Steve Croskey and Vision: See blog on Steve Croskey and Vision.

Uncle Fungus: See blog on Uncle Fungus.

Tom Booth Band:
Tom has a band in every port. Pretty much each corner of the US has a set of people who know all his music, and can be assembled to provide the backing required for his concerts.  For the past 25 years I have been playing for shows here-and-there for Tom.  The highlights were: Fenway park, Reliant Stadium, many Steubenville conferences, 22 years of Sunday night Masses at St Timothy’s in Mesa.  Lately I have been playing Harmonica, Djembe, shakers, Dobro and Mandolin with Tom at various concerts around the SW US.

Blue Plate Special at Harley Gig

Blue Plate Special:
When you play music in a church, you meet a lot of really great musicians.  And you get to do a lot of networking.  Our music minister gave my name to a guy who played bass at the Saturday night 5:30 PM Mass.  Dennis Lambert had recently moved to Arizona form Chicago, where he had a working Blues band with his wife (AKA Little Debbie).  They were looking for a harmonica player for their Chicago Blues-style band.  OK… I had been playing harmonica in folk-type bands for a few years.  But I had not experience with a real blues band.   I talked to Dennis on the phone and he asked me to come play with the band THAT NIGHT.  I was going to go play with his band without EVER even meeting them, or hearing their music.  Well, I had been brought up with the best as far as winging it, so I told him I would be there.  Terrified, I showed up with my box of harmonicas.  I walked up on stage with them.  The first song started (Messin’ with the Kid). Little Debbie sang the first verse and chorus.   The guitar player took a lead break.  Another verse and chorus by Little Debbie…. and they all looked at me.  So I played.  I just played what I felt.  The song ended.  People clapped, and we broke right into the next song (Tore down).  Same thing.

Artist at Below's During Gig

But this time, after I played my break, the guitar player walks over to me and says; “dude, it’s great having a REAL player… our last guy SUCKED”.  Ear to ear grin!!!!  Sigh!!!  I was stoked.  After the set the guitar player quickly ran into the kitchen.  You see, it wound up that this place was a STRIP joint!  Our side was a blues bar; the other side of the restaurant was the nudie bar.  Hmmm….. what would my pastor think?  But we never played there again so I didn’t have to worry.  We played lots of gigs. We played the third Thursday of every month at Below’s in downtown Tempe.  I played with them for a few years regularly.  But getting home at 2-am and getting up for work in the morning was hard.  A new harmonica player from New Jersey moved to town and I gladly stepped aside and let him take my spot.  I still play for them occasionally for special gigs, or coverage.  I have played drums, Keyboards, Percussion and Harmonicas for the band.  And occasionally Bass when Dennis had to go to the restroom in the middle of a set. Another fun gig was playing with Dr Hook and Medicine Men in Wickenburg a few years back.

Whitestone at Fiddler's Dream

Whitestone:
AKA Father Charlie’s Bluegrass Band. In the early 2000′s, Father Charlie Gorieb was spending a lot of calories learning bluegrass guitar.  This was his private passion.  Having recently been ordained a priest, I think he needed some outlet.  He called me and few other guys he knew and asked if we would join him in preparing for a few concerts.  It was Father Charlie on guitar and vocals, Jeff Looker on Banjo, Cheryl Alvin on Vocals and guitar, Andy on Bass Guitar, and me on Mandolin/harmonicas/Vocals!!!!  We have played probably a dozen show though the years.  The most interesting night we had was when we were playing for a large group of Catholic Priests and Nuns.  An elderly nun had a heart attack in the middle of one of our songs!  We saw the commotion and a doctor who happened to be there run over to help her.  After a few minutes she tried to say something.  The doctor put his ear close to her mouth and she said to him; “more music”. Who were we to argue with a dying nun!  We proceeded to play while the ambulance came and took her away.  We found out later that she was fine.  It had been a minor heart attack. Besides church pictnics and fundraisers, we used to play periodically at Fiddler’s Dream.

