, windows . . . there are endless possibilities for discoveries. We watched a film about the history of the hotel – it was actually a very long film, but fascinating – about the architect, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, and the building of the hotel in an amazingly short time for the amount of materials and techniques necessary. The hotel was built in 1929 by the Santa Fe Railway for the Fred Harvey Company. Mary Coulter seems to have had carte blanche in putting in just about anything her imagination could cook up.
Although the hotel went out of business and was remodeled in the sixties for the railroad company (a total desecration of the beautiful spaces), it has been lovingly and passionately restored, with near fanatic attention to detail. There are many spaces where people can gather to read books, play games, share a drink or a cup of coffee, big spaces and little spaces, and every space is beautiful.
Built before air conditioning, the original hotel incorporated a wind tower, something we saw often in old houses in Qatar and Kuwait, where any little breeze was captured, brought into the interior and circulated – La Posada had the same technology.
Now, for some of the public spaces, gathering spaces and places of peace and serenity.
La Posada was a destination hotel, with a train station just paces from the hotel lobby and reception. This is the arcade arriving guests would walk through to reach the hotel:
The hotel lobby, outside the Turquoise Room restaurant:
A beautiful, small, intimate space where we watched the film about the restoration of La Posada:
The upstairs gathering room, full of books, games, chess and checkers sets, tables, chairs, couches, all to make guests comfortable and give them a place to relax and get to know other guests:
That night, I had one of the best dinners of the entire trip, a vegetarian plate that knocked my socks off in the La Posada restaurant, the Turquoise Room:
We also had a Grand Marniere Chocolate Mousse, oh, to die for.
Breakfast the next morning was oatmeal, in the same restaurant, but oh, what exquisite oatmeal, and I don’t really even like oatmeal. I guess I like oatmeal at La Posada 🙂
Last – and least, but I can’t help it, I am a sucker for light fixtures, really lovely light fixtures, and I loved these, probably because they take me back to our times in the Middle East:
La Posada is close to the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert, Canyon de Chelly, many more amazing sights of north western Arizona. You can get out and explore, and spend your nights in luxury and ease in a beautiful surrounding.
Mister Maesta’s Cafe in Holbrook, AZ
It is cold and rainy, rainy and windy as we leave the Petrified Forest, and on top of the time craziness, we are HUNGRY. We always have nibbles in the car, but a nibble is not a lunch. We are hungry. And we are in Mexican Food territory, so we are eager to maximize our good Mexican food eating.
Outside of Holbrook, we see a billboard for Mister Maester’s restaurant with ‘the BEST Mexican Food’ and that is just what we are looking for. When we find it, it is a hilarious place, full of Route 66 memorabilia.
Yes. I am so embarrassed. This is what is left of the sopapilla I ordered. It was SO delicious. I had never had a stuffed sopapilla before. I had heard some Mexican guys order sopapilla the day before, so I thought I would try one. When it got to the table, I forgot to photograph before eating. Oops. My bad.
This is what is left of AdventureMan’s combination plate. It was a total WOW.
By the time we left, the rain had lightened, the air was clear, the kind of clear after a heavy rain dampens down all the dust and the winds clear the haze and the world is brilliant and shiny, and we only have a very short drive to our stay in Winslow, AZ at the fabulous La Posada.
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