We are still in the land of enchantment but we will be back in the big apple on the first and I have been trying to figure out how I am going to post about the 15 days and tons of pictures. Knowing me I will work in some non- sequiter sort of way that only makes sense to me. I will tell you that I found a 200 million year old(give or take a few dozen million)fossil of a mussel shell the other day, yup New Mexico was a sunny beach resort millions of years ago.

Taos today, and let me tell you we almost made a big mistake. We were on the 'main' road when we encounterd 'police activity' that meant we had to sit in the car on the road for an hour. Impatient tourists like we are we decided to take the 'other road'. We drove back for 20 minutes and into the mountains for an hour as the 'highway' got more and more narrow. When the horse track we were driving on was covered in frozen and packed snow it seemed like we better turn back and check on that 'police incident' and probably take the 'big' road. Trust me I will post photos in january when we get back. Anyway we made it to Taos and it is like a winter-wonder-land. We are staying at (the wifi says sungod) I forgot its sun god something and its nice and we already used the hot tub (under the stars and in the snow)....

Our last visit was over a year ago. Its winter and its Christmas so there will be penty of new things for the little guy to see and do. This holiday season in New Mexico is spectacular as far as I'm concerned. We will eat plenty of chile. Visit plenty of pueblos. Enjoy the archtecture. And bask in the beauty of the landscape....but I think my favorite is going to be eating tons of chile.

I had a large can of lump crabmeat, I had a pound of well sprouted bean sprouts I had a bag of potato chip crumbs, what did I do? I made crabcakes. These are great on a salad of water cress dressed with olive oil, lime, salt and pepper. They are also good with your favortie mayonaise like a chipotle mayo or wasabi mayo and eaten in a sandwich. They are also good when you grab em' right off the draining rack and eat them plain just like that.






Lets see...........................

Santas as far as the eye could see. At first the surreal nature of this was perplexing but as the number of elves and santas and santa pimps grew it was beyond perplexing it was surreal. There were bad santas, female santas, transgender santas, drunk santas every single kind of santa that a santa enthusiast could imagine, and then many unimaginable.









I later found out it is part of Santacon.com.

chile eggs, we eat them all the time.

A goûter (pronounced goo- tay) is the snack that all children in France have at 4pm. Believe it or not this is a very popular afternoon snack among French children, a chunk of baguette with a bar of chocolate in the middle! If that seems excessive, get hold of a jar of Nutella - chocolate spread - as a good alternative. Every single person in almost everywhere is familiar with Nutella.

What is it about 70 degrees fahrenheit....it is a magical number. All summer long I crank the AC hoping to get to seventy. All winter long I am pumping out the heat wishing it were seventy. Seventy the perfect temperature. Why? I'll tell you why, its suave.



Suave is cool if you can handle it. Sometimes suave has to take a back seat. Why? Tortilla soup thats why. Aint nuthin' suave about tortilla soup. Liquid-in this case its vegetable broth, chile, crispy corn tortillas and cheese ...I added cubed chicken...where is the suave now?

The lure the draw the pull of hot oil is more than I can resist. I need to fry and why not its good. My excuse in the summer is that it is good for my skin since the sun and saltwater dry it out. My excuse for the winter is its good for my skin since the wind and cold dry it out. See I am covered as long as there is weather I will fry. I used to use shortening thinking it made a crisper crust and it drained faster but I was wrong it just cooled and left a film. I have been using oil now for quite some time and nothing is greasy, there is no film and it is not hydrogenated, it is healthier. So with my good health in mind it was time for some onion rings. I get what ever large onions I have and cut them thick into rings and dredge them in seasoned flour, you can use old bay or your favorite chili powder or curry, or just good ol' salt and pepper but dont salt the unfloured onions or they will sweat and sweating is not good for frying. Fully dusted they then get sloshed around in some beaten egg and then back into the flour sometimes I will repeat this step if I want a crustier crust. Shimmy off the excess and dip into 325 degree oil, turn them once, drain, salt while hot and eat.




Voila - onion rings. And now the kid likes em' too, its funny to watch evolution take place. He doesnt like onions but he likes onion rings????

Nothing could be easier to make than a coconut macaroon, the recipe is on the bag of coconut and it is so simple, although I do alter it a bit. My big change - I beat the egg whites until stiff and then add it to the dry stuff. I think it makes a lighter cookie but I wouldn't know the difference because this is the only way I have done it. Oh plus I use less sugar since we dont eat too much of that and the coconut is sweetened anyway and I use vanilla flavor instead of almond since my vanilla is pure and the almond is an ester.



OK I dont do anything like the recipe but I do glance at it as a reference. Now there could be some debate over what is a Macaroon vs. a Macroon. From what I gather the Macroon does not have egg whites thus making the Macaroon part of the meringue family, but even this is debateable since some recipes call for egg whites and some for condensed milk, I say if you find one you like with ingredients you like then that is a good one and the one on the bag is perfect.



I did dip a few into an espresso dark chocolate that I concocted but the kid hated them and quite frankly so did I but I am sure without the espresso they would be great.

hideous me

The only reading I do besides captions, articles, tidbits, hardly enough books, news events, puzzles, and signage are recipes. I think I read too many. Any way this is my newest and most favorite. ? why..this booger has a story.

The wife bisquits originally came from Daphne

The small young bird that I am preparing this year (9 pounds) is now 'resting' with a liberal dose of rosemary butter massaged under the skin and a generous coating of spices and salts to 'tighten' up the skin before cooking. The butter nut squash is already roasted and waiting to be mixed with cream for soup tomorrow. The homemade fresh sausage for the stuffing is waiting in the fridge. The green beans are still in the package but they will get handled later. Mashed potatoes always happen in the last 20 minutes anyway and the pie came from the store. Gone are the days when I experiment, like that year I did a goose...whew what a bad idea.


more as it happens.

This time of year is typically the time of year for tamales.
I am providing extra links for tamales since I am not so detailed in my explanation. I have been making these delicious little treats for years and years now and I dont follow a recipe so much as I just throw it all together. I started the meat last night in the pressure cooker with chiles, garlic, onion salt and pepper so that today it was pulled and shredded by hand and tasty. I made the masa, soaked the husks and got busy this morning making 2 dozen of these bad boys. I basically did the same as this.



Spread the masa



A dollop of meat



Steam for 90 minutes or so ( I usually steam about
8 at a time but I show three here for convenience)



This big pot of chile is for spooning over the plated
tamales covered in melted cheese and served up
"wet" as referenced by my food buddy at Opinions
and Rectums. I dont need to tell you how good these are.

The only way to get good food done fast is with a pressure cooker and I use it a lot. Some people say it isnt the same as slow simmering but I disagree and I disagree because I am so bad at slow simmering, instead of one hour I let it go for three so the whole effect is lost on the affect, or vice versa. With the pressure cooker I am on point, I know that within a few minutes its good to go. Today the kid asked for beef stew at 4:00 pm and he wants the meat to fall apart "like it always does" so since he likes to eat at 6:00 the only option is the pressure cooker.

Stay tuned as it is cooling down now...but I wanted to start this post before 6:00pm

As a result of the thermal pressure the quantum
physical nature of the ingredients are altered to
create "stew"...It would be wise to remember
that pressure cookers are dangerous
and while you may not get a nuclear reaction
you wouldnt want some carelessness to create
an unwanted taste explosion...


now for the test.

It should be good to know that I had to stop at the store and cooking
didnt begin until 5:20.