Godspel:
The play that wouldn’t died: During our last years of college, an acting troop adopted the Newman Center as the home base for the Andrew Lloyd Weber play: Godspel.  They asked a few of us local musicians to provide the music.  Tim Smith played DRUMS!, I played Guitar, Karen Thompson played piano, and a young kid from El Salvador played bass.  This new kid was Jaime Cortez.  The most likable kid you had ever met.  And he was a rocker.  He was a guitar player extraordinaire. Mostly, he was a Beatles nut.  We spent a lot of extra time in and out of rehearsal playing guitar.  One of my earliest memories of Jaime was during practice one day.  We would practice in the Old Church at Newman.  It was right on University Avenue.  We were sitting there waiting for something or another, and car went by and backfired. Jaime literally HIT the floor.  He explained that in El Salvador, this was a frequent occurrence, and it was usually gunfire.  We played on and off for several years in this groups.  We played all around Arizona.  The troop was like a living Soap Opera with the relationships and break-ups that went on.

Men Without Work:
When Mr. Tim Smith left West-point and came to ASU, he had an immediate impact on our music scene around ASU.  We went from a purely Christian music focus, to a bit wider genre.  We went from Michael Joncas to Michael Jackson; from Carry Landry to “Carry on my Wayward Sun”; from “One Bread, One Body” to… Bread (“If a picture paints a thousand words…”).  We started booking wedding receptions, and church dances.  We played the same 50 songs that were in Tim’s Dad’s fake books (Fake Books are one page charts used by bands to fake their way thru any song).  If we didn’t know the words, we made it up. I don’t think we ever played a song that was less than 10 years old. We used the same jokes week and after week “We’ve had a lot of request, but we’re gonna keep playing anyways (ba-bump-bump-chee)”. How did we get our name?  We were on our way to a job in south Scottsdale.  I had all our equipment in the back of my truck.  We were at the intersection of Scottsdale and McDowell roads.  A kid in the car next to us yelled out and asked us if we were in a band.  We said Yes.  He asked our name.   There were a couple of popular band names that came to my heard: Men at Work, and Men Without Hats.  So without thinking I just said “Men Without Work“.  He said: “Coooool”.  It stuck.

I want to start with a story:  One of our last big concerts we played as Steve Croskey and Vision was up in Portland Oregon for a NW US Youth conference.  It was held on the Columbia River, just north of Portland. Many years later, after Steve had died, I went up to Portland for a business trip.  It was my first time back there since our concert.  I was very nostalgic, thinking about Steve. Just walking through the airport reminded me of him.  I got into my rent-a-car, and as I was driving out of the airport, I turned on the radio…. There was a song playing… it was Come Follow Me… the title song from Steve’s first record!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I couldn’t believe my ears. My eyes watered up and I listened to this cover of Steve’s song.  Apparently there is a really good Catholic radio station in Portland.  The previous driver (or an angel) had left it on this station. What are the odds?  How many millions to one?

Steve Croskey and Vision

Back to the Band History…  When we all graduated from college, everyone landed in a parish somewhere in the valley. We probably figured we would not play together too much anymore.  But an amazing man named Steve Croskey moved top Phoenix form Southern California and changed that.  He was a well-known Catholic songwriter who had always dreamed of having his own band.  He heard about some of us from Newman and asked us if we would join his band.  We got together once and we just clicked.  Eddy Cook on Bass, David Burba on Drums, Tim Smith on Keys, Jaime Cortez on Guitar, Julie Smith on Vocals, Kelly Carmody was our booking agent (and van driver).  We were an instant hit. We were playing youth conference from Portland Oregon down through California, Arizona and New Mexico.  We played at a Jazz club in Tempe one night.

Drummer Pict During Song

Chuy's in Tempe

We put out two CD’s (OK… Cassettes).  Come Follow Me, and Don’t Walk Away.  Parishes around the country are still doing Steve’s songs to this day. We would play the inspirational music for the conferences, and then put on a dance at the Hotels afterwards.  One of our highlights was playing for the Pope John Paul II’s youth conference in Universal Studio.  I have a separate Blog.

Steve shaking Pope JPII's Hand

My Stage Pass

We played for 2 or 3 years before Steve got sick.  We stopped playing together.  But Steve continued to play for a parish in the Diocese.  He died, too few years later, of a disease which he probably would have survived had he had this today.  I stay in contact with his wife Melanie and his kids.  They were just kids when we were touring.  We have very fond memories of our times on the road with them. 

