Thursday, August 5, 2010

FINE FOOD FEST TO THE MAX!



Our last week in Santa Fe was a glorious food-fest. We ate ourselves into oblivion. When you get to be our age, that's our primary form of entertainment and I must say that we were entertained very well!
We went back to La Choza for lunch and met our friends, the Ellises.



We had a very nice visit with them as well as a good meal. And speaking of meals, I'm going to post a slide show of some of the wonderful dishes that we had during the week as this will be the best way to look at them. Of you don't see this post after you have read this entry, click on older posts and it should come right up.
That evening we went back to Jinja with the Gratz's and had another great meal. They, along with the Ellises are full time residents in Santa Fe. Linda is a wonderful artist.



The next morning Frank and Jose played golf and I took the morning off.


He had bought me some pizza from Whole Foods the night before, so I had a great lunch while I watched TV. A nice little break for both of us.


That evening we went to the plaza for the entertainment. In the month of July, there is live entertainment every noontime as well as in the evening.


We found out that our friend, Patty's niece, Eliza Gilkyson was in town and would be performing. Her "warm up" as she wold be called in Las Vegas, was a singer named Busy McCarrol and she was also very good as well.



Eliza has built a reputation as one of the most original and influential folk artists of our time. She was born in Los Angeles, where her dad Terry was a successful songwriter with many hits like "Memories Are Made of This," which Dean Martin took to #1 on the charts, and "Bare Necessities" from Disney's The Jungle Book and The Cry of the Wild Goose. Eliza left California to define her own path. She spent time in New Mexico and Europe before moving to Austin, which she has called home for more than two decades. She lives there with her husband and children but travels world-wide entertaining.


Patty has many well known family members. Along with her niece Eliza and her brother, Terry, she is also the aunt of Anna Wintour who is the editor of Vogue magazine.


She is the person that Meryl Streep portrayed in the film The Devil Wears Prada.
It seems that at all events in Santa Fe, people want to dance
.


This poor couple must have thought they were going to a square dance, but it didn't really matter. They danced and had a great time anyway, gingham skirt, cowboy boots and all.


These outdoor festivities always draw a big crowd. The weather is perfect and there is no charge, so why not get out and celebrate!


Even the dogs come to town for the entertainment. It always amazes me to see how well they all seem to get along.




We have seen this woman and her dog at many events on our trips to Santa Fe over the years. Do you suppose they both attend Weight Watcher's meetings together?


I have always heard that people begin to look like their dogs and now I believe it!
Since there was such a large crowd and you had to bring your own seating, we pulled out my wheelchair for the first time on this trip. It worked very well and I had a ring side seat. Papa pushed me to the restaurant after the performance. He's finally getting to be a much better driver. He's starting to call me Miss Daisy. All he needs is a chauffeur's cap.



We went back to The Shed and this time we ate. It's a wonderful place and the food is great. We never pass up a good New Mexico style enchilada and these are among some of the best in town.



We had a bit of a wait which was to be expected, and we took advantage of the extra time and had a drink on the patio.


Since I had my own chair with Papa's portable seat from the concert, I had a place to sit while we waited. He was able to sit on a bench while we waited.



The next day we met our long time friend, Young Woo at Tomasita's for lunch. He and I met when we were at a photographic workshop in Italy and Egypt 25 years ago and the three of us have been good friends ever since.


He and I usually cook together when we're in town but he had just returned from his home in California, (he has several here in the U.S, as well as in Europe) so we decided to eat out instead.
He is also an artist and a very good one. He works mainly in watercolor. Here is one of his paintings that I have hanging in our home. What could be more appropriate than an angel holding red chilies in front of the Santuario de Chimayo. I call her the Guardian Angel of Enchiladas ;-)

We had to make one last trip to our #1 favorite hole in the wall, Tia Sophia's before we headed back to Texas.



I've saved most of the food shots for the slide show, but I had to slip these of Tia's Christmas enchiladas and their wonderful soppillas in as a last tribute to excellent NM cuisine ;-)



On our next to last night on this trip, we went back to Max's with Chuck and Linda.


Their food is so remarkable that you can't possible go there only once when you're in town. We weren't about to miss out on an opportunity to taste this delicious cuisine at least one more time this visit.



It's a marvelous little restaurant that only seats about 20 people and it's tucked away in little walkway off of Guadalupe.



