saavedra77 | The Return of Desert Girl (Reply)

A week ago today, I had the following exchange via text message with my friend Jen, a.k.a Desert Girl, formerly of Las Vegas and Seattle, international traveler, compulsive hiker and kayaker, she of the red hair and legs that go on forever:

Jen: Wanna have dinner Monday?

Me: Abso-f'ing-lutely! Int'viewing?

Jen: Yup.

Me: Buenos Aires Grill, 5:30?

Jen: Hell, yeah!

Jen moved away to San Francisco, last year; unfortunately, this move hasn't worked out so well for Ms. Jennifer. For one thing, the job she went there for has amounted to an endless succession of 12-hour days. And on a more basic level, she's been describing herself as "homesick for Seattle" for months, now. (It seems that the hiking and kayaking aren't quite as convenient from downtown S.F. as from Seattle ...) So she's been talking about moving back for awhile, if she could just find a decent job, up here. Consequently, when she invited me to dinner (obviously meaning she was going to be in town), I figured that she must be up here to interview. And she was.

The Buenos Aires Grill is a favorite of both of ours--by all accounts, a fairly authentic Argentine steak house: hearty food, great wines, killer desserts, professional tango dancers on Fridays and Saturdays. And, even though there was no tango-ing going on, Monday, it turned out to be a great night to be there, 'cuz we were celebrating: Jen's interview had gone swimmingly, they offered her the job, she'd said "yes." She'll be back in a few weeks.

I foresee a lot of hiking in my near future ...