The story never ended… we still are all good friends today…. please check out stevecroskey.com for the rest of the story…

Early Trinity Concert

There were a group of us at the Arizona State University Catholic Newman Center who used to go to daily Mass at 4:45.  Believe it or not, it was very popular at that time for the kids at the center to go to Mass daily.  We would have a very short Mass, and then we would all go to eat somewhere.  A few of us would play music for the service.  Then it grew to a number of us.  Pretty soon we had a nice little group going.  Someone asked us once if we would do a concert.  So we started writing songs and put an official “band” together.  

Trinity First Christmas Card

We played quite a bit around the Phoenix area.  We played for Sunday youth groups meetings, church festivals, Youth conferences, etc. We played a few concerts in California for the National Youth Conferences as well. The personnel changed frequently. But the core of the group (the Trinity) was Paul Hillenbrand, Tim Smith and David Burba. We always had 2 or 3 of the most beautiful girls in the band.  This way, no matter how we sounded, we looked great! I guess one of our highlights was being asked to warm up for Pat Boone at a concert in Sun-city.  Pat Boone said we were “Magnificent”.  But he was backstage when we played… so I am not sure how he knew.  

Trinity after a concert in Flagstaff

We did 2 recordings.  And we were selected to be on the All-Arizona Christian Compilation called “Songs in the Key of Jesus”.

Uncle Fungus at the Willow House

Uncle Fungus:
I met Mike Twitchel when I worked out at the Air Force base in the late 80′s.  During lunch, we would go hang out at the base cantina.  They had pool tables, hamburgers, and MUSIC Rooms.  There were two music rooms, each had a piano. I would often find Mike in one of the rooms, and I would go into the other.   I would play Billy Joel Pop music, and he would be playing boogie-woogie music.  This guy could play.  He was starting a blues band after he landed a gig at the Arizona County Fair.  He asked me if I would play the drums for it.  I did.  It was pretty good.  But the band never took off.   Several years after I left the Base for Intel, we ran into each other and talked about music.  He said that he was looking to start a band.  We hooked up day for lunch to talk about getting a shows-worth of songs together.  He brought over a notebook with some songs he had written…. there were like, 1000′s of songs!!!  Amazing.  We put our duo together and hit the coffee house circuit.  We were good!  He played guitar, played harmonica on a wire holder and sang a bit Leon Redbone; in a gravelly voice.  I played djembe, harmonicas, shakers, and sang harmonies!  This was the first real chance I got to sing.  I was always in bands with such good singers, so I never got a chance. We added a drummer, violin player, and bass.  We played some shows around the coffee house circuit before we just kind of died out.  In 2008,  I got a call from Mike. “We’re getting the band back together”. Mike had informed me that he was changing his music to be more of a comedy show. He wrote a whole bunch of  satirical songs. We met at a coffee house in Glendale for an outdoor show.  We did not have time to practice, so Mike made some notes about each song… the tempo/keys etc.   The first time any of us had heard that songs was during the show. They were hysterical.  But they were fairly “Blue” as well.  We were literally crying behind him of laughter; it was hard to play when we were cracking up with laughter and embarrassment.   The audience caught on, and it made for even a funnier show.  But there was a problem…. I write Children s Music and play in Church.  So, as funny as the new band format was, I don’t think it fit my public persona. I told him after the show that I would not be able to be a part of this band.  Mike had recorded the show to use for a promo CD.   I told him to change my name on the CD.  So if you ever get a hold of a hysterical, blue comedy CD by Uncle Fungus, you can look for me under my stage name:  Dave Cognito.

My son Zach tells me to this day that this was his favorite band I even played in.

Being a musician, I enjoy seeing the music stores in whatever country I am in  I wanted to buy a local  instrument. In China all the music stores in a major city are generally in one part of town.  I expect this is because they don’t have cars, and therefore, it is much more convenient to just go to one street, and find all your variety there.  In Chengdu, this street is just outside the main gates of the Sichuan Conservatory of Music . I had the concierge write down the basic location of the school.  This is how you let the taxi driver know where to drop you off.  I took my cryptic note out in front of the Hotel and waved down a taxi.  He gave the note a once-over and away we went.  He stopped at an intersection.  I paid, and got out.  I looked around, but I did not see any music stores.   Hmmm.  As you may remember from my other stories, there are not many people in Chengdu who speak English.  The secret in most any country is the same secret i tell adults when ask me about technical questions with their iPod: “Ask a teenager”.   This advice is best for travelers as well.  Teenagers are more likely to be taking English classes, and they often are willing to try their untested language out. Also, we were near the University, so I had that going for me as well.  I saw a young man walking down the street; carrying a music notebook with English on the cover.  “Excuse Me”, I said to him.  “Do you speak English”?  He stopped, looked around (not believing I was talking to him), and answer in broken, but clear, English, “Yes, a little bit”.  Now I have come to learn that “yes, a little bit” usually means a little more that you think.