We went there one other time this trip with the Ofman's. We parked on a side street as parking is limited and then took a short cut where we had to duck under a wire fence to get to the restaurant. I'm sure that they wondered where on earth we were taking them. Having been there several times before, we knew that they were going to be in for a real treat. I can honestly say that they serve some of the best food that we've had anywhere in the world. Not only is it different and delicious, the presentation is awesome. The food shots will be in the slide show so you can see what I mean.


Here is a photograph of Max, the owner. She's a delightful young woman, a very hard worker and has a rare jewel in this excellent restaurant.


She now has a new young chef that is part owner of the place and he is a real treasure. I couldn't believe how young he looked. Such a cutie and he can cook as well. What a perfect combination!



He is the executive chef and partner and his name is Mark Connell and he is unbelievable. After high school, he completed an European styled apprenticeship in Vail, Colorado and then attended ICIF’s Masters Program in Costiglioli di Asti, Italy where he studied classical Italian cuisine and worked at renowned restaurant Costa Salici.
When he returned to the US, he worked in Laguna Beach, California at Montage Resort’s flagship restaurant, Studio, under James Boyce. He attend Culinary Institute of America’s Pastry Program at Greystone. At CIA, he was voted “Most Valuable Patissier” of his class by some of America’s most respected Pastry Chefs. Mark finished his time in California at The French Laundry.



Returning to Massachusetts, Mark was the Sous Chef and Pastry Chef at Salts Restaurant in Cambridge under Gabriel Bremmer, one of Food and Wine Magazine’s “10 Best New Chefs” 2006. He then helped open contemporary Italian Restaurant Bina Osteria as Chef di Cuisine before moving to Santa Fe. Max's is blessed to have him at the helm in the kitchen. A meal there is a real treat!
On our last day we decided to have lunch at Restaurant Martin. It is right down the street from our condo and is another fine new restaurant in Santa Fe. The chef renovated an old place and made it a very chic new gourmet restaurant.



The chef/owner, Martin Rios, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, grew up in Santa Fe and started in the restaurant business as a 17-year-old dishwasher, eventually working his way to executive chef at several restaurants and hotels. Chef Rios received his formal training at the Culinary Institute of America and supplemented that with experience and training in some of the worlds most honored restaurants and with well-known culinary masters.He was featured in the 2008 season of Iron Chef America, and is the only New Mexico chef to have won the Robert Mondavi Culinary Award of Excellence. When Rios was chef at the Old House Restaurant at the Eldorado Hotel, Zagat's Restaurant Survey listed the restaurant as the best dining experience in New Mexico and one of the best restaurants in the United States and the restaurant was awarded both the AAA Four-Diamond Award and the Mobil Four-Star Award. Chef Rios has been name Chef of the Year by the City of Santa Fe and has been named Chef of the Year twice each by the State of New Mexico and the New Mexico Lodging Association. He has also been named a Celebrated Chef for the National Pork Council and was featured in the Bon Appetit Magazine cover story "The American Restaurant: Our Favorite Places." We ate outside and everything was perfect.

As we waited for our food, I watched the wind gently blow the trees and the shadows of the leaves danced on the umbrellas. What a perfect spot for an outdoor luncheon.

All the beautiful people were there for lunch. This young woman was fascinating to watch ... full of style and grace. Certainly a little eye candy for the men!



Frank ordered me what I thought was white wine but it turned out to be a French aperitif called Lillet. It was different but actually it was very good.


The meal was magnificent and the perfect way to end the trip. We now have two wonderful restaurants to add to our list of recommendations when people ask us where to eat in Santa Fe ... Max's and Restaurant Martin. They are superb.
I won't tell you what we had for dinner that night as we packed, but their mascot and logo was a little Chihuahua.
We left for Texas around 3:30 a.m and had an uneventful drive home. All in all, it was a wonderful visit and we're looking forward to going back to the Land of Enchantment soon.
One last thought ... after having eaten all this wonderful food and drinking delicious wines, I last 4 pounds while I was there. That proves that there are fewer calories is good food and good wine!
XOXO and Bon Appetite, Pcasso

FOOD FEST FOTOS

This is a collage of wonderful food from our trip. If that "Adopt a Pet" bar appears, X it out so you can read the captions as you mouse over them. Bon Appetite!

Monday, August 2, 2010

GOLF, GOOD FOOD, GOOD FRIENDS AND GOODBYES




In case you haven't figured it out yet, I most always blog after the fact ... especially when we're traveling. It can be very time consuming and I'm selfish with my vacation time, so I take extensive notes and photographs and then post the things that happened after we return home. This is most certainly true with today's post.
Frank played golf with Walter and another friend who now lives in Dallas and was visiting Walter in Santa Fe. They drove to Paa-ko Ridge golf course just outside of Albuquerque to play and I had the day off.





