GOBBLDYGOOK

I would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. I hope yours was as special as mine. Best wishes to all.

I'm out.

my-TUNES

His name is Brett Dennen and if he ever plays Augusta, Baton Rouge, Honolulu, Denver, Austin or Los Angeles or where ever your reading this from you should take the time from your busy schedule to see him. I am, on March 30 in Santa Fe. Thanks to T-Rob for turning me on to him. I understand the song has been used on SCRUBS and HOUSE. I don't watch much tv so I guess I'm a bit behind. None the less this guy is great.







It's from his cd SO MUCH MORE. Check him out at BRETTDENNEN.NET.

...and from his new CD HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS is this great tune.




I'm out.

ARREST THAT NUN!!

Only in New Mexico....


For 84 years the nuns at St Francis Xavier Church on Broadway in Albuquerque have been having a fall potluck to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. The homemade posole, menudo, tamales and bizcochitos - all local specialties, have been feeding over 500 parishioners without a hitch. The mayor has even shown up to have a plate as well as police officers and the public in general.


But not this year if the POT-LUCK POLICE have their say!!!


Apparently there is a city potluck ordinance [I kid you NOT] that reads you cannot have a potluck with food made from home if you are serving over 500 people!!

Bah humbug!!

Two weeks ago, city health officials told church leaders that food-handling laws prohibited parishioners from taking home-cooked food to church to serve an expected 500 people for the Dec. 14 feast.


Church leaders quickly hatched a Plan B that involved using canned posole and store-bought desserts and giving up the menudo. City law requires that food intended for distribution to the public be prepared in an "approved kitchen," such as the church kitchen, rather than in private homes.


For his part, Mayor Martin Chávez called the rigid interpretation of the city's food ordinance "plain silly" and has ordered up a steaming bowl of revisions to city law — changes that will allow churches and other groups to serve homemade dishes without violating city food-handling laws.

Oh, did I mention 2010 is an election year and that Mayor Chavez is considering running for governor??

"Taken to its logical conclusion, this law would prohibit potlucks where members of the public might attend," Chávez said Wednesday through a spokeswoman. "I'm confident this is not the intent of the ordinance." For now, the city will draft an "interim rule" that will allow the St. Francis Xavier event to go forward as it has for decades, said Ed Adams, chief administrative officer.


Even if the city hadn't quickly canned the ban on homemade posole, there were offerings from commercial kitchens and restaurants to help worshippers get the real stuff. Sister Bernice Garcia, parish life coordinator at St. Francis, said she and church parishioners are relieved by the city's change of course. "We can cook at home," Garcia said Wednesday. "We can bake our cookies and make our bread pudding and bring it to church. And make menudo."

...and all is well in the Land of Enchantment.

I'm out.

**NOTE**

For those of you not from New Mexico, posole is a delicious spicy corn stew. Christmas isn't Christmas in the southwest without it.




At holiday time people throughout the world honor traditions, and New Mexico is no exception. One tradition many here look forward to on Christmas Eve is a steaming bowl of posole (po-SO-lay), a spicy corn stew that is known as the ceremonial dish for celebrating life's blessings.

New Mexicans have been enjoying posole for centuries. The cuisine here springs from three cultures: Native American, Mexican, and European. The Rio Grande Pueblo Indians, and their ancestors, the “Anasazi,” or "ancient ones,” relied on corn, beans, squash, and chiles for sustenance. These early crops became firmly entrenched in the culture, forming the foundation of New Mexican cuisine even before the Spanish arrived.

Corn has been and is the major food plant of the Native Americans. Red, yellow, and blue corn are cultivated in New Mexico. The corn is ground into meal and flour for use in breads and tortillas, and it is processed into posole corn.

Posole corn is prepared by soaking hard kernels of field corn (traditionally white, although blue is sometimes used now) in powdered lime and water - a method thought to mimic the ancient preservation of corn in limestone caves. After several hours, when the corn kernels have swollen, the liquid is allowed to evaporate and the kernels to dry.

Posole is different from hominy, another kind of processed corn, which tends to be softer and more bland. Compared to hominy, posole’s flavor is intense and earthy, its consistency more robust. Since posole corn can be difficult to find, hominy is often used as a substitute in posole stew.

The variations for posole are many. Some make it with chicken rather than pork; some prefer to use vegetable protein rather than meat. While posole in Southern New Mexico is always made with red chile, it is not uncommon to find Northern New Mexico posole made with green chile.