Near Sichuan Music Conservatory

I asked him where I could find a music store.  He pointed up and beyond a twisted maze of buildings and said “this is the way”.  I looked, but my lack of confidence in my ability to get there was obvious.  His face lit up: “I can take you there”!?.  I gladly accepted, and at that, he turned around and we started back up the alley which he had just walked down.

As we walked, we exchanged names (I couldn’t pronounce his, so I cannot remember it…).  As we walked, he asked me questions right out the text books.  My name, where I am from, do I like China, etc.   As we walked, he had a giant smile on his face.  People we passed by called out to him.  He would answer back in Mandarin.  I asked him why he looked so happy.  He said, “Today is a very special day for me”.  Naively, I asked him why.  I thought it must be his birthday, or graduation.  He said something to me that humbled me beyond belief; “This is my FIRST time ever talking to an American”! I remember thinking…. uh… we’re really not that cool.  But I just smiled and took the complement.

We kept walking.  He asked me about my family.  I went through and told him about each member.  I asked him if he had a girlfriend.  He shyly said no.  I told him; “Now that you are famous for having an American Friend, maybe you will get a girlfriend!”.  He laughed out loud, and said, “yes… yes…. this may be true”.

My Chengdu Friend

We had arrived at the stores.  We went into each one and he was  my translator.  I ended up buying a Sheng.  I bought it for the owner of  a music store in Tucson who had asked me get them one. I also bought a harmonica to play with the Scottish band at our hotel that night (another story).

After an hour of so of hanging out with my new friend, I had to grab a taxi and head back to the hotel.   I was really happy to have gotten dropped off in the wrong neighborhood.  Otherwise I would not have met such a nice kid.  I gave him a business card, and told him to send me an email when gets an account (he did not have one yet).  So I hope to hear from him someday.

I will also show my photographs, and links to some of the Websites I develop and maintain.

Alice and Me at Flathead Lake Montana

Our Kids: Zach, Monica and Luke

.

.

.

.

PLEASE feel free to comment on my blog stories…

While I tour around, I always like to take pictures of the locals in their environment. I love taking pictures of kids.  As My friend Jeff and I were hiking up the Wall, we came by the two cutest kids you’ve ever seen.  They were sitting on this little rock just looking around.  They were dressed in their cute little outfits.  They looked like perfect little representations of the Western influence on Chinese cultures.  I wanted to take their picture. But I wanted to get their permission first.

So silently… I walk up to them. I give them a very friendly wave.  Saying nothing… the little girl could see that I could not speak her language.  So she took the lead and waved back.  I pointed to my camera… and then used my hands to pretend to take a picture.  I made my best head-nodding-friendly face. The little girl looked at her brother, they had this wordless conversation, as they thought about my question.  Then looking back at me, the little girl nodded her head.  I made a big sweeping smile gesture with my fingers along my face.  They gave me a big smile.  ”Neeeeee hao!!” I said to them (that means hello in Mandarin… my way to get them to say “cheeeese”.

I took this shot.

I smiled, bowed, and waved good-bye to them.  And as as I started to walk away, the little girl waved and exclaimed in a loud voice:  “We’re from Vancouver!”

Chinese Kids on the Wall

Maybe I should have started with hello?

After a 3 semesters at ASU,  Zach realized that he was not ready to buckle down and work towards a standard degree. There were too many youthful music itches still unscratched.  He made a decision to pack up the van and move to the great North West.  He told me Seattle is the home for broken toys, and he had to go.  This was a painful decision for him… leaving his friends, his girlfriend, his family, Tivo, and 2 out his 3 pets…
In September,  before he left,  Zach scheduled a going a way concert at his favorite local venue:  The Trunk Space.  He was joined by this band,  iji,  with the original members (David Ross and Luke Burba).   Also joining the band for the night were Brit May and Eric Ross.
The show was great. Most of the 50, or so, folks knew all of the words to the songs. There was a mix of old and new songs, and a good dance broke out for most every song.

