It wasn’t expected, really. I was there to select and buy small boxes of chocolate for my friends.
Little did I know I’d soon be steeped in a lesson in Tucson history and hospitality. And get a lesson in local food and hang outs.
The purple haired young woman behind the counter was engaging and knowledgeable. We started with the chocolate assortment and were soon talking food and destinations.
When I mentioned I’d learned about their store from a feature in the Alumni magazine, her ears perked up. Soon we were talking food, beer and places from which to watch sunsets.
“If you go to the Meading Room be sure and go and sit on the patio at sundown,” she said. It wasn’t about the honey-based wine it was about an experience.
Rose went on to describe breweries and coffee shops and burger joints.
I was in her grip.
Soon I learned her mom was also a CHS grad but 10 years my junior. In Tucson it’s more like three degrees of separation not the six degrees Kevin Bacon has always espoused.
Now I have to add chocolatiers to my list of baristas, barmaids and bike mechanics with whom to start random conversations.
Oh, and the chocolates were a big hit with my lunch companions.
Relentless
(*photos courtesy D. Russo and Monsoon Chocolates)