Ingredients for Posole

12 dried long red chile
10 lbs. Boned pork roast cut into 1" cubes
1/2 head of garlic peeled and chopped
A large pinch of Mexican oregano
1/2 of a large onion, chopped
Large can hominy
Salt

Preparation

Break open the chiles and remove the seeds and veins. Put the chiles to cook in a medium sized pot. Cover with fresh water and gently boil until chiles are very soft. Let the mixture cool and using a favorite method, blend the chile and the water to make a paste and strain.

Meanwhile, put the cubed pork, oregano, garlic, onion and salt into a large heavy pot and cover with water. Boil meat gently for 30 minutes. When the meat is soft, add the chile and hominy and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the mixture is boiling nicely.

To serve, ladle the posole into heavy bowls and serve with thinly sliced cabbage and radishes, quartered limes, oregano, chopped onion, and fresh corn tortillas. Besides these side dishes, posole is usually served with sodas or cervesas.

THE NATIONAL MONEY HOLE

New Mexico is home to the Taos Hum, the Roswell Incident, curanderas, chupacabras... and now this:

EATS!!

At the suggestion of a friend I decided to check out a local landmark for dinner, the Route 66 Diner on Central Avenue right before you get to downtown.



The interior resembles a lot of diners of the 50s era, can you say 'Johnny Rockets'



Tonight I tried the Philly Cheese-steak sandwich. It was quite good, especially the bread.
The potato salad was ok, a bit heavy on the mayonnaise.



Of course I had to try the pie. Apple, peach, cherry, pecan...but no banana cream???
So I thought I would try the coconut cream pie. It was ok.... not what I wanted so it didn't really satisfy me.

They did; however, have a wide variety of milkshakes.... like a peanut butter and jelly milkshake....or the Elvis, which is a peanut butter and banana!!!



I should not forget to mention the bill: $15.98!!!!!!



Over all it was ok. The sandwich was good.... they are bigger at Johnny Rockets though. And man...I do love them banana shakes at JRs.



I'm out.

JUMP!

my-TUNES

RED OR GREEN

From fellow blogger Guy Malone:

You know you are from New Mexico when...

A package of white flour tortillas are the exact same thing as a loaf of bread.

=

At any gathering, regardless of size, green chile stew, tortillas, and huge mounds of shredded cheese are mandatory.

There is a piece of a UFO displayed in your home.

You believe that using a turn signal is a sign of weakness.

You can actually hear the Taos Hum.

You don't see anything wrong with drive-up window liquor sales.

You hated Texans until the Californians moved in.

You have an extra freezer just for green chile.

You have been told by at least one out-of-state vendor that they are going to charge you extra for "international" shipping .

You have driven to an Indian Casino at 3am because you were hungry. http://www.rt66casino.com/

You iron your jeans to "dress up" .

You know the punch line to at least one Espanola joke.

You know whether you want "red or green".

You see nothing odd when, in the conversations of the people in line around you at the grocery store, every other word of each sentence alternates between Spanish and English .

Your Christmas decorations include "a yard of sand and 200 paper bags".

Your swamp cooler got knocked off your roof by a dust devil.

http://www.newmexicoenchantment.blogspot.com/

I'm out.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

Here's a view from the top of Sandia Peak, 10,678 feet up.












I'm up....errr I mean 'out'.

CHILL OUT

Generally by the first week of October it is cold in the mornings here, say in the 40s.

Balloonists love the still cold mornings because of the 'box' effect in the atmosphere. By Halloween we are usually cold wet and windy.

This past October; however, was AWESOME!! 50s in the mornings and lower 70s in the afternoon. Wouldn't ya know it, come November and its frickin' cold outside.

It was 32 this morning in the Duke City, the City Different [Santa Fe] was 23 and Taos was 6. Brrrrrrrr!!!!!

Santa Fe even got some flurries. Our first snow last year was on Thanksgiving Day.

Not too far off.

TIME OF OUR LIVES

These are amazing times we live in. History is happening before our very eyes from 9/11 to the banking meltdown to this historic election. This era in our lives will be one for the history books.

You will be able to say, "I was there."






"Our planet is facing the greatest problems its ever faced, ever. So whatever you do, dont' be bored. This is absolutely the most exciting time we cold have possibly hoped to be alive....and things are just starting."

"Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire."

CHEESEBURGER AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Well I missed the autumn colors by about three weeks. I take for granted sometimes how beautiful the area is. I meant to drive up and capture them at Sandia Peak or Fourth of July Canyon earlier but have just been pretty busy that I let it slip by. It was a beautiful day anyway so I decied to head to the peak. Last year at this time it was cold, wet, windy and rainy. I sure hope its a mild winter.

I'm out.

MUSIC FROM THE OUTER RIM TERRITORIES