Living Large: CHILES AND CHOCOLATE

Wow—it’s been almost a week since my last blog posting. Time is flying by and it feels like we’ve been away from home for 3 months, not just 3 weeks. This past week included lots of bike riding, some walking and a few games of tennis that were challenging but fun. We haven’t played tennis for years so the games were a refresher for us and we found out that different muscles get used with every game that you play. We aren’t planning to join the league here but will play some social tennis after we get more practiced.

Since we enjoy golf so much, we decided that it was time to purchase new irons as ours are at least 15 years old. The technology has changed tremendously over the years and the clubs they make nowadays are much easier to use and allow you to hit the ball more accurately and farther. We started our shopping by checking out clubs at the local Sports Authority store and got some good advice along with trying out some of the most popular brands. Next day, we drove to Chandler (a community on the southern edge of Phoenix) and started serious shopping at Golfsmith which is a huge golf store that customizes the clubs that you purchase. We worked with one of the sales guys for about an hour and he helped us pick out Taylor Made Burner irons. We each had them customized for length and Stuart had his adjusted for the lie of the club (how flat it sits on the ground). It took some time to do the work on the clubs so we had to go back on Friday to pick them up.

After picking ups the clubs and checking out another golf store, we drove to the Desert Botanical Garden to attend a Chiles and Chocolate Festival. We had read about it in a magazine when we were still at home and thought that it would be fun to attend if we were in the area. The event featured about 25 vendors of unique food products who offered free samples to patrons who paid the entrance fee to the gardens. Some of the items to sample were chile infused brownies, chocolates and peanut brittle, Arizona honey and honey products, BBQ sauces and dry rubs, jams, jellies, fudge and cinnamon toffee covered nuts, fresh farmers cheese products and salsas. It was quite busy while we were there but we did get some good bites. These are photos from the event: