Earth Day
Saturday, 22 April 2023
We went with a sheet-pan dinner to celebrate…with BBQ sauced tofu and assorted veggies. Tofu won over fish as fish is not from the earth (heh).
Musings
Selected pretties
Thursday, 13 April 2023
Came across this apparently life-sized elk statue posing street-side. I “say” apparently because I’ve never been this close to an elk before. Heavy overcast made for strange lighting.
This lighting, however: fabulous. It lasted not even two minutes….
Dear friends treated us to a tasty dinner, and yummy as it was, the conversation and camaraderie was even better. These ribs were roasted with a red-chili paste just before serving; never had anything quite like this. Show-stopping. The waitron said the recipe is on the restaurant website. I looked; it’s not—their secret…I understand.
This is the way
Wednesday, 12 April 2023
We headed toward mountains, not difficult to do. Note plenty of snow.
We crossed the Río Grande. Note plenty of water aka snow melt.
We stopped at an overlook to see the canyon of the Rito de los Frijoles, aka Bandelier National Monument,
The main community on the flats is Tyuonyi, extensively excavated between 1909 and 1912, including 242 rooms. I cringe at the thought of the data that was destroyed and discarded. These walls are reconstructions.
This is Long House, which extends along the base of this wall for quite some distance. In some places the rooms were three deep. The rows of holes were the sockets for roof beams, called visas.
If you look very closely on the slope above the model, you will see walkways, stairs, and ladders that reach the big cave, aka Alcove House, just to the right of center and far above the model’s left shoulder.
This view makes the “trail” look more vertiginous than it is. If you visit, remember that ladders are easier to go up than to descend, IMHO.
The view from Alcove House. I was so lucky to be there by myself for about five minutes.
Back on the return trail along the creek, note the good flow of water and the logjam. We counted at least five big logjams, and all new foot bridges across the creek. The rangers were too busy for me to ask when the storm was that brought down the many trees and washed them downstream.
On the way back, we stopped at the Tesuque Village Market, which is indeed a market, but also a restaurant and bakery. We indulged in their key lime pie…lovely, just the right tartness.
We returned to Santa Fé on the Old Spanish Trail, which is winding and scenic. I find these fences particularly picturesque.
💘 day
Tuesday, 14 February 2023
I heard the breaking news from MSU right before I went to bed last night…made and makes me sad. Personally, during my MSU years, I spent very little time on that part of campus. I daresay that decades later, my spouse spent far more time in the Student Union than I ever did; he was using the internet. For work.
For our fancy ❤️-appropriate dessert, we comparison-tasted two mint-chocolate chip ice creams: Breyers and Tillamook. I enjoyed both. I thought the chocolate, the mint, and the ice cream…all were tastier in the Breyers. I would be happy consuming the Tillamook, however, if the Breyers wasn’t available. [I’ve had several other brands…typically not minty enough, and with wimpier chocolate.]
Still life moments
Thursday, 9 February 2023
Prepped casserole ingredients: ready for assembly.
Final casserole, and side salad with dressing—not yet mixed. The former was a lasagne with squash slices instead of pasta. The latter was inspired by an old “Joy of Cooking” BBQ slaw recipe (her term) that has some lettuce and some cabbage, plus other raw veggies.
Yield: happy diners. Yay!
Ps ending with pi
Monday, 6 February 2023
Breakfast pączki. Tis the season.
Then quiet chatting over pecan shelling.
Out for a walk, we found this pair of venerable birches. I think of birch pairs as not terribly uncommon; I don’t know why there’d be a propensity for pairs in this species.
Finally, we had a two-pie dinner. Chicken pot pie for our entree, and cherry for dessert. With a side of cole slaw and another of sauteed boc-choy. We are living well visiting here, and being treated like royalty.
We were not robbed
Friday, 20 January 2023
Those factory shrink-wrapped, one pound ground meat containers aren’t my favorite way to buy ground…beef, usually…because the grind is waaaay too fine and the meat has been mixed and crushed into the package…all of which change the way the meat cooks, as for burglars.
Sometimes we buy beef this way (usually if we’re in the UP), but more often it’s bison. Once or twice it’s been lamb. Today, we had an option we never had before: venison. From New Zealand. And this is it: venison burglars.
The meat still had texture isses from the super-fine grind and the compaction packaging, but I kept thinking: much lower cholesterol. So, yay!
Themed BookClub
Tuesday, 17 January 2023
The setting of the book is Cyprus (and London)…so our hostess chose a Greek theme, which overlaps the many cuisines of neighboring regions that make similar goodies. The name you use indicates your allegiance to which area. Language tells your ethnicity, essentially. On modern Cyprus, it’s either Turkish or Greek.
Did buy cauliflower
Wednesday, 4 January 2023
Turns out we got another wave of precip/storm overnight (after yesterday’s post) and through midday. This was at 7:20am. We received enough rain to cause local flooding and general super-moistness. Then, by 2pm, sunshine and gorgeousness.
So, we headed to our favorite international food shopping emporium to peruse a large assortment of plant varieties (while well masked). I found these Win Beans. That’s a typo for winged beans, and winged beans are Psophocarpus tetragonolobus. The whole plant is edible (including roots), and the pods have frilly edges, as you can see. Did not buy (call me chicken?).
Close enough
Sunday, 1 January 2023
As I recall the traditional southern New Year’s Day good luck/health/wealth menu includes rice, field peas/beans, and greens, often collards. We had spinach for the greens and mixed beans (mostly garbanzos and black) for the beans. We skipped the grain, but had wheat crackers. We topped with white cheddar, green onions, and fresh cilantro.