IJI in Action

The evening ended with Zach’s anthem song which chants: “we’re all part of the same building block”. This is Zach’s Abbey Roadish version of:  “And in the end… the love you take” song.

Zach's Going Away Concert

When the concert was over, we all cried, hugged. It was the last time all five of our family would be together for a while. It was really the end of an era of our family. The era where we all lived and played in the same neighborhood. From now on, it will be Christmas, and special occasions.

“And when you fly away, out into the day, I’ll be thinking about you,  hoping you’ll blend properly, underneath a tree out in the woods”  From Zach’s song: “Tiny Moth” (go hear it in myspace.com/iji  – PLEASE!)

Have a great time Zach!

IJI The Band

The Bund by Day

If New York City and Las Vegas had a child, it would be Shanghai.  Endless buildings,  as far as you can see, reaching up to the heavens, lit up with vibrant neon colors.  In the year 2000,  I took my first trip to Shanghai China. I stayed at the beautiful Shangrila Hotel on the shore of the HuangPu river. The HuangPu river divides Shanghai into its east (Puxi) and west (Pudong) sections. Next to my hotel was the Oriental Pearl Tower.  This is the tallest tower in Asia, and the third tallest in the world.  It is 1535 feet high and provides the best photo opportunities in the city. Directly across the river from the hotel is The Bund.  This is a stretch of buildings built by the British to serve as their hub of business/government during their settlement of Shanghai. There is a river walk right behind the hotel which makes a for a great stroll before going to bed.  Absolutely beautiful at night.

Shanghai - The Bund by night

Shanghai - The Pearl Tower

Every night we would roam the streets; trying to learn all we could about the city in the short time we had. One night we ate dinner in the rotating restaurant at the top of the Pearl Tower.  Another night we ate dinner in the wonderful restaurant, “M on the Bund”.  Both had views to be remembered. They were mind boggling.

We were scheduled to fly back to Phoenix on Saturday morning.  That happened to be the day before 40th birthday.  If you fly out of China in the morning,  you arrive back in the USA the same calendar day… in the morning if you’re going to the West coast.  This is, of course, because you fly back over the international date line.

A group of the folks from our group decided they were delaying their return, and going to go to Beijing for a one day tour.   Hmmm….  I could leave as planned on Saturday and be home for my big 40th?  Or wait a day, see the Great Wall, and get home ON my birthday.  I decided I better check with the higher powers on this one… I called Alice.  When I presented my predicament to her, she said; “Are you stupid”.  I wasn’t sure how to answer this… cuz I do have my doubts.  I did grow up in a big family where I was reminded of that possibility frequently.  Oh well, I decided to stay.

We flew up late Friday night, and checked into the Shangri-La Beijing West Hotel.  My boss’ boss (Jim Cameron) and I stayed downstairs and drank a few interesting local Beijing Beers..  They were… well… cold…

Tienanmen Square

The next day we hired a tour guide from the hotel and hit the road.  In the morning we strolled around Tienanmen Square, and walked through the Forbidden City (we had permission… cost-50RMB). We ate lunch at an amazing restaurant.  The tastes in the food were different than anything I had ever experienced.  I love spicy food.  And one of the dishes there had a spice to it that completely confused my senses.  It wasn’t until years later (when I traveled to Chengdu China) where I learned what that spice was.

That will be another story.

Great Wall July 29, 2000

We end ended the day hiking on the Great Wall.  The Wall is very long… and it is not contiguous.  The location where we went to see The Wall was actually in a less populated area.  There were less tourists.  We actually had to take a ski lift up to the base of the wall, and then hike up the stairs to get to the top. My boss Jeff Bisgrove and I took off and hiked as far as we could hike in the time that we were given.  It was incredibly steep walking up the stairs. Some of the stairs were over one and a half feet high from step to step.  Also,  it was cool, and the air is thin there. I had a great workout for sure. We walked around for an hour or so before it was time to head back down the hill, and towards the airport.  This is where it got  fun.  One has their choice of methods to get back  down the hill.  You could go back down the ski lift, OR you could go down an alpine luge.  This is a plastic sled that travels down a cement luge track.  We chose the luge. It took about 5 minutes of sheer speed and winding tracks to get to the base.  What a blast!

We flew back the Shanghai that night, with plans to fly home in the morning; the morning of my birthday.  It was a lonely feeling checking into the hotel that night. I was staring at the clock when my head hit the pillow…JUST AS IT hit midnight.  I had just turned 40,  by myself, sitting in a hotel on the other side of the world.  It was then I realized why I had to have Alice’s blessing and prodding to stay.  I wanted to be home with my family for this milestone.