Borrowing its name from the nearby Anasazi Pueblo Indian ruins, this mountain course is sitting at 6,800 fee elevation on the eastern slope of the Sandia Mountains. It's a glorious setting.




Late that afternoon we received a phone call from our friends in Raton to find out that some very dear friends in Albuquerque had just been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. We made arrangements and went to Albuquerque early the next morning to visit with her in the hospital. We have been friends with the Burrows for over 50 years and it was very sad to see her under these circumstances.






We had a really nice visit with her, and then right before we left, her husband and daughter Valerie arrived so we visited with them for a while as well. She has a very difficult time ahead of her, so I ask for your prayers for her as well as her family.




Since we were already in Albuquerque, we decided to call and see if our nephew, Gary and his wife, Teresa were home. Luckily they were, so we went by their place for a minute.




Gary is Frank's brother's son. We have so little family left now that we try to make a point of seeing them as often as we can. It was nearly 2:00 and they had not eaten so we went to lunch at a place called Elephant Walk. The food was delicious. I had crab cakes and they were amazing.








This was the appetizer portion. I don't know how on earth anyone could have eaten more than this as they were very rich and so filling. Frank had a salad that was as tasty as it was attractive.





The bread sticks were served in a basket as were the sweet potato fries. We certainly didn't go away hungry!





Since it was named the Elephant Walk, I had to get a shot of the family with their "mascot".





On the way back to Santa Fe we received a phone call from some friends from Arlington and they had just arrived in town. They had spent the previous week or so in Colorado and decided to stop in Santa Fe for the 4th. We told them that we really weren't hungry since we had a late lunch, but we would meet them at The Shed for a drink.





This is a favorite place of ours and also a lot of tourists come here, so they had a pretty long wait. At least that gave us the opportunity to have a very nice visit.






When their buzzer finally went off, we said our good-byes and made plans to meet them on the Plaza in the morning for the Pancake Breakfast and all the 4th of July activities.




Fortunately both Theresa and I had our cell phones with us, so we were able to hook up. They sold 15,000 tickets to the breakfast, so it would have almost been impossible to find them without the help of Ma Bell!





There is always a lot of musical activity and dancers on the Plaza on the 4th and they are fun to watch. The whole crowd gets in the mood of the day and patriotism is abounds.




These precious children started dancing at 9:00 and I couldn't decided if it was more fun to watch them or to watch their parent's faces as they performed.



Will, Teresa and the children were able to get a front row seat and that was great. They were there at the right time!




There is a group called Manzanares that we really like and they performed earlier than usual so we were able to stay and listen to them. We love their music and have followed their careers for years. The fact that their lead singer looks a lot like Johnny Depp doesn't hurt anything either ;-)





Once this group starts to play, everyone wants to dance. It doesn't matter what your size, shape or age is, everyone is in the mood to party!










Having a dance partner is also optional. If you're in the mood .... get up and DANCE!
An easy way to get around the Plaza is by a Santa Fe Style Rickshaw. There are several of these around town all the time.





Every 4th of July our friends, the Williamson's, have a party and we're blessed to always be on their guest list. It starts around 11:00 a.m. so that affords us the time needed to visit the Plaza first. Cleo decorates everything with red, white and blue and then fixes a lovely brunch. She's definitely the Hostess with the Mostess.











We always look forward to this annual gathering as we get to see friends that we only seem to see when we're in Santa Fe.
That evening the Rosses came by our place for a cocktail and then we decided to go out for dinner together.





We went to Del Charro and I had a burger and the kids had nachos.





Of course Will had one of their special margaritas and said that it was great.





We plan on meeting our friends, the Ellises tomorrow and continue on this New Mexico style eat-a-thon. I'll fill you in on more in a day or two.
XOXO, Pcasso



I am so very sorry to have to report that I have just received word that my dear and probably one of our oldest friends, Eleanor Burrow, died yesterday. We have been friends for 52 years. I am so thankful that we were able to spend time with her on this visit. It is very hard to lose someone who has been very special in your life. This is one of my favorite photos of her at my 70th birthday party in Santa Fe.




My prayer is that His peace which passes all understanding will be with the family and that light perpetual will shine upon her always. May God bless her soul.