Cheese, pulled pork, and a party - March 29 in Tucson Continued

I had a party to attend that night, and needed supplies for my contribution.  A local friend told me about Blu, a cheese store, so I headed back up from Madera to Tucson.  A side note here, one thing I had noticed on past trips to Tucson was how beautifullly adorned the freeway overpasses are!  One day I should look up some of the backstories.

Blu http://www.bluarizona.com

The cheese store was located at Mercado san Augustin (sp?) on the west side of Tucson.  Time was tight or I might have stayed there longer as there was a festival going on in the courtyard.  Instead, I visited Blu.  It's small, but with a nice selection of cheeses.  

I had sent ahead three things to the party host:  Tomato Basil Jam, Jaune Flamme tomato jam (a small orange heritage tomato) and candied jalapenos.  I like the jalapenos with cream cheese, so I would pick that up later.  After some discussion with the cheese monger (and that is what is fun about visiting a dedicated cheese store) I got a very fresh, spreadable chevre, and a comte.  I would serve everything with sliced baguettes and crackers (or so I thought).

On their way to being candied:

Basil and lemon headed towards tomato basil jam:

And the Jaune Flamme canned:

Now I need cream cheese, crackers, bread, and some fruit for a fruit salad I had also promised to make.  I had scoped out a Whole Foods that was on the way back from Blu to my hotel, so thought this woudl be just the place.  It was more of a challenge than I thought, there were no baguettes to be found and the fruit was pretty sad.  But I made do, and all was well.

A short stop at the hotel for a couple of hours, time for a short nap then it was on to the party!

Pulled Pork, Ribs, and more - the party!

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I was in town for a GTG with travel friends.  One of them lives there in Tucson and offered to host 30 of us at his home.  He smoked, barbecued, and served up delicious meat that rivaled anything I eat at home in Kansas City!

There were five birthdays, and cake (one of the friends is a professional cake decorator) and everyone put on their best with contributions to the meal.  It ended with a beautiful Tucson sunset.,