Great Wall Luge - Jim and Dave

But the cool thing was, the next day when I got home, it was still morning!  Due to the change of time zones and crossing the International date line, my 40th birthday was 39 hours long.

Chengdu Taxi - G Srinivas

There was a group of us employees from Intel who wanted to go out and try something different for dinner.  We had already been out to a traditional Hot Pot place, so I suggested this restaurant, which I had been to before. There was only one potential issue; one of our team (G Srinivasan) is a vegetarian, so we would have to make a special order for him, which can be tricky feat. (Quick segue) Chengdu China is a great place to eat.  There is a variety of food found, probably, nowhere else in China.  One thing is for sure; they love to eat meat.  There is meat at hawker stands everywhere you look.  They have meat on sticks which are roasted over open flames.  There are cups of special sauces for dipping your freshly cook mystery meat.

Chengdu China - Rabbit Heads

One of the delicacies there is deep fried Rabbit head.  I gotta admit… they do not look like rabbits.  I thought they were rats.  I did not try these. S0me of the restaurants in the more touristy part of towns have at least made some effort to put English translations on their menus.  I am not sure if this is a good idea.  Sometimes I think I would rather not know.  We were greeted at one place with a paper that advertised fresh Ox Dick.  We kept walking.  Goose Kidneys.  Pass.

Anyways, back to dinner.  This particular restaurant did not have an English menu.  Nor did *anyone* in the place speak a lick of English.  This is typical of Chengdu at this time of history.  You can go all day without finding one person who speaks English. But the BKM (Intel speak: Best Known Method) for ordering is to just point at the pictures. So I took charge and pointed to the Peking Duck picture, and made two fingers.  She smiles in clear understanding.  Then it was time for me to try to order something for G.  There was a picture of a rice dish; but it had vegetables AND meat in it.  I pointed to the rice… and nodded my head.  I pointed to the Vegetables and nodded my head.  She seemed to be with me.  Then I pointed to the meet and shook my head.  She looked bewildered?  Hmmm.  I tried it again.  I was remembering from my Shanghai days… charades do not work in China.  And way out in Chengdu it was even harder.  One problem is that they eat meat all the time… so this probably did not make sense for a lot of reasons.

Peking Duck in Chengdu China

Just then, a patron who obviously had been watching me struggle from her table came to my rescue. She walked over and asked in broken English; “I help you”?  YES you can!  I told her that my friend was a vegetarian.  She nodded in clear understanding.  I asked her to tell the waitress to bring him some rice and vegetables.  She said “of course!”.  She turned to the waitress and starting telling her what we wanted.  The waitress kept looking back and forth from the translator, to me.  She nodded her her head, but kept a puzzled look one her face, as if to say; “I hear what you are asking… but WHY would you NOT want the meat???”  The funny thing was, the translator kept talking to her for, like, 5 minutes straight!  How long can it take to say: “Rice and vegetables?”.  Anyways, she finally seemed to have the order straight. The waitress wrote it down and took off.  I tried to say something to the translator, but she did not understand me very well.  Her English skills were very weak.  So finally… I just said “thank you”.  Then she answered: “De Nada!”.  ”De Nada???”.  I cocked my head like a dog who just heard someone say something after breathing Helium.  ”De Nada??” I said back to her.  ”Oh”, she said… “I mean… your welcome”.  I said to her: “Puedes hablar Espanol?” (Do YOU speak Spanish??).   “Si, Si”, she said, looking at me with disbelief in my Spanish as well.  ”Por que hablas Espanol”?  I asked her (why do you speak Spanish??).  ”Porque yo vivo en Puerto Rico”, she replied.  I turns out, that this young woman from Chengdu studied Spanish in college and landed a job working for an importer in Puerto Rico.  We sat and conversed in the common second language that we shared.  We both laughed at our struggles to communicate in English, and how we would never have guessed that we had another option.   I thanked her again… in Spanish… and we went to our separate tables.

In a few minutes, the waitress brought out a beautiful plate of special food for G.  It was a lovely mix of Rice and steamed vegetables…. oh, and it was LOADED with chunks of ham.

Preparing Peking Duck

Chengdu Taxi

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.