Oestre

Tucson, the Old Pueblo. Aside from a great selection of food, the town is not much to look at. Dusty and flat, congested with traffic, I still can't find my way around there. Holidays are really the only reason we go down. Visiting the in-laws, always a mixed bag. One of the best things about having a large extended family is that sometimes, once in a while, you get lucky. My brother in law's sister married a doctor. Bingo. They are great people. Extremely nice and always generous. Their house is straight out of Southwest Living magazine. Pine beams support the ceiling of their adobe brick and stucco home. As you can see in the photo above, strictly southwest deco. It makes a great location for Halloween and Easter parties.

Maybe even better than the atmosphere is the food and drink. Easter is a brunch pot luck, but high end. Always something surprising. This year it was ricotta fritters. I've never had these before, but, to make up for that, I stuffed about 5 or 6 in my mouth before we had to leave. So good. Balls of ricotta cheese, deep fried and soaked in an orange marmalade syrup. Delicious. I get excited about little things, so while all of the medical chatter and small talk was going on, I hit the drink bucket. There was a wide selection of soft drinks; different sizes, different flavors. One stood out though. A glass bottle, tall, shapely, filled with orange liquid. It was the only one. I looked around, then snatched it. Orange Nehi!! Seriously, where did he get this? Was it left over from the 50's? I didn't care, it tasted great. I'm not a huge soda pop drinker these days, but that was the start of a fizzy drink binge that day. After sucking down the Nehi, I grabbed a Bulldog Root Beer. Never heard of it before, but it was amazing. Like a microbrew root beer, it was creamy with a hint of vanilla. Extremely good.

Those two drinks, the fritters, and a selection of other brunch treats had me stuffed. I had a hard time moving for while so I sat around and listened to the chit chat, watched hummingbirds drink out of the fountain, and helped a few kids locate the last of the hidden eggs. The weather was perfect, sunny, warm. Soon I started feeling a little thirsty, so I meandered back over to the drink bucket. The last gem on my list was Coca Cola. Oh, I know, doesn't sound special, but this is Mexican Coke. They use the old recipe, made with sugar. It tastes just like it used to at the tavern with my grandpa on a Sunday afternoon when I was a kid.

Those three drinks were the highlight of my Easter. With all of the commotion we didn't even make it to church, which made me a little sad. I made up for it by watching Mel Gibson's "The Passion". All in all, a good Easter.