In January 2020, already aware of how COVID-19 was impacting China and only weeks away from it colliding with Italy, Caroline and I were sitting third-row center at the Musical Instrument Museum for an inspiring performance by the Kronos Quartet. Here we are, four years later, and they have returned to Arizona for tonight’s performance at the Virginia G. Piper Theater in Scottsdale. Fortunately, there is no looming health scare on the horizon this evening, though the chaos wrought by populism and fear of our world going sideways is its own kind of pandemic. For two hours this evening, from the fourth row left of center, we are transported to this group’s brilliant modern interpretation of music that included what for us was an absolute first: the use of Pop Rocks popping in the mouths of two of the artists.

Meet artist/illustrators Jef Caine and Aileen Martinez, whom I often run into at WeBe Coffee here in Phoenix, Arizona. I first met Aileen sometime last year due to her vibrant, nearly at the cusp of flamboyantly colorful clothes and the ever-present evolving toolkit of materials she works with, from traditional pencils and paints to digital apps, too. Months went by, though it could have been mere weeks, until Jef came into the shop to join Aileen for a creation session, blabbing, or maybe it was the beginning of the collaboration that started with working on this Valentine’s card they exquisitely created for yours truly that focuses on my greatest asset – MY BIG BRAIN!!

I should concede that Caroline and I, in our addiction to travel, are loathe to let go of our experiences. The tens of thousands of photos and millions of words I’ve penned are not the only connections to our adventures. Rare is the day that we’ve not fallen in love with other aspects of those travels, such as Caroline’s obsession with Mayan clothing from a trip to Chiapas, Mexico, a couple of years ago. This past summer, we became once more enamored with the usual stuff: nature, people, history, traditional clothing, and food.

Sometimes, what we desire, though, is hard to find in the United States. Take herring, not pickled, canned, or creamed. I wanted fresh herring, but that is not to be found. Caroline, with her relentless sleuthing skills, found a place that sold salted herring. After our recent experience with bacalao (salted cod) and the success of desalting it, I felt that salted herring could offer me what I desire, so we bought five pounds. Shipping was going to be pricy because of the weight, so if we are already paying for 2-day delivery, we might as well throw some other stuff into the package. We had originally found the Scandinavian Specialties shop up in Washington before Christmas, but they were sold out of many of the items we wanted.

By early February, things were restocked, and we were able to order a variety of caramelly goat cheeses called Brunost, another cheese popular in Sweden called Prästost (Priest cheese), and different types of crispbreads. We also just had to buy crispy onions as we’ve come to believe that Scandinavian crispy onions must be the secret ingredient in their amazing pølser (hotdogs). The photo shows our Scandinavian life-savers that bring us back to last year’s summer vacation. Daniel Espinoza of Scandinavian Specialties assisted us with our order and was incredibly helpful. He’ll also play a key role when we will order a cured winter lamb specialty called Pinnekjøtt towards the end of summer. These little luxuries are incredible reminders of just how fortunate we are.